What Is “Tech Touch” Customer Success? Why is it Important?

What Is “Tech Touch” Customer Success? Why Is It Important?

As a customer success manager, can you possibly imagine not having a one-to-one engagement with your customers regularly?

You’d probably call me crazy and I understand why that would be the case, trust me, as a CS professional, I hear you.

But, it’s time we re-think this model.

While a high-engagement interaction is hands down the best way to stay connected with your customers, you know deep down it’s not sustainable for scale.

And so, this brings us to answer the question - how do we make sure our customers feel connected and that we are a part of their success journey?

The answer is ‘Tech touch’.

Tech touch customer success is a straightforward approach that leverages technology to maintain and nurture customer relationships at scale, without the need for constant one-on-one interactions.

Tech touch is not about replacing human interaction but enhancing it by providing timely, relevant, and consistent communication.

Some easy examples to understand this is automating personalized email campaigns, using data analytics to predict customer needs, and implementing in-app messaging to provide real-time assistance.

Why Is Tech Touch Important In Customer Success?

We’ve spoken about how important the 3 C's that drive a customer retention journey are -

Compatibility, Consistency & Conversations.

No better way ties into this strategy than a thought-through tech touch process.

Tech touch CS ensures each of these are substantially covered in the right ratio of human-to-tech interaction a customer goes through while engaging with your product.

How To Succeed With A Tech Touch Customer Success Model?

A good way to get a head start is by segregation of your customer book into SMB, mid-market, and enterprise accounts.

Each of these customers requires a different level of tech touch and a strategy that’s built for them.

1. SMB

Small & medium businesses can be catered to with curated automated workflows.

2. Mid-market

Organizations need to reach out just in time with the right balance of tech and human intervention.

3. Enterprises

This requires a customized high-touch proactive engagement to implement a successful tech-touch customer success model.

If you notice, the balance of technology and strategy includes the involvement of human resources to a large extent which has a direct correlation with the costs involved and so, this too helps align models for various organisations accordingly.

Tech touch strategies to enhance its effectiveness -

As with any process, knowing its efficiency with outcomes measured against numbers is critical.

It helps understand if you are on the right track and outcomes being delivered are the desired ones.

Some key metrics and methods that can be looked at are -

1. Customer Health Score

a. A composite metric that reflects the overall health of a customer based on various factors such as product usage, engagement, and satisfaction.

2. Customer Engagement Metrics

a. Email Open And Click Rates

Track the effectiveness of automated email campaigns by measuring open and click-through rates.

b. In-App Messaging Response Rates

Monitor how customers interact with in-app messages and chatbots. High response rates indicate successful engagement.

Please note that these can only be seen as leading indicators to forecast a possible future activity/engagement.

3. Usage Frequency Of Self-Service Resources

a. Knowledge Base Views

Measure how often customers access self-service resources such as FAQs, guides, and tutorials.

b. Community Engagement

Track participation in community forums and online discussions.

4. Automated Workflow Effectiveness

a. Completion Rates

Monitor the completion rates of automated workflows, such as onboarding sequences and renewal reminders.

b. Conversion Rates

Measure how effectively automated workflows lead to desired outcomes, such as product adoption or upsells.

Summing It Up: The Power of Tech Touch in Customer Success

Let's break down why this approach is a game-changer for customer success managers like you -

Conclusion

Very simply put, sometimes going back to the drawing board always helps.

Keeping the basics of CS intact while driving all your decisions will help you decide how much and when you need to think about tech touch with your customers - because tech touch in customer success makes every interaction count - literally & figuratively!

Embracing tech touch in customer success isn’t about eliminating human interaction—it's about enhancing it