CS Perspectives from Gainsight

Latest Update: Sept 13, 2022 //Gainsight Administrator is a creative, powerful role. It drives career development, it lives in the cutting-edge world of Customer Success Operations, and it’s both a new challenge to a systems administrator veteran and an entry-point for someone looking for a first ‘technical’ role.I know, because I’ve lived it and I’ve seen it. I became a Gainsight Admin in 2015, and earned my Level 3 Certification when it first became available. After transitioning from ‘Gainsight customer’ to ‘Gainsight employee,’ I ran Gainsight’s CS Ops team for 2 years, which included experienced Admins who have since grown into leadership, and first-time Admins who had never configured a piece of software before. In my newest role, I see the experiences of Admins with all levels of experience, plus their managers, on a daily basis. I hear about what they need and what has worked well for them.And I hear how out-of-reach the role can feel for newcomers. It’s intimidating, or confus

What’s a good Account:CSM Ratio or ARR Managed:CSM Ratio?The question comes up weekly, if not daily across our customer base and across the market.Plus, these benchmarks are changing as companies move more fully into Scaled CS approaches including Digital CS programs, 1:Many Events, and Cohorts.Here’s the latest from Gainsight.     Finally, here’s an estimate of ARR per CSM by ACV  

💰 How do you develop confidence in your ability to impact GRR/NRR?Post-sale teams are tasked with driving GRR and NRR - the key lagging metrics of a SaaS business. If the bucket is too leaky, there’s no way to get off the ground (GRR). And if you can’t consistently expand with customers, you won’t stay in orbit for very long (public company NRR median is ~115%, top quartile is 120%+).🚦 What are your leading indicators?What actually impacts these lagging metrics is a question that must be continuously assessed and answered. Our leading indicators drive our Health Score.  Specifically for measuring outcomes, we use the “DEAR” Framework.  Each measure and threshold is based on correlating performance 6 months before the renewal with the renewal outcome:At Gainsight, we’ve shifted to re-assessing health scoring to 2x per year vs. annual or more as market conditions change quickly.📊 What did we learn this quarter about our leading indicators?We reconfirmed the “recipe” continues to be tw

In our monthly meetup group about the CS Ops of Digital Customer Success, we spoke in July 2023 about how self-serve resource centralization and customer education can enhance your digital customer success journey. Here’s what we learned!  📝 Note-taking slides from the breakout roomsLearn about these meetups in the future by signing up for the monthly CS Ops Newsletter.

Hi everyone - after a small hiatus, I’m back with another post to share how we run CS Ops internally at Gainsight. If you missed the first post, you can check it out here. I discussed how we run our quarterly planning and sprint processes. Today, I’ll be discussing one of my favorite tools to foster learning within our team - Retrospectives!In the ever-evolving landscape of customer success, staying ahead means continuously adapting and improving strategies and operations. Incorporating regular retrospectives into your CS Ops team can help achieve this goal. These retrospectives foster teamwork by providing a space where team members can share without judgment and find common ground in their work. Why Retrospectives are Valuable Retrospectives foster a culture of continuous improvement and teamwork. Through regular check-ins, teams can analyze what worked well, what didn't, and formulate action plans for the future. This not only promotes efficiency but also nurtures a more collaborati

Hi Community!As we continue to develop capabilities around Timeline, we wanted to get your feedback on how you would like to use it in the future.Originally we designed Timeline in response to many customers who wanted a superior note taking tool. They were using systems like OneNote, Evernote and others and it just didn't meet the grade. So we built Timeline.One of our original goals was to provide a high quality repository of customer notes. Different than SFDC activity history, which logs everything and can get pretty noisy, Timeline would be cleaner and easier to find specific human interactions.But things evolve and we want to get your input. We've had some customers ask about having the ability to sync every JO or Advanced Outreach email, CTAs, Milestones, NPS survey responses and even health scores to Timeline. [i]What's your point of view? Should we keep Timeline as a view of human interactions only or would you want to drop automated, system generated actions in Timeline as we

Gainsight hosted our first Customer Advisory Board focused on Customer Education with an amazing group of education and post sale leaders.  Learn how companies are blending education and customer success to scale. See below for Summary, Key Points, How to Get Started, Common Org StructuresSummaryThe lines between educating users, driving adoption and guiding customers to achieve ROI are completely blurred.  If your education programs are not strategically woven into your post-sale experience, you’re missing a huge opportunity to scale while increasing adoption, retention and expansion!The discussion focused on improving the customer experience through education, aligning customer education and success, and using data/metrics to demonstrate education impact. Key themes were enabling customer and CSM efficiency and utilizing CSM insights to enhance content. View the recordingKey PointsThe ultimate educational experience from the customer's perspective is seamless, searchable, easy to acc

