The webinar discussed how customer success managers can use adoption playbooks to drive increased product adoption among customers. It emphasized that the customer success role is well-positioned to increase adoption through playbooks that define engagement opportunities along the customer journey. The webinar covered how to identify adoption opportunities across the lifecycle, emphasize the operational elements in playbook templates, and increase effectiveness through adoption paths, customer data, feedback loops, and continuous improvement.

1. The Customer Success Playbooks You Need to Drive Adoption #CSwebinar @GetAmity @WaterstoneMG
The Customer Success Playbooks
You Need to Drive Adoption
Neil Jain
Partner,
Waterstone
Aman Singh
Senior Associate,
Waterstone

2. The Customer Success Playbooks You Need to Drive Adoption #CSwebinar @GetAmity @WaterstoneMG
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3. The Customer Success Playbooks You Need to Drive Adoption #CSwebinar @GetAmity @WaterstoneMG
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4. The Customer Success Playbooks You Need to Drive Adoption #CSwebinar @GetAmity @WaterstoneMG
Waterstone Management Group
Recognized
Tech Leader
• Exclusive focus on technology sector – clients are
product and service providers and their investors
• Strategy through execution focus –
expert led and results oriented
• Emphasis on driving growth and operations
improvement agendas
• Project- and retainer-based engagement models
• Serve clients on a global basis from offices
in Chicago and the Bay Area
60%
Work focused on
disruptive growth
opportunities – cloud,
big data/analytics, IoT,
M&A/PE value creation
175+
Engagements with
50+ leading tech
companies over
past five years
10+ / 60+
PE firms / PE portfolio
company clients over
past five years
200+ / 100+
Years
Team consulting /
operating experience
$8.5B+
Value creation
realized by clients
A strategic advisory and operations improvement firm focused on value creation in tech

5. The Customer Success Playbooks You Need to Drive Adoption #CSwebinar @GetAmity @WaterstoneMG
Solving the Adoption Challenge
Adoption is critical to ensure that customers get maximum
value out of their technology investment and that technology
providers continue to embrace recurring revenue business
models

6. The Customer Success Playbooks You Need to Drive Adoption #CSwebinar @GetAmity @WaterstoneMG
In this webinar, you will learn:
• Why Customer Success is a critical lever to driving adoption and how CSMs can set
themselves up for success in this role
• How to define adoption paths across the customer lifecycle to identify and source
playbook opportunities
• How to get started with playbooks, including common adoption scenarios, playbook
content, and structure
• How to operationalize the playbook development process and to drive continuous
improvement
The Customer Success Playbooks You Need to Drive Adoption
Today’s Objectives

7. The Customer Success Playbooks You Need to Drive Adoption #CSwebinar @GetAmity @WaterstoneMG
Why is driving adoption important?
Adoption is a key lever to reduce churn and
drive expansion, which both drive market
valuation
Other benefits of increased adoption:
• Alignment with strategic goals
• Improve CSAT and customer health
• Customer loyalty and referenceability
Notes:
1) Source: IDC, CapitalIQ, Company 10ks, Investor Presentations, Earning Transcripts Waterstone Subscription Analytics
2) Churn Rate defined as cancellations divided by beginning ARR, does not included expansions/contractions, price increases/discounts;
benchmarks align to this definition to the best of our understanding based on how companies present their metrics
3) Revenue growth net of churn
2017 Enterprise Valuation (Total Revenue Multiple)1

8. The Customer Success Playbooks You Need to Drive Adoption #CSwebinar @GetAmity @WaterstoneMG
Many options to drive adoption
Etc…
Customer Lifecycle
Setting
Expectations
During Sales
process
Installed Base
Marketing &
Campaigns
Services &
Deployment
In-product
Capabilities
Customer
Success
Product &
Service Offer
Packages and
Pricing
Proactive
Support &
Communities

9. The Customer Success Playbooks You Need to Drive Adoption #CSwebinar @GetAmity @WaterstoneMG
Driving Adoption with Customer Success (CS)
Enable CSMs to deliver
target customer
experience
via playbooks
Define opportunities to
drive adoption along the
customer journey
CSM Role is well-
positioned

