The Customer Success oxymoron
When I first heard the term "customer success," I almost laughed out loud. Aren't successful customers the point? Turns out that in America, possibly not.
The first time I heard someone say they worked in "customer success" I almost laughed out loud. I mean, aren't successful customers critical to a successful business?
As an Aussie living in Silicon Valley I bring an outsider perspective. It seems that a lot of American corporations don't appear run that way. In fact, quite the opposite.
It looks to me like most corporations view customers as a commodity. As nothing more than an entity from which they extract cash. Somewhat like humans are to the machines in The Matrix ..?
Through that prism the idea of customer success looks like a radical idea.
Helping customers achieve their objectives by using your product shouldn't be innovative. Caring about interactions between your company and customers isn't a cost of doing business. Having a customer so delighted that they want to buy more of your stuff should be a joy.
What's most important is customer-centricity in everything we do. From design to creation, marketing to "customer success".
Header photo by Ambreen Hasan / Unsplash