Taking Your Customer Success Program to the Next Level · 2018 evergage inc taking your customer...

15 PERSONALIZATION TIPS & EXAMPLES

Taking Your Customer Success Program to the

Next Level

TAKING YOUR CUSTOMER SUCCESS PROGRAM TO THE NEXT LEVEL: 15 PERSONALIZATION TIPS & EXAMPLES | 2 © 2018 EVERGAGE, INC

TABLE OF CONTENTS

15 PERSONALIZATION TIPS & EXAMPLES FOR IMPROVING CUSTOMER SUCCESS

CONVERT FREE TRIAL OR FREEMIUM USERS

ONBOARD NEW CUSTOMERS

HIDE ADVANCED FEATURES UNTIL USER IS READY

PROVIDE CONTEXTUAL TIPS & SUGGESTIONS

PROACTIVELY ADDRESS SUPPORT QUESTIONS

EFFICIENTLY ROUTE CUSTOMER SUPPORT CALLS

NOTIFY CUSTOMERS OF IMPORTANT CHANGES

ANNOUNCE NEW FEATURES

TARGET SURVEYS & COLLECT FEEDBACK

DELIVER RELEVANT EMAIL NEWSLETTERS

SEND APPROPRIATELY TIMED EMAILS BASED ON USER’S ACTIONS

CAPITALIZE ON UPSELL/CROSS-SELL OPPORTUNITIES IN THE MOMENT

COMMUNICATE UPSELL/CROSS-SELL OPPORTUNITIES INTERNALLY

IDENTIFY AND REDUCE CHURN RISK

RECOVER REVENUE

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Taking Your Customer Success Program to the Next Level

Every company wants its customers to be successful. Technology companies – and Software-as-a-Service

(SaaS) firms, in particular – are known for employing customer success teams that are tasked with helping

customers get maximum value from their solutions. Advisors, consultants, account managers and many

other roles exist across industries to manage relationships and guide customers to successful outcomes.

Customer success is a critical goal for software, financial services, insurance, media, entertainment and

retail companies that deliver services on an ongoing or subscription basis.

How can you enable your customers’ success? There are many tactics to employ, and personalization is

one of the most important. Personalization, done right, is what happens when you take everything you know

about your customers — including the digital behavioral data you accumulate when they interact with your

app or website plus any relevant data you have residing in various systems — and use it to provide helpful,

tailored experiences.

Such tailored experiences can be directed to individuals or accounts and take the form of personalized

messages delivered within your app or logged-in environment, emails that are triggered based on unique

criteria and contain content personalized at open time, or even internal communications that prompt a team

member to personally reach out to a customer.

15 PERSONALIZATION TIPS & EXAMPLES

In this eBook, we’ll explore these ideas and more as we walk through 15 compelling ways to use personalization to improve customer success.


CHALLENGE SOLUTIONMany companies offer a free trial or freemium experience to prospects to help them evaluate the solution before making a decision to convert to a paid subscription. After all the work you do to acquire each prospect and encourage them to take a free trial, how can you make sure they recognize the value of your solution so they ultimately convert?

You can take everything you learn about your prospects during both their research phase as website visitors and their evaluation period as free users and use that information to deliver personalized experiences within your free trial or freemium environment. Leverage appropriately timed messages, videos, help resources, offers, etc. while users are logged in and tailor the content to the persona, the account or the individual herself, helping ensure she understands the benefits of becoming a paying customer.

A key value in the Mindflash online training platform comes from users creating their own training courses.

To encourage all free trialers who hadn’t yet created their own courses to do so, Mindflash provides relevant in-app messaging

in-the-moment. With these messages, the company was able to increase usage of sample courses by 15%.

Convert Free Trial or Freemium Users1

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CHALLENGE SOLUTIONOnce a prospect becomes a customer, success and retention become top goals. If users fail to adopt a product, it can quickly fall by the wayside. It’s important that users understand the value early, so they not only start using the product but also encourage other users to do so too. If customer success and retention are in the cards at all, effective onboarding of customers is critical.

Facilitate the product adoption process by providing personalized, step-by-step onboarding – task lists or tips that educate, guide and engage users. This onboarding process should be as tailored to the individual as possible. For instance, if during the customer’s research and evaluation phase he showed a preference for a specific use case, in-app messaging can guide him through the steps involved in using the product for that purpose.

