In order to facilitate SaaS companies to have a more detailed reference when building a customer success system, this article will provide SaaS companies with a standard operating procedure (SOP) for customer success managers.
About this SOP
SOPs vary between companies
It should be noted in advance that the SOPs for customer success managers vary for different SaaS companies. In terms of product type, SaaS products can be divided into tool-based SaaS and management-based SaaS. In terms of customer types, SaaS products may have customers such as large C, SMB, medium and large B, etc. These differences have caused differences in the average customer price, transaction cycle, sales input costs, etc. of enterprise products, and have also led to differences in the content of customer success work. Therefore, it is difficult to have a set of SOPs for customer success managers that are suitable for all companies. Companies should design their own SOPs for customer success managers based on the SOP samples we provide and in combination with their own conditions.
The stages of a customer service manager’s work
Due to the differences in division of responsibilities and operating methods, the customer stages served by customer success teams of different companies may also be different, but we will not discuss them separately here. In the SOP we provide, the work of the customer success manager starts from the customer signing the order until the customer renewal and renewal reaches the stage end.
Therefore, we divide the customer life journey that the customer success team is responsible for in the main work into three stages in chronological order:
- Startup phase;
- Stable use phase;
- Renewal phase.
In the startup phase, customer success work includes:
- Customer handover;
- Product delivery;
- Getting started.
In the stable use phase, customer success work includes:
- Customer status monitoring;
- Customer churn risk prediction;
- Additional purchase opportunity mining;
- Proactive customer service.
In the renewal phase, customer success work includes:
- Renewal preparation;
- Signing of renewal contract.
In the following paragraphs, we will provide a set of SOPs and explain in detail the nine sub-works of the customer success department in these three phases.
A SOP for a Customer Success Manager Job
Work 1 · Customer Handover
Purpose Transfer the customer from sales to the customer success manager, who will be responsible for the subsequent customer success work.
Time Starts immediately after the customer signs the contract, and generally lasts about one to three days.
Task
- Customer segmentation. Classify customers according to region, size, industry, etc., and arrange appropriate customer success managers or teams to connect;
- File handover. Sales organizes detailed customer files and hands them over to the corresponding customer success managers;
- Internal kick-off meeting. The sales and customer success managers related to the customer hold a meeting within the company. Sales explain various matters of the customer and hand them over to the customer success manager;
- External kick-off meeting. Invite the customer to hold an external kick-off meeting to let the customer know the customer success manager responsible for him, and the customer success manager will synchronize the next work plan with the customer.
Related material preparation
- Customer segmentation plan. It is necessary to prepare the specific segmentation plan of the customer in advance and confirm the allocation criteria of the customer success manager;
- 360-degree customer file template. It is convenient for sales to record and synchronize all-round data such as customer introduction, communication records, contract order information, etc.;
- External kick-off meeting process file. Including the process design of the launch meeting, the data documents synchronized with the customer, etc.;
- Customer success plan. Show the customer the plan for future customer success work;
Result indicators
- The content in the customer profile information table has been filled;
- The external launch meeting was held on time;
- The customer success plan was confirmed by the customer KP.
Work 2 · Product delivery
Purpose Complete the development and configuration of product-related functions, so that customers can use the product in the actual environment.
Time The company can set the duration range according to the difficulty of its product delivery. The duration ranges from a few minutes to a few months. For SaaS products with high maturity and light delivery, it may not take much time. For some products that require complex configuration according to customer business processes or require customer engineers to cooperate in implementation, it may take several months to deliver.
Task
- Supervise product development. For some KA customers, if the current product does not meet the delivery standards required by the customer, the customer success manager needs to collaborate with product development and supervise the product development progress until the delivery standards are met;
Open an account. According to the type of package purchased by the customer, the customer success manager needs to open an account with the correct permissions for the customer;
- Complete product configuration. It is necessary to help the customer adjust the configuration parameters of the product account and import existing data in combination with the customer's actual business scenario;
- Customer environment settings. It is necessary to ensure that the customer can successfully log in and use the SaaS system provided by the company in their actual environment.
Preparation of relevant materials
- Delivery schedule. It is necessary to list all deliverables to the customer and the delivery time, and synchronize with the customer in real time;
- Account information list. The customer should be provided with a list of accounts and permissions of all users to help the customer log in and use the product normally;
- Product configuration method. Product parameter configuration templates for companies in various industries should be prepared in advance.
Result indicators
- Complete product delivery within the set time;
- All users of the customer can successfully use the product in the actual environment.
Work 3 · Getting started guidance
Purpose Ensure that all actual users of the customer are proficient in the use of the product, so as to maximize the value of the product.
Time The company can set the time range according to the difficulty of using its product.
Tasks
- Product usage guide sharing. Send the product usage guide to customers;
- Host a hands-on training session. Explain the product usage methods to customers in a more vivid way through online or offline training sessions;
- Conduct proficiency assessment. Test questions or data evaluation criteria are needed to ultimately determine whether the customer has reached a certain level of proficiency in product usage and can end the onboarding process.
Related material preparation
- Product usage guide. The customer success manager needs to work with the product to produce a product usage guide that explains in detail how to use all the product functions;
- Training session schedule and tutorial. It is necessary to prepare the training session method, frequency, schedule, etc. in advance, and design relevant training session materials;
- Customer usage journey. It is necessary to design the customer's usage journey within the product in advance, and cooperate with product development to develop the corresponding guidance process;
- Proficiency assessment criteria. It may be a set of test questions or a set of data evaluation criteria (such as the product usage coverage within the customer);
- Satisfaction questionnaire. Investigate the customer's overall satisfaction with the entire onboarding process.
