We all want to wrangle Customer Success into measurable wins.
But first, let’s agree on a few things:
🟢 The best way to retain customers is by proving value.
🟢 To do that, you need to know your customers’ goals.
🟢 Those goals need to be measurable—SMART, not vague hopes and dreams.
🟢 You need to track progress on these goals throughout the partnership.
🟢 And you need to remind your customers (early and often) about the wins you’re driving for them.
Great, we’re all aligned! But here’s the kicker: Over 80% of CSMs say their customers don’t have clear, measurable goals.
Yikes.
This is where we, as leaders, need to empower our teams. Give your CSMs the tools and frameworks to help customers design goals that actually matter.
Designing Universal Objectives
Before ClientSuccess, I sat on the buyer side as the executive sponsor for Customer Success platforms.
My job? Convince the CFO and CEO that this software would deliver business results.
So, I mapped out seven business objectives tied to ROI:
1️⃣ Democratize Data
2️⃣ Increase Visibility
3️⃣ Mitigate Risk
4️⃣ Operationalize Process
5️⃣ Identify Growth
6️⃣ Drive Efficiency
7️⃣ Scale with Ease
From there, I could craft measurable goals tied to each objective.
Example: Mitigate Risk → Reduce churn risk by identifying low-adoption customers and driving targeted interventions.
When I joined ClientSuccess, I saw a similar struggle.
Even CS professionals were unsure how to define goals for their teams or customers. So, I took those seven objectives and turned them into a goal-setting framework that every CSM could use.
Building a Goal Framework
Here’s how you can create a framework that works:
1️⃣ Start with your value proposition.
What problems does your solution solve?
What outcomes do your marketing materials highlight?
What ROI does your product deliver in case studies?
2️⃣ Identify key use cases.
How should customers use your product to solve their problems?
Do use cases differ by team, product, or segment?
3️⃣ Map use cases to outcomes.
Which product features support specific outcomes?
Are there multiple outcomes for a single feature?
4️⃣ Tie outcomes to measurable impact.
What KPIs should customers track?
What ROI can they expect?
What are the leading and lagging indicators?
Example: Mitigate Risk
Let’s take one objective and break it down:
Business Objective: Mitigate Risk
Goal: Reduce at-risk customers by 10% in Q1 2025.
Approach: Identify customers with low adoption, unclear goals, or disengagement. Develop targeted playbooks, automate alerts, and track health scores to guide intervention.
Supporting Features: Health Scores, SuccessCycles, Reporting, Automation.
The truth is, your customers might know they have a problem your product can solve. But defining a quantifiable goal? That’s where they need YOU.
Pro Tips for CSMs
Build a simple, repeatable Goal Framework to use with customers.
Give them real-life examples of stellar goals from other customers.
Make sure every goal is tracked, achieved, and socialized.
Because if value is the name of the game, then goal alignment is how we win.
TL;DR:
Retention starts with proving value, and proving value starts with clear, measurable customer goals. But over 80% of CSMs say their customers lack them.
The solution? Empower your team with a Goal Framework that aligns business objectives, use cases, outcomes, and measurable impact.
Example: For "Mitigate Risk," track health scores, automate alerts, and reduce at-risk customers by 10% in Q1.
Your customers might know their pain points, but they need your help defining quantifiable goals. Make goal-setting easy, repeatable, and impactful—and watch the retention (and growth) follow.
Comments