With the rise of cloud-based SaaS applications, the role of customer success teams has changed dramatically. These days, companies are expecting their customers to be happy, but also proactive about ensuring that a positive experience is maintained throughout the sales cycle.
What is Customer Success?
Customer success is the process of ensuring that your customers are happy and satisfied with their service. It's about making sure they have a positive experience from start to finish, which means you need to be proactive in all stages of the sales cycle – from onboarding new users, through training them on how best to use your product or service, monitoring their usage patterns and providing support should there be an issue.
The role Customer Success SaaS applications can play
Customer Success SaaS applications can be used to automate many of the tasks involved in customer success. For example, you could use a SaaS application that provides real-time monitoring and reporting on usage levels for your product or service. This would allow you to identify where customers are having issues before they become an issue – allowing you to proactively resolve them as quickly as possible, rather than waiting until after the sale has been completed when it may already be too late!
The role Customer Success SaaS applications can play in customer success is only one part of what makes these applications so valuable. They can also be used to automate the delivery of your product or service, allowing you to streamline and standardize all elements of customer success – from onboarding new users through to training them on how best to use your product or service.
The key metrics for measuring customer success SaaS applications
There are several key metrics that you can use to measure the customer success SaaS application. These include:
• The number of new users who sign up for your service or product
• How many existing customers upgrade their subscription, renew their contract or buy additional services from you via a self-service portal
• The total revenue generated by sales based on these two types of transaction (new user and renewal) over time – this will give an indication as to how successful you are at converting users into paying customers!
• Whether any early adopters have left negative feedback about your product/service • How many users are actively using your product/service
It's important to note that these metrics will not give you a complete picture of how successful your SaaS application is. There are other factors which should be taken into account, such as: the total number of new and returning customers who use the service in any given month; the amount spent by existing customers on upgrades or renewals during each quarter (this can also be measured via self-serve portals); whether there have been any complaints about the quality of customer support provided over time; and so forth.
Customer success best practices for SaaS applications
There are a number of best practices that you should adopt to ensure your SaaS application is successful. These include:
• Having a clear and consistent set of customer success policies, procedures and guidelines for all employees at every level in the organization – this will help everyone understand how they can support customers effectively.
• Making it easy for users to communicate with each other via social media channels such as Twitter or Facebook; make sure there's an appropriate feedback mechanism (e.g., email) available so that users can leave positive comments about their experiences using your product/service without fear of negative repercussions.
• Ensure that you have a well-designed customer success dashboard where key metrics are displayed in an easy to understand format. This will allow your organization to monitor the performance of each of these measures over time and make appropriate adjustments as required.
• Make sure that all employees at every level in the organization receive training on how best to support customers, including: how they can answer basic questions about their application; what information is important for users when reporting bugs or other issues (e.g., license number or serial number); how they should respond if they're asked by a user whether they have purchased a subscription (e.g., "yes, I did" or "no, I haven't"); how best to handle requests for technical support; and so forth
• Make sure that you're monitoring all of your customer success metrics regularly – this will allow you to identify potential problems in real time before they become serious issues with customers. If something looks amiss, take immediate action by contacting the appropriate parties involved immediately .
Customer success best practices for mobile apps
There are also some key things that should be considered when developing applications on behalf of your users:
• Ensure that every user is in control of their data. For instance, if you're storing private information (e.g., credit card number) for your users on a server, make sure that the user has complete and total access to this information at all times – don't put it behind any sort of walled garden where only certain people can see or edit it .
• Make sure that applications are constantly updated with bug fixes and improvements as needed via regular updates from the developer/publisher (iTunes).
• Make sure that you're providing easy access to customer support for your users – this will allow them to seek assistance in a timely manner when needed. This is especially important if the application has any sort of subscription model, where customers are charged based on usage or features used (e.g., number of times an e-mail address was registered). If there's no clear way for your users to reach out and get support from you, they'll have little choice but to resort back down into their apps' settings menu/home screen again and re-register.
How to create a successful onboarding process for your application's customers
Developers and publishers need to be aware that customer support is a key aspect of their business model. If they can't provide adequate customer support, then it's likely that the application will eventually fall into disuse by many customers – which could lead to a loss in revenue for your company as well as an increased cost associated with user acquisition/retention.