This app offers step-by-step onboarding that is personalized based on actions taken/not taken

to help new users get started with the product and achieve success.

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Onboard New Customers2


CHALLENGE SOLUTIONSome logged-in environments have a lot of useful features that, despite their value, can be overwhelming to first-time users. How can you make sure new users are able to orient themselves to your product without getting lost or confused?

Think about your product and how your users get value from it. Are there any features that can’t be used successfully if another action hasn’t been taken first? Consider hiding features that are unhelpful to first-time users to focus their attention only on what needs to be done first. Then, when they’re ready, expose those advanced features and offer tips for using them.

This company offers a valuable product filled with many features. After conducting user research, it discovered that some of the more complex features

confuse and overwhelm new users. Once the users become more familiar with the product, they are better equipped to understand and make use of the

advanced features. In this case, the company hides the Advanced Analytics tab until the user has first explored the basic Reports feature.

Hide Advanced Features Until User Is Ready3


Provide Contextual Tips & Suggestions

CHALLENGE SOLUTIONOnce a user begins using your product or service, it’s important that she continue to find ongoing value in it. It can be difficult, however, to ensure each person is aware of the specific features or functions that are most relevant to their needs. And you don’t want to constantly ask customers if they know about all the features you offer.

With personalization, you can serve real-time suggestions and time-saving tips related to the person’s usage patterns or specific goals. You can even highlight important features that a user has never used before at the moment he is likely to be interested in them. Or you can make in-session offers for online training or guided support when a user appears to be struggling in a particular area.

When customers appear to be struggling to complete a certain task in their accounts,

this site delivers real-time callout messages asking if they need help and providing tips to guide them through the process.

4


CHALLENGE SOLUTIONOrganizations with customer support functions are always looking for ways to improve efficiency and resolve issues quickly. Once a customer takes the time to log an issue, she is likely very frustrated. And then there are frustrated customers that don’t even bother to ask for help. How can you address support issues before they arise?

In-app messaging allows you to reduce friction in product usage and decrease contacts to the support team. Take a look at specific actions or search queries that often trigger support calls. Improve efficiency and customer service by automatically serving up messages with links to helpful content and tips that address these common customer challenges.

HostGator displays callout messages that appear based on behaviors — in this case detecting keywords or phrases associated with commonly encountered

problems. Once a potential problem arises, it dynamically presents messages to direct the user to the most appropriate resources. With this approach, the

company has substantially cut down the number of support calls and online chats it receives.

Proactively Address Support Questions5

We’ve noticed you’re forwarding email to yahoo.com

We strongly recommend using POP/IMAP to fetch your email as opposed to forwarding your email.

To find out more, please read this page.


CHALLENGE SOLUTIONNot every problem your customers face can be addressed with self-help resources — sometimes they need to speak with a company representative. But it’s not always easy for customers to know whom to contact to efficiently address their concerns — particularly in larger organizations. Calling a company’s main number only to be transferred from one agent to the next is a frustrating customer experience to say the least. How can you make sure customers are directed to the most appropriate resource when they’re experiencing a problem?

Leverage behavioral tracking within your web/mobile app or logged-in environment to recognize when a customer might be struggling or looking for a way to contact you. Then, deliver a message with the appropriate phone number to that person. Whether the phone number differs based on customer segment (such as small business or enterprise), the specific area of the product or feature the person is struggling with, or any other criteria, you can provide the customer with the best phone number to call at the exact moment he needs it.

This company delivers a targeted message to customers who appear to be struggling with certain areas of

the product — directing them to call the most appropriate phone number.

ACME INFINITY CO.

Efficiently Route Customer Support Calls6

Total

Overview

Orders

Sales

Earnings

102,000

Cases Closed Tasks Completed

Call 1-800-555-5555 to speak to one of our specialists.

Have questions about how to interpret this screen?


CHALLENGE SOLUTIONOccasionally, you will have critical product or policy changes that you want your customers to know about immediately. Emails might be ignored in your customers’ cluttered inboxes, and you may not want to wait for people to log in to see an in-app message. How can you share critical information to your customers quickly?

Push notifications on web or mobile can help you share important information in a way that will immediately capture the attention of your customers. While you want to avoid overusing this method, it can be quite effective for sharing key product updates, account alerts, upcoming maintenance announcements, and more. You can even tailor push notifications to only send to those customers that will be affected by your news.

