Customer Success vs . Customer Support: How to Make Use of both

Feb 13, 2023

Although customer success and support strategies may appear like they are similar, there are key differences between them. Customer success and support work hand-in-hand, customer success focuses on building a long-term connection between your business and its customers. Customer support is reactive, however, the customer's success is more active.
In this article we'll guide you through the key differences between customer success and the functions of customer support, and examples of how to implement both in your business.

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The difference between the Customer Service and Success

Support for Customers Customer Success
  • Answers issues that arise with a company's offerings or products
  • Reactively helps customers troubleshoot issues
  • Strategically concentrates on keeping customers satisfied to prevent churn and increase LTV
  • CS proactively focuses in helping customers reach their objectives.
  • focuses on solving issues fast and efficiently
  • is measured by the quality of support customers experience
  • Establishes trust with clients.
  • Is measured on the revenue
  • Gains deep their needs in order to give them the most enjoyable experience possible
  • Has formally structured processes and procedures focused on mitigating the effects of complaints and unsatisfaction.
  • Typically has more technological expertise
  • Has more autonomy in terms of how they interact with their customers
  • is a consultative and empathetic approach that's focused on building the relationship

The table above shows that. the table above the success of customers is proactive, focusing on the long-term experience customers are having with your product and services. However customers' service can be responsive, in response to issues when they arise.

Take a look at the customer experience you are currently experiencing to determine which one is most important to your business or organization in the present.

What is Customer Success?

The Customer Success (CS) Teams are accountable to create and maintain satisfaction throughout the customer lifetime. CS offers support that is specifically tailored to customer needs at every stage of their lifecycle. This additional layer of personal assistance is essential for the highly-competitive and highly churned market.

Although CS may be an independent method, it's usually an element of different revenue strategies for example:

   Incorporation and activation  

Customer success teams aid customers get familiar with the product. They also guide their customers in best practices and demonstrating how they can use them in their specific business environment. As an example Your CS team could help your customer integrate the product they have purchased with their current technological system.

If onboarding and activation goes well, your customers will notice results and win that are measured by time to value (TTV). For a lasting impression on customers rapid time-to-value as well as minimal discontent are crucial.

   Engagement  

   Retention  

Examples of ways customer success teams can retain customers, and decrease churn "customer loss" are:

  1. Actively contacting customers to understand their needs and providing a custom solution.
  1. creating loyalty programs that provide customers with a reward system for the ongoing commercial
  1. Offering ongoing education, training as well as resources to assist clients stay current on latest features and best practices
  1. Continuously collecting feedback from customers and using it for improving the product's features or services when required
  1. Creating a community of users that can discuss ideas, discuss questions, and provide support to one another

   Expansion  

Task your customer success team to upsell existing customers as well as growing accounts. Team members from the Customer Success department expand accounts by offering personalized services, such as one-to-one demonstrations of products or creating customized packages for clients.

One of the most effective strategies to sell to existing customers is to find areas that could be improved as well as opportunities for growth. As an instance the CS team could offer data-driven insight into ways to maximize the value the product or service they offer, helping them understand the landscape of competition and the trends within their field and suggest enhancements that would help their company.

   Referrals  

If your business has been able to keep customers loyal for longer periods then you should begin encouraging them to refer new potential customers to the company. Affiliate programs can be a fantastic way to incentivize clients to help spread the word about your company and to share their positive experiences publicly.

Exemple of success for a customer Then

Desiree Evanshen Later's Customer Success Manager says that"it's crucial to demonstrate clients the benefits as soon as you can, in that first few days. For the majority of people, that's when they'll convert to becoming a regular customer. ."

They want customers to fully understand their product. Therefore, they created an online course that teaches details quickly. They transformed one of the most effective webinars they've had to an online course, and witnessed a 320% rise in retention as well as a rise of 467% in user adoption.

What exactly is customer succ for?

In contrast to customer success, which is centered on quality interactions that build long-term relationships, customer support concentrates on solving customer issues quickly and efficiently. The customer support services include troubleshooting technical problems or issues with customers, responding to their inquiries, or providing product information.

For B2B businesses, a good level of customer service is vital as it is one of the main buying criteria. Customer retention is an essential success initiative, but insufficient customer service is the cause of the occurrence of churn.

Example of Customer Support Examples of Customer Support

Buffer is a social media business that has a reputation for persona-driven customer support, has separated customer service and customer success into proactive and reactive tasks. Instead of treating customer service employees as non-employees, Buffer elevated them, by giving support staff members titles such as Happiness Heros and Weekend Warriors. Customer experience is highly valued throughout the business.

Do you want to improve customer experience within your company?