This week we had our bi-monthly Customer Success Meetup at St John’s Innovation Centre in Cambridge. The spotlight focus for May’s meetup was Low Touch Engagement, a topic taking top spot in our feedback and clearly one that is top of mind for a lot of CSMs.

Whilst this is a very big topic and we covered a number of critical area’s, there is one key area that I think adds significant value to CSMs within SaaS with Low Touch customers.

Here’s a brief summary on CS Engagement within Low Touch Customers.

Customer Success Segmentation – Low Touch Engagement

Low Touch Engagement is a topic that often surfaces in CS Meetups. Just above Tech Touch it is largely the same but with one critical difference. There is a limited level of direct CS Engagement.

Whilst on the surface this seems a quite straightforward element of the matrix, it is a destination with many routes, diversions, dead-ends and one that often raises many questions for Customer Success Managers alike.

• When is the right time to engage?
• How do I engage in a way to add value?
• How do I control the engagement?
• What if they become to attached to me as a contact?
• What if they don’t engage at all?

Whilst there is no silver bullet, there are some tried and tested methods to help. Particularly around when to engage and how to add value.

Outcome Sentiment Scoring

Whilst usage metrics, NPS and CSAT scores all provide a useful insight, they don’t always necessarily tie directly back to the outcomes that your customer is looking to achieve with your product or service.

Let’s take an example of a customer moving to a new invoicing tool with one of their core motivators for doing so being to be more efficient and save time. They may like the tool, and may like the business and people behind it. Their NPS scores are good, usage metrics are good and CSAT is good. But how do they feel they are progressing towards achieving their original desired outcomes. In Medium and Higher Touch segments this may very well, and should, form part of your QBR/EBR, but how do you know this from customers you engage with less. Enter Outcome Sentiment Scoring.

Outcome Sentiment Scoring is a great low touch method to understand quickly how your customer feels they are doing against their desired success outcomes. They can be delivered in your tool or by other methods such as Email, WhatsApp or otherwise.

For Customer Success teams with Low Touch customers this is a powerful metric. It will quickly tell you where your customers sentiment is against what they are trying to achieve. If it’s low, it’s time to get involved. If it’s high, its time to get involved.

One trigger’s a course correction away from churn, the other a path to new opportunities, advocacy and case studies.

A customer can have one or a mix of outcomes, and these can be obtained from a specific set of sub users or from all. Rotate the outcome asked about and give your customers visibility of these outcomes in your tool or by another means such as routine PDF or slide.

Whilst no silver bullet, it is a great indicator of when to proactively reach out to low touch customers.

Low Touch Engagement

Low Touch Engagement is a big topic but we did cover some additional elements of the Matrix in May’s meetup. You can download a copy of the slides below.

If you would like to join us at future events please click here for the next dates.

James Harding – Outcome sentiment – How customers feel about reaching their outcomes?