What KPIs should I own and not own as the first customer success hire?

This is a great question! As the first Customer Success hire, I would start by getting a lay of the land of the business -- what is the customer sentiment, how are renewal rates, how often do customers expand their usage with new products, etc. You don't want to immediately tie yourself to KPIs that are major problems because it's unlikely that you can, singlehandedly, change them in your first few months. Instead, find the areas where you can deliver a quick impact -- are cross-sells being left ...Read More

Technical Support response targets! We’ve all been there, and being the first Success Hire is super exciting. You get to wear many hats, get involved all the way through the customer lifecycle and be scrappy to get customers what they need. For us at the beginning, that meant taking on a lot of Technical Support tickets for our EMEA customers, especially in the morning before our then US-based tech support team was online. On the one hand, this gives you a lot of valuable product knowledge that ...Read More

In stepping into the Customer Success domain, it's crucial to prioritize KPIs that align with the role's core responsibilities. A strategic approach involves mapping KPIs to the customer lifecycle stages, fostering a sense of purpose and confidence in your efforts. For instance: NPS Over CSAT: While CSAT often leans towards support, NPS serves as a robust starting point, eventually evolving into a Customer Effort Score (CES) to gauge the efficacy of minimizing customer effort. Onboarding Success ...Read More

As the first CS hire at a startup, here's how I'd prioritize KPI ownership: KPIs You Should Own: Direct Customer Outcomes Onboarding completion rates Time to first value Basic product adoption metrics Meeting/QBR completion rates Customer engagement rates Early Warning Metrics (Track these but your compensation should not be based on these metrics) At-risk customer identification Basic usage trends NPS KPIs You Should NOT Own (Yet): Revenue Metrics: These typically need more infrastructure and t ...Read More

As the first Customer Success hire, your job is to set the foundations for how the company measures impact, while focusing on what you can directly influence in the short term. What you own will depend on how mature the business is and how much customer data already exists. If you’re the only CS hire, it’s not realistic to take responsibility for overall renewal or expansion rates. Instead, focus on getting the customers you work with into a healthy, successful state. Good starting KPIs include: ...Read More

As the first customer success hire I would suggest setting some OKRs (Objectives Key Results) around establishing the customer success function - documenting and defining key processes and playbooks along the customer lifecycle (Purchase, On-Boarding, Deployment, Adoption [use, consume], Renewals, Churn, Expansion) with a focus on the key moments that matter (sales handover, customer on boarding, customer launch, outcome and value realization, business reviews etc).  I would suggest focusing fir ...Read More

As the first customer success hire I would suggest setting some OKRs (Objectives Key Results) around establishing the customer success function - documenting and defining key processes and playbooks along the customer lifecycle (Purchase, On-Boarding, Deployment, Adoption [use, consume], Renewals, Churn, Expansion) with a focus on the key moments that matter (sales handover, customer on boarding, customer launch, outcome and value realization, business reviews etc).  I would suggest focusing fir ...Read More