The roles of Customer Success Managers (CSMs) and Account Managers (AMs) are becoming increasingly converged in the software as a service (SaaS) industry. Both CSMs and AMs are responsible for ensuring customer satisfaction, retention, and growth. While AMs typically focus on sales and revenue, CSMs focus on customer success and the adoption of the product or service. However, the line between the two roles is becoming progressively blurred as companies shift towards a customer-centric approach. This convergence means that CSMs and AMs often work closely together to ensure that the customer's needs and goals are met, while also driving revenue growth. Both CSMs and AMs are important for a company's success and it's vital for them to work collaboratively.
This metric measures the predictable revenue generated from customer subscriptions on a monthly basis. It is a key indicator of the growth and stability of a business. The industry benchmark for MRR growth ranges from 5-7% per month. CSMs and AMs typically focus on expanding the customer base, upselling and cross-selling, and reducing churn to increase MRR.
This metric measures the percentage of customers who cancel their subscription or stop using a product or service over a given period of time. A high churn rate can indicate issues with the product or service, or problems with the customer experience. The industry benchmark for SaaS churn rate is 5-7% per month. CSMs and AMs typically focus on identifying at-risk customers early, addressing customer concerns proactively, and improving the product or service to reduce churn.
This metric measures customer loyalty and satisfaction by asking customers to rate their likelihood of recommending a product or service to others on a scale of 0-10. It is a widely used metric in the customer success industry. The industry benchmark for NPS is above 50. CSMs and AMs usually focus on improving the customer experience, addressing customer feedback, and identifying and addressing common pain points to increase NPS.
This metric measures the percentage of customers who remain with a business over a given period of time. A high retention rate indicates that customers are satisfied with the product or service and are likely to continue using it. The industry benchmark for customer retention rate is above 90%. Customer Success Managers and Account Managers typically focus on identifying at-risk customers early, addressing customer concerns proactively, and improving the product or service to increase retention.
This metric measures the total revenue that a customer is expected to generate over the lifetime of their relationship with a business. It is a key indicator of the long-term potential of a customer relationship. The industry benchmark for LTV varies depending on the business, but it should be at least 3-5 times the cost of acquiring a customer. CSMs and AMs usually focus on expanding the customer base, upselling and cross-selling, and reducing churn to increase LTV.
This metric measures customer satisfaction by asking customers to rate their satisfaction with a product or service on a scale of 0-10 or using open-ended feedback. The industry benchmark for CSAT is above 80%. CSMs and AMs commonly focus on improving the customer experience, addressing customer feedback, and identifying and addressing common pain points to increase CSAT.
This metric measures the percentage of customers who renew their subscription or contract with a business over a given period of time. A high renewal rate indicates that customers are satisfied with the product or service and are likely to continue using it. The industry benchmark for renewal rate is above 90%. CSMs and AMs typically focus on identifying at-risk customers early, addressing customer concerns proactively, and improving the product or service to increase renewal.
This metric measures the additional revenue generated from selling additional products or services to existing customers. This can be a key driver of growth for a business. The industry benchmark for upsell and cross-sell revenue varies depending on the industry but 30% upsell and 20% cross-sell seem to be reasonable benchmarks.
This metric measures the percentage of customers who successfully onboard and begin using a product or service. It is a key indicator of the effectiveness of the onboarding process and the customer's ability to realize value from the product or service. The industry benchmark for onboarding success rate is above 80%. CSMs and AMs typically focus on streamlining the onboarding process, providing personalized training and support, and identifying and addressing common pain points to increase the onboarding success rate.
This metric measures the percentage of customers who actively use a product or service over a given period of time. It is a key indicator of the effectiveness of the product or service and the customer's ability to realize value from it. The industry benchmark for adoption rate is above 80%. CSMs and AMs usually focus on providing personalized training and support, identifying and addressing common pain points, and promoting the product or service to increase the adoption rate.
This metric measures the level of engagement that customers have with a product or service over a given period of time. It is a key indicator of the effectiveness of the product or service and the customer's ability to realize value from it. The industry benchmark for engagement rate is above 50%. CSMs and AMs typically focus on providing personalized training and support, identifying and addressing common pain points, and promoting the product or service to increase engagement rate.
This metric measures the amount of time it takes for a customer support case to be resolved. It is a key indicator of the effectiveness of the customer support team and the customer's satisfaction with the support experience. The industry benchmark for case resolution time is within 24 hours. CSMs and AMs typically focus on streamlining the support process, providing personalized support, and identifying and addressing common pain points to reduce case resolution time.
This metric measures the percentage of customer support cases that are escalated to a higher level of support. It is a key indicator of the effectiveness of the customer support team and the customer's satisfaction with the support experience. The industry benchmark for case escalation rate is below 10%. CSMs and AMs typically focus on providing personalized support, identifying and addressing common pain points, and promoting the product or service to reduce the case escalation rate.
This metric measures the average amount of time that a customer support agent spends on each case. It is a key indicator of the effectiveness of the customer support team and the customer's satisfaction with the support experience. The industry benchmark for AHT is below 10 minutes. CSMs and AMs typically focus on streamlining the support process, providing personalized support, and identifying and addressing common pain points to reduce AHT.
This metric measures the percentage of customer support cases that are resolved on the first contact. It is a key indicator of the effectiveness of the customer support team and the customer's satisfaction with the support experience. The industry benchmark for FCR is above 80%. CSMs and AMs usually focus on providing personalized support, identifying and addressing common pain points, and promoting the product or service to increase FCR.
This metric measures customer satisfaction with the support experience by asking customers to rate their likelihood of recommending the support team to others on a scale of 0-10. It is a key indicator of the effectiveness of the customer support team and the customer's satisfaction with the support experience. The industry benchmark for NPS for support is above 50. CSMs and AMs typically focus on providing personalized support, identifying and addressing common pain points, and promoting the product or service to increase NPS for support.
