SaaStr Annual 2024: 10 Customer Success Topics Investors Will Grill You About.pptx

SaaStr Annual 2024 Session

1. UP NEXT: 10 Customer Success Topics Investors Will Grill You About Nick Mehta CEO Gainsight

2. 10 Customer Success Topics Investors Will Grill You About Nick Mehta CEO Gainsight

3. I’m Not An Investor But…

4. The first thing we look at for any company north of a few million ARR is GROSS and NET retention. These metrics are our North Star for assessing the strength of product-market fit , the quality of execution , and the customer love for the solution .” Ajay Agarwal Bain Capital Ventures “

5. If I was allowed only one metric to make a SaaS investment, it would be GRR…and by quite some margin. ” Jeff Lieberman Insight Venture Partners “

6. 2024 CS Benchmark Report Powered by

7. CS Questions Investors WILL Grill You About TOP 10

8. TOP 10 How does your NRR break out into various components? What is your cohort-level GRR? What are your early warning indicators in your business? What makes your customers sticky? What do you do operationally to improve retention? What do you do to show the value your clients are receiving? Who are your biggest advocates? What is your cost structure for CS? What are you doing to scale efficiently? How are you using AI in CS?

9. TOP 10 How does your NRR break out into various components? What is your cohort-level GRR? What are your early warning indicators in your business? What makes your customers sticky? What do you do operationally to improve retention? What do you do to show the value your clients are receiving? Who are your biggest advocates? What is your cost structure for CS? What are you doing to scale efficiently? How are you using AI in CS?

10. Net Revenue Retention vs. ARR

11. 102% Average Net Retention (Compared to 105% Last Year)

12. TOP 10 How does your NRR break out into various components? What is your cohort-level GRR? What are your early warning indicators in your business? What makes your customers sticky? What do you do operationally to improve retention? What do you do to show the value your clients are receiving? Who are your biggest advocates? What is your cost structure for CS? What are you doing to scale efficiently? How are you using AI in CS?

13. Gross Revenue Retention vs. ARR

14. 85% Average Gross Retention (Compared to 86% Last Year)

15. Source: The SaaS CFO

16. TOP 10 How does your NRR break out into various components? What is your cohort-level GRR? What are your early warning indicators in your business? What makes your customers sticky? What do you do operationally to improve retention? What do you do to show the value your clients are receiving? Who are your biggest advocates? What is your cost structure for CS? What are you doing to scale efficiently? How are you using AI in CS?

17. Early Warning Scores

18. Early Warning Sentiment

19. TOP 10 How does your NRR break out into various components? What is your cohort-level GRR? What are your early warning indicators in your business? What makes your customers sticky? What do you do operationally to improve retention? What do you do to show the value your clients are receiving? Who are your biggest advocates? What is your cost structure for CS? What are you doing to scale efficiently? How are you using AI in CS?

20. DAU-to-MAU Ratio vs. ACV

21. User Retention

22. TOP 10 How does your NRR break out into various components? What is your cohort-level GRR? What are your early warning indicators in your business? What makes your customers sticky? What do you do operationally to improve retention? What do you do to show the value your clients are receiving? Who are your biggest advocates? What is your cost structure for CS? What are you doing to scale efficiently? How are you using AI in CS?

23. Outcomes Defined Outcome(s) Achieved CS Team First Value 1 Upsell / Cross-Sell Maturing Usage References / Proof Points 2

24. ADOPTION EXPERIENCE RETENTION SCALE EXPANSION VISIBILITY Health Score Predictiveness Software Spend / CSM Gross Renewal Rate Net Retention Rate % of ARR that is MAU $ Influenced by Advocates CS Cost % of Revenue $$ Saved (Risk → Renewal) Adoption Breadth + Depth NPS + Correlation w/ Renewal Result Expansion $ Sourced by CS % of Customers Managed % Customer Facing Time vs. Prep CSAT/NPS for CSMs Accurate + Actionable Customer Health Scores Adoption Campaign Performance Time to First Value User / Feature Retention Over Time Feature Revenue Influence Support Tickets by Feature Area Confidence in Risk Signals/Process Risk / Renewal Process Compliance Accounts w/ Goals Defined Accounts w/ Verified Outcomes % of Automation Across Lifecycle Performance w/ Automated Touches % Customer Facing Time vs. Prep NPS Response Rates Consistency of Customer Facing Activities # of Advocacy Activities % of Accounts w/ Whitespace opportunities # CS Qualified Leads (CSQL) CSQL Close Rate Average time to close CSQL Pre-Defined Metrics Aligned to Outcomes

