Processes are king in the field of customer success. Many customer success teams rely on a systematic approach to get everything done during the day. They ensure that nothing important for particular customers falls between the cracks. While these procedures are necessary, they might make the customer engagement process feel sterile and “formulaic” because it is based on a formula. The solution is to drive those ‘aha’ moments with customer success.
Some customer success teams struggle with this balancing act. While these processes are essential for achieving goals and meeting customer milestones, providing exceptional, individualized customer experiences is equally crucial. So, how do customer success teams accomplish both goals? The key is to achieve these “aha” moments by utilizing processes.
What exactly is an “aha” moment?
Delivering an “aha” moment to a customer entails going the additional mile or going out of your way to express your gratitude and acknowledge the importance of your customer. This does not imply joining a conference call a few minutes early. An aha moment is one in which you go above and beyond. It could be as simple as mailing them a ‘just because’ customer appreciation gift or providing them with a free additional service.
Aha moments are what make regular consumers become top clients. An aha moment can result in a client referral, account renewal, or even an unprompted endorsement from a customer’s CEO. Creating aha moments for customers is more than a customer success manager’s job description (CSM).
It’s all part of a company’s customer-centric culture and dedication to quality.
How processes can aid in the creation of “aha” moments
While processes and procedures may appear to be the polar opposites of aha moments, they can also serve as a catalyst for creating and maintaining them. It all boils down to designing these procedures around aha moments. CSMs can proceed through the steps of a process while seeking for ‘aha potential’ to focus on, rather than automated going through the motions and checking boxes with a customer because that is what the procedure says you to do.
Three Customer Success aha Process Creation Examples:
1. Assigning Metrics That Deserve an “aha”
Using analytics to determine what constitutes an “aha moment.” Every customer would be their number one customer if CSMs had their way, and they all deserve aha moments. While this is undoubtedly true and clearly an ideal situation, it is neither scalable nor financially viable, particularly for growing teams. Instead, customer success teams can set up a system for measuring and grading client accounts to see if they’re ready for an aha moment (such as a free service or gift) and what the ROI will be.
2. Customizing Customer Engagement, Conversation, and Collaboration
Personalizing consumer engagement, dialogue, and collaboration. Processes can make customer encounters with a CSM or onboarding team feel rote and robotic, as we noted earlier. Aha moments are what break up the monotony and give customers the personalized touch they crave. Engagement and enthusiasm go hand-in-hand with learning and professionalism when personalization and giving aha moments to customers are part of your onboarding process rather than an add-on or extra.
Prescriptive and training recommendations based on usage. Inviting customers to webinars and events. Sending product release notes and checking whether the customers have gone through it. Frequent sales checking to see how they are doing. Reconnecting to the goals and seeing where they are. Conducting scaled Quarterly Business Review (QBR) meetings to discuss the hits and misses.
3. Come up with innovative and effective ways to aha your customers.
Finding innovative and effective ways to impress customers. While no two customer accounts are identical, many CSMs have been in similar situations and are willing to exchange information and ideas. CSMs can come up with extremely inventive ways to aha consumers, from free gifts to special invitations to product upgrades, thanks to back-end documentation and information exchange procedure. CSMs can also use a back-end procedure to keep track of what they’ve already given customers to avoid redundancy. Do frequent CSAT and NPS surveys to monitor the responses and take corrective actions.
Takeaways
‘Aha’ moments are a great way to increase customer engagement. Finding and concentrating on aha moments does not need abandoning your procedures. The finest CSMs are those who can bring customers from point A to point B while providing amazing, personalized experiences and going over the key information they need to know. Customer happiness and, ultimately, retention are driven by these “aha” moments.
Some examples of ‘aha’ moments are as below:
- Send video messages to show appreciation. It must be personalized.
- “Surprise and delight” drives referrals and recommendations. Small gestures can be valuable. ‘Wow’ or ‘aha’ Moments are unrelated to price.
- Be authentic. Customers know when you’re “checking a box.”
- Connect with people, even if you think they’re unapproachable. You’ll be surprised.
- Mistakes happen. People are more forgiving when Wow Moments occur.
- Send follow-up notes sooner than later for the greatest impact.
- Humanize experiences. A hand-written note never goes out of style.
- Listen, not just speak. You’re never too old to learn.
- Let employees know they matter. All the above applies.
You may not have realized this, but the customer is your biggest asset. It is your most important customer value. By focusing on these ‘aha’ moments, you will have a stronger customer relationship that will stand the test of time.
P.S. – The main image has been taken from pexels.com