10. The Customer Success Playbooks You Need to Drive Adoption #CSwebinar @GetAmity @WaterstoneMG
CSMs role is critical, but can’t do it alone
• One of the primary focuses of the role
‒ Unique skill-set (business & product knowledge)
‒ Measurement / incentives
‒ Tools – analytics, playbooks, workflow, etc.
• No one else in the business is focused on it –
Sales, Services, Product Management/R&D,
etc.
• Closing window of opportunity – lots of
investment and experimentation in Customer
Success and CSMs
CSMs are uniquely positioned to drive adoption CSMs need to leverage assets across the business
• Engage on business value discussions and
establishing expectations early in customer
lifecycle
• Leverage marketing capabilities for ongoing
outreach / engagement
• Tap into disparate (siloed) customer data sets
• Utilize playbooks, often requiring cross-
functional resources

11. The Customer Success Playbooks You Need to Drive Adoption #CSwebinar @GetAmity @WaterstoneMG
Driving Adoption with Customer Success (CS)
Enable CSMs to deliver
target customer
experience
via playbooks
Define opportunities to
drive adoption along the
customer journey
CSM Role is well-
positioned

12. The Customer Success Playbooks You Need to Drive Adoption #CSwebinar @GetAmity @WaterstoneMG
Engage throughout the journey to help customers
along their adoption path
• Define and align on the journey that you want your customers (by
segment) to experience with you
• Identify the “moments-of-truth” that impacts the customer’s
emotional response and can differentiate your experience
• In parallel, companies should define what their target ‘adoption path’
looks like
• Understanding how customers engage with the product at different
stages, CSMs can tailor engagement and activities to help customers
progress towards target state
Buy Onboard Engage
Enhance
& Support
Use &
Renew
Establish the key Moments of Truth
Establish adoption journey
Example

13. The Customer Success Playbooks You Need to Drive Adoption #CSwebinar @GetAmity @WaterstoneMG
Driving Adoption with Customer Success (CS)
Enable CSMs to deliver
target customer
experience
via playbooks
Define opportunities to
drive adoption along the
customer journey
CSM Role is well-
positioned

14. Adoption Playbooks – 4 Keys to Success
• Many Adoption plays to choose from1

15. The Customer Success Playbooks You Need to Drive Adoption #CSwebinar @GetAmity @WaterstoneMG
Identify Adoption plays across the lifecycle
How to pick which plays?
• Areas where customers are struggling the most
• Plays that have largest impact (i.e., broad set of customers, biggest pain point)
• Easy for your team to execute – resources, infrastructure, collateral, etc.
• Maintain a reasonable # of plays (e.g., do not want to create 100+ adoption playbooks)
Onboard Use Expand Renew
Playbooks
New customer
onboarding
First use
Playbooks
Zero usage
Low usage
Drop in usage
Low Customer Health
Change in Power User
Playbooks
Renewal (180 days)
Secure Reference
Renewal Risk Identified
Playbooks
Upsell Opportunities
Cross-sell Opportunities
(e.g. Feature adoption)
Example
Adoption
Plays

16. Adoption Playbooks – 4 Keys to Success
• Many Adoption plays to choose from
• Over-emphasize how CSMs will execute the plays
1
2

17. The Customer Success Playbooks You Need to Drive Adoption #CSwebinar @GetAmity @WaterstoneMG
Emphasize the operational elements of playbooks
Process for Playbook Development Playbook Template
Playbook (Template)
Play Trigger Task Collateral Needs
Data/System
Needs
Example plays:
• No usage
• Low usage
• Upsell
candidate
Establish
triggers for
playbook
execution based
on key metric
thresholds,
timing, etc.
Detail list of tasks
that include what
actions to take,
when the task takes
place, who owns the
task, who the key
stakeholders are,
etc.
Access to key
templates (e.g.,
account emails)
and
documentation
(customer
history, usage
data, etc.)
Ensure access to
portal, usage
data, etc.
1. Prioritize playbooks
2. Determine enablement needs and triggers
3. Develop required templates
4. Identify, engage and align with
stakeholders
5. Establish feedback mechanism
6. Test and refine
Additional Considerations:
• Playbooks shouldn’t replace training
• Usability is key
• Position business value where possible

18. Adoption Playbooks – 4 Keys to Success
• Many Adoption plays to choose from
• Over-emphasize how CSMs will execute the plays
• Increase playbook effectiveness w/ adoption paths, data, &
feedback
1
2
3

