Startups For the Rest of Us
Episode 747 | Evolving SaaS Customer Success Over 7 Years (with Jane Portman)
Jan 7, 2025
In this discussion, Jane Portman, co-founder of Userlist, shares insights from her seven-year journey in SaaS customer success. She outlines the four stages of their evolution, revealing the challenges of onboarding complex products. Jane highlights the transition to 'done-for-you' services and the importance of leveraging customer feedback. The conversation also touches on the significance of insightful content creation in the SaaS space, emphasizing expertise over superficial articles.
35:54
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Quick takeaways
- Userlist's customer success journey evolved through four stages, highlighting the importance of a proactive support structure for complex onboarding.
- The introduction of done-for-you services improved customer satisfaction and retention, demonstrating the value of blending software with personalized support.
Deep dives
Evolution of Customer Success Practices
The customer success process has developed in four distinct stages over the seven years of operating UserList. Initially, the approach was simplistic, characterized as 'young and naive,' where basic email templates and resources were provided to users without a thorough support system. The second stage involved hiring a dedicated support engineer to proactively assist customers during onboarding, fundamentally changing the company’s relationship with its clients. This shift towards a more hands-on approach revealed the complexities of the onboarding process, emphasizing the need for a deeper integration plan that included real-time user data to enhance user experience.
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