I had the pleasure recently of speaking on a webinar about the transition from bull to bear market and, in particular, how to be data-driven in the approach. As co-founder of a growing company focused on both our people and the analysis of data, I am of course thinking about these topics incessantly, as are, I’m sure, many of you. 

So I wanted to share my two cents here, and open a discussion about how (if?) others in Customer Success are letting data be their guide.   

Our team’s approach to market volatility is layering our North Star strategy - trusting data vs intuition - across two important focus areas: Customer-centricity and efficiency.

While these are focus areas our team always encourages, they ring especially true in times of market uncertainty, when nurturing existing customers is essential, and doing more with less is imperative. 

Some ways data can help us nurture customers, and do more with limited teams and budgets

• Detect unhappy customers early, so that we can be proactive, valuable partners. Our intuition might suggest that a great relationship with key contacts equals a healthy customer, but data may show that for the segment the customer is in, their product usage is low, their onboarding was poor, or their end user CSAT is poor.
• Know when and what to upsell by identifying the timing, segment, and products or services that will provide your customer optimal value.
• Identify trends in programming and customer success to guide where to focus limited resources. For example: how much do time to value, training programs, or weekly, live check-ins with CSMs impact customer health? Our gut and data might tell us different stories.
• Support low-touch customers: As we try to do more with less, we may see CSMs with higher books of business.  It’s a mistake to ignore the low-touch or tech touch accounts, as that can be leaving significant upsell potential on the table. Data can segment and provide insight into how CSMs should prioritize their accounts based on customer health, not ACV.

These are just a few examples of how data drives customer centricity and efficiency.  I’d love to hear your comments: how are your organizations are thinking about the changing market and the role of Customer Intelligence and Customer Success platforms in addressing it?