In a market where retention and customer expansion are a top priority for revenue growth, the effectiveness of health scoring can be a game-changer.
You’ll know your customer health scorecards are an asset when you can confidently respond to the executive inquiry: “What does your customer base look like right now?” When posed with that question, you should be able to open up a customer dashboard to quickly see areas where the company excels at delivering value, and also some areas where it can improve. Holistically, you should be able to know which customers are at risk, so that your CSMs and executives understand how to engage to get those customers back on track.
On the Grow and Tell Webinar Series, Jackie Liney, Senior Director of Customer Success at XFactor.io, shared the impact her team was able to make by testing, learning, and iterating on their health score model, resulting in a reliable predictor of customer health.
A Health Score Is NOT an Adoption Score
A common mistake CS teams make is to structure their customer health score purely on product adoption and engagement metrics. While adoption is important to include in the health score model, on its own, it doesn’t provide the full picture.
At XFactor.io, CSMs are informed by health scores that include both qualitative and quantitative measures. Qualitatively, the measure accounts for sentiment and engagement. It’s about understanding the true sentiment and interaction frequency, whether it’s attending meetings, responding to emails, or fostering open conversations with CSMs.
Quantitatively, the health scores account for value realization, which informs upsell opportunities for the company. Platform usage data rounds out the quantitative approach, offering valuable insights into user behavior and engagement trends.
CSMs Thrive When Health Scoring Is Effective
Customer health scorecards are an essential guide your Customer Success Managers (CSMs) use to prioritize their day-to-day interactions with their assigned accounts. For example, if a low-scoring account has been unresponsive, the CSM can reach out for a proactive check-in. Conversely, a high-scoring account could receive tailored resources with customer education about unused features that represent an opportunity for revenue expansion.
Gathering feedback from your CSMs is also an important aspect of maintaining your health score. Their experiences on the ground can provide valuable insights into the practicality and effectiveness of your scorecard. Remember, it’s not just about the scores; it’s about the actions they inspire and the value they empower your CSMs to bring to your customers.
The Results Are Worth the Effort
Implementing accurate health scores led to success at XFactor.io. For instance, high-risk accounts showed signs of improving health, thanks to targeted interventions triggered by health score thresholds. Through deliberate actions and focusing on high-risk accounts, XFactor.io was able to increase renewals by 20%.
In another example, CSMs identified a downward trend in scores that led to collaboration with the product team to address usability issues. The collaboration helped prevent possible churn as a result of the UI improvements that were implemented.
How to Get Started
Customer health scorecards aren’t a one-size-fits-all solution. What worked yesterday may not work today. To ensure your scorecard remains meaningful, start by revisiting your existing best practices. Analyze historical data to identify any trends or patterns that can be used to create a foundational health score model.
Over time, you’ll find that the beauty of health scores is their adaptability. Are there new customer behaviors or metrics that should be incorporated? Have certain indicators become less relevant? As your business evolves, you can continuously refine the metrics and weight assigned to various factors in your health score calculations. This iterative process ensures that your health scores remain relevant and aligned with your changing objectives.
Bonus!
Need to refresh your health scores? Create powerful scorecards that power customer outcomes with this simple template.
