Who Needs to Be Involved When Buying Customer Success Software?
Implementing a Customer Success platform will resonate across the business so the CEO should make the ultimate call on where to invest but who else should have oversight of or influence on the decision …
Who Needs to Be Involved When Buying Customer Success Software?
- Head of Customer Success
- Too often enterprise software implementations fail as purchasing and implementation decisions are made by committee and the final product is unusable. So, while those listed below should have some influence, the Head of Customer Success needs to ensure the resulting implemented solution fits their vision for how Customer Success is practiced at the company.
- Customer Success Managers
- Yes, the users need a voice! Otherwise, you may end up with an unusable white elephant that is no reflection of how Customer Success is practiced day-to-day.
- Chief Financial Officer
- Will want to understand the up-front costs of the solution, any ongoing or indirect costs/savings and calculate the potential return-on-investment prior to a solution being selected.
- Head of IT
- Needs to know how much IT support will be required as part of the implementation process? Data will need to be passed into a Customer Success platform, does the vendor have their own API, Tracking codes, pre-built integrations to your existing business applications? How much of your developer time will be required to set up and maintain any integrations.
- Also, is the solution secure & scalable? As with any Customer Success application, it will ingest some of your customers’ data. Does the vendor have the required certifications? GDPR, HIPAA, ISO etc.
- Product Lead
- Will this solution have an impact on how you disseminate product knowledge, educate customers on new or upcoming features and/or capture voice-of-customer feedback?
- Head of Sales
- How do you expect this solution to impact revenue expansion. Can you use it to identify expansion opportunities to pass to sales? Can sales get access to the intelligence (account health scoring etc.) that will be available within the CS platform, either through a push integration with the CRM they use or potentially via free or low cost read-only licenses.
- Head of Support
- Will this give greater visibility of cases across the business and increase collaboration and resolution rates? Can the platform ingest ticket data and track support metrics against other key business metrics, ensuring Support can focus their energies in the right areas.
- Head of Marketing
- Will this platform help with references, reviews and generate ‘2nd order’ word-of-mouth lead flow? Is there a way for it to automate the capture of NPS scoring or request reviews based on the health, profile or behavior of the users?
Related Articles
Best Customer Segmentation Software to Utilize in 2024
Understanding customers at scale has come a long way. Back in the day, companies used simple attributes to carve up their customer base in some way to apply different resources to support and/or expand those customers. Boy was it blunt though! Generally, it never got far beyond segmenting your account list by their spending or […]
Best Customer Success Software for Your CS Department in 2024
If you are reading this, you are faced with a real challenge. Either you already manage a customer success function and your existing toolset is not fit for purpose, or you have decided to start a customer success department and want to implement the right software as a solid foundation for your Customer Success Managers […]
Top Customer Retention Software to Reduce Churn in 2024
Figuring out the right customer retention management software to help manage your Customer Retention goals can be tricky. It really comes down to what your specific goals are, what type of market you serve, the customer data you retain and where that data resides. There are some specific types of tools you should consider. Customer […]
15 Customer Onboarding Statistics and Trends in 2024 to Note
In the SaaS world today, each lead you turn into a customer is a call for celebration. Still, to ensure them a smooth journey and success with your product, it is crucial to first help them understand how they can use your product or service effectively to get all the benefits they offer in the […]
How to Become a Customer Success Manager: All You Need to Know
Nowadays, it seems that acquiring each new customer calls for celebration. Yet, their choosing you over competition is merely the beginning of a beautiful friendship, as retaining them is equally, or usually even more, difficult.
Voice of the Customer Best Practices and Tips in 2024
When we aim to understand someone or something, the first step is to listen or observe carefully. The same rule applies for customers. If you wish to truly meet your customers and understand their concerns and goals, you must not only solicit and gather their feedback but also act on it. This is precisely what […]
What Is Product Discovery: Definition, Benefits and How to Do it?
Developing, launching and promoting a new product or feature is not only time and energy-consuming but also expensive. This is why frustration is inevitable if the new feature of a product goes unnoticed or unused. To avoid that, companies must first understand market trends and customer needs to be able to create products that address […]
What is Customer Stickiness: How to Measure & Increase it?
Although customer churn and retention are the most important metrics that help you assess the overall health of your business, they often fail to explain why customers leave or stay with you. This is precisely where customer stickiness can help you. To answer the question “What is customer stickiness?” with ultimate precision, we must thoroughly […]
Best Customer Success Books You Should Read in 2024
Customer success is the backbone of a successful SaaS business. The way your CS team manages and nurtures customer relationships often determines the size and quality of your customer base and, therefore, affects revenue and growth. A smart customer success manager knows very well that customer success is a dynamic and ever-changing field where continuous […]