Customer Success: From Fire-Fighting to Future-Proofing

Editor Notes

The Scoop

Hey Customer Success enthusiasts and professionals!

Welcome to the first edition of "The Customer Champion" – your new favorite read for all things customer success in Europe & Asia-Pacific.

Look, we get it. You're busy making customers happy, driving growth, and proving the value of customer success to your organization. That's why we've created this newsletter – to give you the tips, tricks, and fresh ideas you need to level up your customer success game.

What's in store for you this issue?

• Featured: We're unpacking "The Importance of Customer Success in Modern Business" with real-world examples from companies in our regions that are crushing it.

• Quick Tips: No fluff, just stuff. Actionable strategies you can put to work right away.

• Industry Spotlight: We're shining a light on a customer success leader who's making waves. Learn from their wins (and maybe their fumbles too).

• Tool Spotlight: We'll introduce you to a tool that might just become your new secret weapon.

Whether you're a veteran or just starting out, we've got something for you. Our goal? To make this newsletter the most valuable 10 minutes you'll spend all week for work-related stuff that is…

So grab a coffee, find a comfy spot, and let's dive in. Your Customer Success journey is about to get a whole lot more interesting!

Catch you on the flip side,

Tomas  

Chief CS Enthusiast, Customer Champions

P.S. Got ideas for future issues? We're all ears! Drop us a line anytime at [email protected]

Featured Article

The Importance of Customer Success in Modern Business: Insights from Europe and Asia-Pacific

What's the big deal?

Remember when businesses thought keeping customers happy meant waiting for them to call with problems? Those days are gone. Customer Success is all about being proactive, predicting what your customers need before they even know they need it.

Let's talk cold, hard facts:

• Spotify slashed their churn rate to 5.5% in 2020. That's like telling 94.5% of your customers, "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave." (And they don't want to!)

• Sage boosted their Net Promoter Score from a meh 19 to a wow 46 in just three years. That's a lot more customers singing their praises.

• Xero saw 88% retention for customers with a dedicated Customer Success Manager. If CS were a sport, that would be a gold medal performance.

From reactive to proactive

It's not just about putting out fires anymore. It's about fireproofing your whole customer relationship. Check out these trailblazers:

• SAP launched their "MaxAttention" program and saw customer satisfaction scores jump by 20%. That's like turning the customer happiness dial to 11.

• Atlassian created a "Team Playbook" for customers. Result? 76% of their enterprise clients reported better team practices. Talk about a win-win!

The future is now (and it's customer-shaped)

CS isn't just changing the game; it's rewriting the rulebook. In Europe, 60% of SaaS companies now have dedicated customer success teams. Over in APAC, CS job roles grew by 38% in 2021 and that trend is growing!

What's Next? Expect to see more AI predicting customer needs, a laser focus on customer health scores, and CS principles spreading across entire organisations faster than free pizza at an office party.

The Bottom Line, Customer Success isn't just important; it's essential. It's the difference between "meh" and "wow" in customer experience. So, whether you're in Paris or Perth, Bangkok or Berlin, it's time to put CS front and centre in your business strategy.

Remember, in the world of business, the customer might not always be right, but keeping them successful will always be the right move.

Quick Tips

Strategies you can use today

Ready to turbocharge your efforts? Try these on for size:

1️⃣ Map Your Customer Journey: Get in your customer's shoes. Map out every touchpoint they have with your business. You might spot some golden opportunities for improvement.

2️⃣ Set Up Health Scores: Like a fitness tracker for your customer relationships. Use data like product usage, support tickets, and engagement to gauge customer health. Canva does this to keep their 60 million monthly active users happy.

3️⃣ Proactive Check-Ins: Don't wait for customers to call you. Schedule regular check-ins. Zendesk does this quarterly in APAC and saw a 25% jump in upsells. Coincidence? We think not.

4️⃣ Personalise Onboarding: First impressions matter. Tailor your onboarding process to each customer's needs. 86% of people say they're more likely to stick around if a business invests in welcoming them properly.

5️⃣ Leverage Predictive Analytics: Use AI to spot potential churners before they head for the exit. Rakuten in Japan did this and boosted customer engagement by 30%.

