Engaging Customers During Change Management Processes

Strong communication saved me $500K in ARR. Sounds dramatic? Maybe. But it’s true. A few roles ago, I had to oversee the deprecation of a product used by our smaller customers. We had a new and improved solution ready to go—but with a higher price tag and added complexity that many customers didn’t want (or need). Cue potential churn panic. My job? Prevent a mass exodus. Here’s how strong, proactive communication helped us keep 70% of our customers and over $500K in ARR 👇 The Playbook: ✅ Personalized Emails – No generic “we’re sunsetting this product” nonsense. We crafted targeted, transparent messages explaining the why, the what, and the when—plus clear options. ✅ Webinar with FAQs – We didn’t just announce change; we walked them through it. A live session let customers hear the plan firsthand and get their biggest questions answered. ✅ 1:1 Calls – High-touch for those who needed it. No one felt abandoned in the process. ✅ Migration & Exit Options – We gave customers choices, not ultimatums. Some migrated, some left (on good terms), and we even helped a few transition to alternative solutions. ✅ Consistent Updates – No surprises. Regular check-ins gave customers control over the transition. ✅ Post-Migration Support – Because the customer experience doesn’t stop after the switch. We made sure they were set up for success. The Outcome? 💰 500K ARR saved 🙌 ~70% retention 🤝 Stronger customer trust Here’s the lesson: Communication can be more powerful than the product changes themselves. Customers don’t just need a new tool—they need clarity, support, and a sense of control. SaaS is always changing. Sometimes all you have is communication. Use it wisely. _________________ 📣 If you liked my post, you’ll love my newsletter. Every week I share learnings, advice and strategies from my experience going from CSM to CCO. Join 12k+ subscribers of The Journey and turn insights into action. Sign up on my profile.

Want to immediately limit a Customer Success team's impact with customers? Keep designing processes, strategies, and engagement rhythms based on what YOU need and on YOUR timelines, rather than what customers need. Keep using inside out thinking that starts from your existing capabilities when deciding how to approach customers. In an era where customers are working with more SaaS vendors than ever before, they don't care about your internal timetables and how often you think certain milestones should happen (i.e. EBRs, etc). Between the rise in AI, pricing models based on consumption, and switching costs often being in the customers' favor, their concern isn't primarily how often their vendor thinks they should meet. If you want to maintain customer influence, try this instead: Anchor on the CUSTOMERS' lifecycle and business need, using this outside in thinking when designing a strategy. Rather than starting with what you need, start with understanding what your customer needs and what they're experiencing in their business. Are they in a phase where they're hyper focused on reducing costs and increasing efficiency? Are they building new AI strategies to get a competitive edge? Are they in a planning cycle, determining their next priorities? Start with questions like these, and then articulate how your product helps them accomplish whatever their priorities are. And set your engagement model to drive their priorities forward. You'll get way more buy in this way from customers, and paradoxically you'll also be more effective at achieving those milestones you think are important. Especially if you leverage your org's unique POV to advise on how customers can improve their business. Consider one example: EBRs. Option 1: you can dictate EBRs based on when you think they should happen in relation to renewal. Option 2: you trigger EBRs to occur after the completion of large project milestones, anchoring them on celebrating your champions' successes with their executive. Option 2 is significantly more likely to get your customers engaged. So let's commit to ending inside out thinking this year. Let's commit to anchoring on our customers' lifecycle and using outside in thinking. How do you guard against the drift we all feel to being inward looking? #SaaS #CustomerSuccess #GrowthMindset #Leadership

Not a lot of businesses are recognizing the power of Change Management as a vehicle for enhancing customer experience efforts. Here's how to unlock the power of change management principles in the context of CX. 🎯 Understanding Customer Needs Before initiating any change, you must have a deep understanding of what your customers really want. Utilize data analytics, behavioral data, operational and financial data, customer interviews, surveys, market dynamics, competitive information, and other signals to assess and understand needs. 🤝 Aligning Objectives Leadership Alignment: Ensure that your leadership is onboard and committed to customer experience improvement. Stakeholder Involvement: Involve the frontline employees who interact with customers daily to contribute to the decision-making process. 🗓️ Planning Identify Key Changes: Prioritize which areas require change based on customer feedback and business metrics. Set Targets: Establish measurable KPIs to gauge the success of the changes you plan to implement. These should be business- and customer-driven metrics. Don't make this a metric like "increase OSAT from X to Y." 📣 Communication Internal Communication: Clearly communicate the why and the how to all internal stakeholders. This should include executives, directly impacted employees, and the broader line of business. Tailor it to the stakeholder. Customer Communication: Be transparent with customers about what changes to expect and how they will benefit. Keep them up to date on progress. 🛠️ Implementation Pilot Testing: Conduct a small-scale test of the changes to assess their effectiveness. Feedback Loop: Gather continuous feedback from customers and employees throughout the implementation process. 📊 Evaluation and Adaptation Assess Impact: Examine metrics regularly to determine whether the changes are having the intended impact. Iterate: Use data-driven insights to make necessary adjustments. 🚀 Sustaining Changes Training: Continuously train your team to adapt to new changes. Feedback Mechanisms: Keep the dialogue open with customers and employees for sustainable improvements. 👩💻 Leveraging Technology 👨💻 Data Analytics: Use analytics to pinpoint improvement areas. Communication Platforms: Use tools like Slack or Teams for internal communication. Automation: Implement bots for routine tasks. CRM Systems: Manage customer relationships digitally to gain insights. 💡 Involve Employees Effectively Employees are the face of your customer service. Include them in planning, provide training opportunities, establish regular feedback forums, and reward those who contribute to customer experience improvements. Have you applied change management principles to enhance the customer experience in your organization? What worked for you? What didn't work for you? #ChangeManagement #CustomerExperience #Leadership #DataAnalytics #EmployeeEngagement #Technology