In order to help ensure success when developing applications on behalf of your users, here are some best practices:
• Be sure that you're providing easy access (via links or buttons) within the app itself for any sort of service- related questions.
• When developing a new application, you'll want to include as many user-friendly features and functions as possible – this will help reduce customer support issues down the road by providing an ongoing stream of new features which will help improve the user experience .
• Make sure that your users are aware of all available options for contacting you via various channels (e.g., email address, social media accounts such as Facebook or Twitter).
How to ensure that customers are satisfied with their experience with your application, even after the sale has closed
Once a sale has been completed, the customer is likely to be very satisfied with your application and will want to continue using it for as long as possible. This means that you'll need to provide plenty of useful features in order for them (and other potential customers) to continue using your app – this will help ensure that they're happy with their decision .
In order for developers/publishers like yourself who are developing applications on behalf of users such as yourself, here's some best practices when it comes down to ensuring user satisfaction:
• Be sure that you offer all necessary support services in order to help users who may have problems with your application.
• Be sure that you're providing all of the necessary tools and resources in order for customers to get assistance if needed (e.g., via a FAQ section, online forum or support group).
• Provide plenty of useful features – this will create an ongoing stream of new updates which will keep the customer satisfied.
It's also important for developers/publishers like yourself to be aware that there are various ways in which they can ensure user satisfaction:
How to measure customer success in SaaS applications
Measurement is a key element of any successful application. There are various ways in which you can measure the success of your SaaS application, and it's important to understand how these measures relate to customer satisfaction:
• Use Google Analytics (or similar) – this will allow you to track visitor behavior on your site.
• Monitor feedback from users via social media channels such as Twitter or Facebook . You may also want to conduct user testing sessions with potential customers who have used your app prior so that they can provide their thoughts/opinions about the product itself (e.g., features , ease of use).
• Monitor customer satisfaction via surveys – this will allow you to gauge the level of user engagement with your application.
How can I improve my SaaS application's customer retention?
In terms of improving your SaaS app's overall success, there are various factors which you should consider:
• Be sure that it has a dedicated support team who are ready and willing to help users if necessary (e.g., via email, phone or social media channels such as Twitter). This is also a great way for potential customers to learn more about how they could use the application.
• Ensure that your app is easy to use – this will increase user retention and should be a priority for any SaaS vendor or startup company looking to build an effective product. In terms of ease of use, you can make sure that the documentation which accompanies your application (e.g., help guides) are clear.
Customer Success Reduces Churn
One of the most important factors in determining whether a SaaS application is successful or not, is how it can help its customers reduce their churn. The reason for this relates to the fact that an effective SaaS product will be able to generate enough revenue from each customer so as to cover any ongoing costs (e.g., hosting fees).
There are various ways in which you can measure your success with regards to reducing churn:
• Monitor feedback via social media channels such as Twitter. You may also want to conduct user testing sessions with potential customers who have used your app prior so as to gauge their satisfaction levels.
• Determine how many customers have remained with your SaaS application for over a year, and if this number is high (e.g., over 90%), then you may want to consider whether there are any limitations which could be impacting upon the customer's experience.
SaaS Customer Success Manager Responsibilities
In order to effectively manage customer success, you will need to have the following:
• A detailed understanding of your product and its features. This should include a thorough knowledge on how it can help customers reduce their churn (e.g., via email marketing campaigns).
• The ability to communicate effectively with potential customers who use your SaaS application so as to understand what they want from the service, and why they are using it in the first place .
• An awareness of any limitations which could be impacting upon an individual's experience that would otherwise prevent them from staying within your SaaS application.
• The ability to identify the right metrics which would help you measure your performance in relation to reducing customer churn, and how this could be used for future planning purposes.
Every day, customer success improves, evolves, and grows more popular.
One cannot forget the importance of understanding customer behavior in the face of the changing business climate. Furthermore, the raising access to budgets by customer success teams shows just how much SaaS companies are interested in better customer success strategies. The best way to manage customer success is by understanding the customers' needs, and then providing them with a solution that meets their expectations.
In order for you to effectively achieve these goals, it will be essential for you to understand how your SaaS application can help improve customer satisfaction levels over time.
