How top companies master Customer Experience & Success

I believe that there’s no magic trick to great Customer Success—but the companies that consistently do it well usually have a few important things in place.

They strike a good balance between internal KPIs and what actually matters to the customer. It’s easy to get caught up chasing numbers (have been there), but the most effective teams look at metrics that reflect real customer outcomes. (e.g. how quickly you deliver the first value to your customer)

The collaboration across departments within the business is important. Customer Success doesn’t live in a single team—it’s something that touches every part of the business. The companies that really get it right make sure everyone’s aligned and working from the same understanding of the customer journey. When teams are on the same page, using the same language, and focused on the same goals, it creates a way better experience for the customer

The companies that succeed the most are the ones that rally the entire organization around the concept of Customer Success. Customer Success is a team effort, and everyone—whether you work in Tech, Product, Sales, HR, Finance, or Marketing—is part of the customer’s success journey.

Having a clear CS vision in place, one that can be revisited in turbulent times and aligns CS goals with overall business objectives, is crucial for long-term success.

However, strategy alone won’t drive impact. You also need to execute—and execute on the right things. Skip the rest!

Over the many years I’ve worked in Customer Success, I’ve noticed that top-performing companies often operate in quarterly sprints, focusing on a limited number of high-impact activities (some companies call them “acts”). This makes them laser-focused, sharp, and highly effective. They also understand the long-term value of CS in terms of LTV and compounded growth, positioning CS as a profit center, not a cost center.

The Winning Formula:

Customer Success is often discussed in the context of being “customer-centric.” The real question is: how do you achieve this? You can’t build a product purely around customer requests, doing so results in a bundle of features that lack strategic direction. The best companies put customers at the core of their business, but do so mindfully.

This is what they get right:

Make Customer Success a company-wide mindset. Ensure everyone in the organisation understands your customers’ pain points and successes. Customer Success shouldn’t be an isolated department, it should be at the heart of your company.

First, let’s agree on what Customer Success is. It all starts from there. In a nutshell, Customer Success is a concept that can be defined as “making sure that your customers achieve their desired outcomes through your product or service.”

Companies who implement an excellent Customer Success strategy and build a strong CS department understand that:

Map all customer interactions (direct and indirect).
Design the journey for optimal customer and company outcomes.
Focus on achieving goals and delivering value, not just satisfaction.
Implement proactive touchpoints.
Gain visibility into customer health (healthy vs. at-risk MRR).
Ensure each touchpoint has a measurable outcome.
Consider both customer and company perspectives.

Integrating CS into the GTM Motion:
Align Customer Success with Go-To-Market strategy and operations.
Utilize the “Bowtie Framework combined with Customer Journey” for integration.
Collaborate with marketing on campaigns for renewals and upsells.

Gearing Touchpoints Towards
Onboarding/Retention/Expansion:
All touchpoints should focus on onboarding, retention, and expansion.
Minimize distraction, CS is not a catch-all department

Clear Ownership Between Support and CS:
-CSMs focus on:
Long-term relationship building.
Managing customer portfolios.
Driving upsells.
Gathering feedback.
-Support likely handles:
Technical issues.
Day-to-day troubleshooting.
Collaboration between CS and Support is crucial.

The Evolution of Customer Success: Retention and Expansion in the Age of AI

As a Customer Success Manager at WebinarGeek, I’ve seen firsthand how the digital landscape is shifting. The way businesses acquire new customers is changing, and we need to adapt. AI tools like ChatGPT are making information more accessible, leading to a decline in traditional Google Search traffic.

As a result, new business acquisition is becoming increasingly difficult. This challenge highlights the need to focus more on our existing customers—ensuring their success, increasing retention, and identifying opportunities for expansion.

Maximizing Customer Retention

Effective onboarding is the bedrock of customer success. If users don’t grasp our platform’s value early, they disengage. We must guide them seamlessly from the start, ensuring they quickly understand and leverage its capabilities.

But success extends beyond onboarding. Sustained engagement requires proactive support, continuous value delivery, and a deep understanding of evolving needs. Strengthening these relationships reduces churn and drives long-term retention.

Driving Expansion Through Value

Retention is just the beginning. By understanding customer goals, we can identify organic upsell and cross-sell opportunities. These should feel like natural extensions of their needs, not sales pitches. When customers see clear value, they willingly adopt additional features and services.

Regular check-ins, feedback loops, and data-driven insights help pinpoint these moments. By framing new features as tailored solutions, we create a win-win—customers gain more, and we drive revenue growth.

Customer Success Fuels Business Growth

Customer success is business success. Investing in their goals strengthens relationships and fuels sustainable growth. As customer acquisition becomes more challenging, retention and expansion shift from strategy to necessity.

By excelling in onboarding, fostering engagement, and identifying organic upsell opportunities, we ensure mutual success. In today’s SaaS landscape, customer success isn’t just support—it’s the engine of long-term growth.

For me, Customer Success is all about building real relationships while using smart data to drive impact. The best companies don’t just react to customer issues—they anticipate needs, uncover hidden opportunities, and help clients get the most value out of their solutions.