6️⃣ Create a Customer Advisory Board: Get your top customers together regularly for feedback. It's like having a customer success think tank on speed dial.

7️⃣ Celebrate Customer Wins: When your customers succeed, shout it from the rooftops (or at least your company Slack channel). Success is contagious!

Remember, the best strategy is one that you actually use. So pick one or two of these to start with and go make some customers successful!

Industry Spotlight

How Github Transforms Customer Success into Revenue Growth

This week, we're shining our spotlight on Github's revolutionary approach to customer success that's driving impressive revenue growth through retention and expansion. Let's dive into how they're using Customer Success to power their growth engine.

The Challenge in today's competitive SaaS landscape, retaining and growing existing customers is crucial - with research showing that 72% of revenue comes from existing customers.

Github needed to find ways to not just retain customers but turn them into growth drivers.

The CS Solution Github's team developed a comprehensive customer success strategy that delivered impressive results through:

Data-driven customer health monitoring

• Implemented advanced analytics to track product adoption and usage patterns

• Created early warning systems for churn risk

• Developed customised success plans for different customer segments

Proactive engagement model

• Established dedicated CSM relationships with strategic accounts

• Regular business reviews to demonstrate value

• Automated outreach for product adoption guidance

Value-based expansion strategy

• Focus on proving ROI through data

• Strategic upsell/cross-sell motions based on usage patterns

• Customer advocacy program to drive referrals

The results

• Achieved 130% Net Revenue Retention (NRR)

• Significantly increased product adoption rates

• Established predictable expansion revenue streams

Key takeaways for your strategy

• Focus on proactive engagement over reactive support

• Use data to identify both risks and opportunities

• Build repeatable processes for proving and expanding value

• Make customer success a growth engine, not just a retention tool

As Github demonstrates, modern customer success goes far beyond traditional support - it's a strategic driver of sustainable growth. By combining proactive engagement with data-driven insights, CS teams can deliver measurable business impact.

Tool Spotlight

HubSpot Service Hub: The AI-Powered Customer Success Engine

This month, we're putting HubSpot's Service Hub under the microscope. As customer service evolves from cost centre to revenue driver, this platform is helping teams deliver exceptional experiences while driving measurable business growth.

What makes It different?

Service Hub isn't just another help desk tool - it's a comprehensive platform that combines AI capabilities with customer success features to help teams scale personalised service while driving revenue growth.

AI-powered productivity ¹

⚙️ Saves 15 hours per agent per week

⚡ Resolves tickets 13x faster

🕒 Enables 24/7 customer support

Unified customer view

📚Single source of truth for all customer interactions

🌐 Omnichannel help desk functionality

🗂️ Complete conversation history and context

Revenue generation tools

💡Identifies upsell/cross-sell opportunities

📈 Tracks customer health metrics

🤝 Enables proactive customer engagement

Success stories ²

❤️ 66% of teams report feeling closer to their customers

📊 83%+ of companies increased retention rates

⭐ Significant improvements in customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores

Why customer success teams love It

• Seamlessly integrates with existing CRM systems

• Reduces tool sprawl and context switching

• Enables data-driven decision making

• Supports both reactive and proactive customer engagement

The bottom line

For CS teams looking to transform customer service into a revenue centre, Service Hub offers a powerful combination of AI efficiency and customer success capabilities. Its focus on both operational excellence and revenue generation makes it particularly valuable in today's challenging economic environment.

Key Differentiator: The platform's ability to combine AI automation with human-centred service delivery helps teams scale their impact without sacrificing the personal touch that customers value.

Deep Dive

What We've Been Reading

📚 The Customer Success Economy: Why Every Aspect of Your Business Model Needs A Paradigm Shift by Nick Mehta and Allison Pickens

💼 The Hidden Toll of Workplace Overwhelm in Customer Success by Ryan Ettridge

💡 Reinventing Customer Service: The Untapped Revenue Source by HubSpot

Q&A

Your Questions Answered

Got a burning question? Send it our way, and we might feature it in our next issue. Email your questions to [email protected] with the subject line "CS Insights Q&A".