This company sends a mobile push notification to those customers who are nearing the limit on their storage plan and will need to upgrade soon.

Notify Customers of Important Changes7


CHALLENGE SOLUTIONWhen you add a new feature to your product or service, you want to make sure that your customers know about it so they can receive the benefits you intended. But your customers are busy and they may miss your announcement — or become overwhelmed by communication if you release new features very often. How can you make sure that users know about and understand your new features?

There’s no better time to tell a user about a new feature than when she is using your product. With personalization, you can communicate a new feature only to those users that will benefit from it (e.g., those in a particular industry or those that use your product in a certain way). Or you can time a message about the feature to appear only when a user takes a specific action or meets certain criteria. If the feature is only available to users of specific plan levels, you can segment your customer base and announce the new feature only to those users.

This company uses a subtle callout to highlight a new report, designed to catch the attention of those mobile app users for whom it’s relevant.

Announce New Features8


CHALLENGE SOLUTIONThe ability to collect feedback and use the information to make improvements to your product or service is critical to the growth of your business. Companies use a variety of methods to maintain a feedback loop with their customers: user groups, periodic surveys, customer advisory councils, interactive forums and knowledge bases. But these methods lack immediacy.

Real-time personalization allows you to communicate with customers in-session and capture feedback when they are engaged and using your product. Analytics enable you to monitor real-time user behavior for a better understanding of how users are interacting with your product or service. And the opportunity to engage using real-time surveys and forms will provide direct input you can put to immediate use with relevant, personalized experiences or messages in response.

After conducting A/B tests to find the best approach, Apperian, a leading enterprise-class mobile application management (MAM®) and security

platform, saw a 2x increase in NPS survey responses when presented at the appropriate time within its web app. They then follow up with a relevant

in-app message and call-to-action based on the score received.

Target Surveys & Collect Feedback9


Deliver Relevant Email Newsletters

CHALLENGE SOLUTIONSending regular newsletters to customers is a common tactic employed by customer success and marketing professionals. But newsletters are often sent too frequently and contain content that isn’t relevant to most of the audience. Recipients, in turn, start ignoring such emails and, worse, unsubscribing from all email communications. How can you avoid annoying your customer base with emails so they continue to remain engaged with your content?

If you have a lot of content you’d like to push out to your opt-in subscribers, consider triggering your newsletter-like emails at the right moment instead. With this approach, the emails will be sent only when you have generated enough relevant content for each person (in their preferred topics or categories so that each email contains only new and individually relevant information). Make sure you also personalize the content when the email is opened, rather than when it is sent, to ensure that the content is always up-to-date.

This B2B blog, rather than sending a newsletter at a regular cadence (such as weekly or monthly), triggers one-off emails to

individual subscribers once there are at least three newly published articles that will be relevant to the recipient.

10


CHALLENGE SOLUTIONIn addition to newsletters, you may want to send emails to customers to notify them of actions they need to take within the product, suggest the next step in their onboarding process, remind them when their subscription is about to expire, or alert them to when they are likely to incur any overage charges. How can you ensure these emails are sent at the right time?

You can trigger emails to customers based on their own behavior in the product or logged-in environment. For instance, you can trigger an email during the onboarding process to tell a customer which set-up steps he has yet to take. You can also trigger an email based on any external circumstances, such as when the customer or account has nearly exceeded its maximum number of articles read or reports downloaded within your logged-in environment. As always, ensure that the content of the email is as relevant to the individual as possible.

This content subscription site has a maximum number of articles that can be read by each account per month, dependent on

the user’s plan level. When an account is close to reaching this maximum number, an email warning is triggered to alert the customer

and suggest that she upgrade to a higher plan level.

Hi Acme Corp,

We're reaching out to let you know that you

have access to just two more articles this month.

To upgrade to a higher plan level, please visit:

emissonmedia.com/plans

Send Appropriately Timed Emails Based on User’s Actions11

ACCOUNT ALERT

Alert: Just 2 articles remaining


CHALLENGE SOLUTIONMany organizations have business models that allow customers to convert or buy online without ever speaking with a salesperson. While it makes for a scalable sales process, it means that companies don’t always have an easy way to identify which customers would be ideal candidates for additional products and services, nor can they easily upsell those customers. How can you provide relevant upsell or cross-sell messages to the appropriate customers?

