That’s right, the days of calling for companies to offer “support” are over. Modern businesses are now extending beyond the “I’m here if you need me” support methodologies with their customers.
Instead of hiding a phone number on a website, hoping that customers don’t call it because every call is money out of their pocket, leading businesses are taking a fresh perspective on the support aspect of the customer experience. And, to be totally honest, it’s about damn time.
In case you’re unfamiliar, customer success is doing everything in your power to ensure the business-customer relationships you have are excelling and thriving. It’s going all out for the customer and putting them first by being proactive and making sure each customer is happy with the relationship they have with your business.
So, why has customer success supplanted customer support? There are several reasons, but here are the top ones…
When customers experience success with your business, they stay around – This may seem obvious but it’s amazing how many businesses drop the ball after the initial sales process. They spend thousands of dollars just to acquire leads, then spend thousands more in sales overhead to close the deal, only to leave the customer to their own devices after they’ve signed the dotted line. Don’t require your customers to lead interactions, instead hold their hand and guide them to ensure they stick around. A new relationship with a business is like a friendship; the more time both parties invest into it, the more likely it is to thrive.
Businesses have realized successful customers open growth opportunities – In general, people are less likely to talk unfavorably about topics they understand. Simply put, the more a customer knows and is successful with your business, the more likely they will be to recommend it to fellow employees and industry colleagues. This referral business can not only lead to a reduction in the cost of acquiring new leads, but it can also result in opportunities to expand into different divisions within a current customer base. The best part is that these opportunities can be some of your most profitable sales ventures because acquisition costs are minimal and referral prospects often have a general understanding of your business right from the start.
Success and victories are contagious and boost morale – So far, we’ve been focused on how customer success directly impacts the balance sheet. However, the last reason is related to the functionality of a business. When a company provides support, it can be easy to adopt an “us against them” mentality with customers. This mindset is evident during interactions with support agents, where getting a customer off the phone becomes more important than solving their issue. With customer success, both resolving the issue and how it’s resolved take on equal importance. Customers will get the answer they need, and a success-oriented focus encourages employees to be educators instead of script reciters. Taking the extra step in customer conversations, such as following up via email with a dialogue recap including self-service links, actually cuts down on additional work. This follow-up also challenges employees mentally and can be valuable in keeping your workforce in tact.
In short, customer success has replaced customer support because it’s just a better way of doing business. Focusing on success boosts retention rates, increases employee morale, and most importantly generates additional referral business. If you’re looking at a customer support team as a cost center, then you need to reevaluate your approach because shifting your focus to customer success is a great way to turn it into a profit center.