How to Define, Build, and Deliver a Remarkable Customer Experience

How to Define, Build, and Deliver a Remarkable Customer Experience @GetAmity @waterstoneMG

How to Define, Build, and Deliver a Remarkable Customer Experience

Neil Jain, @WaterstoneMGPartner, Waterstone Group


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A strategic advisory and operations improvement firm focused on value creation in tech

Waterstone Management Group• Exclusive focus on technology and services sector• Strategy through execution focus – expert led and results

oriented• Emphasis on driving growth and operations improvement

agendas, particularly around subscription businesses• Help clients create remarkable and differentiated customer

experiences that foster adoption, renewal, and expansion− Customer journey mapping

− Customer Success charter, org alignment, andoperating model

− Customer Success ROI

− Technology roadmap

60%work focused on disruptive growth opportunities – cloud, big data/analytics, IoT, M&A/PE value creation

175+engagements with 50+ leading tech companies over past five years

10+ / 60+PE firms / PE portfolio company clients over past five years

200+ / 100+ yearsTeam consulting / operating experience

$8.5B+in value creation realized by clients

Recognized Tech Leader


The Customer Experience Challenge

While many companies have taken steps to define a remarkable and differentiated journeyfor their customers, significant gaps often exist

between the “as-is” and “to-be” experience.


Today’s Webinar

We will cover:• Why detailed journey mapping is critical to defining your desired customer

experience and identifying gaps between the “as-is” and “to-be” experience • Five key focus areas when building the structure and capabilities needed to

deliver your desired customer experience• Pitfalls companies face when seeking to operationalize the desired customer

experience • Accelerators that can help deliver results more quickly

Information to Help You Meet the Customer Success Challenge


Illustrative Journey Map Outputs

Operational Imperatives

Charter Key Initiatives

Key operational changes needed todeliver on experience

Phased initiatives with clear charters to foster effective execution

End-to-End Journey Map

End-to-end customer journey vision with key moments of truth defined

Actionable outputs are a catalyst for operationalizing the desired customer experience


1. "Try and Buy" experience • Rich and intuitive

virtual product tours • Web sign-up for demo

request• Trial account set up

right away2. Simple purchase process

• Easy transition from trial

• Simple product tiers• E-commerce self-

purchase3. Value-add services

offered• Additional services are

known and easy to obtain

• Training is offered from the start

• SMEs are available where applicable

4. Fast time to value• Informative tutorials• Intuitive interface• Functionality

available right away5. Seamless and quick

onboarding• High-touch

customers are introduced to Customer Success Managers early in engagement

• Formal hand-off from sales to steady state support and services

• In app micro-education

• Option to convert demo into live environment

• In-app embedded training

6. Manage my service anytime anywhere• Central customer

portal• Status review, add

new users, provision added services, etc.

• Easy-to-use mobile applications

7. I understand the value received from my products• Product utilization is

reported• Metrics are

measured and easy to locate

8. Proactively anticipate my needs• Paths to drive user

adoption• Regular education re:

update cadence• Promote value of full

product portfolio

9. Access to self-support features• Provider managed

support KBs / E-communities

• In-app help / training• Video training

10. Clear and proactive support experience• Integrated entry

points to support system

• Transparent escalations

• Proactive outage communications

• Multi-channel support capability

11. Transparent and orderly releases• Clear comm. cadence• Easy to adopt releases• Minimized down time

12. Quick and simple process• Auto renewals• Synced renewal for multi-

product portfolios• Transparent comm. of price

escalation or service modification

13. I am recognized as an advocate• Positive NPS survey results• Engaged with vendor on a

strategic level• Active customer

participation in promotional and business development initiative

Buy Go Live Engage Enhance & Support Use & Renew

Output Example: End-to-End Journey MapEnd-to-end customer journey vision with key moments of truth defined


Output Example 2: Operational Imperatives

Phased Work Plan

Design & Build (Q1 – Q2 FY 2016 )

Key Milestones/Deliverables:1. Storyboard of self-service demo for Retail2. Demo deployment process defined3. PS capabilities and value roadmap shared4. Configurations and industry benchmark

data sets in place

Readiness & Rollout (Q3 – Q4 FY 2016)

Key Milestones/Deliverables:1. Retail demo reviewed with 2-3 CAB

members2. Demo script finalized3. Provisioning and data set details piloted

and automation roadmap defined4. Process maps validated and signed off

Key Design Points

• Self service demos will not be provided • Demos will leverage industry specific configuration data as a starting point for best practices • Configuration data used in the Demo will be made available to the services team, to jump start

the implementation (if the prospect becomes a customer) • The demo will emphasize key service differentiators (e.g., guided help, best practice KPI

dashboard, etc.)

Key Outputs to be developed

• Static storyboard that conveys what the demo will depict (reference current demo collateral, examples of best practice/requirements from other demo experiences, etc.)