This metric measures the percentage of customers who renew their subscription to a product or service. It is a key indicator of the effectiveness of the product or service and the customer's ability to realize value from it. The industry benchmark for renewal rate is above 90%. CSMs and AMs typically focus on providing personalized support and training, identifying and addressing common pain points, and promoting the product or service to increase the renewal rate.
This metric measures the percentage of customers who purchase additional products or services from a company. It is a key indicator of the effectiveness of a company's sales and marketing efforts and the customer's ability to realize value from the product or service. The industry benchmark for upsell rate is above 15%. CSMs and AMs typically focus on identifying upsell opportunities, providing personalized support and training, and promoting the product or service to increase upsell rate.
This metric measures the percentage of customers who purchase related products or services from a company. It is a key indicator of the effectiveness of a company's sales and marketing efforts and the customer's ability to realize value from the product or service. The industry benchmark for cross-sell rate is above 10%. CSMs and AMs typically focus on identifying cross-sell opportunities, providing personalized support and training, and promoting the product or service to increase cross-sell rate.
This metric measures the percentage of customers who refer other customers to a company. It is a key indicator of the effectiveness of a company's sales and marketing efforts and the customer's satisfaction with the product or service. The industry benchmark for customer referral rate is above 10%. CSMs and AMs typically focus on providing excellent customer service, identifying referral opportunities, and promoting the product or service to increase customer referral rates.
This metric measures the percentage of customers who cancel their subscription to a product or service. It is a key indicator of the effectiveness of a product or service and the customer's ability to realize value from it. The industry benchmark for churn rate is below 5%. CSMs and AMs typically focus on providing personalized support and training, identifying and addressing common pain points, and promoting the product or service to decrease the churn rate.
This metric measures the total revenue generated by a customer over their lifetime with a company. It is a key indicator of the effectiveness of a product or service and the customer's ability to realize value from it. The industry benchmark for LTV varies by industry, but is typically above $1,000. CSMs and AMs typically focus on providing personalized support and training, identifying and addressing common pain points, and promoting the product or service to increase LTV.
This metric measures the percentage of leads that convert into customers. It is a key indicator of the effectiveness of a company's sales and marketing efforts. The industry benchmark for lead-to-customer conversion rate is above 20%. CSMs and AMs typically focus on identifying lead opportunities, providing personalized support and training, and promoting the product or service to increase the lead-to-customer conversion rate.
This metric measures the average length of time it takes for a lead to convert into a customer. It is a key indicator of the effectiveness of a company's sales process. The industry benchmark for sales cycle length varies by industry but is typically below 90 days. CSMs and AMs typically focus on streamlining the sales process, providing personalized support and training, and identifying and addressing common pain points to reduce sales cycle length.
This metric measures the likelihood of a customer to recommend a product or service to others. It is a key indicator of customer satisfaction and loyalty. The industry benchmark for NPS varies by industry but is typically above 50. CSMs and AMs commonly focus on providing excellent customer service, identifying and addressing common pain points, and promoting the product or service to increase NPS.
In conclusion, there are many key performance indicators (KPIs) that account managers and customer success managers can track to measure the effectiveness of their efforts and the success of their customers as the roles converge in SaaS. Some of the most important KPIs continue to be customer satisfaction scores, customer referral rate, and renewals. By tracking these metrics and taking appropriate actions, account managers and customer success managers can help improve the performance and success of their customers.
Increase Customer Satisfaction in order to drive referrals
KR 1: Increase NPS score from 4 to 4.5
KR 2: Reduce customer complaints from 2 per quarter to 1 per quarter.
KR 3: Increase referrals from 25% to 45%
Increase Renewal Rate in order to drive revenue.
KR 1: Increase value realization workshops from 1 to 3 per quarter.
KR 2: Increase WhatsApp engagement rate from 20% to 50% for key stakeholders.
KR 3: Increase renewal from 85% to 100%.
KR 4: Increase LTV by 20% with more subscriptions added per renewal.
Increase Upsell and Cross-Sell Rate
KR 1: Increase feature and value realization workshops from 1 to 3 per quarter.
KR 2: Increase champion advocacy from 1 per account to 10 per account.
KR 3: Increase cross-sell via champion referrals from 1 to 5 per account.
KR 4: Increase up-sell via a free trial of advanced features from 10% to 15%
In the coming year, it will be vital for SaaS companies to foster collaboration between their Customer Success, and Account Management teams in order to drive growth and achieve success. As the customer journey becomes increasingly complex, a siloed approach to customer acquisition, retention, and growth will no longer be sufficient. By aligning their strategies and goals, these teams can work together to provide a seamless, end-to-end customer experience.
It is recommended that SaaS companies establish a common set of key performance indicators (KPIs) and objectives and key results (OKRs) that are shared across all teams. This will ensure that all teams are working towards the same goals and will enable them to take corrective actions when necessary.
In the highly competitive SaaS market, the ability to retain and expand customers is essential for achieving growth and scalability. By fostering collaboration between Account Marketing, Customer Success, and Account Management teams, SaaS companies can ensure that they are providing the best possible customer experience, which is crucial for achieving success in 2023.
At Fitbots, we emphasize strategy execution through OKRs and KPIs. While helping you figure out what is truly meaningful to measure, we strongly believe actions drive progress. Fitbots software is specially tuned to help you drive actions with both OKRs and KPIs no matter how you choose to run your business.
Kashi is the Co-founder and CTO of Fitbots. Kashi has coached over 700+ teams on OKRs with the focus on helping founders and teams achieve more with OKRs. His niche focuses on the future of work by bringing technology to life.
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