During Pulse Europe, 2018 (https://www.gainsight.com/pulse/europe/2018/) the Gainsight Client Outcomes Team organized a Circles of Success Program, featuring group discussions for the attendees focused on key topics and challenges. We had such engagement from our customers we wanted to keep the conversation going on Community.





One of the topics we discussed was Health Scoring and Risk Management. Here are a few of the questions and the corresponding topics that we discussed:





What health scores have worked best for different organizations? Do you see trends based on the industry?





· On-Prem customers use: Using proxy for usage data as usage data is not available support cases, webinar attendance, etc. to look at who are healthy customers. They can easily identify unhealthy but healthy is harder. Onboarding CSAT is also a measure that is used for customer health





· For SAAS customers: utilization metrics





· NPS as a part of health scores: Interestingly, in EMEA, culturally some customers will never score above a 7, which is technically not good health. It’s not as accurate as it could be seen/judged to be in a US market. Creating a RISK CTA as a result of a passive / detractor NPS score may work better rather than including it in the Health Scores.





How do you divide your customer base to ensure that the parameters around your health scores are relevant to them?





· Product





· Growth Potential - in right customer stage / have reached success measures





· ARR - high ARR & enterprise account = Tier 1





· Red Health >> When customers are at risk, they are moved to g a high touch model





· Only use health scores for Tech Touch customers - this came from several people





· High Touch in EMEA tends to rely on Sentiment / Engagement





Have you created health scores across multiple product offerings?





· Yes - 350 products in one company’s catalog, research solutions etc.





· Most attendees had one main product with sub/satellite products that do NOT factor into the health score





· One said they are thinking about how to factor it - it’s hard but they see the need to do it





How do you report on health scores?





· One company is moving towards surfacing health towards the entire company, no matter their job title





· 4 hour monthly call with COO -- slides on health are pulled directly from the system so everyone can view health on a monthly basis





· End of sprint (every 2 weeks) - update on key actions / next sprint / overall health. It’s what connects Engg/Product to what they do on a day-to-day basis





How to approach a customer with a low health score (full transparency or some sugar coating)?





· Depends on why they’re unhealthy - is it us or them? Very complicated to decide / figure out which product issue caused it and then what action to take





· Use a buddy system for new CSMs to help them figure out how to take action





· “How could the support case have been prevented”? -- Support NPS Survey





· If customer isn’t meeting KPIs - meet with them about why / connect them with a customer who has and is in a similar industry





· Accountability Program for Customers - stop assuming all issues are on the supplier’s end - sometimes customers don’t want to do training etc. They have to take ownership of their own roles/responsibilities & do training to be successful. Also, we need to set expectations early on - kickoff call and pre-sales





What are some proactive ways towards having many risky customers in a portfolio?

1. Interactions with Sales/Marketing to get the right pipeline of customers - those who are the right product market fit and have the resources to maintain the product in the long term.
   
   
2. Starting projects the right way - basically a sales person can’t hand over a deal to Services until they’ve completed a handoff and Services has accepted the project.

a. Make Sales team gather & document the information throughout the sales cycle: Services/Onboarding refuse to accept projects until they have all the handoff information completed





b. Make the sales rep justify why they’re selling a risky deal





How often do you revisit your scores?





· Yearly





· Weekly – This was a start-up!





· Scoring is decided in the US headquarters - not always easy to be heard





Please share your best practices on this thread to keep the conversation going (include the specific question in your post). Please also follow this thread if you're interested in additional Circles of Success activities related to Health Scoring and Risk Management.