Customer Success Notes (1): Customer Lifecycle Management

Introduction: Hello everyone, I am an old SaaS driver. I have worked in the SaaS industry for more than five years, and I am currently starting a business in a SaaS company.

I wrote this note from Teacher Qu Hui's Practical Notes on Growing Hackers in Silicon Valley, which is basically dry and useful. Therefore, I also want to record some practical experience since I started my career, and do some writing precipitation for myself. I hope to share it with my peers and avoid stepping on some pits.

It is planned to finish 24 articles a year, with 1-2 articles per month, mainly involving SaaS background operation, customer management, customer operation, data analysis and team building.

Because it is a note, there will be some odds and ends, and the article will not be polished enough. Those who are interested can make do with it.

User lifecycle management should be familiar to everyone. C-side operations often use some funnel models and LTV indicators to measure and manage the user life cycle in order to better enhance the customer life cycle value. So what should B-side customer lifecycle management do?

The author encountered several problems in actual combat:

1. How to design the customer life cycle?

2. What should I do at different stages of my life?

First, how to design the customer life cycle?

First of all, it must be clear that customers have a "life". From the beginning of contact with products to the end of leaving products, life has a journey. Therefore, customer lifecycle management should be customer-centric and design around the customer journey, rather than relying entirely on subjective assumptions and YY.

? (Customer's life journey, from the blueprint of Silicon Valley)

Focusing on customers' needs at different stages and customers' journey, we can decide the process and strategy of customers' life cycle, taking users who mainly buy one-year editions through telephone sales as an example:

(Life Cycle Management Diagram)

By establishing a standardized customer lifecycle management process and system, the objectives to be achieved at each stage are defined, and some supporting customer management tools are designed or purchased to ensure that the standardized process can be well implemented.

Second, what should different life cycles do?

1. Customer signing period

Customer Journey: The products and services that customers want to buy are the same as those described in the sales.

Stage goal: reasonably control customer expectations.

Core roles: responsible person for customer success, CEO, responsible person for sales; Because it involves cross-departmental work, the person in charge of customer success must get the support of CEO or superiors when promoting this work, so that it will get twice the result with half the effort when promoting key actions.

Main points of work: Through the establishment of a company-level "customer high-voltage line system", especially over-commitment, provide unified product and service introduction and customer complaint analysis meeting for the sales department. We will try our best to reduce the overdue of our customers' over-improved products and services in the early stage.

2. Customer start-up period

Customer journey: use the desired purpose/value/function quickly before buying.

Stage goal: to help customers quickly enable the system, especially the personalized needs of customers.

Core roles: implementation trainer and customer success manager.

Main points of work:

(1) and customer key KP clearly define the work that both parties need to cooperate with, and it is best to confirm it in writing. If offline implementation is needed, it is necessary to increase the sense of ceremony in the form of project kick-off meeting.

(2) Establish a customer stratification system, which is generally stratified according to the purchase unit price, customer scale, customer industry and purchase version, and establish an SLA system for customers at different levels.

(3) Collect customers' personalized needs, that is, the original intention when purchasing. After completing the initialization of the basic system, according to the original intention of the customer when purchasing, arrange targeted explanation and use training.

(4) Establish standardized training and implementation processes, design guides for new users, and establish high-quality/multi-form help documents.

3. Customer growth period

Customer journey: the questions can be answered in time and the system can be used stably.

Stage goal: follow up the customer's usage with high frequency and respond to the customer's questions and needs in time;

Core roles: customer success manager, customer service, product/technical support.

Main points of work:

(1) Follow up the customer's usage on a regular basis according to the customer's usage data, especially when the customer's data fluctuates abnormally, intervene in time to find out the reason, whether the employee leaves his job or the version is updated, and will not use it;

(2) Respond to customers' questions and needs in time and establish a relatively perfect online service system. Ensure the response time and problem solving rate of customers' problems, establish an inter-departmental cooperation mechanism with product and technical departments, and clarify the level, response time, solution time and docking mode of problems/requirements.

4. Customer maturity

Customer trip: Explore the deep functions of products, and hope to know how to better operate products and solve business problems.

Stage goal: create a "high play" customer benchmark case, drive the waist customers with the head, and help customers unlock advanced functions.

Main points of work:

(1) Visit the head customers regularly, and tilt the operation and service resources to the head customers appropriately;

(2) Join the marketing department, build benchmark customers, and put forward their own opinions through online and offline salon live broadcast to drive long-tail customers. For customers with high online level, consider establishing UGC content products (community, community) to increase communication between customers;

(3) Respond to customers' needs in time, so that everything can be echoed. If possible, set up a demand feedback channel in the product to directly meet the needs of customers;

5. Pre-loss of customers

Customer journey: products/services can't solve the problem, and special node products can't meet the business needs.

Stage goal: pay a regular return visit to customers, grasp the changes of customer needs, and special nodes provide solutions on their own initiative.

Main points of work:

Do a good job in maintaining customers' regular return visits and keep abreast of business changes and personnel changes within customers;

Proactively provide solutions according to the actual situation of customers/industries;

6. Customer renewal period

Customer Journey: The product/service can't solve the problem. Don't use it, make a new decision and compare multiple products.

Stage goal: early intervention, resource/policy tilt

Main points of work:

(1) Before the customer expires, 1/3 will intervene in advance, judge and analyze the probability of renewal and the risk points of non-renewal, and renew the fee in advance for customers with high intentions through preferential treatment/activities.

(2) Record the reasons for customers' renewal/non-renewal, regularly analyze customers' renewal fees, and form monthly/quarterly reports to promote the improvement of front-end sales/products/services.

(3) Successful account managers with strong sales negotiation skills will find it much easier to renew their fees.

(4) In terms of renewal incentives, when the renewal rate is low, the team will be more "wolf-like" by way of commission.

7. Customer churn period

Customer trip: at that time, for some reason, I didn't use the product or used another home (product dissatisfaction, personnel change, etc.). )

Stage goal: strive to save lost users through new products and new offers.

Main points of work:

(1) Mark the lost users, and record the original loss reasons as detailed as possible.

(2) According to the causes of losses, take targeted recovery plans.

Third, summary.

1. Customers have "life" and "journey", and the management of customer life cycle should be designed with customers as the center.

2. For the stage management of life cycle, it is necessary to establish a relatively standardized SOP process and supporting product tools to ensure that it can be implemented in place.

3, life cycle management, need to do a lot of cross-departmental collaboration, need to establish cross-departmental cooperation and communication mechanism, * * * is responsible for the success of customers.