Customer success offers companies ample opportunities to decrease churn, improve revenue, and increase customer loyalty. But it also comes with its set of challenges.

Based on the research we’ve conducted on the customer success teams across industries, we were able to compile a list of the top customer success challenges. But knowing what they are isn’t enough if you don’t have the proper strategies to help you face them. So, in this guide, we’ll discuss the top challenges in customer success and how to overcome them.

#1 Monitoring Customer Usage

As soon as the sales team is done with the customer, the customer success team has to take over. During onboarding, they have to ensure that the customer is using the product properly to help them reach their desired outcome. But one of the top customer success challenges at this point is about how to monitor customer usage. You can’t continuously ask your customer about how often they use your product.

So, most CSMs can’t access accurate user product adoption. Without this information, companies can’t proactively save at-risk accounts and reduce churn.

Solution: Use a Monitoring Tool

Using a customer success platform is the solution to this challenge. Through this, you would be able to see how often your customers are logging into your product, how long each session is, etc. An intelligent CS platform would always show you the customer health score through which you can keep an eye on every customer.

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#2 Maintaining Relationships With Every Customer

Nurturing relationships with every customer is as much a necessity as it is a pain point for a CSM. When your customer base is smaller, it’s still manageable to keep interacting with every customer. But when it grows, it becomes too challenging to keep a personal touch with everyone.

When your customers do not feel valued in a relationship with your brand, it can hamper their retention. The performance of your product is no doubt a necessary parameter in keeping them loyal to your brand but there are other factors too that are at play. According to a survey by Salesforce, around 76% of their customers expect brands to understand their needs and expectations.

Solution: Invest in More CSMs or Use Tech-Touch Engagement

There can be two solutions to this situation. First, based on your customer base scaling rate, you should invest in expanding your team of CSMs. In the long run, hiring more CSMs will pay off and you’ll see it reflected in your customer relationships, retention and revenue.

Second solution would be to use a tech-touch or hybrid-touch engagement model. In this, you use automation to keep in touch with your customers regularly. You can schedule at which points you need to auto-send them emails or any reminders. These reminders can be, for example, to renew their subscriptions, or just updating them about a launch of new features. Though it’s important to note that automation should be implemented as a stepping stone for hiring more CSMs.

#3 Customers Not Finding Value

One of the biggest customer success challenges would be when your customer doesn’t find value in your product. They purchased the product with some initial expectations, but later on found that product is not providing enough value. They end up getting frustrated with the extra cost they need to put in to continue using your product. Hence, they eventually decide to stop their subscription.

Solution: Engage with Customers Strategically

The solution to this challenge is to engage with your customers using the right strategy. Right from the beginning, you must create a roadmap for your customers. You need to set their expectations right in your onboarding discussions with them. Tell them clearly what they can achieve from your product and what they can’t. Then you must set some realistic goals they would achieve as they move along in their usage of the product.

Preferably, you’ll also want to ensure the message and promise that the marketing and sales department is using is realistic for what your product can accomplish. And one way to do that is by perfecting the sales-to-customer success handoff.

At every milestone they reach, you must make them aware of what is coming their way. This will keep them engaged with your product and give them a chance to raise their voice immediately when they’re not satisfied with your service. This is the best way to always stay updated on your customer’s satisfaction.

Final Take

Customer success has become an indispensable function in modern SaaS organizations. You need to stay ahead of the curve at all stages of your customer journey. The customer success challenges are an inevitable part of your evolution as a customer-centric organization.

You have to continuously demonstrate the value of your product to the customer’s organization. There might be different stakeholders at different levels that you need to interact with. But your value proposition must be tailor made to satisfy every stakeholder in their own terms. The business value must be shown to the top management. While the reduction in workflow and ease of access must be demonstrated to the end-users and their leaders.

All the challenges are a part of your learning curve. And if you are finding the right solutions and maintaining a playbook to document them for further use, then you are on the right path towards success for your organization.

WRITTEN BYRohan Sheth

Rohan has over 11 years of experience in client services, marketing and hospitality field. Previously, he was head of digital marketing for a hi-tech mobile application. Rohan is driven by new challenges and the possibility of making an impact on individuals and businesses.

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