Why SaaS vendors, including martech vendors, need to focus on customer success and not just the subscription renewal.
Just a week ago, Angie Judge, CEO of Dexibit, a platform that provides data and analytics for visitor attractions, lit a fire on LinkedIn. She had canceled a SaaS subscription the organization had had for three years because she was weary of being contacted by the vendor only when renewal time came around.
We reported on it here. Given the extent to which marketing teams rely on SaaS applications, we followed up with her to see if she was surprised by the engagement her post had received.
Q. At the time of writing, your post has over 40,000 reactions and 1,400 replies. How surprised are you\?
A. Mind blown! An average post for me gets a handful of reactions, one of them sometimes my mom, so the idea that 5 million people saw this in a week. It must have hit a nerve! It’s nothing more insightful than a rant on my part — this reach is more telling of the pulse of the SaaS sector. Customers cutting spend, vendors feeling the pinch and lots of people who have seen what we did. At some point in the hype of “scale, scale, scale,” we found ourselves on the receiving end of a company which has forgotten about the importance of the customer experience. A timely reminder in this economic moment.
Q. Although most people were supportive of your comments, some disagreed. Did any of the disagreements resonate with you?
A. It was interesting to read that there is a perception by a few that because you’re Software-as-a-Service, you can be software without any service. For some select products, I agree that’s true. If you’re pricing only a few dollars a month, it has to be. But once your average contract value exceeds five-plus figures and you’ve got a sales investment to bring in those accounts, it just makes sense to have a success investment to keep them — and ideally expand. After all, it costs more to get a new customer than retain an existing one.
For many SaaS products, I believe a customer success function is necessary for customers to continually realize competitive value and returns. It’s not just onboarding. A customer’s situation changes over time and along with it the challenges and opportunities they need to solve with your product. The value you delivered (September 17, 2023) might not have the same impact tomorrow. The buyer changes. Users mature. Goal posts move. This is where success shines. One commenter eloquently compared it to the difference between a gym membership and a personal trainer.
There were a few commenters who rightfully don’t want more spam in their inbox. To that, I say: If success looks like spam, you’re doing it wrong. It should be curious, intelligent and valuable from a customer-centric position. There were others who were confused about why we would otherwise turn off something that was working. Without going into details that identify the vendor, yes, the software worked, but we were increasingly struggling with it in different ways that could have been rectified by customer success. We wanted a strategic outcome for a complex problem that we weren’t achieving with the software alone. Rest assured for those who asked, we’d given them feedback multiple times without receiving any action. In today’s competitive market, service matters.
Q. One irony is that you yourself offer a SaaS product. How well do you think you’re following your own advice?
A. I’m a huge believer in SaaS and yes, that’s our world and why I’m so passionate about it. At Dexibit we provide data analytics for visitor attractions, cultural and commercial we help places like museums, zoos, parks, stadiums, theme parks and more predict and analyze visitor behavior — getting more visitors through the door, engaging, spending and returning. Though we’re always trying to improve and achieve more for our customers, we’re incredibly proud of the success we provide and I can hand on heart say we give it our all. In a data product, a customer success function is an imperative. With data, customers are going after strategic change, cultural change, behavioral change. Great success helps that happen.
I’m incredibly grateful for the thousand-plus people who commented and those who shared it with their own thoughts. It almost felt like a mini-conference! As a team, we learn so much from hearing everyone’s perspectives. I loved seeing the callouts of people sharing brands that lead the way and teams they’re proud of.
Q. Did you replace the SaaS product you canceled with an alternative?
A. Yes, though we pocketed savings too.
Q. Would you say it was a core part of your stack or somewhat peripheral?
A. This product was something to help us be more effective and efficient but wasn’t baked in operationally.
You can dive into the original LinkedIn discussion here.
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