Effective strategy in a SaaS business often means offering different service levels to different customer segments. However, it is often not obvious where to draw the lines. What are the right criteria to use for segmentation? What are the types of services to offer? How to organize to delivery these services economically?
Ed Powers and Joshua Robitaille will share their lessons learned developing the segmentation strategy used at SurveyGizmo today.
Strategies for Account Segmentation Scaling Customer Success
1. Scaling Customer Success: Strategies for Account Segmentation @GetAmity
Scaling Customer Success:
Strategies for Account Segmentation
#PracticalCustomerSuccess
2. Scaling Customer Success: Strategies for Account Segmentation @GetAmity
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Q&A at the end - ask them in the questions box!
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3. Scaling Customer Success: Strategies for Account Segmentation @GetAmity
Presenters
Josh Robitaille
SurveyGizmo
Marketing Manager
Ed Powers
Service Excellence Partners
Principal
4. Scaling Customer Success: Strategies for Account Segmentation @GetAmity
Agenda
• Stratification strategies
• Scaling for success
• The SurveyGizmo story
• Q&A
11. Scaling Customer Success: Strategies for Account Segmentation @GetAmity
Value Propositions
Target customers
Costs/tradeoffs
Source: Building Market Focused
Organizations, Lanning and Philips
Benefits
12. Scaling Customer Success: Strategies for Account Segmentation @GetAmity
Example: Mobile Quoting App
• FOR: service managers at large, national chain auto body shops
• WITH NEEDS FOR: more accurate collision claims processing
• WE OFFER: a mobile app linked to a SaaS application
• THAT MEETS THE NEEDS BY: allowing techs to quickly photograph,
annotate, submit quotes and order parts from their mobile devices
• FOR THE PRICE OF: $200/user/mo.
• WITH THE BENEFITS OF: quotes finished in half
the time with 99% accuracy and 82% less rework
• AND SUPERIOR TO OTHER ALTERNATIVES
BECAUSE: we combine big data and image
recognition to automatically identify needed parts
13. Scaling Customer Success: Strategies for Account Segmentation @GetAmity
Value Propositions
Deliver CommunicateChoose
Source: Building Market Focused
Organizations, Lanning and Philips
15. Scaling Customer Success: Strategies for Account Segmentation @GetAmity
CS Role in Segmentation
Develop Market Model
Discover Segments
Assess Competitiveness
Target and Prioritize Segments
Imagineer Solutions
Test
Validate & Monitor Assumptions
Refine Value Propositions Product Managers
Customer Success
Key:
16. Scaling Customer Success: Strategies for Account Segmentation @GetAmity
And Now a Word on Operations…
Strategy
Do the right things
Tactics
Do things right
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Revenue
Account
Static Ratio Approach
5:1
250:1
8
19. Scaling Customer Success: Strategies for Account Segmentation @GetAmity
Dynamic Ratio Approach
UsageandTrust
<x:1 y:1
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Scaling the Customer Experience
Recognize
Need
Investigate Decide Purchase Implement Learn Use
Renew/
Terminate
E-Mail Nurturing Campaigns
Webinars
Online Communities
Video Messaging
Guided Learning
In-Product Messaging
Gamification
Performance Analytics
“Easter Eggs” PRAOK
Personal Contact
21. Scaling Customer Success: Strategies for Account Segmentation @GetAmity
Josh Robitaille
Marketing Manager
Former Sales Manager/Former Services
Manager/ Former Salesman/Former Billing
Coordinator
22. Scaling Customer Success: Strategies for Account Segmentation @GetAmity
2011 --------- 2012 --------- 2013 --------- 2014 --------- 2015
Sales
Sales Pro Service Developer
Pro Service Developer
Sales Manager
Marketing Analyst
Senior Web Designer
Coordinator
Content Writer
Pro Service Manager Marketing Manager
Junior Web Designer
Business Development
Sales
Sales
23. Scaling Customer Success: Strategies for Account Segmentation @GetAmity
2011 --------- 2012 --------- 2013 --------- 2014 --------- 2015
Sales
Sales Pro Service Developer
Pro Service Developer
Sales Manager Pro Service Manager
Sales
Sales
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Sales
2011 --------- 2012 --------- 2013 --------- 2014 --------- 2015
Enterprise Sales
Project Manager
Pro Service Sales
Sales Manager & Services Manager
Onboarder
Onboarder
Onboarder
Onboarding Team Lead
Onboarder
Onboarder
Onboarder
Pro Service Developer
Pro Service Developer
Pro Service Developer
Pro Service Developer
Account Coordinator
Contract Coordinator
25. Scaling Customer Success: Strategies for Account Segmentation @GetAmity
