There are dozens of ways to measure customer success, including surveys and platforms such as Zendesk, Intercom, Google Analytics, and more. According to Stephen O'Keefe, Director of Customer Success at HubSpot, those methods are great, but customer success begins with your product. How much value does your offering bring current and potential customers?
O'Keefe said the kind of quantitative and qualitative feedback organizations collect from surveys is helpful. He also acknowledged that surveys can uncover emerging trends along with customer sentiment, but cautioned, it doesn't mean happy customers won't cancel, and unhappy customers will renew their subscriptions. The way he sees things, it comes down to one component: Did your customers achieve their desired outcomes and find 'durable value in your product?
"The most successful companies identify goals at the beginning of customer journeys and measure whether they achieved these goals along the way"
Keeping Customers Happy in a State of Fragmented Comms
Gartner recently published information that only 40 percent of companies have migrated to the Cloud, meaning over half of companies have yet to take the plunge. This means these companies likely use telephony with limited capabilities, whereas a move to the Cloud might enhance CX. O'Keefe believes, companies must be in sync in every aspect, especially in sales, customer service, and within product teams.
In doing so, enterprises can be as valuable as possible to customers and provide a seamless experience as customers navigate the sales and customer service process. He said, if these departments aren't aligned, enterprises don't designate the right people or resources, customers will feel the 'friction in their experience.'
What alignment amounts to oftentimes in a business setting is offering a unified approach to business communications, which O'Keefe agrees with. "To use an analogy often used by our CEO Brian Halligan, you need to think about your company structure like a bus. Leadership should set the direction for where the bus heads. You need to have the right people on the bus who remain excited about where you're going, and you need enough gas to get there"
