What is Customer Success enablement?

You may have heard of sales enablement, but Customer Success enablement might be a new term for you. Although it’s an important concept and role in the Customer Success space, it hasn’t quite gained the traction it needs to be in the spotlight.

That’s why we’ve put together this guide to not only define Customer Success enablement but also outline the key tenets of the term and share some best practices for creating an impactful Customer Success enablement initiative.

The definition of Customer Success enablement

An organization’s Customer Success function helps customers get the most out of its products and services. Customer Success managers are always looking out for the best interests of their customers. But is anyone looking out for the Customer Success team?

Customer Success enablement focuses on enabling your Customer Success professionals to effectively carry out their responsibilities.

The person in charge of these initiatives ensures that Customer Success team members have the resources, tools, and technology necessary to support customers. They can use these resources to create onboarding programs for new customers, provide ongoing customer education training, and otherwise support those who build a cohesive customer experience.

Key tenets of Customer Success enablement

Those driving your Customer Success enablement program will have a broad range of responsibilities. They may include the following:

• Monitoring the efficacy of Customer Success programs
• Gathering feedback from Customer Success teams and customers
• Facilitating the creation of an onboarding program
• Identifying ways for Customer Success teams to reduce time-to-value for customers
• Brainstorming or crafting product training content
• Equipping Customer Success teams with mission-critical tools
• Developing a comprehensive enablement strategy

Customer Success enablement professionals should understand how to maximize return on investment (ROI) as well as have a strong technical understanding of the products your company develops. This way, they can aid Customer Success teams in their initiatives to achieve customer satisfaction and build loyalty. 

A Customer Success enablement professional must also be receptive to feedback from customers, the Customer Success team, and others within the organization.

Who’s in charge of Customer Success enablement initiatives?

Customer Success enablement programs are typically run by a Customer Success enablement manager. This individual’s job title can vary depending on the size of an organization.

A Customer Success enablement manager may juggle multiple responsibilities. This is often more common at smaller organizations. Larger organizations on the other hand may have an entire Customer Success enablement team.

Customer Success enablement managers play a pivotal role in acquiring and managing technologies and resources for their Customer Success team, which in turn has a significant impact on customers’ experiences. Overall, this can increase your profitability and bolster your brand image.

Best practices for Customer Success enablement

Creating and maintaining a Customer Success enablement program can be challenging, but you can streamline the process by following several best practices.

Analyze where you stand

Data collection is the first step in creating a valuable Customer Success enablement program. During this process, connect with Customer Success leaders and other experienced team members.

Find out what challenges and pain points they’re encountering so you can better understand where they need further resources and support.

Additionally, reach out to your customer support teams. The managers of these teams could provide insights into other roadblocks that may be coming from the customers themselves.

If, for example, your customer support and Customer Success teams are addressing the same handful of questions from customers day after, collecting and analyzing these questions allows a Customer Success enablement professional to craft a comprehensive  FAQ. Support and Customer Success teams could then use this to increase the efficiency of answering customer questions.

Track relevant metrics

Tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) is a good practice for any area of your business, but are you tracking the right ones for Customer Success enablement? Without the right data, it’s hard to see how to best support your Customer Success programs.

When it comes to Customer Success, nearly every organization should be monitoring metrics like customer satisfaction score (CSAT) and Net Promoter Score (NPS).  There are a number of other customer satisfaction surveys that can be useful metrics to keep an eye on. 

Other important metrics may depend on the specific needs of your company. These could include product feature usage, the number of days in onboarding, and the frequency of knowledge base visits.

Use small learning sessions to drive big results

One critical component of Customer Success enablement is education, both for your customers and your Customer Success professionals. But if your trainings are large, multi-hour blocks of instruction, it’s likely they won’t get you anywhere.

Cramming hours of useful information into fewer all-day training sessions may seem like an efficient way to decrease time to value. But too much information all at once will mean your employees probably won’t remember most of it.

To maximize information retention, break content down into small, digestible lessons. These could be practice exercises, interactive lessons, or other learning activities.

Try to keep your lessons to 15 minutes or less and spread them out over a few weeks or more. Your employees will be able to retain more information and put it into good use down the line.

Review, refine, repeat

Leverage the three “Rs” to maximize the efficacy of your Customer Success enablement program: review, refine, repeat.  

First, review feedback from your staff, customers, and anyone else who can provide useful insights. Next, use this feedback to refine your content and enablement processes. Once you’ve implemented these refinements, repeat this cycle at regular intervals.

The three Rs can help avoid getting too comfortable with the status quo. Even if your Customer Success enablement program is highly successful, there are always ways to improve.

Start building your Customer Success enablement

Effective budgeting and capacity planning will lay the foundation for a great Customer Success enablement program. If you need some guidance on how to start getting a plan in place, check out our “Customer Success capacity planning and budget guide.” Learn how to take your Customer Success enablement strategy to the next level.