Discover Customer Success do's and don'ts from Chase Clemons at Basecamp, Jeff Vincent at Wistia and Greg Lefort at Azendoo.

1. DO’S AND DON’TS OF
CUSTOMER SUCCESS PROS
We share the tips and best practices at Azendoo, Wistia and Basecamp

2. WHAT IS CUSTOMER SUCCESS?
Customer success = “ensuring your customers achieve their
Desired Outcome through their interactions with your company.”
– Lincoln Murphy, Customer Success evangelist at Gainsight

3. IN OTHER WORDS
Understanding your customers’ wishes and needs
Making sure your product tackle their needs
Teaching them how to use your product
Answering all their questions in the best way possible
Even better, anticipating their needs and questions

4. HOW?
We asked 3 Customer Success pros to share their tips
and best pieces of advice

5. Greg Lefort
@greglefort
Co-founder and CEO at
LEADING BY EXAMPLE
Jeff Vincent
@jeffvincent
Head of Customer Support at
Chase Clemons
@chaseclemons
Customer Success Ops at

6. CUSTOMER SUCCESS AT AZENDOO
is part of the sales process:
We proactively reach out to users to help
them get the full value of our product.

7. DO: CREATE 1-ON-1 DISCUSSIONS WITH YOUR USERS
Either you have 10s, 1000s or 100,000s of users, strive to
engage with them and personalize your answers

8. DON’T: FALL BEHIND THE NUMBER OF
TICKETS
Answer every question or complaint in a timely manner – we
strive to do so within a few hours.

9. DO: MAKE EVERYONE IN THE TEAM RESPONSIBLE
FOR CUSTOMER SUCCESS
Make everyone responsible for handling support, and get
the most qualified person on your team to answer

10. DON’T: OVER-PROMISE AND DISAPPOINT
You can’t accept all features request. Make sure you
communicate on which ones you implement.

11. BONUS: TURN YOUR BEST USERS INTO
AMBASSADORS
Your best users can be your brands ambassadors. Leverage
them by organizing meetups, setting up loyalty programs,
sharing a use case, …

12. CUSTOMER SUCCESS AT WISTIA
is deeply rooted in the company culture
Since the beginning, support is one of
the most important functions at Wistia.

13. DO: PUT YOURSELF IN YOUR CUSTOMERS’ SHOES
To make sure you really understand our customers and their
pain points, use your own product

14. DON’T: THROW TECH JARGON AT YOUR
CUSTOMERS
Adapt your explanations to your customers and their level
of understanding

15. DO: SHOW THAT YOU CARE
A good Customer Service rep really cares for his of her
customers. Even your "free trailers".

16. DON’T: ANSWER TO EVERYONE, ANYTIME
AND ANYWHERE
Don’t burn yourself with 24x7 support if you don’t need it.
Keep your emergency line for actual emergencies.

17. DO: PRE-EMPTIVE SUPPORT
At Wistia, our goal is to help our customers get 10 times the
value they’re paying, even before they seek support.

18. DON’T: LOSE YOURSELF IN THE NOISE OF
FEEDBACKS
Listen to customer feedbacks, but don’t follow all pieces of
advice if they don’t fall in the overall picture.

19. BONUS: SPREAD THE VOICE OF THE
CUSTOMERS THROUGHOUT THE COMPANY
The customer success teams holds all customer knowledge.
Don’t forget to share it with the whole company.
E.g. at Wistia, we do an internal series called “Customer story time”

20. CUSTOMER SUCCESS AT BASECAMP
Treating people right is fundamental
to how we do business
is part of the company’s DNA

21. DO: ANSWER EVERY COMPLAINT
Whatever the topic and the tone used, answer each and
every message you get from your customers

22. DON’T: MAKE PROMISES YOU CAN’T KEEP
Set the right expectations for you customers. Don’t over
promise, of you’ll disappoint them.
However, they do set high standards:

23. DO: HELP EVEN IF IT’S NOT YOUR PRODUCT
If you know you can help a customer, just do it!
Customers do remember the people who help them.

24. DON’T: FORGET TO DRAW THE LINE & KNOW
WHEN TO STOP
Don’t get burnt out answering emails all day long. Sometimes
you just need a break.

25. BONUS: THROW IN A LAGNIAPPE IF YOU CAN
Going the extra mile and giving back some love to your
customers is make makes your customer service unforgettable

26. TO SUM UP
Turn your best users into your brand ambassadors
Find a fun way to share your customers’ voice with the whole company
Throw in a lagniappe if you can, you will make your company unforgettable
Create one-on-one discussions with 1,000s or
100,000s of users
Make every one in the team responsible for
customer success
Put yourself in your customers’ shoes
Show that you care
Do pre-emptive support
Answer every complaint or message, whatever
the topic or tone
Help even if it’s not your product
Don’t fall behind the number of tickets,
always answer on time
Don’t over promise and disappoint your
users
Don’t answer to everyone, anytime and
anywhere
Don’t throw tech jargon at your customers
Don’t make promises you can’t keep
Don’t forget to draw the line & know when
to stop

27. READY TO ROCK YOUR
CUSTOMER SUCCESS STRATEGY?

28. READ MORE ABOUT
CUSTOMER SUCCESS DO’S AND DON’TS
http://bit.ly/customer-success-tips