4 Elements of Superior Customer Success and Customer Experience

How are Customer Success and Customer Experience different? This article explains the difference and outlines why both are important to your business. There are 4 elements of a customer-centric advantage provided by Customer Success and superior Customer Experience. Read on to find out what they are.

Leverage our SBI CX Strategy 2019 Workbook to implement the use of a Customer Experience (CX) Design Strategy. Implementing this strategy will ensure that you have complete confidence that your teams can provide a superior customer experience.

1. Customer Success (CS) Means Better Outcomes

    

    After a product or solution purchase, a customer must continue to benefit from its intended value. But solutions are complicated.  And solutions evolve as new features are released. With these complications and changes, Customers get feel overwhelmed or underutilize the power of the solution.

    

   When customers maximize the power of your solution, they expect to achieve better outcomes.  They expect these outcomes throughout the course of ownership.

    

   Getting the most of a solution can be a challenge. As such, Customer Success teams are utilized to help customers maximize the value of their investment. These Customer Success teams manage the relationship with the buyers and users of your solution. As they advocate for the customer, these teams build trust and empower users toward improved performance.

    

   When managed well, these relationships have a positive effect on your business.  Customer Success teams lead to higher Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV) and reduced customer churn.

    

2. The Ideal Customer Experience (CX)

    

    Today there are downward pressures on pricing and shrinking competitive product advantages. The non-tangible experience of working with your company can be the difference.  The ideal Customer Experience (CX) is the new way to differentiate.

    

   What is superior CX? It is when the experience of providing your solution is as remarkable as the outcome itself. To deliver this promise, you need a strategy to build and execute a best-in-class CX capability. With a CX Strategy your organization can consistently provide a superior customer experience.

    

   Focus in this area goes beyond strategy. To deliver an exceptional CX, companies are hiring a Chief Customer Officer (CCO). Reporting directly to the CEO, the CCO is a peer to the Sales and Marketing leaders. This is the visibility required to create a successful customer experience. The CCO focuses on delivering and measuring CX.

    

   CLTV and Average Selling Price (ASP) increases, and customer churn decreases with superior CX.

    

3. CS plus CX is the New Competitive Advantage

    

   The experience of the customer matters as much if not more than their desired outcomes. This is truer now than ever before as products become commoditized. How well a company achieves this can be measured in terms of outcomes and experience.

    

   A superior experience inspires customers to emotionally invest in the relationship. They enjoy (maybe even look forward to) working with you.  So much so that they talk about the experience, share it, and recommend it. In the end, the product is delivered to the customer and the positive outcomes are realized.

    

   Both Customer Success and Customer Experience are needed to sustain your competitive edge.

    

4. The Two-Dimensional Measurement of the CS and CX you Provide

    

   Traditionally, Customer Success is measured with a 10-point Net Promoter Score (NPS).  A score of 8-10 means your customer is likely to recommend you to a peer. A score of 6 or less means your customer will recommend against you.

    

   Though NPS is effective, it is not complete. Therefore, a second CX dimension is needed to give the full and accurate picture. You need to measure CX by collecting insights and feedback directly from your customers. First, you must know what a memorable experience looks like from the perspective of the customer.  Second, you must monitor how well your organization delivers that memorable experience. The same 10-point scale should be used when answering these questions:

    

   • Does the customer like us?
   • Do we listen to the customer?
   • Do we make the customer feel important?
   • Do we “get” the customer and their problems?
   • Does the customer trust and believe in us?

      

To get the full picture, map CS and CX scores across the two-dimensional Experience-to-Outcome Ratio. Customer detraction, churn, retention, and expansion can be accurately predicted using this ratio as illustrated below.

Customer Success and Customer Experience are different and necessary to your competitive advantage. There are 4 elements to create a customer-centric advantage. These elements increase Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV), increase ASP, reduce Customer Acquisition Cost, and reduce churn.

Download our SBI CX Strategy 2019 Workbook. Using this workbook will help you:

1. Implement the use of a CX Design Strategy (in order to have confidence that your teams can provide a superior customer experience).

    

2. Launch and maintain a successful customer-focused culture.

    

3. Understand if your company has both the capacity and capability required to deliver and maintain the ideal experience for your customers.

    

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