In a study published in the proceedings of the 2021 EPIEM (European Professors of Industrial Engineering And Management) conference, this one paper caught my attention. Even though the paper is published in an academic conference proceeding, the four authors are a mix of educators and industry professionals.
Based on a rigorous study they found the following to be the most important factors that lead to success for Customer Success Management (CSM) teams. I would like the reader to focus on the last pillar/column in Figure 1 which is about the customer itself. CSM function is bound to fail if the customer does not exhibit certain characteristics. A CSM should focus on how a new onboarding customer rates on the two factors in this column. A low score is certainly a leading indicator of churn and hence should be highlighted to the management and sales.
Please note that the term “Supplier” here refers to the provider, service, SaaS company. For more details please see reference below.
If you have other factors that you would like to share please add them as a comment below.
Reference
[1] - 2021 EPEIM Conference Proceedings