A Customer Success eBook
THE
9 TENETS
OF SAAS
CUSTOMER
ENGAGEMENT
MARKETING
Customer Success
can directly control
some, but not all the
levers that lead to
happy customers and
low churn rates.
CUSTO MER S UCC ES S
INFLUENC ES
Target Customer
Acquisition
Free Trial Pipeline
Onboarding
Engagement
Adoption
Customer Feedback
Renewal
Expansion
C US TOMER SUCCESS
DIREC TLY CONTROLS
But Customer Engagement
Marketing is right in the
Customer Success
Wheelhouse
Engagement
But First,
What is
Customer
Engagement
Marketing?
IS:-New feature announcements
-Product tutorials
-Industry best practices
-Industry thought leadership
NOT:-Detailed feature announcements
-Help desk content
-Onboarding content
The people have
spoken!
Customer Success
should drive.
In a recent discussion on the LinkedIn
Customer Success Forum group, virtually
every respondent stated that Customer
Success should drive the customer
engagement strategy, while marketing
should “own” the execution.
Pat Kelly
VP Customer Success, Brainshark
“We have established a Customer
Communication team…It is a partnership
between Customer Success and Customer
Marketing …The marketing part of the
group executes on the email
communications that often are "from"
the CSM assigned to the customer.”
Todd Oaks
VP Customer Success, SceneDoc
“Customer Success owns the customer
relationship strategy and is a direct report
to the CEO. Marketing provides input into
the strategy and is responsible for the
execution based upon agreed upon
initiatives and tactics.”
Karen Sun
Principal, KS Consulting
“It's important to have one single control
point for the execution of all customer
communications to avoid spamming
customers and to have consistent
messaging. This usually resides in
Marketing.”
6
Tips to Set
your Company
up for Customer
Engagement
Marketing
Success
1No
Launch a
Customer Blog
Duplicate your company’s blog and give it a
light rebrand as a customer blog. Start publishing
posts at a steady cadence – perhaps 2-4 per month.
Encourage customers to subscribe during the
onboarding process.
2No
Don’t Be Boring
Content is a demand generation marketer’s most
effective instrument for building trust with
prospects. They create eBooks, Infographics and
Presentations that have a light, aspirational tone
and are highly visual.
Customer marketers sometimes fail to engage
their audience because they focus on detailed
feature news and screenshots. Steal a page from
demand generation marketing to keep your
customer content interesting!
3No
Send Monthly
Emails
If you’re starting from scratch, pull together a
monthly email that contains 3 things:
1. Highlight your top product feature releases
2. A customer story discussing how they
effectively use your product
3. Reuse the best performing content piece your
demand generation team
4No
Segment by
Persona
“Customer” is not a segment. “Executive in
North America, Pro subscriber for over 90 days,
11-50 employees, actively engages with our
content”. Now that’s a segment!
True, more segments mean more content and
effort – start small and grow your segmentation
strategy as your resources (and customer base)
expand.
5No
Initiate
Lifecycle
Marketing
As your customers move from Trial, to
Onboarding, to their first 90 days of usage and
beyond they should receive content tailored to
their lifecycle stage as they climb the learning
curve. Keep these stages in mind as you grow
your content library.
When you’re ready, deploy the content using a
marketing automation platform like Hubspot or
Marketo so the right content is served to
customers when it is most relevant to them.
6No
Encourage
Product Usage
You’re a master customer marketer! Time to coax
users down the path to success. Monitor how your
customers use of your product. Serve content that
matches new (or existing) features they have not
yet explored in depth. Bonus points if you can
automate this process.
Customer Engagement Marketing eBook

Customer Engagement Marketing eBook

  • 1.
    A Customer SuccesseBook THE 9 TENETS OF SAAS CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT MARKETING
  • 2.
    Customer Success can directlycontrol some, but not all the levers that lead to happy customers and low churn rates.
  • 3.
    CUSTO MER SUCC ES S INFLUENC ES Target Customer Acquisition Free Trial Pipeline Onboarding Engagement Adoption Customer Feedback Renewal Expansion C US TOMER SUCCESS DIREC TLY CONTROLS
  • 4.
    But Customer Engagement Marketingis right in the Customer Success Wheelhouse Engagement
  • 5.
  • 6.
    IS:-New feature announcements -Producttutorials -Industry best practices -Industry thought leadership
  • 7.
    NOT:-Detailed feature announcements -Helpdesk content -Onboarding content
  • 8.
    The people have spoken! CustomerSuccess should drive.
  • 9.
    In a recentdiscussion on the LinkedIn Customer Success Forum group, virtually every respondent stated that Customer Success should drive the customer engagement strategy, while marketing should “own” the execution.
  • 10.
    Pat Kelly VP CustomerSuccess, Brainshark “We have established a Customer Communication team…It is a partnership between Customer Success and Customer Marketing …The marketing part of the group executes on the email communications that often are "from" the CSM assigned to the customer.”
  • 11.
    Todd Oaks VP CustomerSuccess, SceneDoc “Customer Success owns the customer relationship strategy and is a direct report to the CEO. Marketing provides input into the strategy and is responsible for the execution based upon agreed upon initiatives and tactics.”
  • 12.
    Karen Sun Principal, KSConsulting “It's important to have one single control point for the execution of all customer communications to avoid spamming customers and to have consistent messaging. This usually resides in Marketing.”
  • 13.
    6 Tips to Set yourCompany up for Customer Engagement Marketing Success
  • 14.
  • 15.
    Duplicate your company’sblog and give it a light rebrand as a customer blog. Start publishing posts at a steady cadence – perhaps 2-4 per month. Encourage customers to subscribe during the onboarding process.
  • 16.
  • 17.
    Content is ademand generation marketer’s most effective instrument for building trust with prospects. They create eBooks, Infographics and Presentations that have a light, aspirational tone and are highly visual. Customer marketers sometimes fail to engage their audience because they focus on detailed feature news and screenshots. Steal a page from demand generation marketing to keep your customer content interesting!
  • 18.
  • 19.
    If you’re startingfrom scratch, pull together a monthly email that contains 3 things: 1. Highlight your top product feature releases 2. A customer story discussing how they effectively use your product 3. Reuse the best performing content piece your demand generation team
  • 20.
  • 21.
    “Customer” is nota segment. “Executive in North America, Pro subscriber for over 90 days, 11-50 employees, actively engages with our content”. Now that’s a segment! True, more segments mean more content and effort – start small and grow your segmentation strategy as your resources (and customer base) expand.
  • 22.
  • 23.
    As your customersmove from Trial, to Onboarding, to their first 90 days of usage and beyond they should receive content tailored to their lifecycle stage as they climb the learning curve. Keep these stages in mind as you grow your content library. When you’re ready, deploy the content using a marketing automation platform like Hubspot or Marketo so the right content is served to customers when it is most relevant to them.
  • 24.
  • 25.
    You’re a mastercustomer marketer! Time to coax users down the path to success. Monitor how your customers use of your product. Serve content that matches new (or existing) features they have not yet explored in depth. Bonus points if you can automate this process.