Transforming the Customer Success Function
Crafting the blueprint and transformation for a scalable customer success function.
The company had an existing Client Success team, primarily focused on reactive client support and account management. However, as the company scaled, there was a growing need to transition into a proactive, revenue-driving Customer Success (CS) function. This transformation required significant change management, including overhauling people performance, processes, and tools to align CS with retention, expansion, and long-term customer growth.
To achieve this, a Customer Success Transformation Initiative was launched—shifting from a service-focused approach to a strategic, scalable CS model that embedded automation, data-driven decision-making, and structured engagement strategies into the business.
Read more below to learn about how we crafted this experience.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
The existing Client Success function was structured around support and relationship management, rather than proactive customer engagement, retention, and expansion. Key challenges included:
Limited Strategic Customer Engagement – The team focused on issue resolution and general account support, lacking a structured customer journey and success milestones.
Reactive Rather Than Proactive Approach – Without customer health monitoring, risks were only identified when customers were already struggling.
Undefined Revenue Impact – CS was not directly contributing to retention and expansion metrics, limiting its ability to drive business growth.
Scalability & Efficiency Gaps – Manual processes, lack of automation, and inconsistent data tracking made it difficult to scale operations.
Significant Change Management Required – Transitioning to Customer Success meant overhauling team roles, processes, and technology, requiring a structured change management approach.
Without a clear transformation plan, the company risked high churn, revenue stagnation, and an unsustainable support model as it continued to scale.
OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT
By transitioning Client Success into a proactive Customer Success function, the company could:
Increase customer retention by embedding structured success plans, proactive engagement, and health monitoring.
Drive revenue growth by aligning CS with upsell, expansion, and advocacy initiatives.
Implement scalable processes & automation to reduce manual workload and improve efficiency.
Define clear customer success metrics to track impact on retention, expansion, and customer health.
Lead a structured change management initiative, ensuring seamless adoption of new roles, processes, and technology.
This transformation would position Customer Success as a strategic growth driver, rather than a reactive support function.
shiftING THE EXPERIENCE
What does it actually mean to shift from client to customer success?
As companies scale, Client Success must evolve into Customer Success—shifting from a reactive, service-based model to a proactive, growth-oriented function.
Client SucCess
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Primarily resolves customer issues as they arise.
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Focuses on maintaining customer accounts but lacks structured growth strategies.
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Works separately from Sales, Marketing, and Product, limiting impact on business strategy.
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Measures success through customer satisfaction surveys and churn prevention.
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Lacks automation, relying on direct outreach and manual customer check-ins.
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Rarely contributes to revenue beyond renewals.
CUSTOMER SucCess
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Guides customers toward achieving long-term business goals.
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Uses playbooks, touchpoints, and success plans to drive adoption and expansion.
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Aligns closely with Sales, Marketing, and Product to drive retention and revenue.
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Tracks Net Revenue Retention (NRR), expansion ARR, and customer health scores.
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Uses CRM workflows, health scoring, and proactive outreach to scale effectively.
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Plays a key role in identifying upsell, cross-sell, and expansion opportunities.
25%
READINESS
To begin our engagement, we conducted stakeholder interviews to evaluate the organization's people, processes, and tools, benchmarking them against industry-leading Customer Success standards.
We assessed readiness across the following key areas:
Strategy & Leadership
Customer Segmentation & Engagement
Onboarding & Implementation
Customer Health & Data Insights
Retention, Expansion & Revenue Growth
Tools & Automation
CS Team Operations & Scalability
Continuous Improvement & Innovation
APPROACH
Prior to the transformation, we had set out the following goals that guided our approach. We wanted to:
Redefine CS as a proactive, revenue-driving function.
Improve customer retention through structured engagement strategies.
Scale efficiently with automation and data-driven decision-making.
Embed CS into company-wide revenue and expansion initiatives.
This transformation reinforced Customer Success as a critical pillar of business growth—not just supporting customers, but driving revenue, retention, and advocacy.
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To ensure a smooth transition from Client Success to Customer Success, a structured change management framework was implemented:
Redefined Team Roles & Responsibilities – Shifted CS from a service-focused team to strategic account management.
Reskilling & Training – Provided training on proactive engagement, data-driven decision-making, and expansion strategies.
Cultural Mindset Shift – Reinforced CS as a growth function through leadership alignment and internal advocacy.
Results:
Increased team alignment and readiness to adopt a proactive CS approach.
Defined clear expectations for CSMs, aligning their work with retention and expansion goals.
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To standardize and scale the new CS function, a structured engagement model was developed:
Customer Segmentation & Tiering – Defined High-Touch, Mid-Touch, and Tech-Touch models to align CSM resources based on ARR and complexity.
Customer Journey Mapping – Created a structured journey from onboarding to renewal and expansion.
Success Playbooks – Developed standardized retention, renewal, and expansion playbooks to guide CSM interactions.
Customer Health Scoring – Implemented a data-driven health scoring system to proactively identify risk and opportunity.
Results:
Shifted CS from reactive to proactive, improving customer engagement and satisfaction.
Reduced churn risk by enabling early intervention through health monitoring.
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To increase efficiency and scale, the team implemented new tools and automation strategies:
CRM & CS Platform Integration – Connected CS data to CRM dashboards for real-time visibility into customer health.
Automated Customer Check-Ins – Introduced email sequences and proactive outreach workflows to improve engagement.
Automated Reporting & Insights – Set up weekly reports to track renewals, expansion revenue, and customer sentiment trends.
Results:
Reduced manual workload, allowing CSMs to focus on high-value customer relationships.
Enabled data-driven decision-making, ensuring CSMs had real-time insights into customer needs.
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To embed CS into the company’s growth strategy, new initiatives were introduced:
Customer Advocacy Program – Developed initiatives to turn customers into brand champions and referral sources.
Revenue Expansion Playbooks – Created structured processes for upselling, cross-selling, and renewal.
Cross-Functional Collaboration – Integrated CS with Sales, Marketing, RevOps, and Product to align goals.
Results:
Improved expansion revenue, driving net revenue retention (NRR) growth.
Created a measurable impact on business goals, reinforcing CS as a strategic function.
“get closer than ever to your customers. so close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves”
— Steve Jobs
IMPACT AND RESULTS
redefined cs for business growth
Transformed Client Success into Customer Success by restructuring roles, engagement models, and success metrics.
Streamlined Processes & Technology
Automated workflows, integrated CRM, and improved efficiency with scalable systems.
Boosted Retention & Revenue
Implemented proactive engagement and expansion strategies, increasing renewals and upsells.
Aligned CS with Business Strategy
Embedded CS into Sales, Marketing, and Product to drive company-wide growth.