19. The Customer Success Playbooks You Need to Drive Adoption #CSwebinar @GetAmity @WaterstoneMG
Increase playbook effectiveness w/ adoption paths,
data, & feedback
Define the expected
adoption path
Track indicators
and thresholds
Execute playbooks /
Automate workflows
Measure Outcomes,
Analyze & Improve
+ + +

20. Adoption Playbooks – 4 Keys to Success
• Many Adoption plays to choose from
• Over-emphasize how CSMs will execute the plays
• Increase playbook effectiveness w/ adoption paths, data, & feedback
• Keep iterating!
1
2
3
4

21. The Customer Success Playbooks You Need to Drive Adoption #CSwebinar @GetAmity @WaterstoneMG
Drive Continuous Improvement
Establish Roles
& Process
Outline process, roles and
responsibilities for continuous
playbook improvement
• Identify process owner(s) to oversee
feedback loop
• Identify cross-functional stakeholders
to bring in as needed
• Agree on data to measure (collection of
operational and outcome based
metrics)
Launch Cadence
for Review
Establish review cadence (internal
and cross-functional)
Target cadence & attendees based
on topic area (e.g. review playbook
structure and content, etc.)
Leverage Data
• Operational measures (playbooks
executed, triggers initiated, accounts
engaged, etc.)
• Customer / stakeholder sentiment
• Financial metrics
Operationalize &
Measure
Continuously measure / engage –
keep pushing to improve customer
experience
Tie operational metrics to
outcomes and customer / financial
impact
Revise playbook content and
structure, update triggers /
thresholds, and source new
playbooks

22. The Customer Success Playbooks You Need to Drive Adoption #CSwebinar @GetAmity @WaterstoneMG
Example Playbooks

23. The Customer Success Playbooks You Need to Drive Adoption #CSwebinar @GetAmity @WaterstoneMG
Example Playbook #1 (Customer Onboarding)
Play Trigger Task Collateral Needs Data/System Needs
CSM onboarding initiation
At or close to contract signing /
CSM Assigned
Internal meeting between Sales, CSM, and Solutions team to discuss
customer (Sales to initiate)
Sales provides background of the account including competing
software solutions used, goals and priorities identified during sale,
and key points of contact; Sales to adjust any items in Client Kick-Off
deck as appropriate
New Client Kickoff Call Within 1 day after contract signing Perform client research to prepare for kickoff call
Account Manager to schedule introductory call with client Email
Participate in Kickoff Call (onsite or WebEx) -- overview of
onboarding process, client services, tech support process,
education/training, structure of team (Sales to drive, CSM, Solutions
& Support to participate) Client Kick-off Deck WebEx
Onboarding Kickoff Call <=2 days after kickoff call
Prepare for onboarding kickoff call with Solutions; refine milestones
and timeline based on client kick-off call; discuss roles &
responsibilities and set expectations Onboarding Kick-off Deck WebEx
Conduct Onboarding Kick-off Call Onboarding Kick-off Deck
Document Customer's goals for <Product> Onboarding Onboarding Kick-off Deck
Set cadence with customer for weekly Solutions call with client Onboarding Kick-off Deck
Set cadence with customer for bi-weekly CSM checkpoint with
client Onboarding Kick-off Deck
Schedule specific training classes with Education team based on
customer onboarding plan Email
Confirm w/CS that administrative contacts were set up in Salesforce
and Customer Portal logins sent to client Email
Onboarding

24. The Customer Success Playbooks You Need to Drive Adoption #CSwebinar @GetAmity @WaterstoneMG
Example Playbook #2 (Low Usage)

25. The Customer Success Playbooks You Need to Drive Adoption #CSwebinar @GetAmity @WaterstoneMG
Getting started with your adoption playbooks
Recap:
• Customer Success is critical to driving
product adoption
• CSM role is well positioned to drive
increased adoption
• Opportunities exist to drive adoption along
the customer journey
• CSMs can be enabled to deliver target
customer experience via playbooks
One takeaway… just get
started
• Playbooks do not need to be perfect
• Pick a few plays to start with and
test in the field
• Focus on usability and gather
feedback from your team
• Playbooks should be continuously
iterated on and improved

26. The Customer Success Playbooks You Need to Drive Adoption #CSwebinar @GetAmity @WaterstoneMG
Q&A

27. The Customer Success Playbooks You Need to Drive Adoption #CSwebinar @GetAmity @WaterstoneMG
Thank you for being here!