Customer Success Plans: Avoid These Mistakes

Customer Success plans are key for driving value and achieving business outcomes.

But these can often feel overwhelming and time-consuming.

In particular, if you’re new to CS.

Here are practical tips to make your work easier and your success planning process more impactful.

Focus on Quality, Not Quantity

It’s not about activity, but results.

If you’re dealing with a large number of accounts:

• It's tempting to create detailed success plans for every single one of them.

But, this approach can lead to burnout fast.

Instead, focus your efforts:

1. Start with your biggest accounts or those with the most potential impact.

2. For smaller accounts, create simplified plans that focus on one or two key objectives.

It's better to have a few well-executed plans than dozens of superficial ones.

💡According to a recent study by Gainsight, CSMs who focus on high-impact accounts see a 27% higher retention rate—compared to those who spread their efforts across all accounts.

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Use Technology and Templates

Many Customer Success platforms offer features to simplify the planning process:

• Use templates

  Create pre-filled objectives that you can apply to different plans.

• Clone plans

  Adapt successful plans from one client to another with similar needs.

• Automate where possible

  Work with your admin to identify opportunities for automation in the planning process.

💡A 2023 report by ChurnZero found that CSMs who use automation tools save an average of 5 hours per week on administrative tasks.

This means more time available for strategic planning instead.

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Collaborate with Your Customers

Success plans should be a collaborative effort with your customers.

Here's how to approach this:

1. Start early

   Begin discussing success plans from your very first meeting with the customer.

2. Come prepared

   Research the customer's goals from annual reports, press releases, and previous interactions.

3. Focus on outcomes

   Frame objectives around what the customer wants to achieve. Not just product usage metrics.

4. Use customer language: Describe outcomes in terms that resonate with your customer's business.

5. Ensure measurability: Only include objectives that have specific, agreed-upon metrics for success.

As Jill Favro Sawatzky, Chief Customer Officer at Thought Industries, says in our interview:

💡"The simplest strategy is to successfully deliver the product customers bought - as expected and when expected."

Nick Mehta, CEO of Gainsight, also states:

💡"The most successful CSMs are those who can translate their company's value proposition into the customer's language and priorities."

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Prioritize Impact Over Comprehensiveness

When setting objectives:

• Aim for 1-2 high-impact actions rather than a laundry list of minor tasks.

• Set objectives that are worth celebrating when achieved.

• Balance quick wins with longer-term, high-value goals.

Melissa Garcia, Director of Renewal Operations at Chief, emphasizes:

💡"Customers are primarily interested in their own KPIs, not ours."

Read my full interview with Melissa Garcia here.

💡According to a 2023 study by Gartner, organizations that focus on a few high-impact objectives in their customer success plans see a 23% higher retention rate compared to those with low-impact goals.

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Ongoing Improvement

Success planning is an iterative process.

Review and refine your approach on a regular basis:

• Analyze which types of objectives tend to be most impactful.

• Seek feedback from customers on the planning process and outcomes.

• Share best practices with your CS team to improve your planning skills.

In my interview with Kevin Herrholtz, VP of Customer Success at AddShoppers, he advised:

💡"Success plans should be living documents that evolve with the customer's needs, not static checklists that gather dust."

💡A 2023 report by Forrester found that companies with a structured approach to continuous improvement in their customer success strategies saw a 15% increase in customer lifetime value over 12 months.

💡Also according to the Customer Success Association, companies with a structured approach to continuous improvement in their customer success strategies see significantly higher customer retention rates and lifetime value.

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Aligning Success Plans with Customer Journey Stages

Understanding the customer journey is fundamental for creating effective success plans.

Different stages of the journey need different approaches:

1. Onboarding: Focus on quick wins and basic product adoption.

2. Adoption: Focus on deeper feature usage and integration into workflows.

3. Value Realization: Highlight ROI and business impact metrics.

4. Expansion: Identify opportunities for upsells or cross-sells.

5. Renewal: Showcase more value and future potential.

So, adapt your success plans to address the specific needs and challenges at each stage of the customer journey.

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Integrating Success Plans with Other Customer Success Tools

To maximize the impact of your success plans, integrate them with other CS tools and processes:

1. Health Scores

   Use customer health data to inform and focus on success plan objectives.

2. QBRs

   Align success plan goals with quarterly business review discussions.

3. Voice of Customer

   Incorporate feedback from surveys and other VoC programs into your planning process.

4. Product Usage Data

   Leverage usage analytics to identify areas for improvement and growth.

Kirsten DiChiappari, VP of Customer Success at vCom Solutions, notes:

💡"The future is more efficiency with AI. It's not going to replace relationships and setting outcomes, but it will allow you to track your customers' activity and predict risk quicker."

Read my full interview with Kirsten DiChiappari here

💡A 2023 survey by ChurnZero found that companies integrating multiple CS tools into their success planning saw a 30% reduction in churn rates compared to those using standalone solutions.

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Avoiding Common Success Plan Pitfalls

Success plans are powerful tools, but CS pros often misuse them.

Here are some common pitfalls you need to avoid:

1. One-size-fits-all approach: Avoid using standardized templates without customization.

2. Over-focusing on metrics: Balance quantitative goals with qualitative customer experience factors.

3. Rigidity: Keep plans flexible and adaptable to changing customer needs.

4. Set-and-forget mentality: Review and update plans on a regular basis.

💡In her book “Onboarding Matters”, Donna Weber, the customer onboarding expert, advises:

"Success plans should be living documents that evolve with the customer's needs, not static checklists that gather dust."

Catherine Ballantyne, APAC Director of Customer Success at GitLab, also suggests:

💡"When encouraging collaboration across functions I tend to rely on the WIIFM principle - What's In It For Me"

Read my full interview with Catherine Ballantyne here.

As also Christine Lavery, VP of Customer Success at AgentSync, points out in CS My Way:

💡"If the CS team were driving results in a cost-efficient manner and were optimized for the specific business, it would make it easier to justify the continued investment in the function."

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Real-World Impact: A Success Story

Let's look at how effective success planning made a difference for one SaaS company:

CloudTech, a customer service software provider, implemented a structured success planning process for their enterprise clients.

For one client, a major e-commerce retailer, they:

1. Set clear, measurable objectives aligned with the client's goals

2. Created an adapted onboarding plan

3. Set regular check-ins and progress reviews

Results after 6 months:

• 40% reduction in customer response time

• 25% increase in customer satisfaction scores

• 15% boost in repeat purchases

The e-commerce client attributed these improvements to the implementation of CloudTech's success plan.

This brief case study shows you how a well-executed success plan can drive business outcomes for both the customer and your company.

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As you see, these techniques can help you transform success plans from a source of stress into a powerful tool.

But this is just the beginning.

Take your success planning to the next level with the following advanced, industry-specific templates and strategies.

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🔒Part 2: Exclusive Content for Premium Members

Upgrade now and get instant access to:

1. Detailed Industry-Specific Success Plan Templates

2. Customization Guide for Different Customer Types

3. Implementation Strategies

4. A Customer Success Plan Checklist

These resources will help you save time and headaches.

It’s time to create better plans faster, increase customer adoption, and boost retention rates.

Industry-Specific Templates

SaaS/Technology

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