Certain actions or behaviors (like spending time engaging with a feature comparison page) by a customer within your product, application logged-in environment or public site can indicate when he could be a good upsell candidate. Those actions will vary depending on the company. Then, you can use an appropriately timed in-app message or inline experience to present or suggest a relevant offer or upgrade option.

iPage, which provides web hosting and domain registration, leverages an in-app modal with an upgrade offer to users

who are likely to be receptive to such an offer through their actions. Compared to a control group who did not receive the in-app

offer, the company saw a 71% increase in conversions.

Capitalize on Upsell/Cross-Sell Opportunities in the Moment12


CHALLENGE SOLUTIONMany businesses, particularly B2B companies, offer services or solutions that utilize salespeople to manage the sales process. Sales reps, however, don’t always have an easy way of identifying which customers are ideal candidates for upsell and cross-sell opportunities. And if you do identify a customer that could be a fit for an upsell/cross-sell opportunity, how can you inform the appropriate person?

With behavioral tracking or targeted survey questions delivered through your personalization platform, you can easily identify interest in complementary products or services. And if you connect your personalization platform with your CRM solution, you can automatically trigger an action to create an opportunity in the CRM the moment an upsell opportunity is identified. To make sure the appropriate salesperson gets the message, you could also send a triggered email to him. This ensures that the right person is aware of the opportunity and can follow up with the customer in a timely manner.

iPage delivers a survey to first-time users who have never spoken with a salesperson. If the answers to those questions indicate that the user

would be a strong candidate for an upsell, an opportunity is automatically created in Salesforce and the appropriate salesperson is alerted to the

opportunity. This campaign has driven a 34% increase in upsell lead volume from marketing-driven sources.

Communicate Upsell/Cross-sell Opportunities Internally13


CHALLENGE SOLUTIONOne of the most important goals for customer success teams is to retain current customers and secure renewal contracts. So when a customer is not happy and may be thinking about churning, you want to know about it. You want to be able to take prompt action when you can to save the relationship and remedy the situation.

The key is to identify those actions or behaviors that indicate a customer is not happy or receiving sufficient value from your solution. These indicators are unique to each business, but common ones are when a customers’ usage patterns change, they stop logging in or, more explicitly, they visit your cancellation page. You’ll want to set up triggered emails to inform the right internal staff members quickly and seamlessly when these situations arise. You can also use in-app messaging or send triggered emails directly to the customer to offer a free consultation or, perhaps, offer a discount to continue using the service if the data shows they’re about to cancel.

When a user visits the cancellation page but does not cancel his subscription, this application displays a message on the next screen the

person views with a survey question asking about their concerns. The appropriate customer success manager is then notified about the

cancellation page visit and the answer to the survey question if submitted.

Thinking about canceling your subscription?

X

What are your concerns?

Too expensive

Not providing enough value

Difficult to use

Switching to a different solutionSUBMIT

Identify and Reduce Churn Risk14


CHALLENGE SOLUTIONCollecting payment from overdue customers is a challenge for many organizations. Turning off your service for a customer is obviously a last-resort tactic. Often, however, customers don’t even know that their payment is past due or, for example, that their credit card on file has expired. How can personalization be used to get the attention of such customers and inform them of the situation?

Through an integration with your CRM or accounting system, you can identify which customers have not paid on time. If email reminders have not captured the customer’s attention, display a targeted in-app message when they are logged in and using the product about the status of their account. Simply suggesting they may be in danger of losing access to the product can do the trick.

Recover Revenue15

Personalized in-app messages help Mindflash communicate with users whose payments have lapsed. This approach has led to a 40% increase in past

due customers updating their payment information.

Start Personalizing Your Customer Experiences TodayEach of your customers is trying to accomplish different tasks and has different goals. Personalization allows

you to help each customer achieve those goals while providing a better experience and fostering deeper loyalty.

But the first step is to get the right personalization partner.

Discover how Evergage can help you take your customer success program to the next level today!

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About Evergage Evergage’s real-time personalization and customer data platform (CDP) delivers

The Power of 1, enabling companies to transform the dream of 1-to-1 engagement,

across channels, into reality. Combining in-depth behavioral analytics with advanced

machine learning, Evergage provides the one platform you need to systematically

understand and interact with each person that visits your site, uses your app or opens

your emails – one at a time, “in the moment” and at scale – to deliver a maximally

relevant, individualized experience.

Taking Your Customer Success Program to the Next Level · 2018 evergage inc taking your customer...

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