By Lauren Costella
These days, the buzz in Customer Success seems to be all about that scale. And more than that, there’s been a heavy focus on digital and automation. This comes as no surprise: new technology has emerged to support the Customer Success space, budgets are tighter with an uncertain economy, and most company divisions (not just CS) need to do more with less.
We have intentionally worked to build digital here at Dental Intelligence and have done it well. So, I thought I would share 4 key tips for going digital in your Customer Success team.
Tip 1: Digital is a strategy, not a segment
Digital is not a customer segment. Going digital is a customer retention strategy. This strategy applies across your customer segments. It’s common to confuse digital with a segment, like a tech touch segment. Do not do this. The use of digital practices can be used in every segment you have. How that’s done relies on building an appropriate customer experience and then understanding where you can utilize digital to engage with your customers. It’s common that when you employ a digital strategy you may end up with an entirely tech touch segment, but that’s not the purpose of employing a digital strategy. A digital strategy should be used to augment the team and help scale your CS practices while delivering an appropriate customer experience.
Tip 2: Digital requires proper resourcing; it’s not a side hustle
A digital strategy cannot be a resourcing afterthought. It requires investing dollars and people into ensuring its success. Many times, CS teams will ask a capable CSM to start down the digital path, asking them to help set up a CS platform and/or other automation. That will not get you where you need to go, but this practice will happen under resource constraints. Do not do this! Invest in your digital team. Invest in someone to run your digital programs. Invest in technology to support this strategy, and invest in people to help make this come to fruition. Examples of people you may need include content creators, technology and operations leads, and data gurus. It’s not a light investment and will require what seem to be impossible choices, but the investment here could save you hundreds of thousands down the line.
When Dental Intelligence employed a digital strategy, we focused on our SMB segment and specifically onboarding. After implementing our digital first approach, we have not only seen success with customers, but the company has seen over $350K in headcount savings, which only grows as we add more customers over time and do not need to hire more onboarding resources. It was difficult to start because we felt so resource constrained with our SMB team as it was, but the short term pain paled in comparison to the long term gains.
Tip 3: Start with a data-driven, clear focus
A digital strategy is an ongoing effort, not a one-time effort. It requires focus, attention and a roadmap. A successful strategy will start small and focused to get going. For example, when we decided to employ a digital strategy at Dental Intelligence, we started with the area that was in the worst shape and had the biggest impact on our retention: SMB Onboarding. This focus in both segment and stage of journey allowed us to really think about and build the appropriate experience. And, more importantly, it allowed us to say no to building customer experiences outside of our focus. It’s easy for a team to get distracted with requests. A clear focus allows the team to say no, and get the most important job done.
Tip 4: Build a plan with milestone and metrics
The fourth tip is pretty tactical but extremely important: build a project plan with milestones, metrics and needed teammates. Building a digital program requires having a project plan with a clear scope of milestones, success, metrics, and teammates needed to accomplish the goal. Without this plan, I’ve seen many programs fail. The reason: the scope is too big, milestones aren’t clear, success isn’t defined, measurements haven’t been thought through, and/or the teammates needed to do the job haven’t been thought through. For example, a digital strategy often needs cross-functional work with product, engineering, operations, and data teams. If you haven’t clearly lined up the help prior to starting, the project will be an afterthought for the other teams, and you’ll fail to get the help you need, when you need it, to get the program stood up.
Bonus Tip: Burn the boats
I recognize I said I would share the top four tips, but this bonus one is a good one. And, while it may be controversial, I’ve found it’s made the difference between succeeding and failing. The last tip in driving your digital strategy is: burn the boats. The term burn the boats comes from Sun Tzu in his book “The Art of War” which “teaches armies to burn their boats and destroy the bridges behind them as they advance into new territory.” For all intents and purposes, it means that there is no going back. One can only go forward and find a way. Employing a digital strategy takes time, evolution and constant iteration. It doesn’t just happen overnight. If you’re going to employ a digital strategy, I suggest burn the boats! Don’t create a plan B; make plan A work! Encourage your teams to keep iterating to get it right. This is why creating a plan with metrics and milestones is so important. With the goal posts set, the team can keep iterating until they accomplish them. If you create a Plan B, then it gives license for Plan A to fail, and this is not the mentality you can have when launching such a mission critical strategy.
Going digital can be tough, and in some cases daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. With a few helpful tips, you too can kick off a Digital Strategy in your Customer Success organization and not only provide an exceptional experience for customers but also achieve the scale and savings needed by your CEO and Board.
The Success League is a customer success consulting firm that offers a CS Leadership Certification program which includes a titled called The Digital Customer Journey. Please visit TheSuccessLeague.io for these and our other offerings.
Lauren Costella - Lauren is a change agent, communicator, leader and passionate champion for Customer Success. When she’s not working as the Chief Customer Officer at Dental Intelligence, you can find her serving as an advisor for The Success League, a board member for the Customer Success Network, and blogging on the CS Playlist. Lauren has her MA and BA from Stanford University. She was a former USA National swim team member and enjoys staying active in the Bay Area.