25. TOP 10 How does your NRR break out into various components? What is your cohort-level GRR? What are your early warning indicators in your business? What makes your customers sticky? What do you do operationally to improve retention? What do you do to show the value your clients are receiving? Who are your biggest advocates? What is your cost structure for CS? What are you doing to scale efficiently? How are you using AI in CS?

26. Invite all key stakeholders Prescribe best practices, then adapt Agree on the strategy New Customer OR Need Identify Business Objectives Strategy Session Document the Plan Track Value Create success plan to document strategies Export success plan to validate with customer ONGOING PROCESS Find the root cause Document Validate Collaborate with Sales Assign internal ownership for keeping up-to-date Establish cadence of updating with customer input Success Plan Process

27. TOP 10 How does your NRR break out into various components? What is your cohort-level GRR? What are your early warning indicators in your business? What makes your customers sticky? What do you do operationally to improve retention? What do you do to show the value your clients are receiving? Who are your biggest advocates? What is your cost structure for CS? What are you doing to scale efficiently? How are you using AI in CS?

28. ✔ ACTUALLY use the product! ✔ Not a friend or fellow portco ✔ Full adoption ✔ Strong ROI or value ✔ Massive fan ✔ Texting relationship “REAL” ADVOCATES

29. TOP 10 How does your NRR break out into various components? What is your cohort-level GRR? What are your early warning indicators in your business? What makes your customers sticky? What do you do operationally to improve retention? What do you do to show the value your clients are receiving? Who are your biggest advocates? What is your cost structure for CS? What are you doing to scale efficiently? How are you using AI in CS?

30. CS Spend % of ARR vs ARR

31. CS Spend % of ARR vs NRR

32. TOP 10 How does your NRR break out into various components? What is your cohort-level GRR? What are your early warning indicators in your business? What makes your customers sticky? What do you do operationally to improve retention? What do you do to show the value your clients are receiving? Who are your biggest advocates? What is your cost structure for CS? What are you doing to scale efficiently? How are you using AI in CS?

33. Average ARR / CSM $2.76M

34. Average Accounts per CSM vs ACV

35. CS > CSM CS > CSM

36. Education Customer Success Product Experience Internal Teams Customer Community Customer Outcomes In Product Digital Journeys Product Experience

37. TOP 10 How does your NRR break out into various components? What is your cohort-level GRR? What are your early warning indicators in your business? What makes your customers sticky? What do you do operationally to improve retention? What do you do to show the value your clients are receiving? Who are your biggest advocates? What is your cost structure for CS? What are you doing to scale efficiently? How are you using AI in CS?

38. 1. Being mediocre at some things is underrated 😐

39. 2. The grind is underrated 💪🏾

40. 3. Solitude is underrated 🤫

41. 4. Oxygen is underrated 🌬

42. 5. Fatherly pride is underrated 👏🏽

43. 6. Scars are underrated 😫

44. “ My friend is 75 and climbed Kilimanjaro. What's wrong with your dad you think? But one thing is she was able to train since her kids took such good care of her husband."

45. My Hopes for You 1. Being Mediocre and Making Mistakes is OK 2. Keep Grinding 3. Take Some Time for Yourself 4. Refill Your Oxygen Tank 5. Be Proud - at Work and at Home 6. Embrace Your Scars

46. Scan code below for a copy of this deck

47. U P NEXT ON AI STAGE: AMA with SaaStr's Founder & CEO, Jason Lemkin Jason Lemkin Founder & CEO SaaStr