Wednesday, May 22, 2019

8:09 AM

Customer success is critical when it comes to the overall experience that a customer has when they use a product. Very few companies pay attention to success when they start a company. Rather, this only becomes an area of focus for most businesses when problems arise that require resolution. Rather than trying to rectify an issue when it becomes apparent that customers are having trouble, it is a far better strategy to be ahead of the curve. Investing in this at an early stage will ensure your customers are more satisfied with their overall experience with your software, which will inevitably lead to more success in your business.

What You Need to Know about Improving Customer Success

Reducing and Eliminating Customer Churn

If a customer is having issues using your software, there is a very good chance they are going to decide to throw in the towel. If your customers are having a difficult time using your product, customer churn is almost always going to increase. Preventing this from happening should be a major goal from the first day you start your business. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to evaluate your software and really understand the pitfalls that customers are experiencing while using your software. As the creator of a product, it may be easy to overlook issues that customers may have when they use your product for the first time. This type of bias is absolutely understandable, although it is something that can easily get in the way of customer retention. You want your customers to have an easy time using your software, which means you are going to want to make the experience as user-friendly as possible. Studying the way customers interact with your product, especially the issues they run into the first time using your software, will allow you to identify areas that need to be improved. The better the initial impression, the less customer churn you will experience.

Improving the Onboarding Process

The last thing you want is an onboarding process that is complex and full of hurdles to jump over. There is a stress factor that comes along with using a new product, based on the fact that there is a complete lack of familiarity. The more issues you have with your actual onboarding process, the less likely a new customer is going to want to remain using your product. This is an issue that many businesses fail to understand. If a customer struggles during the onboarding process, there is a very good chance they are going to make judgments about your entire product. The initial impression is critical. If your onboarding process causes them a lot of difficulties, the customer may become worried that they are going to have a difficult time using your product. There is always going to be an evaluation process that starts when a customer is becoming integrated with a new product. The greater success the customer experiences when they are going through the onboarding process, the better chance they are going to remain one of your customers.

Following a Proactive Approach

Being proactive with customer success involves taking the time and spending the money to really understand how customers are interacting with your product. If there are glaring problems that customers are experiencing while using your software, you are likely going to be made aware of them at some point. However, you are likely going to lose a lot of customers during this time period. This is a flawed way of operating a business. Rather than cleaning up the mess when it develops, avoid the mess altogether. Making customer success a priority will lead to less customer churn and will make your company run a lot more smoothly.