What is the business process of customer success? Benefits of using manuals

What is Customer Success?

Customer success refers to the efforts to lead customers to success. It can be described as a collective term for the processes and activities that support customer success. We provide support to ensure that customers can make the most of our products and services and achieve their goals. By guiding customers to success in this way, we enhance customer satisfaction, maximize LTV (lifetime value), and build long-term relationships.

The Background of Growing Attention on Customer Success

Increase in Subscription-Based Services

With the increase of subscription-based services, it has become important for companies to build long-term relationships with their customers. Unlike the traditional one-time sales model, in the subscription model, the key to revenue is that customers continue to use the service continuously. Therefore, customer success has become a focus to enhance customer satisfaction and keep the churn rate low.

Changes in Sales Techniques

Sales methods are also changing significantly. Traditional sales focused on acquiring new customers, but now maintaining existing customers and upselling and cross-selling are emphasized. Customer success is based on the idea that supporting customers to make the most of products and services leads to the success of the company.

Spread of CRM (Customer Relationship Management System)

The spread of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems has made it easier to manage and analyze customer data. This allows for a detailed understanding of customer needs and behaviors, enabling personalized responses. By utilizing CRM in customer success operations, it is possible to grasp the customer's situation in real-time and provide support and suggestions at the appropriate timing.

The combination of these factors is making customer success increasingly important.

What is Customer Success?
What is Customer Success? Differences between roles and customer support

Customer Success Business Processes

This explains the typical business processes of customer success.

1. Definition of Customer Phase Success

First, we will define the customer phases and success. The customer phases refer to the stages in which customers utilize products or services, divided into phases. For example, there are the onboarding phase, adoption phase, and expansion phase. The definition of success is to clarify the goals and success criteria that customers should achieve in each phase. This allows us to understand what kind of support customers need at each stage.

2. Development of Customer Journey

Next, we will formulate the customer journey. The customer journey visualizes the series of experiences a customer has when using a product or service. This includes all steps from when the customer first learns about the product, to purchase, usage, support, and retention (continued use). By formulating the customer journey, we can anticipate the experiences customers will have and provide optimal support at each step.

3. Identifying Approaches for Success and Resource Allocation (Building Organizational Structure)

We identify specific approaches to support customer success and allocate resources accordingly. The approaches include high-touch (providing personalized support, especially for large or key customers), low-touch (efficiently supporting medium-sized customers), and tech-touch (utilizing automated tools and digital channels to support primarily small or numerous customers). This includes clarifying the roles and responsibilities of Customer Success Managers (CSMs) and providing the necessary tools and training. Additionally, we appropriately allocate resources such as technical support, training, and consulting based on customer needs.

4. Definition of Health Score (Indicator)

Define a health score to assess the customer's health status. The health score is a quantitative indicator that measures the customer's usage, satisfaction, engagement, and more. This allows for a quantitative understanding of how successful the customer is and enables early intervention before issues arise.

5. Implementing PDCA

Finally, we will implement the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle. This is a method of continuously improving processes by repeating the four steps of planning (Plan), execution (Do), evaluation (Check), and improvement (Act). In customer success, we also regularly assess the customer's situation, review our approach as needed, and make improvements.

Through these processes, the goal of customer success is to support the success of our clients and build long-term relationships.

What are the main phases of customer success and the key points of success?

Customer Success Business Challenges and Key Solutions

We will introduce the business challenges of customer success and the main solutions.

Issue: Insufficient human resources, inefficient operations

[Solution]

Utilizing tools and creating manuals is effective. Details are explained below.

Insufficient human resources

• Introduction of Automation Tools
  Chatbot: By implementing a chatbot that automatically responds to frequently asked questions from customers, we reduce the burden on customer support.
  Automated Email Campaigns: Utilizing tools that automatically send emails based on customer behavior enhances customer engagement.

• Setting Priorities
  Customer Segmentation: Segment customers based on importance and urgency to optimally allocate resources. For example, allocate resources primarily to high-touch customers, while utilizing automation tools for customers that can be handled with tech-touch.

• Outsourcing
  Utilizing external support: By outsourcing training and some support tasks to external specialists, we complement internal resources.

