Pitango Growth Academy- Customer Success Special Edition: The Evolution of Customer Success in a PLG Company
Tom Ronen: The Evolution of CS in Product-Led Growth Companies
“Start by building for scale, leverage data to know when to evolve, and avoid duplication of work with clear KPIs for each function.” - Tom Ronen, Head of Customer Success at monday.com
Tom dives into the evolution of Customer Success in product-led growth companies from early stage through mid-and-later stages. With over 125k customers, the Monday.com CS org consists of 60+ CSM’s who oversee platform adoption and retention. But if the product does it all, why do we need CS? Customer Success is here to bridge product gaps. In the earlier stages, CS in a PLG company might not own customer retention right away. Instead, a CSM will create platforms to help customers self-serve at a large scale, so they can move from activation to full value simply by leveraging the programs you provide.?
In mid stages, your CS business will move from reactive to proactive. Your organization may evolve by additional features to your product, moving upmarket by adding a sales team, or perhaps your existing customers may grow. Apply a proactive motion by analyzing your customer journey - leverage surveys, look at product data, run a detailed churn analysis to compare different customer segments and see where your customers are struggling. This is the first time you will start to focus on your retention, so take a deeper look into your customer base and start segmenting more than just ARR. Next, align with your sales counterparts to understand their priorities and KPIs.?
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Now that you’ve followed these steps, it’s time to define your initial CS strategy and hire your first CSM. As you move into the late-stage of your CS org’s evolution, you will develop a more predictable CS motion. You may see an influx of small, medium, and large customers. Your product will likely be much more complex and your CS org will have clear roles and responsibilities across different functions. This is the point where you will prove to your customers the return on investment with your solution.?