We have implemented Gainsight within the last 1.5 years. We’re still maturing and expanding our usage of Gainsight as well as standardizing some of our processes across teams. As part of the CS growth we’re bringing in resources for a CS Ops role. Right now, we have an admin, project manager, business analyst, and product manager, so this would be outside of one of those roles.  I’m looking for input from the community on how you utilize this role and areas you really feel like they provide the most value. 

Hi GS Fam!   I’m hoping to draw some inspiration from y’all around tracking customer goals via a Success Plan.  I would LOVE to see if y’all can share your best practices around the process and documentation.  A simple screenshot of your plan info section would suffice too!   We are in the middle of really REVAMPING how we track, document and manage these bad boys via Success Plans, would love some inspiration and best practices!   What we are looking for: We want to record Customer Goals (easy) Document current KPI measures Document target KPI measures Document customer outcomes    I know it’s easy to just create a text field and document these, but looking to see if anyone has more innovative ways, even if it means changing the overall process.   Thanks! Andor

'Working on Digital CS motions, there''s one thing that comes up over and over: having the best strategies is great - but aligning teams around those strategies is often really, really hard. Keeping everyone aligned, whether at work or in life, means juggling a lot of inputs and needs and working together to be successful. It’s something I’ve seen at Gainsight (working on several cross-functional projects at the same time) and outside of work (trying to get my 2 and 4 year old daughters on the same page definitely requires some expert-level collaboration and juggling - and lets face it, they win most of those rounds). Digital Customer Success can be executed in different ways by different companies, and with different alignments in between. But often teams struggle with this question in the same ways - how do you work effectively, together, with competing priorities. I’m really excited to be a part of next week''s webinar with Drift’s Director of CX, @emilymm519 , to answer this exact

Are you ready to delve into the heart of our platform? Let's explore some incredible features that give you the keys to understanding and optimising your user experience.  Tag & Identity Code: Seamlessly track user interactions and behaviors across your product, giving you invaluable insights into user journeys. Add Product - Users, Accounts: Effortlessly manage user accounts and gain a deeper understanding of your user base.  Audience Explorer, Accounts Explorer: Dive deep into audience demographics and account data, helping you tailor your strategies effectively.  Product Mapper - Module & Feature - URL, TAG UI, Custom Event: Map out your product's landscape and analyze specific modules, features, and URLs for optimized performance.  Engagement - Dialog, Guided, Email, Slider, Survey: Craft personalized engagement strategies through various mediums, fostering meaningful connections.  KC Bot - Bots, Articles, Badge, Feedback Tab, Search Tab: Harness the power of AI with our Kn

🎉 Whoa, the webinar was absolutely fantastic! 🎉 A huge shoutout to the incredible Champion @melissa_allen  for launching our First Spotlight series CS with such a bang! The collaboration between @lane_h  and @melissa_allen  was nothing short of amazing. The key lesson that resonated with me was mastering the art of managing that 80% of customers responsible for 20% of the ARR. And the best part? They shared how to achieve this in a digital yet incredibly personalized manner. Melissa's insights struck a chord with me: the secret lies in starting small, meticulously testing on a small scale, fine-tuning through iterations, and then scaling up. No doubt, I'm on a mission to spread the word and share this remarkable recording with everyone! 🚀Click here to Access the link. For those who couldn't make it to the Okta webinar, I highly recommend diving into the recording. One particularly intriguing strategy they discussed was harnessing variant emails to deliver tailored messages to specif

I'm looking to understand what other CSM Leaders are doing in regards to portfolio reviews with their CSMs. I would like to review the accounts and set goals with my team for the year. I"m thinking of including the following items, but want to see if anyone else has done this and has some suggestions? - Engaged vs Not Engaged - why not, what are we doing to change that? - Time spent in accounts - are we spending the right amount in the accounts, are the activities productive or redundant? - Create goals around MBOs Thanks in advance for any ideas!