Inefficient operations

• Process Review and Standardization
  Manualization of Business Flow: We will review the current business processes and create standardized manuals. This will improve consistency and efficiency in operations.
  Utilization of Templates: By standardizing the formats for regular meetings and reports and utilizing templates, we will reduce working time.

• Utilization of CRM Systems
  Centralized Management of Customer Data: By utilizing CRM systems, we centralize customer data to achieve faster customer responses and personalization.
  Introduction of Analytical Tools: We introduce tools to analyze customer behavior data, allowing us to quickly understand customer needs and challenges.

• Training and Skill Development
  Regular Training: We conduct regular training for members of the Customer Success Team to enhance their skills. This improves the quality and efficiency of our operations. Knowledge Base Development: We create a knowledge base that compiles frequently asked questions and troubleshooting methods, which is shared across the entire team.

• Introduction of Collaboration Tools
  Microsoft Teams and Slack: We will introduce collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams and Slack to facilitate communication within the team. This will enable smoother information sharing and is expected to improve operational efficiency.

By combining these solutions, we can improve the shortage of human resources and the inefficiency of operations, thereby enhancing the quality of customer success operations.

Issue: Dependence on individual expertise and experience

[Solution]

Utilizing manuals and conducting training are effective initiatives for standardizing operations. Details are explained below.

Utilization of Training

• Standardized Training Program
  New Employee Training: We implement a standardized training program for new members joining the Customer Success Team. This ensures that everyone understands and executes their tasks according to the same standards.
  Ongoing Skill Development Training: We conduct regular skill development training to share the latest business knowledge and best practices. This helps to standardize the skills of the personnel and prevent dependency on specific individuals.

• Introduction of the Mentorship System
  We will implement a mentorship system where experienced members guide new members. This will allow for the sharing of experience and knowledge across the entire team, creating a structure that does not rely on individual intuition or experience.

Documentation

• Standardization and Manualization of Business Processes
  Documentation of Business Flows: Each business process will be documented in detail and organized as a manual. This allows anyone to perform tasks following the same procedures.
  Creation of Checklists: Checklists will be created for important tasks to ensure that the responsible parties can carry out their duties without omissions.

• Building a Knowledge Base
  FAQ and Troubleshooting Guide: We will build a knowledge base that compiles frequently asked questions and troubleshooting methods, which will be shared across the entire team. This will enable the responsible parties to resolve issues quickly.
  Sharing Success Stories: We will add success stories and best practices to the knowledge base so that everyone can refer to them.

Utilizing Tools

• Implementation of CRM System
  By implementing a CRM system that centrally manages customer information and response history, it becomes easier for representatives to refer to past interactions. This enables responses based on data rather than relying on individual intuition and experience.

• Utilization of Project Management Tools
  By utilizing project management tools such as Asana and Trello, we visualize the progress of our work. This makes it easier for the entire team to understand the status of the work, enabling efficient execution of tasks.

By combining these solutions, you can achieve efficient and consistent customer success operations without relying on individual expertise or the intuition and experience of specific personnel.

Issue: KPIs are not clearly defined

[Solution]

Setting KPIs is essential for customer success. We will also utilize metrics.

• 1. Goal Setting and KPI Definition

  • Clarification of Business Objectives: First, we clarify the overall business objectives of the company. Based on this, we set the goals for the customer success team.

  • Setting KPIs: We will establish specific KPIs based on customer success goals. This will allow for a quantitative evaluation of the team's performance.

• 2. Monitoring and Reporting of KPIs

  • Regular Reviews: We will regularly review the established KPIs and check the progress. This allows us to adjust actions as necessary to achieve our goals.

  • Utilization of the Dashboard: We will implement a dashboard that allows real-time monitoring of KPIs and share it with the entire team. This will make it easier for everyone to understand progress towards the goals.

• 3. Building a Feedback Loop

  • Regular Feedback Sessions: We hold regular feedback sessions with team members to share the status of KPI achievements and areas for improvement. This promotes continuous improvement.

Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

• Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)
  This is a metric that measures how satisfied customers are with the services provided. It is collected through surveys and feedback forms.

