We're requesting Staircase functionality that enables admin users to filter and analyze Team Effort metrics (e.g., email effort in minutes, chat effort in minutes, ticket effort in minutes, etc.) by customer tier or segment.
As we know, not all customers are the same. Different tiers of customers can have varying needs, expectations, and engagement models. For example, a digital or tech-touch customer may require more (or less) time and effort per interaction due to limited historical context, lack of a dedicated CSM, or simply differing expectations. In contrast, strategic, high-touch accounts typically have dedicated CSMs who are deeply familiar with the account and are, therefore, generally able to work more efficiently and strategically.
A uniform approach to measuring effort can lead to misinterpretation of resource utilization and team performance. In comparison, filtering by tier allows for more accurate benchmarking, smarter resourcing decisions, and clearer operational insights. Ultimately, customer needs and expectations can vary greatly and our evaluation tools should reflect that reality.
This variability in customer needs and CSM familiarity/expectations creates meaningful differences in how we internally define and measure “effort.” A single benchmark across all customers fails to account for the nuance in how different types of accounts should be served.
To address this, we recommend enabling filtering and segmentation of team effort data, broken out by interaction type (e.g., email, chat, tickets), based on customer tier, segment, or other relevant classifications/filters. This functionality would allow Staircase users to evaluate effort in context and ensure teams are assessed accurately based on the customer profiles they support.
Here are some key benefits that come to mind, but I am sure there are more to consider:
- Improved clarity on how effort varies across customer types
- more equitable and informed performance evaluation of CSMs and pooled support teams
- Better identification of where additional enablement or automation may be needed (especially for digital or low/tech-touch segments)
- Reinforces a “customer first” approach by aligning effort metrics with actual customer needs.