A guest post by Donna Weber, President of Springboard Solutions and Principal of KickStart Alliance.
Last month I attended a customer success meet-up in Palo Alto, Calif. At the event, there was a lot of discussion about how to “make customers happy.” I left thinking, “Do we really want happy customers?” While happy customers sound like a nice idea, engaged customers are more important to your success.
According to Merriam-Webster, happy means “enjoying or characterized by well-being and contentment.” Wouldn’t it be fabulous to create a killer product, deliver it to customers, and then everyone feels happy? The assumption is that happy customers result in all sorts of good outcomes, such as easy implementations, reduced support tickets, and of course less churn. The happy customer theory appeals because it should make your life easier, and that you can be happy as well.
There is a happiness craze, illustrated by the 23,000 books available on Amazon in the ‘self-help’ genre on the subject of happiness. While the focus of these books is primarily personal happiness, the craze highlights the elusive pursuit of contentedness and well-being in our culture. Yet, aiming for happy customers sets you up for failure. This is because ongoing customer happiness is unattainable and unsustainable.
The definition of engaged is “involved in activity,” which is exactly where to focus your efforts. Engaged customers are more successful than happy customers. This is because they attend Webinars and take training. Engaged customers meet their Customer Success Managers (CSMs) regularly. Engaged customers log support tickets because they actually use your product. Engaged customers also complain and challenge you. This is important, because they want you and your product to be better, so they can be better as well.
When I built a CSM program at a company, I reached out to customers to listen to their needs. One of the sales reps told me, “Don’t ask customers that they think, you’ll just open a can of worms.” He was right, but the “can of worms” is customer engagement.
“Engagement is the sign of a true relationship”
— Donna Weber, President of Springboard Solutions
Happiness studies reveal that when negative events happen to you, immediate happiness decreases. Yet, despite this decrease, there is an increase in the amount of meaning in your life. This means that negative feedback and stressful interactions are necessary because difficulties and obstacles keep you striving to improve. So, how does this relate to customer success? Those complaining customers are actually good for you. They are engaged, and they challenge you to be better. While happy customers leave you alone, they don’t grow with you. They might be nice and friendly, but they don’t push you to innovate. An internal champion might cheer for you, but they don’t demonstrate the huge impact you have on their success.
You get engaged customers through two methods: design thinking and an orchestrated onboarding journey.
Stop striving for happy customers. Your harshest critics might actually be your most engaged and loyal customers – and far more valuable than your happiest ones – so dive into those challenging relationships. Partner with customers to innovate and to grow, and leverage challenging encounters to make you both better. Proactively engaging customers with design thinking and an orchestrated onboarding journey leads to both of your success.
Engagement is the sign of a true relationship, and relationships are the key to customer success.
More about Donna Weber:
Donna Weber, President of Springboard Solutions and Principal of KickStart Alliance specializes in the post-sales Customer Success journey. With over 20 years of experience, she has a proven track record helping hi-tech firms create customers for life with customer onboarding, enablement, and education programs. Her clients range from startups to well-established large companies, with a focus on the open source and SaaS arena. Colleagues know Donna as a leader who makes a difference. When she’s not springboarding customers to success, you might find her white water kayaking the rivers of California and beyond.
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