Customer success is crucial to the success of any business. That’s why companies have dedicated customer success teams of various professionals with unique skills and responsibilities. From customer success managers to customer success representatives, each role plays a key part in ensuring customer satisfaction and driving business growth. In this article, we’ll share the major roles in every customer success team and their responsibilities.
The importance of a well-structured customer success team
Your SaaS company cannot survive without a good customer success team. In this article by CMSWire, Shreesha Ramdas wrote, “Customer success needs to be part of a company’s DNA. Without properly serving customers, value proposition makes no sense.”
A study by Deloitte also showed that companies that prioritize customer experience were 60% more profitable than those that don’t. This means companies prioritizing their customers and focusing on having a well-structured team ultimately deliver better customer experience.
When it comes to creating a well-structured customer success team, many factors must be considered, from the team’s makeup to the tools used. In this article, we will dive into the makeup of the team and their different duties.
What are the roles in a customer success team structure?
Different roles make up a customer success team structure. These roles help team members specialize in different aspects of the sales process related to customer experience and interaction. We’ll be giving you five key roles and duties:
Vice president of customer success
The vice president (VP) of Customer Success is responsible for all post-sale functions of a business. I.e. They handle the management and growth of the customer success team by overseeing strategy implementations or developments.
Responsibilities of a VP of customer success
- Find a balance between customer needs and company goals.
- Oversees the entire team and is focused on discovering opportunities for growth and customer advancement
- Ensure customer loyalty is paramount and increase customer lifetime value (CLV) by increasing their value from the product.
- Set up programs and plans that align with company goals, features, values, and use cases.
- They are the direct line of communication between the leadership and customer success teams.
- Assist customers from onboarding to product usage and eventual product adoption.
Chief Customer Officer (CCO)
A Chief Customer Officer (CCO) is a high-level executive responsible for overseeing a company’s interactions with its customers. The CCO is typically responsible for ensuring customer satisfaction, creating customer-focused strategies, and improving the customer experience.
Responsibilities of a chief customer officer
- Develops and implements customer-centric strategies and programs.
- Oversees customer service, sales, and marketing departments
- Analyzes customer data and feedback to identify areas for improvement
- Represents the voice of the customer in company decision-making processes
- Collaborates with other departments to improve the overall customer experience
- Defines and tracks customer satisfaction metrics.
- Provides regular reports to the CEO and other executives on customer feedback and trends
Customer success manager
A Customer Success Manager (CSM) is responsible for ensuring customers’ long-term success and satisfaction. The goal of a CSM is to build strong relationships with customers, understand their needs, and help them achieve their goals using the company’s products or services.
Responsibilities of a customer success manager
- Onboards new customers and helps them get to their Aha! Moment.
- Builds and maintains strong relationships with customers through regular check-ins and communication.
- Monitors customer usage and engagement with the company’s products or services.
- Identifies potential roadblocks or issues impacting the customer’s success and works to resolve them.
- Provides training and support to help customers maximize their investment in the company’s products or services.
- Works closely with other departments, such as sales, product, and technical support, to ensure a seamless customer experience.
- Provides customer feedback to the company’s product and development teams to inform product roadmap and feature prioritization.
Customer Success Representatives
A Customer Success Representative (CSR) is a customer-facing professional responsible for ensuring customer satisfaction and success. CSRs are key in building strong customer relationships and helping them achieve their goals using a company’s products or services.
Responsibilities of customer success representatives
- Providing prompt and effective customer support via phone, email, or chat
- Resolving customer issues and answering their questions promptly.
- Building and maintaining strong relationships with customers through regular communication.
- Identifying customer needs and making recommendations for additional products or services.
- Keeping track of customer interactions and updating customer information in the company’s CRM system.
- Working with other departments, such as product and technical support, to ensure a seamless customer experience.
- Keeping up-to-date with the company’s products, services, and policies.
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Customer success operations manager
A Customer Success Operations Manager is a professional responsible for overseeing and managing the day-to-day operations of a company’s customer success team.
Responsibilities of a Customer Success Operations Manager
- Designs and implements processes and systems to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the customer success team.
- Oversees the performance of the customer success team, including coaching, mentoring, and providing feedback.
- Ensures the customer success team has the necessary tools, resources, and training to perform their tasks effectively.
- Monitors customer satisfaction and success metrics and uses this information to drive continuous improvement.
- Develops and implements programs to improve customer retention and loyalty.
- Manages the customer success budget, including tracking expenses and recommending future investments.
How big should a customer success team be?
The size of a customer success team depends on several factors, including the company’s goals, the size of the customer base, and the complexity of the products or services offered. There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, but some general guidelines can help determine the optimal size for a customer success team.
For smaller companies with a limited customer base, a customer success team consisting of one or two individuals may be sufficient. As the customer base grows, the customer success team can also grow, adding more customer success managers, customer success representatives, and other roles as needed.
A larger customer success team may be required for companies with more complex products or services. This can help ensure that customers receive the support and guidance they need to use the products or services and achieve their goals effectively.
Ultimately, the size of a customer success team should be driven by the company’s goals and the customer base’s needs.
