Report: 95% of businesses have a customer success function

Gainsight, in partnership with benchmarking research firm RevOps Squared, has completed a study on the strategies and benefits of customer success programs within high-growth companies. The resulting report yields several insights on the contribution of customer success, most notably that companies that reported the highest net revenue retention (NRR) rates also reported investing 10% of revenue in their customer success management (CSM) and customer success operations (CSops) teams.

Gainsight embarked on the study with the goal of understanding the current state of customer success programs, including what executives are focusing on in 2022, the challenges they face, and how they are scaling their customer success operations.

For example, 95% of respondents said customer success is well-defined or present within their companies. Clearly, business-to-business (B2B) companies of all sizes are prioritizing customer success.

It’s also clear that strategic, data-driven investments make a huge difference to the bottom line. According to Gainsight’s study, companies that reported the highest NRR also reported investing 10% of revenue in their customer success and CSops teams.

Unsurprisingly, customer success responsibilities tie directly to business value. Per the Gainsight study, churn reduction and product adoption were top priorities indicated by 83% and 81% of respondents, respectively.

“This data mirrors what we’re hearing from our customers, which is that product experience and customer success connect directly to revenue,” said Kellie Capote, chief customer officer at Gainsight. “This report highlights the quick wins and growth opportunities available to digital-focused companies over the next year. Armed with this information, every organization can invest in the people, solutions and strategies to create a company-wide customer success culture that drives revenue and ensures success for all.”

More than 350 companies across a range of size, industry segments and geographies participated in the research.

Read the full report by Gainsight and RevOps Squared.