Strategies for Startups to Improve Retention and Satisfaction with Customer Success

Hanene Duprat
Mar 22, 2023
5 min read

Addressing the Common Pain Points of Global Customer Success Teams

As businesses grow and expand, so too do their customer bases.

With this growth comes the need for effective customer success teams that can provide exceptional service and support to customers around the world.

However, despite their best efforts, many startups and other companies struggle with common pain points that can negatively impact their customer success efforts.

Global customer success teams face a variety of common pain points that can impact their ability to provide exceptional service and support to customers around the world. These pain points include inconsistency in service delivery, low retention rates or high churn rate, low client satisfaction levels and high turnover.

In this article, we will explore these pain points and share samples of strategies that startups can use to overcome them.

Pain Point #1: Inconsistent Service Delivery

One of the most common pain points faced by customer success teams is inconsistency in service delivery.

This pain point is particularly acute for fast-growing startups, which may struggle to maintain consistent service levels as they rapidly scale.

This can occur when different team members have different approaches to customer interactions, when there is a lack of standardization in the team's processes and procedures, or when startups rely on a remote workforce, which can make it harder to maintain consistency across different teams and locations.

As a result, customers may receive different levels of service depending on who they interact with, which can lead to frustration and a lack of trust in the startup's ability to perform.

According to a study by Gartner, 80% of customer experience professionals believe that inconsistent service delivery is one of the top obstacles to delivering a seamless customer experience (Gartner, 2021).

To overcome this pain point, here are some elements that startups can implement:

A standardized approach to service delivery that ensures consistency across all team members globally by making sure that everyone is using the same messaging and tools.
Developing a customer service playbook that outlines best practices for customer interactions, creating templates for common customer requests, and providing ongoing training and coaching to team members.
Establishing clear service level agreements (SLAs) and providing consistent training to all team members.
Investing in technology that can help automate repetitive tasks.

Pain Point #2: Low Retention Rates or high churn rate

This occurs when customers stop using the products or services, either because they are not receiving value from them or because they have found a better alternative. One reason for this is that they may focus too much on acquiring new customers, at the expense of retaining existing ones.

Low retention rates can be particularly challenging for startups, as they can impact revenue growth and make it difficult to achieve profitability.

According to a report by Forrester, improving customer retention rates by just 5% can increase profits by 25% to 95% (Forrester, 2020).

To address this pain point, startups should focus on building strong relationships with their customers and providing ongoing value. Here are some elements that can be implemented:

Setting up regular checking in with customers to understand their needs and challenges, offering personalized recommendations based on their usage patterns (through automated communication, for example), and providing ongoing education and resources (such as online content and support) to help them achieve their goals.
Implementing mandatory checkpoints, called "activity reviews," for their customer success managers (CSMs) to conduct with clients. These checkpoints should be recorded in a CRM tool to ensure that the results and contents of the review are documented.
Establishing a mechanism to extract and review activity data on customers' activity and usage is crucial. This allows you to evaluate the health of the client and anticipate potential disengagement or decommissioning.
Soliciting feedback from customers and use this to improve their products and services over time.

Pain Point #3: Low Client Satisfaction Levels

A third common pain point for global customer success teams is low client satisfaction levels. This refers to the level of satisfaction that customers feel with a company's products, services, and overall experience. Low satisfaction levels can be a major problem for startups, as they can lead to negative reviews, low word-of-mouth referrals, and reduced revenue.

According to a study by Zendesk, 87% of customers are more likely to purchase from a company again if they have a positive experience.

However, achieving high levels of customer satisfaction can be challenging, particularly for startups that are still refining their products and processes.

To address this pain point, startups should focus on providing exceptional customer experiences at every touchpoint.

Developing a comprehensive customer strategy that covers all checkpoints is crucial for startups to improve customer success and retention. This means considering customer needs and preferences at every stage of the customer journey, from pre-sales to decommissioning.
Providing personalized onboarding and training, streamlining invoicing and billing processes. By taking a holistic approach to customer experience, startups can build long-term relationships with their customers and increase revenue.
Offering fast and responsive support, providing clear and accurate information, and going above and beyond to solve customer problems. This can be measured with SLAs
Developing a client-centric mindset within their customer success team through trainings and rewards can help to ensure that team members are focused on meeting customer needs and expectations.
Investing in tools that can help to measure customer satisfaction levels and identify areas where improvements are needed is also important.
Organizing a client board with key customers can provide valuable insights into their experiences and expectations, and help startups to improve their products and services.

Paint Point#4: High employee turnover

Turnover refers to the rate at which employees leave a company over a given period of time. High turnover can be a major problem for startups, as it can lead to disruptions in service delivery, increased recruitment costs, and a loss of company knowledge.

In Customer Success or care teams, common causes of high turnover are multiples:

One common cause of high turnover in customer success teams is a lack of processes, tools, and training. Without clear guidelines and tools to support their work, team members may struggle to deliver consistent service or feel unsupported in their roles.
Another factor that can contribute to high turnover in customer success teams is tension within the team. This can manifest in many ways, such as disagreements over strategy, conflicts between team members, or a lack of trust and transparency (Product/ sales/ IT etc.).
Technical issues and failures in product delivery can also contribute to high turnover. When customers encounter issues with a product or service, they may become frustrated and disenchanted with the company. This can put a strain on customer success teams, who may feel unsupported or overwhelmed by the volume of customer inquiries.

To address high turnover in customer success teams, startups should focus on creating a positive and supportive work environment.

Investing in training and tools that help team members perform their jobs effectively, as well as fostering a culture of collaboration and trust. This can be CRM automation tools, regular trainings to develop the teams, rewards and recognition of performances, developing materials such as CSM handbook etc.
Addressing proactively technical issues and product failures, and should work closely with other departments to ensure that customer needs are being met.
Fostering a collaborative approach between teams involved in the customer management, it's important that management from each team works together. This includes not only the customer success team, but also product development, marketing, and other departments that play a role in the customer experience. This might involve regular cross-functional meetings, joint planning sessions, or shared metrics that help to align priorities across departments.

While these are only a few solutions that companies can implement when facing these challenges, it's important to recognize that each startup has its unique set of tools, structures, and teams. At Rise. we offer tailored support to help companies identify the specific challenges they face and provide solutions based on their requirements.

If you're struggling with any of the pain points discussed in this article, Rise. can help.

Our experienced team can work with you to identify the root causes of these challenges and develop a tailored plan of action to address them.

We also provide training and coaching for customer success teams and management to help tackle these issues and improve retention and satisfaction.

RISE.