Five Reasons SaaS Products Need a Customer Success Team

Five Reasons SaaS Products Need a Customer Success Team

In the world of Software as a Service (SaaS), ‘self-serve’ has become a synonym for simplicity and ease. 

The sales pitch is straightforward: organisations are empowered to sign up and operate the solution without interacting with a single sales person or techie. They can simply decide what they want and start using it overnight - the perfect complement to internet-enabled B2B buyer empowerment. 

But what if this apparent empowerment is actually the opposite? What if ‘self-serve’ really means your business ends up missing out on key opportunities to create value?

In this article, we argue this is exactly what tends to happen. 

Customer Success sets you up for the long-term

‘Self-serve’ models are extremely efficient - assuming the organisation knows exactly how to best utilise the particular product. But when they run into technical troubles - or find they’re not extracting the level of value they’d anticipated - things look very different.

Instead of making life easier, ‘self-serve’ plays to buyers’ worst instincts. Rather than looking for the immediate convenience, they should be looking for the greatest possible return on their investment. And for that, they need a Customer Success team.

Here are five ways a good Customer Success team help improve the SaaS experience: 

1. Better integration

While ‘self-serve’ appears to enable faster and easier implementation, this does not equate to a better experience. The purchaser is left to figure out the best way to integrate the new solution into their existing system, creating a lot of room for communication problems and unnecessary complexity.

A Customer Success team is highly experienced at integrating this specific solution into multiple organisations’ workflow. This means they know the pitfalls to look out for, and understand the most efficient and effective ways to introduce the solution. 

As a result, the purchaser usually ends up saving time in the long-run. With few technical faults and structural hiccups, they avoid a whole lot of headaches down the line.

2. User confidence

Many SaaS solutions are intimidating when first introduced. They are often overhauling an existing process. And while the new process may ultimately be more efficient, it requires buy-in from all users to create the desired value.

When organisations are left to implement the solution alone, their success hinges on how well the internal team is able to communicate the benefits to employees. While this can run smoothly, it often turns into the blind leading the blind.

A Customer Success team provides authority, ensuring users feel safe asking questions - and confident that they will learn to love the new solution. This is invaluable, especially in the early phases of implementation.

3. Training

Customer Success is often wrongly conflated with Customer Support. While Customer Support traditionally provides help and technical help when users are struggling, a Customer Success team will actively engage with the staff to help them understand the solution.

Training is not just about knowing how to use the solution - it’s about leveraging it and making the greatest possible use of it. That might mean providing staff with special tricks, suggesting extra ways the solution could help them day-to-day, or simply ensuring they have a thorough understanding of the system.

4. Business strategy

Most B2B buyers make purchasing decisions based on the rational case for a particular product. But a solution which can improve a particular performance metric doesn’t necessarily produce those results if it is not aligned with the business strategy.

Customer Success is all about ensuring the purchaser is able to extract the maximum value from the solution - and this inevitably involves strategic discussions. Rather than simply plugging the solution into an existing structure, a good Customer Success team will take the time to fully understand the business. And that engagement will help them find new ways for the solution to create value.

5. Ongoing support

Finally, a Customer Success team provides ongoing support across every dimension we’ve discussed. Not only will they provide technical guidance to individual users - they will continue to help leaders unlock new opportunities with the solution.

Many SaaS solutions evolve over time, with updates and additions being a regular occurrence. A Customer Success team ensures that these changes are properly integrated - and that the business makes the most of them.

Rota offers more for your money

Rota’s market leading workforce management solution is already a powerful product, helping businesses across multiple industries save time, reduce costs and engage their teams. But we don’t just want to leave it at that.

We have built a Customer Success team that is unrivalled in the space. Their collective knowledge of both our product and the specific industries we operate in, enables them to unlock extra value at every level.

To discover how Rota’s Customer Success team can help you get more for your money, book your demo today.