Customer success managers are in the relationship business, and there’s nothing that strengthens a good relationship in tech like data. However, not just any data will do. CSMs need data that tells a story, and to gather that they need to track metrics that truly matter to customers.
In addition to knowing their products inside and out, defining these metrics requires a healthy dose of the human touch. CS leaders need to be able to look at similar datasets and be able to differentiate between power users and those spending their sessions struggling to get going. CSMs in turn have to work to understand how each of their customers defines success so that they know what specific indicators to monitor and measure.
To understand how customer success teams get the data they need to tell better stories, we spoke with three Boston-based CS leaders. They shared their most important metrics and how this data enables CSMs to migrate churn from inevitable to preventable.
Mendix is a low-code enterprise software development platform that enables those with little in the way of tech skills to create internal and customer-facing applications using a visual interface.
What are the key metrics you track when it comes to your customers?
Our customer success team uses traditional and outside-the-box measures for assessing customer health and retention risk. Our traditional metrics include renewal rate, expert services revenue, Net Promoter Scores, subscription consumption data, reference ability for new sales, event participation and net dollar retention.
Our outside-the-box metrics include Mendix Academy for training, including certifications; count of use-case backlog for additional Mendix applications and maturity and complexity of use cases to differentiate Mendix capabilities. Additionally, the Mendix CSM will document value delivered — and acknowledged — as a measure of impact on the customer’s business and the ROI of the Mendix subscription. It’s essential that our customers have evidence of business impact to continue their subscription, and we work hard to earn their commitment to adopt and grow with the Mendix platform.
Additionally, the Mendix CSM will document value delivered — and acknowledged — as a measure of impact.”
Which metrics or combination of metrics do you prioritize when identifying accounts that might be in danger of churning?
Our strongest indicators for churn risk are “change in sponsor” and “lack of expansion” in use cases. A new CIO, CTO or leader of application development may have a preference for technology stacks from previous experience and will likely move in that direction. If that new leader has a different vision for app dev or is hired to deliberately force a change in the customer organization, then Mendix is prompted to reestablish the value and relevance of our platform as if we were starting the entire sales process anew.
With respect to lack of expansion, customers have a near constant onslaught of choices to make in the perpetually evolving tech landscape, and if they are not choosing to use Mendix’s platform in new use cases that may signal they are in the slow process of shifting their focus to other technologies and platforms. We work hard to establish the many paths to value with the Mendix subscription, including anticipating how customer use will evolve with our platform and integrating these new technologies over time.
How have you used this data to tailor your reengagement strategy or otherwise improve or nurture customer relationships?
Our proactive approach to sponsor engagement requires the Mendix CS team to identify advocates within customers. We track current and future stakeholders by role in our CRM and assign advocacy scores to each. The CSM then prioritizes outreach and business reviews with the stakeholders who can fill gaps or influence advocacy among the existing contacts.
A more formal quarterly business review requires that we schedule milestones to validate our understanding of the customer’s business, confirm the value delivered by Mendix and jointly plan a roadmap of shared actions to maximize subscription value. The QBR is also a great measure of client engagement since we ask them to lead the topics rather than merely attend and listen.
Lastly, our “Mendix Pioneers” program provides exclusive insider events, enables customers to network with peers, influence our product roadmap and rewards their advocacy. This combination of CSM outreach, QBR and celebration events, and our Mendix Pioneers program help us nurture a strategic partnership with each customer and have helped us build a very strong tribe of advocates!
Silvertree has designed a wearable for older adults that keeps their family informed of their location, sends alerts in the event of a hard fall or emergency and tracks steps.
What are the key metrics you track when it comes to your customers?
We lead with empathy, always. Every decision we make or action we take is grounded in a deep understanding of our customers. First response time tells us how quickly customers receive a reply and serves as a strong indicator of whether our team is able to manage the amount of incoming customer requests. Happy teammates equal happy customers, and when the inbox is full and response times do not meet our service level obligations, it’s clear we need to take a deeper look into the qualitative data and search for how to get to our customers who need our help faster.
Cost-per-resolution is another key metric. Our customers are reaching out to us because they want their issues resolved and it is our duty to find ways to resolve issues as quickly and efficiently as possible. We give our team the flexibility and creativity to meet our customers’ needs while taking into consideration the cost to do so. This helps our customers get a resolution quicker; it helps our team members feel inspired to implement out-of-the-box solutions and it informs the entire team about how to get costs down and indicates areas to improve.
Anticipating what customers need and setting clear expectations as early as possible is key for nurturing relationships.”
Which metrics or combination of metrics do you prioritize when identifying accounts that might be in danger of churning?
A combination of time to resolution, customer satisfaction and week-one engagement are the primary metrics to help predict if a customer will churn. As a company, we strive to inspire confidence, and anyone who purchases our device should feel independence and peace of mind is within their reach. From the moment our potential customers reach our website to the moment they press “purchase,” it is our job to ensure the feeling remains and we proactively ease any worries that they haven’t made the best choice for themselves and their loved ones.
If a customer does not interact with their product within the first 30 days or feels early points of friction, there is a much greater chance of churn. Building a strong relationship and trust with our customers is key. Therefore, if someone is reaching out, we need to show how much we care quickly, which is where time to resolution comes into play. We want our customers to feel heard and taken care of and we want to ensure they have seen the value our product can provide.
How have you used this data to tailor your reengagement strategy or otherwise improve or nurture customer relationships?
Anticipating what customers need and setting clear expectations as early as possible is key for nurturing relationships. We use the data from our beta customers to anticipate what future customers may experience as a friction point. Our internal quality score (IQS) gives us the qualitative data to learn how the customer talks and how to meet them where they are. It looks at individual conversations and gives us the ability to learn how to improve as a team to build and nurture customer relationships.
Wellframe helps healthcare providers take their tech game to the next level with its digital care management and customer service solutions.
What are the key metrics you track when it comes to your customers?
As it relates to our product, there are some baseline metrics we use to monitor performance. They include program invitations, conversion rates — the actual number of members who accepted the invitation and established a care journey — and member NPS. Those are hard numbers captured and tracked by the platform and give us a pretty easy view of product usage and staff effectiveness. We realize that customer success relies on the actual customer adoption of our product. Reviewing user-level metrics such as member response rates, program assignments and member messages is the key to helping customers measure and manage positive member experiences, which influences overall plan satisfaction.
Data-led discussions are critical to helping my customers understand how they are performing.”
Which metrics or combination of metrics do you prioritize when identifying accounts that might be in danger of churning?
Some of those key metrics are certainly measures we use as indicators for potential churn. My job is to help customers maximize the ability to capture members who either would not have otherwise engaged in care management without a digital option as well as ensure those who are engaged are being managed in the most appropriate care track relative to trigger diagnoses. As with traditional telephonic care management, the objective is to identify those with rising risks and achieve cost savings through proactive care management.
How have you used this data to tailor your reengagement strategy or otherwise improve or nurture customer relationships?
Data-led discussions are critical to helping my customers understand how they are performing and the areas where they can apply different or best practices to achieve different outcomes. One of the best services our organization offers is a claims impact analysis, which measures the utilization and financial impact of digital care management. This is often telling as it relates to redirection to lower-cost care services or increased primacy care usage.
This is usually a very helpful exercise as we look to capture more members where digital works. Currently, I’m excited about a new report we are creating that helps care leaders better understand care manager persistency, allowing them to establish clear KPIs as it relates to each client’s ideal engagement rates.
