A decade ago, no one was familiar with the concept of a customer success manager (CSM). Cut to today, companies are avidly using this role to grow their revenue, drive profitable growth, and optimize customer retention.
As of 2024, about 90% of companies have their own customer success division, highlighting the growing focus on customer satisfaction and retention in SaaS and B2B businesses.
Let’s understand what is CSM and how they are relevant in the current business landscape.
What Is a Customer Success Manager?
A customer success manager (CSM) is essentially a mediator between the customer’s time of purchase and company’s internal sales and marketing unit. Their job is to support the customer as they transition from being a buyer to an active user of the product. They elevate product value, minimize churn, and provide a broader spectrum of support.
Imagine your company just bought new marketing software which is complex and needs technical troubleshooting. You would likely need some assistance to better understand the product, learn implementation, and best practices to make the most of the product.
But isn’t that the same as customer support? Not exactly.
A customer support agent plays more of a reactive role and is responsible for answering customer queries and preliminary concerns. A customer success manager, on the other hand, acts proactively in showing the customer that your product is of great value. They cultivate long-term customer relations and loyalty
What are the top responsibilities of a customer success manager?
So, what does a customer success manager do?
A notable milestone in a customer’s journey is when they achieve their first success. The nature of this success varies – it could be financial, like hitting a revenue target, or realizing that the product saves time.
If there is a significant gap between your customer’s time of purchase and their first moment of success, it can lead to customer churn. Without the right guidance, the customer is likely to feel frustrated or lose interest. That is when you need a customer success manager to show the customer how to use the product efficiently so they can get maximum value out of it in a short time. CSMs are responsible for getting the customer attuned with the product and evaluating their satisfaction along the way.
Onboard Clients
A customer success manager is responsible for onboarding clients – so they can leverage the benefits and features of the product or service they signed up for. Guiding the client through the process empowers them to achieve their goals and succeed.
Renewals, Upselling, and Cross-Selling
CSMs serve as a bridge between sales and service delivery. They don’t just maintain customer satisfaction – they proactively look for opportunities to prolong the Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).
Renewals – They ensure the renewal of contracts by consistently providing value, resolving client’s issues, and addressing concerns. This cuts the churn rates – regulating the overall expenditure of your BPO operations.
Stats reveal that renewal rates can increase by up to 20% with a CSM, as they actively engage clients and make renewals a seamless part of the relationship.
Upselling and Cross-Selling – A CSM studies their client’s business and objectives so they can make useful recommendations –for a complimentary service or upgrade. For instance, a BPO client who is using a customer support service might also benefit from data analytics or back-office support. A CSM can suggest these add-ons for more streamlined operations – increasing the revenue per customer.
Create a Success Vision
Some of the leading customer success platforms like Gainsight and HubSpot understand the importance of creating a customer success vision that is aligned with the client’s goals during on boarding. CRMs assist clients in defining this success vision right off the bat. It involves mapping out the key performance indicators (KPIs), building timelines, and making sure both parties are on the same page about the success metrics.
Build Cross-Functional Relationships
Not all customer queries are a CSM’s responsibility. For instance, basic business queries and technical issues should be directed towards the support team. Thats when a customer success manager can foster relationships between support and customer.
CSM understands what the customer needs as well as their challenges and friction points. They are also in direct contact with sales and marketing teams. They can easily create a cross-functional feedback loop so that customer data can be instilled into the internal operations and vice versa.
Zoom, for example, is renowned for its proactive cross-functional customer success efforts. With a surge in demand during the pandemic, their CSMs worked in collaboration with support and technical teams to troubleshoot and manage the high influx of users. They also worked with sales to get insights from new users and adjust their offerings accordingly. This collaboration supported Zoom’s enterprise needs.
Encourage a Customer-Centric Environment
Although customer-centricity is more of a collective teams’ effort, customer success managers can make customer care a priority by tracking customer friction points and voicing customer concerns. They take on the responsibility of collaborating with the customer support management, product, sales, and marketing teams – making sure they all understand what their customers need and want.
A Bain & Company research found that companies with a strong customer-centric culture are 60% more profitable than those that aren’t.
Top Skills A Customer Success Manager Needs
As today’s customers are more empowered and assertive about their needs and wants, they expect a tailored service from skilled professionals to help them better understand their product or service. Let’s look at some essential assets you will likely find in a customer success manager job description.
- Industry and Product Knowledge – CSMs need a thorough understanding of the product or service they are representing. Only a firm knowledge and skillset can enable them to guide and support customers for optimal product usage.
- Data Analysis – A customer success specialist must know how to gather, evaluate, and interpret customer data and usage insights. This information can then be used to highlight opportunities for growth and come up with effective and actionable plans to work on them.
- Technical Proficiency – A customer success manager needs a comprehensive suite of tools to do their jobs effectively. For instance, a customer relationship management (CRM) system and analytics software.
- Project Management – Customer success managers help clients create an action plan for their success – which is then followed through with significant progress points and milestones. CSMs make sure their clients hit all their targets effectively and promptly.
- Collaboration Skills – A client success manager should have a spirit of teamwork and the skill to work across various teams and groups for optimal customer experience. One of their top responsibilities is communicating customer issues to multiple teams within the company.
A customer service manager is there to facilitate your product implementation journey – regardless of what point of journey you are at. They can create a manage and effective success plan, run reports, help you understand the nitty gritties of the service or product you invested in, and a lot more.
Customer success managers are essentially service people who love to strategize, problem-solve, and serve their customers in the best way possible. Their primary goal is to empower their clients with the right insights, strategies, and support – for long-term satisfaction and success. With customer-oriented expertise onboard, the customer’s journey to success becomes truly rewarding.
Explore the difference a customer success manager can make to your business. Let Abacus BPO empower your path to success and growth with strategic solutions, proactive guidance, and personalized support – customized to achieve your business goals. Contact Abacus Outsourcing today to see how we can help your team thrive.
FAQ's
An account manager is essentially responsible for handling contracts, renewals, and pricing whereas a customer success manager focuses on optimizing customer satisfaction and product adoption by assisting clients in attaining their goals.
Customer success managers are mostly employed in telecommunication sectors, SaaS, healthcare, finance, and tech, where long-term customer support and relationships are important to product retention and use.
Having a customer success manager cuts down churn, facilitates renewals, and identifies upselling opportunities. They also help boost Customer Lifetime value (CLV) - directly affecting stability and revenue growth.
CRMs can use a variety of different tools including:
- Analytics platforms
- Customer relationship management (CRM) systems
- Project management software
- Customer success platforms like ChurnZero or Gainsight
