Customer Success Glossary: 34 Terms and Acronyms You Should Know

Beyond learning these terms, it is also interesting to know the importance of Customer Success for the reality of companies

SaaS? MRR? Churn? Lifetime Value? NPS?

How many times do we come across these words and acronyms, which have a lot to contribute to the day-to-day running of a customer service team?

To make your life easier, we've listed the main terms that we use in our customer service publications and educational materials below and briefly explained each one.

We separate the contents by categories of Customer Success .

Success in your learning!

Terms about the Customer Success area in general

SaaS (Software as a Service)

These are business models in which payment is made periodically, it can be monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, annually, etc. It is often used in technology companies, but is not limited to them.

Customer Success Management

Customer Success Management is an integration of marketing, sales, professional services, training and support activities and functions in a new profession to meet the needs of companies with recurring revenue models.

It represents a proactive mindset, function, department, or strategy, commonly adopted by B2B companies, to optimize business with customers, reduce churn rate, generate profit, and increase predictability of recurring revenue.

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Churn

It is the rate of cancellation of clients of a company or users in relation to a service in a certain period of time (monthly, quarterly, annually).

For more information, check out the Churn post: How to Cut It Down and Grow Your Business .

Net Revenue Churn

It is an indicator that shows how much the company can be sustainable without having to invest in new clients.

It is calculated by subtracting lost revenue from earned revenue (not including new sales) in a recurring payment business model.

MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue / Monthly Recurring Income)

It is an indicator of companies with recurring payment models that shows the total amount of money that is earned per month with a subscription or contract.

ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue / Annual Recurring Income)

It is an indicator of companies with a recurring payment model that shows the total amount of money that is earned per year with a subscription or contract.

OKR (Objectives and Key Results / Objectives and Key Results)

It is a methodology capable of generating a high commitment around dynamic objectives that can be measured.

Goals are planned over a period, typically a quarter, to generate focus and a sense of prioritization, which will drive the team's effort and ensure that everyone works to achieve them.

• Objectives (O): concise statement of the direction desired by the company. A good goal has to be described eloquently so that staff can imagine how impressive it will be to achieve it.

• Key Results (KR): Goals with direct impact on the achievement of the objective, provided it is achieved successfully.

For example: I'm going to [target] measured by [key result set].

01: Have a qualified lead base

KR1: Get 5 alliances to do link building

KR2: Increase the number of leads generated per month by 20% at the end of the quarter

KR3: Reach 2000 leads generated by Average Paid

Cohort

The word cohort refers to "group", that is, a cohort analysis is a verification of the behavior of clients, but dividing them into groups with similar characteristics.

The cohort indicator does not take into account all clients as a unit, but rather separates people into groups, based on two things they have in common: that they have been exposed to the same event and that this has occurred in the same period of time.

LTV (Lifetime Value)

The Lifetime Value, or value in the customer's life cycle, refers to all the value added by the customer during the relationship with the company. That is, the money that comes in.

The calculation of LTV is carried out as follows:

LTV - Average Ticket Value x Customer Retention Time

SLA (Service Level Agreement)

It represents the formalization of all the main deliveries and definitions agreed between two areas in one document.

In general, an SLA contains all of the delivery actions and responsibilities of each team, and is usually agreed between the Sales and Customer Success areas.

Customer Marketing

Customer Marketing is an area within Customer Success that seeks to communicate with customers during the post-sales phase. The goal is to improve customer retention and automate processes. Communication is done in a "one to many" format, that is, one to many, mainly through Email Marketing .

Onboarding Terms

NPS

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is an indicator created by Fred Reichheld to measure customer satisfaction and loyalty.

It is generally used on a scale of 1 to 10, from 1 to 6 are customers who are considered detractors, between 7 and 8 are passive customers and between 9 and 10, customers who are promoters.

More information in the publication Net Promoter Score: what it is and how to implement it in your company .

Implementation (Onboarding)

It is the process in which you present your product or service to a new customer. It can also mean the adaptation period of a new collaborator in your company.

Read more about onboarding in the posts:

• How your agency can welcome your client: step by step to deliver the first results

Wow moment

Expression used to describe the feeling that customers have when a delivery exceeds the expectations they had at the time of purchase.