Enterprise Team lead
Onboarder
Onboarder
Onboarder
Pro Service Sales
Pro Service Developer
Pro Service Developer
Sales Manager & Services Manager
Onboarding Team Lead
Pro Service Developer
Pro Service Developer
Project ManagerAccount Coordinator
Contract Coordinator
Onboarder
Onboarder
Onboarder
Marketing Specialist
Web Designer
Market Researcher
Content Writer
2011 --------- 2012 --------- 2013 --------- 2014 --------- 2015
26. Scaling Customer Success: Strategies for Account Segmentation @GetAmity
Enterprise Team lead
Onboarder
Onboarder
Onboarder
Pro Service Dev
Pro Service Dev
Sales Manager & Services Manager
Onboarding Team Lead
Pro Service Dev
Account Manager
Account Manager
Onboarder
Onboarder
Onboarder
Marketing Specialist
Web Designer
Market Researcher
Content Writer
2011 --------- 2012 --------- 2013 --------- 2014 --------- 2015
27. Scaling Customer Success: Strategies for Account Segmentation @GetAmity
2011 --------- 2012 --------- 2013 --------- 2014 --------- 2015
Enterprise Team lead
Sales Manager & Services Manager
Account Manager
Account Manager
Marketing Specialist
Content Writer
Marketing AssociateAccount Manager
Account Manager
Marketing Analyst
Marketing Associate
Marketing Associate
Web Developer
Web Developer
Web Developer
Web Designer
33. Scaling Customer Success: Strategies for Account Segmentation @GetAmity
How Amity Works
Power + Flexibity
Unique Solution for Your Unique Business.
35. Scaling Customer Success: Strategies for Account Segmentation @GetAmity
Many Thanks To Our Presenters
Josh Robitaille
www.surveygizmo.com
joshua@sgizmo.com
Ed Powers
www.se-partners.com
ed@se-partners.com
36. Scaling Customer Success: Strategies for Account Segmentation @GetAmity
Join us on December 1 for the next webinar
in the Practical Customer Success Series
Visit getamity.com/resources to register!
37. Scaling Customer Success: Strategies for Account Segmentation @GetAmity
Let’s continue the conversation
Thank you for being here!
@GetAmity GetAmity.com
Notas do Editor
I do a lot of work with early stage companies, and I see a lot of recurring patterns
In the beginning, it’s all about traction: sales leads to valuation, valuation leads to investment, investment covers the bills until the company can cash flow
So it’s appropriate to close any and all possible sales, but ultimately it’s not sustainable.
After a while companies begin to learn that all customers aren’t created equal, the Pareto Principle applies, especially when it comes to B2B
The critical few delivering the majority of the revenue and the trivial many, the “long tail”
There are typically some companies in-between as well
Most companies I deal with stratify their account based primarily on economics—it’s easy and straightforward
They assign their most expensive sales and account management resources to their high-value accounts and their less expensive inside sales/account managers and CSMs to the medium-value accounts and they let their “long-tail” customers fend for themselves
The problem with stratifying based on historical revenue is that it’s “management by looking in the rear-view mirror”—companies routinely miss significant opportunities—just because people haven’t bought much before doesn’t mean they couldn’t buy more, especially in the “long tail”
Companies often lack insights into how their customers are clustering—how the needs of customer groups are alike or different
There’s a much more evolved and effective way to segment the account base and it starts with the concept of a target customer—here’s an analogy
Just like an archery target, some customers have very high value—the bullseye—and the further away, the lower the value
Some arrows are well off target as well, there’s no value and you basically wasted your energy
Your goal is obviously to land as many arrows as you can on or near the center of the target
It’s the same thing with customers; some are a much better fit and much more profitable than others and you need to know exactly what you’re aiming for
Value Propositions are a very handy tool for companies to segment, focus, and differentiate
Originally coined by Lanning and Phillips in the mid-80’s, are defined as target customers (who they are and more importantly who they aren’t); specific, measurable end-result benefits that are compelling and relevant; and the costs and tradeoffs we ask customers to make
Value Propositions are internal statements provide clarity and intense focus on what differentiates one offering from another—it’s the source of competitive advantage
Here’s an example, a mobile application for auto body shops…
Interesting—makes you want to buy!
