Why and How CSMs Should Segment Their Customer Base

How CSMs Should Segment Their Customer Base

We all know that it is important to segment your customer base in Customer Success…

But why?

Like all things in business, the ultimate answer is—to generate more revenue.

But how?

There are three ways you can profit off of your existing Customer base:

  • Prevent those customers from churning;
  • Sell MORE product to your existing customers; or
  • Leverage existing customer relationships to sell to new Customers.

But doing these things is easier said than done.

Proactive customer outreach—even using low-touch automation—requires significant investment in technology and manpower. If you spend more than you make then you won’t be in business very long!

Segments to the Rescue: How CSMs Should Segment Their Customer Base

Customer segmentation allows you do these three things in a time- and cost-effective manner by focusing on the right customer at the right time. By targeting a PRECISE SUBSET OF YOUR CUSTOMERS for each of these tasks, you can ensure that each is a profitable endeavour.

Segments help provide that FOCUSyou just have to ask the correct question of your customer base.

Want to prevent customers from churning?

You have to focus on those customers who are NOT GETTING ENOUGH VALUE FROM YOUR PRODUCT.

  • Which customers aren’t logging into my app?
    • The Answer: A segment that lists customers with 0 daily active users.
  • Which customers aren’t completing a specific value-adding activity in my app?
    • The Answer: A segment that lists customers who are NOT triggering an event or visiting a specific page.

Want to drive upsells, cross-sells, and account expansion?

You must focus on those customers who would get MORE VALUE from MORE of your PRODUCT.

  • Which customer are using everything they have purchased?
    • The Answer: A segment that shows customers using 90% or more of their licenses on a daily or monthly basis.
  • Which customers are thinking about upgrading?
    • The Answer: A segment that shows customers who have visited your “Upgrade” page to see what options are available to them.

Want to leverage your existing relationships to land new business?

You must approach those customers who are MOST LIKELY to provide a positive review or serve as a reference customer to a prospective lead.

  • Which customers are likely to provide a good review?
    • The Answer: A segment that shows customers who have provided a 9 or 10 on their most recent Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey.

We recently gave a workshop on how to use Akita to build segments that will help your business reduce churn, grow revenue from your existing customers and leverage those customers to help land new business.

Video here:

Slides here:

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