• Outline of script to accompany demo that conveys the immersive experience (high level synch of demo to key moments of truth)

• Initial outline of provisioning needs

• High-level process map to illustrate end-to-end provisioning of demo environment through handoff to implementation team

Imperative #4: Develop an immersive experience from pre-sales through implementation (leveraging demos that incorporate our domain/industry expertise)

Outline Roles / Skills / RACI

• Outline roles/responsibilities of Sales, Pre-Sales, Services, and Cloud Operations to delivery the end-to-end experience

1

2

3

4

Key operational changes needed to deliver on experience


PhaseFunctional/Workstream Leads

1 2 3BUY1 Codify “Sales to PS” handoff process and tie into the sales closing process Sales

2 Define new service tier style pricing structure for SaaS offerings, communicate with sales team Product Management

3 Adjust comp plans for sales team to balance incentives for Cloud vs. on-premise sales Sales

4 Build automated demo provisioning system and beta test with select strategic accounts CloudOps

GO-LIVE 1 2 3

5 Redesign PS methodology & offerings to deliver faster TTV/lower price PS

6 Enhance training documentation to be digestible and tailored by persona PS

7 Build low cost on-shore consulting center with cloud focus and expertise PS

8 Rebalance performance and metrics scorecard to emphasize throughput and customer success PS

ENGAGE 1 2 3

9 Establish CSM team focus areas and target appropriate accounts Customer Success

10 Develop 360 degree view of customer health (Customer Health Score/Index System) Customer Success

11 Construct funding mechanism(s) to scale CSMs Customer Success

ENHANCE & SUPPORT 1 2 3

12 Determine appropriate scaling of cloud expertise in the support structure Customer Support

13 Adjust support workflows for smooth handoffs and managing end-to-end incident resolution Customer Support

14 Facilitate shift to more self-service support via Knowledge Bases and video training Ed Services

15 Adopt Scrum / Agile model for cloud offering development DevOps

16 Streamline CloudOps and DevOps process and tooling DevOps / CloudOps

17 Evolve customer support portal to support account mgmt. features Customer Support

18 Establish Release Mgmt. processes to support a quarterly release cadence DevOps

19 Expand support coverage further with global expansion (to be driven by overall globalization strategy) Customer Support

USE & RENEW 1 2 3

20 Establish an auto-renewal mechanism for cloud offerings Finance

22 Consolidate responsibility for renewal execution across offering portfolio Finance

Output Example 3: Charter Key InitiativesPhased initiatives with clear charters to foster effective execution


Scale Consideration

s

Tips for designing interim and long-term metrics thatalign with milestones during the roll-out

Five Key Focus Areas

Technology Evaluating technology options; considerations for justifying technology investments

How to structure pilots to quickly test design ideas; how to design for scale

Role Definition

Pitfalls around roles and responsibilities across Sales, Services, Customer Success, and Support

Segmentation Applying new segmentation criteria to your existing customer base: rollout and communication

Measures

1

2

3

4

5


Role Definition: Pitfalls & Accelerators

Pitfalls Accelerators

• Loosely defined / unclear RACI that fails to communicate how customer experience is managed through lifecycle

• Customer Success managers serving as extension of Support function

• Failure to leverage full team: missing opportunities to leverage executives, developers, etc.

• Internal and customer-facing collateral that clearly conveys functional roles and dependencies for delivering desired customer experience

• Customer Success managers positioned as owners of adoption and retention (org alignment, metrics in place)

1

Roles and responsibilities across Sales, Services, Customer Success, and Support


Segmentation: Pitfalls & Accelerators


• Complex segmentation criteria

• Not sticking to the rules

• Leveraging changes in segmentation assignments as a trigger for re-engaging with customers

• Customers who are moving up

• Customers who are moving back

2

Applying new segmentation criteria to existing customer base: rollout & communication


Scale Considerations: Pitfalls & Accelerators


3

Structuring pilots to quickly test design ideas; how to design for scale

• Failing to treat different customers differently (lack of defined, implemented segmentation schema)

• Failure to launch: over-engineering 1:many (“tech-touch”) campaigns

• Designing and executing in-market tests to inform adoption and retention practices (campaigns, triggers, A/B tests, etc.)

• Systematic use of defined playbooks to manage and predict engagement, upsell, at-risk customers, etc.

• Treating Customer Success with a product and services paradigm: applying an actively managed roadmap


Technology: Pitfalls & Accelerators

Accelerators

• Narrow definition / scoping of a Customer Success platform (failing to promote cross-functional benefits)

• ROI-centered analysis – with explicit benefits quantified for functions, including Sales, Marketing, Support

Pitfalls

Evaluating technology options and justifying technology investments

4


Measures: Pitfalls & Accelerators


• Over-instrumentation: too many measures

• Cascaded metrics that drive customer experience-centric behaviors across all functions

• Behavioral metrics that reflect organizational maturity (growth) towards customer experience

Designing interim and long-term metrics that align with milestones during roll-out

5


Build a Remarkable and Scalable Customer Experience• Define your desired experience by crafting both the ideal end-to-end

journey centered on moments of truth and an operational roadmap based on actionable outputs

• Follow roadmap to close gaps between your “as-is” and “to-be” experience

• Focus on five key areas identified today to achieve success now and at scale

• Avoid common pitfalls when building the structure and capabilities needed to deliver your desired experience

• Tap into accelerators to get results quickly


Let’s Continue the Dialog…

QUESTIONS?

Neil JainWaterstone Management Group

+1 (312) 508-6163

[email protected] www.waterstonegroup.com

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How to Define, Build, and Deliver a Remarkable Customer Experience