Notice we have a crisp, clear definition of exactly who we’re targeting (MAACO, not Joe’s Auto Body), what we’re offering, measurable, compelling benefits and specifically why we’re better—breakthrough image recognition software
Value Propositions are a very powerful, strategic concept
Once you choose them, you align the entire organization around them; you design, develop, deliver and support products and services that fulfill the promise and you communicate that promise through your marketing and sales efforts.
Value Propositions are the organizing construct, and when everyone (including Sales and Customer Success) has a clear understanding and works together to choose, deliver and communicate, you can’t be beaten!
Focus is critical—numerous studies show companies that focus relentlessly and have deep understanding of customer segments do much better in the long run than companies that “spray and pray”
The trick, of course, is to pick the right target segments for the right reasons
Although the world offers unlimited opportunities, you just can’t be all things to all people—you have limited time, money and resources and you have to invest them wisely for maximum returns
This is the hard work of strategy—you have to say “no” to some things so you can say “yes” to others
It’s very common for early stage companies to “pivot” multiple times to pursue more attractive opportunities—the target will naturally change
It’s a critical, ongoing process for mature companies, too, as they identify and pursue new markets
CSMs have a unique vantage point from which to observe changes in the account base—closer to customer than marketing and product people, not problem-ticket focused like support, and don’t have a short-term agenda like salespeople
What this means is you can have a seat at the senior executive table for defining business and product strategy—what might that look like?
Tasks in blue are typically owned by product managers while those in green could be done in partnership with Customer Success teams
You can get things started by paying attention to quantifiable patterns you’re seeing in your account base and then sharing those findings with the right people
Of course your marketing folks and product managers need to do their homework; they need to study market needs in greater detail, innovate solutions, and define new Value Propositions
It’s an iterative process and when you partner with product managers you can play a critical role in testing hypotheses and monitoring shifts
We’ve talked a lot about segmentation and strategy, which is about doing the right things—strategy is fundamentally about choice
Let’s get tactical now and talk about how we can do things right, once we’ve picked the right segments—doing things right means doing them effectively and efficiently
Here’s an example of a company in south Denver that does a very effective job of aligning with its customer segments
Zen Planner makes software for small exercise and fitness studios and they prompt their prospects identify themselves by segment early in the sales process
They don’t treat customers the same way, for example, they show videos of dance studio applications to dance studios and share mixed martial arts success stories to mixed martial arts studios—they speak to them in a language and using terms they immediately relate to—they tailor their Value Propositions really resonate
It doesn’t stop there—many people in Sales, Customer Success and Customer Support at Zen Planner have backgrounds as fitness trainers or yoga instructors, so the organization deeply understands and relates to these specific segments
This is a very effective approach for them--they have incredibly good customer intimacy and very high customer loyalty and retention
The same concept applies in other businesses—if you understand your customer segments, you can prompt them to self-identify, and depending on how they respond, you can present an entirely different customer journey
So looking at segments and value propositions, rather than just historical sales volume, may cause you to do something that would otherwise be completely counter-intuitive, like assigning a full-time resource to develop a long-tail opportunity that’s strategically important for future growth
Market segmentation and value propositions increase effectiveness, so let’s now talk about the other dimension: increasing efficiency
Going back to the approach most commonly used, many companies use customer:CSM ratios to control costs and coverage for high-touch, low-touch, and no-touch segments
Large, enterprise segments are typically low ratios (like 5:1) whereas midsize or SMBs get very high ratios (e.g. 250:1)
To set these ratios, companies tend to use industry benchmarks or just copy what others are doing
But it’s a static approach—since the ratios are fixed, customers often get the same treatment in each category regardless of the nature of their segment or place in the customer lifecycle
We’ve already talked about the risk of doing this and the missed opportunities, but I’d like to share a critical piece of advice on how to optimize your customer experience for your target segments
Give this some thought--instead of thinking about customer:CSM ratios as a static problem, think about it dynamically, as a function of time, and use a blended ratio
Much of the work I do with clients concentrates on how to manage the critical early stages of the relationship—customers are most vulnerable and you have the most impact on retention and loyalty at this point
You hear a lot about early product usage and quick time-to-value, but it turns out customers are also learning whether or not they can trust you at this time—trust in your technology, your brand, and your people
It turns out trust is a VERY BIG factor in customer retention and loyalty—and what starts right, stays right—you have to nail this in the beginning!
