Pulse Europe 2023 opened today at Passenger Terminal Amsterdam, on a tone of embracing each other as humans first, while taking our work to the next level through digital scale tactics powered by generative AI, customer education, self-service, and community.
Kicking off the keynote, Nick Mehta, CEO, Gainsight, opened the event on a note of gratitude for our incredible global Pulse community, illustrating a sentiment of solidarity for our shared challenges and successes. “There’s people like me. It’s amazing. They’re going through the same stuff. There are people here who get what I do … we love our colleagues, but they don’t always get what we do in Customer Success (CS),” says Mehta.
In fact, Customer Success is undergoing an evolution.
As we move into the second decade of our industry, we’re creating Customer Success 2.0. And we’re realizing that CS is more than just Customer Success Managers (CSMs) battling churn. While that is important, CS is much more than that. It’s strategic. It’s proactive. And to truly drive exceptional customer experiences and customer outcomes, we’re taking Customer Success to the power of digital.
Digital Customer Success = Success for All
“Let’s not pretend that we’re all crushing it or killing it. Sometimes it’s hard. What we’ve figured out scientifically is that all your customers are human beings and all your teammates are human beings, too,” says Mehta. And that’s why a Human-First approach to digital is so important.
Digital empowers us to drive successful outcomes and experiences for all the humans who touch our businesses:
- Teammate Success: More high-value work
- Customer Success: Seamless customer experiences
- Investor Success: Higher NRR with lower costs
“Digital is truly the way for us all to win,” says Mehta.
At Gainsight, we’ve created several paths to success with Digital CS, whether you’re just starting out or scaling your business, the journey starts by bringing together all the drivers of Customer Success in one place, from onboarding to adoption, education, and continuous value realization.
Gainsight Essentials: Get Started Fast and Scale Without Limits
Nick Mehta, CEO, Gainsight
“If you’re new, you don’t need to make mistakes … there are people here to support you,” says Mehta. That’s where Gainsight Essentials comes in, to help companies just starting out with CS launch their efforts efficiently and scale fast, without limitations.
Learn more about Gainsight Essentials.
Hot off the Press: Customer Communities Book
Foreground: Robin Van Lieshout, Chief Strategy Officer, Gainsight. Background: Nick Mehta, CEO, Gainsight
In the dynamic landscape where the rules of business are continually evolving, the concept of community has undergone a transformation. Once seen as a support mechanism primarily for B2C enterprises, it’s now recognized as a pivotal strategy for fostering lasting success in B2B SaaS and beyond.
This redefinition has come with a fresh understanding—community isn’t just about metrics or member counts; it’s about driving tangible business value and enhancing the customer experience.
Learn more in our hot-off-the-press book, Customer Communities: Engage and Retain Customers to Build the Future of Your Business, co-authored by Nick Mehta, CEO, Gainsight, and Robin Van Lieshout, Chief Strategy Officer, Gainsight.
Customer Education
Gainsight recently acquired Northpass, the leading Customer Education platform. According to a recent survey by TSIA, 93% of education teams are investing or planning to invest in LMS tools and technology and 72% are investing or planning to invest in data analytics tools and technology. The addition of Northpass to Gainsight’s product portfolio creates the only end-to-end Customer Success platform on the market, allowing businesses to not only automate their high-touch customer success management efforts but also scale them more efficiently by leveraging digital channels such as automated email journeys, in-app product engagements, customer communities, and now customer education and training.
With Gainsight, businesses can drive Net Revenue Retention (NRR) across multiple phases of the customer journey while consolidating their spend with a single, AI-driven platform.
Steve Cornwell, SVP of Strategy for Customer Education, Gainight, illustrated the value of customer education in today’s keynote, helping us all envision “a day when the customer community and academy are mission-critical.”
Education is a critical driver of Customer Success, which is why we’ve seamlessly integrated it into our Gen AI offerings.
Creating a Seamless Customer Journey With Horizon AI
Driving Customer Success in today’s digital world means empowering customers to self-serve, leading them on a seamless digital journey, from onboarding to education to continuous value realization.
But, that requires ensuring customer resources are all in one place. Denise Stokowski, SVP of Product Management, Gainsight, said in today’s keynote, “Your customers right now probably have to go to a lot of places to get the content and information they need. So wouldn’t it be nice if we could bring it all together?”
At Gainsight, we’re doing this with Customer Hub, Spaces, and Gen-AI-powered tools like Search Assist. Stokowski walked attendees through our Generative AI roadmap, powered by Horizon AI, the most mature, robust AI engine for CS on the market. We have two exciting features on the roadmap, and three powerful Gen AI features that are available today.
- Customer Cheat Sheet (Available now!)
- Survey Takeaway (Available now!)
- Meeting Assist (Available now!)
- Search Assist (Coming soon!)
- Setup Assist (Coming soon!)
Denise Stokowski, SVP of Product Management, Gainsight
“Customer Hub and leveraging Gen AI can help your customers get to what they need really quickly and really naturally,” says Stokowski.
Unlocking Continuous Value Realization With Horizon AI
Jake Ellis, Director of Product Evangelism and Operations, Gainsight, took the stage next to illustrate how Gainsight’s AI features serve as a super-powered sidekick for Customer Success Managers.
Jake Ellis, Director of Product Evangelism and Operations, Gainsight
“As your customers continue down the path of continuous learning, Spaces allows them to see where they are in their journey and access self-service and educational courses—right in the same place.”
And, as we know, the people crave self-service. While the majority of people want self-service, according to Gartner only 9% of people have access to self-service resources in their customer journey.
In just a few short steps, Ellis walked attendees through how to use AI to not only set up customer communications, but continuously nurture customers throughout their journey to continuous value realization.
In a Changing World, Our Focus Remains Human-First
Ophir Sweiry, VP of Product Design, Gainsight, closed out today’s keynote by bringing the conversation back to what matters most: Empowering human beings through technology.
“Digital means CSMs are doing the cooking—not the dishes,” says Sweiry. With Gainsight, CSMs can evolve their roles beyond the repetitive work of logging calls, prepping for calls, and writing call notes, enabling them to focus on higher-value strategic tasks.
In closing, Sweiry said, “We’ve shown you new ways to drive value. But who is ultimately responsible for helping your customers achieve their desired outcomes? You, the CSMs. However, you are often tied down with menial and repetitive tasks. So, we’ve focused on how we can free up more of your time for what matters most: your customers. The world is changing, but at Gainsight, our focus remains on what matters to you.”
Ophir Sweiry, VP of Product Design, Gainsight
As we kick off Pulse Europe 2023, Mehta reminds us all to check on each other as human beings first. Mehta inspired Pulse attendees with three guiding principles going into the event: “Be open. Be proud. And be vulnerable.” As we chart the future of our industry together, remember you’re not alone—the Pulse community is here to guide you as you scale, innovate, and drive success for all through today’s greatest technologies.
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