Applying MVP to CS: The Why
Since its 2009 introduction by Eric Ries in his NY Times bestseller, The Lean Startup, the concept of Minimum Viable Product (MVP) has been applied by numerous startups to engage in new product and service offering developments. Well-known companies such as Groupon, Zappos, Dropbox, and Uber have used MVPs to not only determine and modify […]
read moreThe Crisis of Confidence in Customer Success: Presentation Recap
Since 2013, the Customer Success Association has been hosting Customer SuccessCon, a conference designed to look at the current state of the profession and into its future. It brings together some of the most experienced and forward-thinking minds in the Customer Success community. ESG was proud to sponsor and present at all of this year’s […]
read moreRevenue Optimization and Customer Success
One of the biggest business lessons of the last decade has been that keeping your current customers is just as important as acquiring new customers. In the age of SaaS, this is an indisputable fact. But there’s more to the success of your business than just retaining customers. You also have to think long-term, ensuring […]
read moreCustomer Success Recommendations for Your 2020 Planning
Fall is in the air! The days are getting shorter, the air is getting cooler, and that can mean only one thing: it’s time to start planning your Customer Success strategy for 2020. To help you get started, we pulled together advice from the best of the best — our very own Sheik Ayube, Director […]
read moreNotes from the C-Suite: The Value of Customer Success
You’ll find a lot of self-proclaimed experts on the subject of Customer Success on the web, but many of them don’t have the credentials — or track record — to back it up. So we thought we’d go straight to the top and discuss the state of the CS industry with our CEO, Michael Harnum. […]
read moreFundamentals: Basic Leading and Lagging Indicators in Customer Success
Leading and lagging indicators provide useful ways to look at the cause and effect relationship among various KPIs. It can get a bit complicated the deeper you dive. To keep things simple, think about breaking things down to an ACTIONS=RESULT equation, where leading indicators represent the action and lagging indicators the result. To apply this, […]
read moreSo, What’s an Acceptable Churn Rate?
From customer satisfaction to revenue, SaaS companies have many factors to worry about when it comes to keeping their business not only afloat, but also thriving. One such factor: What is your churn rate, and what can you do to decrease it? Reality check: these are critical questions, but they don’t have such a straightforward […]
read moreOutsource – A Dirty Word?
As a function of my role as Business Development Manager at ESG, I spend a lot of time talking with Customer Success leaders. And from those conversations, I’ve found that many of them very much dislike the idea of outsourcing any part of their business. In fact, I recently spoke with a gentleman who boldly […]
read moreDiamonds in the Rough: Finding Growth Opportunities in Your SMB Customers
As of 2018, there were slightly over 30 million small businesses in the United States. The number of businesses with more than 500 employees? Only 120,000. What this means is that small businesses are an enormous opportunity for any B2B software as a service (SaaS) business. If you can get in on the ground floor […]
read moreWho Owns Your Customer Communication? Marketing or Customer Success?
Fact: keeping customers is more cost effective than adding new ones. The numbers vary depending on industry, time scale, and who you ask, but the consensus is that it’s five to ten times more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to retain an existing one. Furthermore, existing customers are more likely to […]
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