Customer Success vs. Customer Service: What’s the Difference?

Posted October 24, 2018

4 min read

If you’ve been reading our blog or following us in social media, you may have heard us talk about customer success.

So what is customer success, anyway? And how does that differ from customer service? Keep reading for an introduction to customer success, including the reason it’s so important to the entire CRäKN team.

What Is Customer Success?

Customer success is a strategy, a business approach, and it’s even a way of thinking about the experience your customers have with you. It’s a philosophy that starts at the top; everyone across the company fully buys-in and knows the customer should be what drives all business decisions.

A litmus test in any company to gauge whether or not you have a culture of customer success is to ask this question: does everyone in your company think and act in ways that put the customer first? The answer can really determine if a company is focused on customer success.

Customer Success as a Culture

Customer success is all the activities that come together to achieve successful outcomes for customers.

In many businesses, it may be an organizational function, but it doesn’t have to be. Even people with roles across HR, sales, marketing, accounting, and finance can take on proactive activities that be thought of as “customer success” initiatives. At CRäKN, we have a team dedicated to customer success, but every role within our company collaborates on and contributes directly to customer success.

Is Customer Success the Same As Customer Service?

Think about the last time you had a problem with a company and interacted with a customer service person.

First, you may have reached out to someone you didn’t know so you could get help. Let’s imagine that was a customer service rep. If so, they were likely looking at that one, singular problem; they had no genuine interest in helping you beyond that problem.

They may have been rated or evaluated on how quick they were able to solve your issue—or how quickly they could hand you off to another department. After your interaction with them, you may have received a survey to give the company feedback, but other than that, you surely never spoke with that person again.

In the scenario described, the entire experience was reactionary. The focus was on solving that one issue, as quick as possible, so the customer service rep could move on to the next ticket. Overall, the entire relationship may have felt transactional.

Customer success is not the same as customer service.

Customer success is much different than the customer service interaction you’ve probably experienced. It’s focused on opportunities and ways to delight customers. That requires up-front, strategic planning to map out the customer’s ideal and anticipated journey with you. Ideally, there are steps, strategies, and milestones used along the way to exceed expectations and to keep customers as advocates.

These strategies and touch points are also used to eliminate or to minimize potential issues or problems (what we call “pain points”) along the way. You can’t always predict every issue or difficulty, but you can plan and proactively support, educate, and walk with customers throughout their journey with you.

Your Funeral Home Deserves a Customer Success Team

With CRäKN, you have a dedicated customer success team that helps you every step of the way in your journey with us.

And, thanks to CRäKN’s productivity tools for your business, you’ll be able to stay on top of each and every detail associated with every arrangement. We don’t lock you into a contract, and we have no seat fees, no hosting fees, and no maintenance fees. We also want the entire staff to use CRäKN every day, so we won’t charge you for individual users. Learn more about CRäKN today.

Categories: Industry

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