Why digital buying experiences are vital for increasing NRR and improving customer relationships
Customer success (CS) in the B2B space has undergone a rather significant evolution. While departments dedicated to customer success have existed for years (receiving the baton from sales and marketing to not only maintain but grow customer relationships), the expansive, wide-ranging possibilities of digital B2B, namely SaaS companies, have dramatically changed the landscape.
In other words, what constituted a successful customer relationship 10 years ago may now just meet the bare minimum, as B2B customer experiences and expectations have changed.
And while some of the most influential leaders in B2B SaaS have lobbied to get rid of CS teams — making the argument that customer success is the job of a whole company, not one department — there is plenty to suggest that CS is vital as a dedicated entity. According to a 2023 Gainsight survey, 92% of companies are maintaining or increasing their investment in customer success, and that’s through an economic downturn.
Since business executives and investors still value customer success, there is stress on CS teams to deliver results amid increased market pressure on profitability. At the same time, emerging technology — AI being the prevailing gamechanger — has led to the modern era of digital customer success, in which CS teams leverage automated tools and self-service options to streamline the customer experience.
One of the major reasons digital customer success has become such a buzzword is the consumerization of B2B. Ultimately, businesses want to make the customer experience as frictionless as possible. In the landscape of B2C specifically, this is what customers are now accustomed to — automated, self-service options that are fast, easy to use, and flexible.
In that sense, while B2B still has a long way to go before it reaches B2C’s levels, digital customer success still provides a wealth of benefits for not only the customer, but also the CS team. Whereas customer success used to require a very high-touch (i.e., hands-on) approach, digital customer success allows for a broad spectrum of engagement methods.
Through tools that enable self-service, for instance, customers are granted more autonomy along their journey. They can answer questions, resolve issues, or perform basic tasks themselves — all without needing a CSM (customer success manager) or team member to intervene. It so happens that this is the engagement model that most customers prefer. When given a choice between contacting a support rep and self-servicing, 81% of customers will choose the latter.
For CS teams, automating or streamlining processes through self-service options can reduce or eliminate repetitive, manual tasks from daily work, allowing employees to focus on the aspects of customer success that automation cannot replicate. A recent study found that 72% of CSMs would like to automate parts of their job, with 44% saying that automation would allow them to create better customer experiences, and 39% saying that automation would provide them with more time to identify and/or capture additional revenue opportunities.
It’s important to note that the stakes are understandably high for B2B CS teams. Since acquisition costs are very steep for B2B customers, the pressure is on to not only deliver successful relationships and experiences throughout the customer lifecycle, but also recoup the initial acquisition costs in a timely manner (i.e., “the payback period”) and ultimately return a profit. This is why churn is especially painful in B2B and why such a large emphasis is put on digital customer success as a way to retain and grow existing customers.
Perhaps the most key metric for CS teams, in that regard, is net revenue retention (NRR). The stat is specific to existing customers on subscription-based models since it measures events like service upgrades and downgrades, as well as churn rate. As a result, NRR is a strong indicator of a business or product’s growth potential within a customer base.
A positive NRR will include a higher proportion of upgrades and cross-sells to downgrades and customer churn. A business struggling to produce a positive NRR may need to consider factors like its customer experience, cost model, and unique value proposition to determine what’s not working.
Despite the growing emphasis on digital customer success and the removal of friction from every part of the post-acquisition journey, a major pain point persists for CS teams and customers alike — the transaction.
While attaining positive NRR depends on a SaaS company’s ability to renew, expand, upgrade, and cross-sell, the processes to accommodate these transactions are surprisingly manual in B2B.
It’s surprising because in an ecosystem propelled by technology, from the services themselves to the automated, AI-powered tools optimizing user experience (e.g., generative AI that can summarize information or produce communications), the act of completing a transaction remains cumbersome. CS teams are feeling the brunt of this as books of business continue to grow. Notably, there is an average 124:1 customer-to-CSM ratio for “low-touch” B2B accounts.
The strain is evident for CS departments, which are already spread thin and being tasked to “do more with less.” It’s unrealistic for one CSM to effectively manage over 100 accounts while optimizing for NRR and customer satisfaction. And while these B2B customers are generally benefitting from better UX and more autonomy with the rise of digital customer success, they are still experiencing unnecessary friction at the point of sale.
Instead of self-service options for renewals and other transactions, B2B SaaS customers typically have to interact with a sales representative, either online or by phone or video chat. And while we mostly associate self-service options with B2C, the fact is that 83% of B2B customers now prefer a “rep-free” buying experience. Businesses are leaving money on the table by not meeting these customers where and how they want to buy.
The solution for a rep-free B2B buying experience is something the B2C space figured out long ago — ecommerce. The ability for customers to own their buying experiences is what has made ecommerce such a force in the 21st century, from the heyday of eBay to the modern, omnichannel mobile point of sale.
An eye-opening 77% of B2B customers are now willing to spend more than $50,000 on a single ecommerce transaction. This means that the benefits of ecommerce are no longer limited to low or "tech-touch" customer segments. In fact, 42% of B2B decision-makers now rate ecommerce as their most effective sales channel across all segments, ahead of in-person sales (19%), video conference (15%), email (8%), online chat (8%), and phone (7%).
It’s become increasingly obvious that B2B SaaS customers want their transactional experiences to be just as seamless and frictionless as their overall customer experience. The goal now for SaaS companies not equipped in this regard (i.e., lacking ecommerce entirely or limited in their offering) is to implement an end-to-end ecommerce platform. One that is not only all-encompassing — activations, renewals, upsells, cross-sells, etc. — but automated so businesses can truly meet every customer where they are.
Cleverbridge understands the pain points of B2B SaaS providers. In today’s environment, CS teams can (and should) be empowered to generate revenue instead of just managing it. Through our all-in-one ecommerce platform, CS leaders can revolutionize their approach to customer success through automated, end-to-end transactions — from renewals to expansions and everything in between.
Struggling to grow NRR while effectively serving your B2B SaaS customers? The Cleverbridge Growth Engine automates digital buying experiences throughout the lifecycle so businesses can achieve maximum growth with minimal effort. Click here to request a demo.