FREEMIUM Chapter 11 Podcast
Customer Success Without a Customer Success Department
You may have heard it said that “Customer Success exists to do the things the product should do.”
I believe this is largely true, unfortunately. It’s not how it should be, but it’s often how it is.
In this chapter of FREEMIUM, we dive into how long-term usage retention is built right into the product. We look at how Retention Growth Teams measure and optimize, as well as examples of how DuoLingo and Snyk used these methods to dramatically improve retention.
In the ideal version of the world, the product indeed takes responsibility for long-term retention head-on. In addition to doing its own onboarding (covered in chapter 8), the product is also responsible for engaging users long term and creating Habit. What’s left for CS to do? A lot! CS then works on strategy, process, and change management—higher-order initiatives for which humans are uniquely suited.
I think you’ll really like the DuoLingo case study.
Enjoy!
Chapter 11 Podcast:
XOXO,
Chapter 11 Summary
First Impact is important, but recurring impact is the goal for long-term Retention and Monetization
Growth teams aspire to cement their product into the Habits of their end users
Instrumentation and Metrics are required to monitor and optimize for long-term Habit creation
Manager Minute
Thinking about your own company, take time to reflect on the following questions:
Have we explicitly outlined our customer’s journey, from initial signup through habit formation? Can I remember it and draw it here?
Do we have measurements associated with each of the steps above? Do we know which key actions correlate most strongly with long-term Habit creation? What are those key actions, and how do we measure them?
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When did I last see a cohort-based analysis of our Retention? Are we improving Activation and Retention rates with each cohort? Do our Retention curves flatten? What hypotheses do I have regarding our long-term habit formation and Retention?
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