In terms of scale, CSMs can manage smaller cohorts of customers very attentively during these crucial initial phases, then “graduate” them to a larger pool after they reach a certain level of usage and trust—customers don’t need as much care and feeding at these later times
Your ratios (X and Y) will vary depending on your business—it’s dangerous just to blindly copy what someone else is doing
Larger ratios can be achieved with the same CSM once customers reach a level of proficiency and trust is established; this is how you can keep high productivity while at the same time improving your effectiveness building trust
We talked about the level of personal contact at the early critical stages, but there certainly a number of automated approaches that can help operations scale efficiently
There’s a lot to talk about—we could spend a whole day on these tactics, and a lot of my work is helping clients sort out which ones make sense for them
Here’s a very quick overview:
Gamification is a clever way of engaging customers in the learning process using things like badges and leader boards
E-mail nurturing not only works to convert prospects, but it also helps automatically guide learning and application after the sale
Video messaging is extremely powerful to maintain personal relationships at scale by simply showing your face and being yourself on camera
Webinars, of course, are a great way to sell and support at scale
In-product messaging and guided learning can be used to remind people of ongoing value and make learning more contextual and on-demand
Many companies use “Easter Eggs” to surprise and delight customers when they discover hidden features and benefits
PROAK stands for “Programmatic Random Acts of Kindness,” another way to surprise and delight customers and build loyalty
Online communities have been used very effectively to scale customer support, but there’s also a big opportunity to use them in learning cohorts
And finally, showing results back to customers on how well they’re achieving their goals (like QBRs) can certainly be automated
One again, how you deploy and how you scale, including the supporting technologies, should be guided by your segmentation and market strategy—it’s not a “one size fits all” approach—some things will work better for some segments than others
This is a good segue for Josh who will tell you the story about the practical realities and approaches to making things more efficient and effective; they changed their approach to adopt a lighter-touch model
His talk is fascinating because he’ll talk about evolutionary vs. revolutionary change and the how it is an iterative, learning model
Thanks Ed!
Evolutionary Vs Revolutionary. These terms describe perfectly the level of pain that can be dealt to your customers and your organization as you shift to generate success.
Evolving is a slow, iterative process that gradually produces better results. Revolution is a dramatic change that may have mixed results.
When driving customer success you will discover that your staff may not be align appropriately to get the best results. I have personally overseen 5 major reorgs in 5 years.
Here’s how that has played out.
Sales, Pro Service, Marketing
The marketing team was almost completely let go for various reasons. This was one of the moment painful experiences and had a huge impact on the rest of the staff. From there on in, I endeavored to not let people go if they were will to shift with the companies needs.
Similarly with the marketing team, the Professional Service team needed to change to meet customer expectations. I absorbed them and changed their practices to accommodate customer success needs.
At the same time, a new segment was discovered for higher level Enterprise Customers. A new team was formed.
Running without a marketing team is impossible. So with better understanding of our segments, I lobbied to oversee a new, smaller team.
In 2014, Professional Services was becoming a high cost low return initiative. I combined the Pro Service and Enterprise team. The enterprise team was able to help have tough conversations with customers and close out remaining work.
With pro services closed out, I had the resources to expand the marketing team and move onboarding (Sales) responsibilities over to support.
Through all these changes, there was one constant…
I’ve utilized the same team members for the last 5 years.