One of the questions I get asked a lot is where to start when creating a digital customer journey. It’s one question that I always hesitate to answer because the true answer is “Well, it depends”. It depends on what processes and automation you have in place currently, who your customers are, and what products you are offering. In my opinion, it’s best to first map out the existing customer journey, noting which parts of the experience are manual, and which are automated (or perhaps could be in the future). Once you have that mapped out, look for the low-hanging fruit, the easy wins if you will. This is commonly found in the very first step of your customer journey. The new customer welcome email.Think about your shopping habits and the experience that come with them. Whether you’re buying a new family car or furniture to be delivered. The person serving you thanks you for your purchase and may provide you with some additional information for you to read until the product is delivered.

It’s not uncommon to hear customer-facing teams answer the same questions time and time again. The questions could be about functionality or general how-to’s. Sometimes, these questions become feature requests, and it can be challenging for teams to record this information in an efficient manner so product teams can prioritize feature requests accurately.That’s where the customer community comes in. Gainsight offers a community solution called Digital Hub that offers the ability for you to empower your customers to ask questions about your product, log feature requests and interact with other customers. If done well, your customers will answer each other questions, and you will have a well-formatted report of feature requests, votes, and revenue associated with the features. In fact, in our new book on customer communities set to be published in November 2023, we talk about how you can integrate community into every part of your customer journey and the importance of doing so.Getting b

'Are you a mid-market CSM who is fatigued from juggling multiple customer accounts and struggling to keep everyone on the same page? Do you find it challenging to collaborate effectively with your technical counterparts, account managers, and your manager? You are not alone, and we are here to help! On Wednesday, August 2nd at 10:00am PT I will be hosting a webinar about how to unleash the power of Gainsight in a fast-paced landscape, where tech stacks are under scrutiny, breaking down communication barriers is more crucial than ever while driving efficiencies to deliver ROI. To kick-start the conversation and get you engaged, we''d love to hear your thoughts on how you break down communication barriers within your team to provide an exceptional customer experience. What strategies and tools have you found most helpful in fostering cross-collaboration and achieving success?  Share your insights and join the conversation with like-minded professionals who are passionate about revolution

 In the ever-evolving landscape of customer success, I am excited to share how I see businesses are harnessing the power of digitization to elevate customer engagement and achieve sustainable growth. The rise of 1:Many programs has been a game-changer, revolutionizing the way businesses scale their customer success efforts. These programs play a pivotal role in maximizing efficiency, fostering consistent communication, and identifying growth opportunities within the customer base. In this post, I want to share my take on how 1:many programs are set to revolutionize businesses across various aspects, ultimately leading to amplified customer satisfaction and growth.Scalability: 1:Many programs empower customer success teams to reach and engage with a larger number of customers simultaneously. This scalability is crucial as businesses onboard and support a growing customer base without compromising personalized attention. Imagine the empowerment of Customer Success Managers (CSMs) when th

Hello Fellow GS Folks!Anyone out there working to create DS (High/Low/Tech Touch) segment that works in healthcare - specifically with hospitals & automation? We are creating a pooled CS team and would appreciate any ideas, tips/tricks, BP and more importantly, step by step what you did first in order to be successful.  FYI - we do utilize basic GS functionality - would love to incorporate more regarding unused functionality that we may already have & not using - please note that we do not have PX functionality at this time so that is not an option.  Hopefully in the future.  Thank you in advance!With Care,Molly Walden - molly.walden@omnicell.com 

We've launched a new short CS skills course on Gainsight's Durable Growth Playbook, designed to empower CS professionals to prevent surprise customer churn, boost product adoption, and keep customer success outcomes at the forefront. The best part is the course is available for FREE! 😉 Check it out today!Link to course for current Pulse+ subscribers Link to course for everyone elseAfter completing the course, you’ll receive an email offer from Credly.com with your digital badge. Share it on LinkedIn, and let others know about this training!And if you like this course, check out the rest of the CS training and certifications in our Pulse+ training program.

Previously, we explored the importance of defining a default customer 360 view. Now, we delve into - Accessing and updating CRM account records from Gainsight. By seamlessly integrating these two systems, you can optimize data management and empower your teams to make near-real-time updates.Imagine a world where your customer success teams can effortlessly access and update CRM account records directly from the C360. This workflow propels you from the initial phase to medium visibility, enabling efficient and informed decision-making.To create this visibility, leverage Gainsight's powerful connectors, rules engine, custom fields, and C360 capabilities. Let's explore the keys to success:CRM Connector: Integrate your CRM tool with Gainsight to pull key customer data into the C360. By centralizing customer information, you equip your teams with a holistic view of customer interactions, enabling them to deliver personalized experiences. Usage and Support Ticket Data: Gainsight's connectors