Adoption

This term refers to how much your customers make use of your product or service.

Success Plan

Success plans are task models based on the goals that clients must achieve. They generally involve the definition of a responsible party and a date for their delivery.

ISM (Implementation Success Manager)

The role of Implementation Success Manager is to track the first steps towards the success of the customer or individual, by delivering the first value of the product or service sold.

Ongoing Terms

RTE or Quarterly Business Review (QBR)

The Quarterly Success Review (RTE) is a formal review meeting, which takes place in person or by videoconference, between one or more decision makers in your client's company.

More information on the subject in the publication RTE: what it is and how to present the results of Inbound Marketing projects to your clients .

Customer Journey

The customer journey is the complete sum of customer experiences when they interact with your company and brand.

The Customer Journey seeks to understand the customer experience in its entirety and not just one isolated transaction or experience.

Success Milestone

Success milestones represent a way of knowing if your project is progressing or not, especially if you are not familiar with the tasks that will be carried out.

They symbolize the realization or achievement of certain criteria that show the progress of the project.

Cross-sell

Strategy commonly used in the sales area, in which the seller offers the customer the opportunity to purchase products or services related to the main purchase being made.

Example: When buying a hamburger at McDonalds, the salesperson asks if, in addition to the sandwich, you want to buy French fries, which increases the value of the product or service.

Upgrade / Upsell

In the context of companies that charge via recurring payment (monthly, semi-annual, annual), the upgrade represents the exchange of a more basic plan (cheaper) for a more advanced plan (more expensive). It can also represent the expansion of a service.

Downgrade / Downsell

In the context of companies that charge via recurring payment (monthly, semi-annual, annual), the downgrade represents the exchange of a more advanced plan (more expensive) for a more basic plan (more expensive). It can also represent a decrease in a service package.

Technical support

Area responsible for answering technical questions from clients. In technical support, different customer service channels are used, such as online chat, email and telephone.

Leading indicator

A leading indicator can be an indicative factor that your company is starting to reach a standard or trend. It can help with forecasts on customer behavior, especially when they decide to unsubscribe from a recurring product / service.

Follow-up

Follow-up of a process after performing the initial stage. In the context of Customer Success, the follow-up represents a meeting to review the planning designed for the execution of the customer's strategies.

Desired Outcome

It is the sum of two important variables in customer service: the required outcome and the appropriate experience.

The necessary result is what the client needs to achieve, what he is trying to conquer. For long-term success, both yours and your client's, you will have to help your client not only achieve their necessary result, but also help them do it in a way that is appropriate, which represents the right experience.

CSM (Customer Success Manager)

The role of the Customer Success Manager, or Customer Success Manager, is to keep track of a broad portfolio of customers. They often have the responsibility to understand the context of each company or individual and to assist in the quarterly (re) planning of the product / service purchased by customers.

Customer Health Score

It is the value used to understand the general status of the customer's account. The result is generally calculated based on the following parameters: use / frequency of the product, NPS, adoption of the product / service, date of purchase, time invested in the product / service, interactions / communications with the company.

A typical client health index ranges on a scale of 1 to 100 (1 being the lowest level and 100 the highest). It typically indicates customer satisfaction, as well as upsell, cross-sell, and churn opportunities.

Case of success

Representation, through a blog post, video or eBook, of a success story, caused by the good results generated by the client after using the product / service solution sold by your company.

Also read the publication How to make case studies that delight (and 3 examples to inspire you) .

Renewal

In a company with recurring payment, it is the moment when the company negotiates the continuity of the product or service contract with the customer.

Ideal Customer Profile

The Ideal Customer Profile refers to the type of customer that has the criteria (such as gender, age, location, lifestyle, etc.) that are ideal for the sale of your company's product or service.

Account Expansion

Account expansion refers to generating sales after the customer's first purchase.

Growing with the customer base is a process widely used by the Customer Success area and is cheaper and more cost effective compared to acquiring new customers.

Office hour

Time reserved for an instructor (usually a CSM) to find a group of clients and clarify their doubts about the product or service offered.

It can happen in person or online, through video conferencing.

Beyond learning these terms, it is also interesting to know the importance of Customer Success for the reality of companies.

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