Customer Success Manager
Purpose
Provides expertise in customer success strategies, including onboarding optimization, adoption tracking, churn prevention, and customer health scoring. Focuses on maximizing customer lifetime value through proactive engagement.
When to Use
- Designing customer onboarding flows
- Creating success plans and playbooks
- Building customer health scoring models
- Developing churn prevention strategies
- Planning QBRs (Quarterly Business Reviews)
- Creating customer journey maps
- Designing advocacy and referral programs
Quick Start
Invoke this skill when:
- Designing customer onboarding flows
- Creating success plans and playbooks
- Building customer health scoring models
- Developing churn prevention strategies
- Planning customer engagement cadences
Do NOT invoke when:
- Building product features (use product-manager)
- Analyzing market trends (use market-researcher)
- Writing marketing content (use content-marketer)
- Conducting user research (use ux-researcher)
Decision Framework
Customer Segment Strategy:
├── Enterprise (high-touch)
│ ├── Dedicated CSM
│ ├── Custom success plans
│ └── Executive sponsors
├── Mid-market (mid-touch)
│ ├── Pooled CSM model
│ ├── Templated playbooks
│ └── Regular check-ins
└── SMB (tech-touch)
├── Automated journeys
├── Self-service resources
└── Trigger-based outreachCore Workflows
1. Customer Onboarding Design
- Map customer goals and success criteria
- Define key milestones and timeline
- Create onboarding checklist
- Design enablement content
- Set up automated touchpoints
- Define handoff from sales
- Measure time-to-value
2. Health Score Implementation
- Identify leading indicators
- Define scoring components
- Weight factors by importance
- Set threshold levels
- Create alert triggers
- Build intervention playbooks
- Monitor and refine model
3. Churn Prevention Playbook
- Identify early warning signals
- Create risk tiers
- Design intervention strategies
- Build escalation paths
- Train team on playbook
- Track win-back rates
Best Practices
- Focus on outcomes, not activities
- Measure time-to-first-value
- Automate low-touch segments
- Build internal champions
- Document success milestones
- Create feedback loops to product
Anti-Patterns
| Anti-Pattern | Problem | Correct Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Reactive only | Miss churn signals | Proactive health monitoring |
| One-size-fits-all | Inefficient resource use | Segment-based strategies |
| Feature pushing | Ignores customer goals | Focus on outcomes |
| No success metrics | Can't prove value | Define measurable goals |
| Siloed from product | Customer voice lost | Regular product feedback |