Consumption, satisfaction, adoption, loyalty, trust.

Five years ago I wrote about customer success as a binary result; did the product or service deliver the outcome sought? This construct is limited in providing insights as it does not tell us how close it came to the desired outcome.

As I now consider customer success my thoughts tend towards the concepts of consumption, satisfaction, adoption, loyalty, and trust.

The model of consumption for many items is changing from purchase to subscription. think Blockbusters (if you're old enough) vs Netflix. When we purchase an item, our relationship with the vendor can end upon the closure of that transaction; in that the vendor has achieved their aim of selling, and how the consumer uses their purchase is beyond their interest. Vendors who need and understand the value of customer retention have an interest in repeat business but this needs a different approach.

The subscription model differs by placing the initial interaction is a starting point to securing predictable ongoing purchases. The vendor has done enough to attract a new customer, but to realize the full value of that customer requires an ongoing relationship where the consumer and the vendor continue to interact. In this model, the vendor has an interest in how the consumer behaves as it determines whether their interaction continues. Likewise, the consumers experience of the vendors product/service, behaviour and ease of interaction influences their decision making process.

Transactions then become only one part of the story. To illustrate I will return to the Netflix example where transactions are the payment of monthly subscription. If the consumer does not watch any content, their propensity to continue transacting lowers over time. Consumption is therefore one leading indicator of ongoing revenue. But there are other considerations.

What if the consumer doesn't like the range of content? What if they find another provider with better offering? If satisfaction is low, consumption will cease and adoption will never be achieved. It is therefore now important to know how the consumer feels. We are beyond operational data of revenue and views. We now need to understand how close to the exit the consumer is if we are to build a predictable and scalable customer experience. What content is preferred? What is the pattern of consumption? Will the consumer reach adoption?

Adoption is the next level of commitment beyond consumption. It is moving beyond the decision to use. It is a position of stability as a consumer and desire for more from the vendor. A willingness to try new vendor offerings, a safe place to innovate knowing that not all offerings will be ideal but that will not affect the core decision to continue the interaction. Adoption can be measured in the consumers willingness to reach outside their core consumption and take on new offerings.

Ultimately, vendors desire customer loyalty. To have faithful and devoted consumers which interact from the heart, not a contract. We see this fealty in Apple vs Andriod users, in Harley Davidson riders, in Coke vs Pepsi drinkers. True customer success is providing an experience over time which has generated a relationship of trust between the vendor and the consumer such that the consumer would walk past another offering to continue with their existing vendor relationship.

It is in the small everyday interactions that we earn drops of trust. It is in the failures to keep a promise that we lose that trust. Trust is confidence in the integrity of a person or thing. We want the product to work, consistently. We want the service to be dependable. We want a predictable outcome from the experience.

For those of us in customer success roles, our desire is to build organisational trust through the myriad of interactions that occur with consumers. We want our consumers to be satisfied and to choose to adopt our new offerings. We love it when customers become advocates and share with others how they have found success. We understand the precious values of loyalty and trust.

I'm delighted that I get to focus on this everyday to build customer success.

Bring on 2020.