4 Proven Ways CS and Product Teams Can Work Better Together
Teamwork between CS and Product is fundamental.
But it's not always easy.
Here are 4 proven ways that will help you work better together:
Schedule Regular Meetings
First, make sure everyone is on the same page about:
customer needs,
product plans,
and upcoming releases.
For this, run regular internal meetings with:
Demos of new product features
Discussions of customer feedback and requests for improvements
Deciding which product updates to focus on based on customer impact
Aligning on release timelines and communication plans.
Make sure all the CS team members attend these meetings.
Share detailed notes after each meeting with action items and owners.
Create a Clear Feedback Process
It should be super easy for your customers to submit improvement requests and feedback.
Document the entire process.
Keep it simple.
Use one of these feedback platforms or even a simple Slack channel as a starting point.
Build a template for providing key details like customer impact and priority.
Work with Product to:
Review and prioritize request backlogs.
get visibility into the roadmap and status of submitted requests.
Communicate and give regular updates on progress.
Link Requests to Revenue
One of the best ways to get product teams’ attention is to show how a customer request could impact revenue.
Quantify the potential upside of addressing a request:
More business from the requesting customer
Attracting new customers
Reducing customer churn
Saving time for CS/Support
Bring high-revenue requests to your execs in Product and Sales meetings.
Celebrate Wins Together
When product improvements ship based on customer requests, celebrate the teamwork.
Recognize the Product team's responsiveness.
Highlight the customer impact and success stories.
And That’s It
Simple and yet powerful.
Let’s make customer success great again! :)
I hope that helps.
-Hakan.
P.S. How’s your experience so far working with Product teams? Any other tips you’d like to add here?