Digital Customer Success Manager - Who? When? What?

In 2014, I had no idea that my job as an Online Sales Manager would later be recognized as the trendy title people now use on their Linkedin profiles - Digital Customer Success Manager. ??

Until recently, digital customer success was often seen as a less glamorous side of #CX than human-led customer success. It was typically considered an "add-on" or a way to look after the smaller batch of clients that couldn't be efficiently served through more personalized, human-driven dialog.

Based on personal experience, the role of DCSM complements the work of direct touch CSMs. You can look at it as a broader listening mechanism, that gathers market feedback from a larger set of clients, who most often, are more willing to express their opinions because the emotional barrier typically associated with interacting with a person, is absent.

Where does the need for DCS programs come from? ??

Customer Success teams can’t simply keep increasing CSM headcount as they grow their customer base & that's when Digital Customer Success (DCS) enters the stage. It's triggered by #customersegmentation and the need to automate processes such as onboarding, adoption & renewals at a larger scale, through strategies that incorporate Product-Led Growth (PLG) and an engaged user community.

What does the process of building a Digital Customer Success Program look like? ??

Digital Customer Success is a team effort. Even though I support 100% having a person solely dedicated to the role, more like a curator, it's a cross-functional effort. Product, Community, and CS teams must work together to proactively organize "Moments of Truth" along the #customerjourney using a mix of high-touch techniques and digital best practices to tackle the personalization topic.

Let's say you are now a fresh DCSM - what should you do first? Well, study your customer base, and gather the repetitive interactions that can be transformed into email templates & orchestrated mind maps. Silently participate in CSMs customer meetings & support teams kick-offs, to understand the bucket problems your clients may face with the product/service or stage of growth they are in.

For example, email campaigns have proven to be an effective method for welcoming new customers and equipping them with the necessary information to begin their journey. You'd want to include links to best practices, user community hubs, self-service resources, and support teams. Furthermore, you should aim for designing a dynamic drip email campaign that offers product resources, bite-sized tips, and video access throughout the onboarding process, one can expect to witness a significant boost in open rates, click-through rates (CTRs), logins, and asset downloads.

To sum up, the phrase "bear hug" your customers in the case of DCSM can be translated through "make sure that your customers feel seen individually" through orchestrated help to achieve their own recipe of success.