I’ve seen how AI and predictive analytics can highlight trends, flag potential churn risks, and even reveal upsell or cross-sell opportunities. But at the end of the day, no algorithm replaces a real conversation. The best moments in CSM come from truly understanding a client’s challenges and working alongside them to find solutions.

The companies that excel at Customer Success don’t just focus on retention—they focus on growth, trust, and long-term partnerships. It’s a mix of data-driven insights and personal connection, and that balance is what makes CSM such an exciting field to be in.

The best companies embed Customer Success across the business to drive long-term customer value at scale.

Top CS teams aren’t just relationship managers—they’re industry experts. Hiring CSMs with domain knowledge (HR professionals for HR Tech, ESG consultants for ESG software) ensures customers get strategic guidance, not just product support.

A CS team that speaks the customer’s language builds trust and accelerates adoption.

Top companies recognize that the first 90 days are critical for long-term retention so they invest in both human and automated onboarding to reduce friction:

Modern CS teams don’t just advise; they enable. Companies that excel in Customer Success integrate technical experts within CS to guide:

Rather than increasing the CSM headcount to compensate for a complicated product, great companies bake success into the product through intuitive UX, automation and embedded tutorials and self-serve tools.

Retention is just the start… great CS teams expand customer value. The best companies:

Many companies rely on high-touch customer success teams to fill product gaps, but this approach doesn’t scale. The most successful organizations embed customer success into the entire company—from product design to sales enablement—so that success isn’t just a function, but a business-wide mindset.

As the SaaS landscape matures, the role of Customer Success is rapidly evolving. What was once a post-sales support function is now becoming a strategic lever for customer value, retention, and revenue growth.

At Voyado, our customers have always been our most important asset. We are truly customer-obsessed, consistently going the extra mile to ensure satisfaction, long-term value, and strong customer advocacy. Over the past few years, we’ve also added a stronger growth focus to the equation—evolving from a shared CS resource pool to a model with dedicated CSMs who hold operational responsibility for their accounts, while also providing strategic guidance to support customer success and platform maturity.

As our customers’ needs evolve and our business grows, we see a natural opportunity to further develop our Customer Success approach—ensuring it continues to deliver both strategic value and long-term business impact.

We see a general shift in the CS arena, and below I’ve shared my perspective on the key trends shaping the future of Customer Success—trends that not only reflect where the industry is heading but also resonate with the evolving needs of our own customers.

From User Guidance to Strategic Partner

Today’s customers expect more than product guidance—they want a partner who can help them achieve business outcomes, optimize workflows, and future-proof their operations. There is great potential in positioning CSMs as strategic advisors, not just product experts.

This shift includes:

Many CS teams already work this way informally. But it’s time to fully utilize the competence and position of the CSM, and formalize their role as a true strategic advisor.

CSMs as Commercial Enablers

Another key trend is the emergence of a stronger commercial mindset within Customer Success. This doesn’t mean turning CSMs into sellers—but it does mean empowering them to contribute more directly to growth and retention.

In practice, this involves:

CSMs are in a unique position to identify commercial opportunities and support upsell conversations—always with the customer’s success at the core.

The Role of AI and Automation in Scaling CS

As customer bases grow, AI and automation are becoming essential to scale Customer Success efficiently and proactively. From predictive health scores to automated onboarding journeys, technology can help CSMs become more data-driven, proactive, and impactful.

That said, AI should be seen as an enhancer—not a replacement—for human connection. The more repetitive tasks we can automate, the more time CSMs can invest in strategic conversations and creating long-term value.

Building a CS Team for the Future

Looking ahead, the CSM will be a strategic advisor, a commercial enabler, and a data-driven partner—empowering companies to retain, grow, and maximize customer lifetime value at scale.

To get there, CS teams must focus on:

The future of Customer Success is not just about solving problems—it’s about driving growth, creating value, and becoming an essential part of the customer’s strategy.

Reaching the top in Customer Success (CS) is a lot like going for Olympic gold. Just like athletes give it their all, companies need to fully commit to delivering solutions that truly help their customers achieve their business goals.

The Hurdle of Departmental Silos

But here’s the catch: many companies are stuck in their own lanes, with departments working in isolation and focusing only on their specific tasks. This lack of teamwork can lead to inefficiencies and a customer experience that feels disjointed. Think of it like a relay race where the runners aren’t passing the baton smoothly—it’s tough to win that way.

Making Customer Success Part of Your Company’s DNA

To overcome this, it’s crucial to break down these silos and get everyone working together with the customer in mind. This means fostering collaboration across all teams—product development, marketing, sales, and customer support—to create solutions that not only work well but also directly support what your customers are trying to achieve.

Key Questions to Keep You on Track. To make sure you’re heading in the right direction, ask yourself:

Getting Everyone on the Same Page

Once you’ve got answers to these questions, use them to align your internal processes:

By breaking down barriers and embedding a customer-focused mindset throughout your organization, you pave the way for lasting growth and position your company as a leader in Customer Success within the SaaS world.

Remember, just like winning an Olympic gold requires dedication, teamwork, and a relentless pursuit of excellence, achieving top-notch Customer Success comes from delivering proven solutions that propel your customers’ businesses forward.