Imagine you are a customer who has to choose between two different products or services. If all other things are equal, the one that helps you have the most success will be your choice.
And yet, many businesses neglect to put themselves in the minds of their customers like this.
This is a big mistake. Customer success is one of the most important elements of growing your business.
If you focus too much on your internal team and what you want, you may miss out on the goals that are important to your users.
Instead, you and your team need to build good habits that allow you to win big with customer success.
Therefore, in this article, we will cover what customer success means. We will also talk about concrete things you can do to ensure that you improve this aspect of your products and services.
The end result will be more loyal customers of your brand and a healthier bottom line.
Let’s get started.
What Is Customer Success?
Customer success involves helping your customers use your product in the best way possible.
You’re focusing on what the customer needs instead of simply on what your business wants.
It is a long-term process, as your product may need to evolve to meet changing consumer demand over time.
However, it is designed to produce happy customers that continue to purchase your products or pay for subscriptions, so all your efforts pay in the long run.
Simple Steps Towards Customer Success
By implementing proactive programs, you can improve various parts of your customer journey, such as onboarding, engagement, and support to enhance customer success.
Here’s how.
Profile Your Ideal Customer
The first step in any business endeavor is to understand your customers as much as possible.
By knowing your target market, you can better adapt your operations to improve their success.
If you don’t, you risk providing either too many features that they won’t use or, conversely, lacking the key features that they need.
When profiling your customers, don’t just look at one determining feature. Instead, look at all the possible aspects that determine who they are.
For instance, their age, geographic location, and occupation are important details—but they are not sufficient.
You also need to know what their wants and needs are.
What are their deepest desires? And what kinds of fears and problems do they have? What does their day look like, and what makes them stressed?
Finally, how can your product or service be of help?
By putting yourself into the world of your prospect, you can provide better services and products that enhance their lives in a positive way.
This will put you on the right path toward improving customer success, so don’t skip this step.
Make Your Product User-Friendly
Far too many businesses focus on packing too many features into their product. That is very common in the SaaS industry.
The common thinking is that “more is better”—but that’s not always the case.
Sure, there are many features that need to be added to make the product better. However, if your product is not user-friendly, none of it will matter.
Making your product straightforward and easy to use will reduce customer complaints.
It will also encourage users to stay with you longer instead of giving up due to frustration. So a great small habit to build is to ask yourself: “will this feature be user-friendly?”
If it’s not, you need to revisit the feature with your production team. Look for ways to streamline the feature and make it straightforward.
Otherwise, you might consider cutting it if you can’t create a visually simple UI.
Elicit Feedback From Your Customers
A quite simple and yet underused habit is to ask your customers how they are finding your product.
In the end, you can have endless meetings, but your users and clients will be the ones who dictate what is making them successful or not.
You can elicit feedback in a number of ways:
- In-App Popups
- Email Surveys
- Phone Calls
- Social Media Questionnaires
By building this habit, you will keep your company focused on the user’s point of view. This is crucial for understanding what they like and where they are having problems.
Onboard Effectively
In most businesses, and especially SaaS, effective onboarding is a must.
Your onboarding process is like your handshake. It is the first experience that a user has with your brand. You need to make it special so they remember it.
Therefore, when onboarding, make sure you introduce your users to the right features as quickly but thoroughly as possible.
You might have to create numerous versions of your onboarding process before you arrive at the right one. This requires iteration—which brings us to our next point.
Promote an Innovative Culture
Even the largest and most successful businesses in the world don’t get it right on the very first try.
Oftentimes, they have to revisit the drawing board to create a new process, feature, or even an entirely new product.
This all comes down to the company culture that you build. If your team members know they are expected to innovate, then they will produce at higher levels.
Every week, month, and year, you can advance beyond the competition by coming out with groundbreaking ideas.
Of course, the ideas are only the first step. You also need to instill the discipline to test your ideas.
Use tracking software to see which customers are having success and where they are getting stuck to continually provide a better product to your market.
Conclusion
The world is moving faster than ever, and it can be tempting to chase the next exciting marketing tactic or get lost in what your competition is doing.
However, it is essential that you focus on customer success as your priority. If you don’t, you risk a high churn rate and losing market share to your competitors.
However, by implementing the tips above, you can overcome common challenges in promoting customer success.
You can successfully onboard, engage, and meet the problems of your market.
Do it consistently over time, and you will grow your customer base so that your revenues remain strong even if the industry has fluctuations.
Michelle Laurey works as a VA for small businesses. She loves talking business, and productivity, and share her experience with others. Outside her keyboard, she spends time with her Kindle library or binge-watching Billions. Her superpower? Vinyasa flow! Talk to her on Twitter @michelle_laurey.