• Net Promoter Score (NPS)
  A metric that measures how likely customers are to recommend a product or service to others. It helps assess customer loyalty.

• Churn Rate (Cancellation Rate)
  This is an indicator that shows the percentage of customers who canceled the service within a certain period. A low churn rate indicates high customer satisfaction.

• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
  This is an indicator that shows the total revenue a customer brings to a company over their lifetime. A high CLV indicates that the customer is providing value in the long term.

• Onboarding Completion Rate
  This metric indicates the percentage of new customers who have completed the onboarding process. A smooth onboarding leads to early customer retention.

• Product Utilization Rate
  This is an indicator that measures how much customers are utilizing the features of products and services. A high utilization rate indicates that customers are realizing the value of the product.

By utilizing these solutions and metrics, you can effectively evaluate and improve the performance of customer success operations.

Benefits of Using Manuals in Customer Success Operations

There are many benefits to using manuals in customer success operations.

Achieving Business Efficiency

By utilizing manuals, the procedures and processes of operations become clear, allowing anyone to perform tasks in the same way. This reduces unnecessary time and effort, achieving greater efficiency in operations. For example, if the methods for responding to frequently asked questions are documented in a manual, responses can be made quickly.

Achieving Business Standardization

By creating manuals, standardization of operations is promoted. When everyone performs tasks using the same procedures, it prevents variations in quality and allows for consistent service delivery. This, in turn, leads to an improvement in customer satisfaction.

Personalization is eliminated

Business operations can be carried out at the same level by anyone, without relying on the intuition or experience of specific personnel. By following the manual, the dependency on individuals is eliminated, and the quality of work is maintained even when personnel change.

Leads to a reduction in education costs

By utilizing the manuals when new members join, you can reduce the time and cost of education and training. Since self-learning can be done based on the manuals, training efficiency improves, allowing for quicker acclimatization to the work.

Leads to a reduction in labor costs

By achieving operational efficiency and reducing training costs, it leads to an overall reduction in labor costs. This allows for efficient execution of tasks, enabling high results with fewer resources.

By leveraging these benefits, you can advance customer success operations more effectively.

[Thorough Explanation] How to Create Foolproof Manuals

Summary

The priority of customer success is increasing in many B2B companies, especially SaaS companies. The operations of the customer success department are very diverse, so there is a need for streamlining and improving those business processes. Human Science's services can implement measures that lead to the efficiency of the customer success department and the enhancement of CX (customer experience).

Service Introduction

To efficiently share information on knowledge for customer success or to improve customer satisfaction, it is important to maintain documentation. It is also necessary to secure resources for this purpose. However, creating manuals and developing training content to improve customer satisfaction requires a large number of personnel and time, making it a high priority and a heavy workload task.

At Human Science, there are many services available for customers in the Customer Success department. In particular, we believe that the quality of the content provided by the Customer Success department is the key to success. Therefore, it is necessary to improve and create manuals, enhance FAQs, and create training content. All of these require costs if done in-house. Additionally, the quality must be easy to understand. At Human Science, we have a proven track record of creating easy-to-understand manuals and e-learning content. We offer the following services:

・Improvement of manual and training text quality
We propose the most suitable instruction manuals, technical documents, help, and FAQs for your environment. We provide consulting services from evaluating current manuals to creating a multilingual support system and building and operating a CMS. We can also handle the production of video manuals.

・Support for creating educational content and introducing LMS (Learning Management System)
Just like manuals, we will propose the most suitable educational content for your environment. Starting with evaluating your current content, we can also optimize LMS and support multiple languages.

・Chatbot Implementation and Construction Support
Many companies are adopting chatbots to streamline their customer support processes. We will propose the most suitable chatbot for your environment. We offer one-stop support from chatbot system implementation to content creation.

Project Achievements

The following are achievements for the Customer Success Department.

WingArc1st Inc.: Consulting and content creation services for the Customer Success department

We also offer services that can handle the creation of easy-to-understand "manuals" and "video manuals", as well as e-learning content, which are necessary for customer success, all in one stop. Please take advantage of them.