Proving the ROI of CS through Customer Value Led Growth

I'm stating the obvious here, but we are in the middle of some very uncertain times which usually means shrinking budgets and more scrutiny on proving the ROI. These changes made for pretty tough conditions for Customer Success to attain retention and growth metrics.

A shift away from being an actions-oriented function to an outcomes-oriented outcome is needed at times like this and is why I believe the move towards "Customer Value Led Growth" is so important right now.

CVLG is a strategy that prioritises creating value for customers to drive growth. Understanding what client's business objectives and building success plans to deliver measurable outcomes against that goal using your platform will ultimately drive revenue growth through expansions and retention.

Ultimately CVLG is an org-wide strategy and its key principles can be applied across the customer lifecycle:

Internal Alignment on a Unified GTM Strategy A united Go-to-Market (GTM) strategy between customer success, product, and sales teams is essential. Cross-functional collaboration means customer insights are used to drive product development, and sales aligns with both current capabilities and the product roadmap to drive value across the customer lifecyle.

Deeply Understand the Customer's Needs Success starts with comprehensive discovery. Identify both the organisational and personal needs of your customers. Proactively address their goals, showing them how your product can be a value add, not a cost. Recent research has shown that even just attempting to tie into organisational objectives has a positive impact on retention rates.

Constantly Showcase Value Regularly measure and showcase how your product impacts the customer’s bottom line. Use customer touchpoints to deliver value insights and measurements against outcomes. Delivering against desired outcomes will drive key stakeholder advocacy which can only be good in the long run!