Result indicators
- All product users pass the proficiency assessment;
- Customer satisfaction reaches a certain score;
- The product usage coverage rate within the customer reaches a certain proportion.
Work 4 · Customer status monitoring
Purpose Monitor and collect customer information data to grasp the customer's situation and trends in real time.
Time Monitor customer data in real time and produce customer status reports regularly (daily/weekly/monthly).
Tasks
- Monitor customer product usage data. In particular, real-time capture of abnormal changes, such as a sudden drop in customer usage time;
- Monitor customer communication. Monitor and count customer active communication, work order feedback, etc., and find customers who have not communicated for a long time;
- Monitor customer company-related news. Collect other customer information, such as the company's new financing, risks, etc.
- Collect customer satisfaction. Collect customer usage feedback through NPS scores, questionnaires, etc.
Relevant material preparation
- Data monitoring process and indicator list. List all customer data indicators that need to be monitored, as well as monitoring methods;
- Customer data report template. Design a template for customer data report to facilitate regular updates and synchronize with management;
- Customer usage data dashboard. Monitor the usage activity of all and individual customers and present them collectively in the form of a dashboard.
- Satisfaction questionnaire. Design questions in the questionnaire.
Result indicators
- All key trends of customers can be captured in a timely manner;
- Data reports are produced at regular intervals and at fixed points.
Work 5 · Customer churn risk analysis
Purpose Analyze and predict customer churn risks through the information data collected in the previous step.
Time Monitor customer data in real time and produce customer status reports regularly (daily/weekly/monthly).
Task
- Evaluate health. Based on the customer data collected in the previous step, comprehensively calculate customer health and predict customer churn risks;
- Identify customer problems. Based on the information obtained, locate the problems encountered by customers.
Preparation of relevant materials
- Health model. Design a method for calculating health;
- Health warning process. Design the response method of the customer team when the customer health is lower than a certain standard.
Result indicators
- Customer health is updated in real time and correctly;
- The accuracy of customer health in predicting customer churn risk is higher than a certain value.
Work 6 · Proactive customer service
Purpose Based on the collected customer information data and the analyzed churn risk, provide customers with services regularly/irregularly, solve customer problems, and help customers better realize value with products.
Time
- Regularly (daily/weekly/monthly) actively communicate with customers;
- Actively communicate with customers when customer problems are found and customer health is low.
Tasks
- Proactively provide services. Ask customers for feedback on product use to help customers use products better;
- Coordinate resources and solve problems. When encountering customer problems, solve problems for customers by coordinating the company's internal resources, such as customer service, product development and other resources.
Relevant material preparation
- Service allocation process and methods. Specify what kind of problems should be solved by which members of the team;
- Service process record document template. Record the process of each communication with customers;
- Solution library for related problems. For common customer problems, prepare a relevant solution library for easy and quick provision.
Result indicators
- Customer health is maintained above a certain score;
- Customer usage data exceeds a certain standard;
- Customer satisfaction meets the standard.
Work 7 · Mining additional purchase opportunities
Purpose Through operational analysis of customer usage and combined with active feedback from customers, new demand value points are mined to obtain opportunities for upselling and cross-selling to customers.
Time Anytime.
Task
- Analyze solutions for customers in the same industry. From the solutions of companies in the same industry as the customer, find opportunities that can also be used for the customer's company to help the other party increase value;
- Mining potential customer needs. Through analysis of customer data and information, find possible expansion opportunities for customers;
- Complete additional purchases. Help customers sign additional purchase contracts and complete the delivery of additional purchases.
Preparation of relevant materials Customer additional purchase process. After finding the opportunity for customer additional purchases, follow this process to allow customers to experience smooth additional purchases.
Result indicators Obtain additional purchase income from customers.
Work 8 · Renewal preparation
Purpose Lay the foundation for the final customer renewal and make adequate preparations.
Time If the contract is signed on an annual basis, it is usually three months before the subscription expires.
Task
- Confirm the customer's KP intention and company budget. Through inquiries and other forms, understand whether the customer is willing to continue to renew;
- Understand the update of new cycle requirements. Ask the customer whether the subscription scope, number of subscriptions, and functional requirements have changed in the new subscription cycle;
- Start to prepare for renewal. After obtaining the customer's renewal intention, prepare renewal contracts, functional updates, etc. in advance.
Related material preparation
- Customer latest status table. Provide the customer's new organizational structure chart (O-Chart), product business, etc., to clarify the changes in the customer's KP and company;
- Customer renewal document list. After the customer has the intention to renew, you can prepare the documents according to the list.
Result indicators The customer confirms the renewal intention.
Work 9 · Signing a renewal contract
Purpose Actually complete the signing of the renewal contract.
Time If the contract is signed on an annual basis, it is usually one month before the subscription expires.
Task
- Complete the signing of the renewal contract. Continue to follow up with customers, and finally complete the renewal contract signing and obtain repayment;
- Meet new customer needs. Meet some changes in the customer's new subscription period. Such as opening more accounts, providing new features, etc.
Related material preparation
- Renewal contract documents. Collaborate with corporate sales, finance and other teams to design renewal contract documents for customers to sign;
- Renewal related processes. Design renewal processes to give customers a smooth renewal experience.
Result indicators
- Contract signing completed;
- New demand delivery successful;
- Customer repayment completed;
- The company's overall customer retention rate and amount renewal rate increased.
