The Value Exchange in SaaS: Have we become too transactional? Too SALTy?

How much SALT do you put into baking your Customer Success Cake?

The adoption of SaaS applications continues to exponentially increase, with an estimated 85% of enterprise businesses stating they will have cloud-based applications as part of their portfolio by the end of 2025.? Companies used an average of 371 SaaS apps in 2023, an increase of 32% since 2021, as reported by Vena Solutions. There are over 30,000 SaaS providers worldwide, with an estimated 17,000 based in the USA alone. With the exponential adoption of SaaS, why do we still have a chronic churn and retention problem?? Why?

On average, the subscription median churn rate still hovers between 5-7%, monthly active users lag below 20%, and we struggle to consistently increase existing client net revenue above 30% on an annualized basis. Why???

Customer Success History – Conception to Current State

Customer Success (CS) programs were conceived in the Gen Z era nearly 30 years ago with CRMs as their parents. These infant CS programs grew into adolescence circa 2005 when Salesforce required mitigation for their churn problem, which was because of their incredible growth phase and, thus, their “Customers for Life” call to action. ?In the last 10-15 years, as organizations realized the value of CS programs, we witnessed program maturity, the creation of CS titles, and dedicated functional departments with the demarcation from traditional new client acquisition BD focus.

Today CS has become an industry standard, complete with its own professional association, certifications, and software platforms to support. According to industryresearch.biz new survey in February, the global Customer Success Platforms market is projected to reach?US$ 3277.4 million in 2029, increasing from US$ 1023.3 million in 2022, with the CAGR of 17.8% during the period of 2023 to 2029.? So again, with all this focus on why we still have a chronic churn and retention problem,? Why??

Customer Success Today – Scalable Automated Learning Technology (SALT)?

Okay, I made up the SALT acronym to emphasize a point. With today’s software sophistication and adoption of AI / ML technologies, there has been a drive to automate CS, and for good reason. It allows for process consistency, data analytics, cost-effectiveness, is very scalable, and low maintenance for management—chatbots, Digital Assistants, and Co-Pilots haven’t unionized or taken vacations yet. ??

SALT is a key ingredient!

SALT is a key ingredient in our award-winning CS cake but too much SALT can ruin or turn our cake into an inedible dish.?? The most common mistake is adding too much SALT into your enterprise CS program – over-automation potentially leaves a sour taste and contributes to the churn results we see. SALT is a powerful ingredient; must be used in the right balance and added at the right times by the CS chef. ?Automation should support the process but not fully replace human interaction in key relationship-building steps of your CS program. ?Our CSM (managers) provide that human in the loop for trusted relationship building. They should act as empathetic advisors, providing clients with strategic advice, support, and a tailored human experience and strive for value addition.

It has been easy for me to ignore SALT CS interactions that come in on a frequent basis; a lot of my incoming SALT goes to SPAM. But when I see a call or an email coming from a CSM with whom I have built a relationship, I prioritize that contact. A good CS Chef will use SALT in the right balance tailored to my personal tastes. I will consistently order this cake over others and ask what else is on their menu.??

Don’t get me wrong—I like SALT, but until Cognitive AI reaches an empathetic state, I like talking to a real chef.

How much SALT do you put in your baking your customer success cake?

Share your recipe please.