How to reduce customer churn by fixing team coordination

One big responsibility of a product or business leader is not just setting the vision or roadmap but ensuring that everyone from engineers to sales to operations feels true ownership of product outcomes.   When ownership is shared, customer satisfaction stops being a “product team metric” and becomes a company-wide commitment. Here are a few suggestions: Co-create goals, don’t just cascade them. Bring development and business teams into the goal-setting process. When done well, teams are positioned to more easily move from the big organisational goals to trackable projects, initiatives and results.   Why? When teams contribute to defining success, they are more invested in achieving it Translate customer value into every team’s language. An engineer might resonate with performance metrics, while sales and marketing may care about adoption and conversion while support cares about resolution time. Tie each team’s contributions to the same north star or goal: E.g., “% of active customers rating their experience 8/10 or higher within 30 days of using the product.” Make outcomes visible, not just outputs. Celebrate when customer satisfaction rises, churn drops, or adoption spikes. Share these wins with everyone who contributed, whether they wrote code, closed deals, or resolved a customer issue. Suggestions like these written in posts or slides may appear simple but the truth is that they require some level of effort and coordination. But one good news is that, when there’s a will, there’s a way.

Don't just close #CustomerSupport tickets. Listen to them. They're a goldmine of strategic insight. Most people see support as reactive: answering questions and fixing bugs. But the truth is, these customer conversations are shaping the future of the business. Here’s what I’ve seen firsthand: 👉 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 = 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀. When multiple customers struggle with the same issue, it's more than "another ticket." It's a signal. Escalating these patterns has helped our product teams prioritize fixes that significantly improved retention. 📝 𝗗𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁. By carefully logging feedback and trends, support gives sales, customer success, and leadership the context they need to make better, data-driven decisions. 🗺️ 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗲𝘀 𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗱𝗺𝗮𝗽𝘀. Sometimes the most impactful features aren't dreamed up in a boardroom; they come directly from customers sharing what they need to succeed. In my own experience, translating customer needs into actionable insights and flagging improvements has helped teams move faster and smarter. Support isn’t just about solving today’s problems. It's about shaping tomorrow’s strategy. ❓What's one strategic insight you've gained from a customer conversation? #SupportLeadership #CustomerExperience #CXStrategy #Teamwork

🔥 Anti-Pattern #3: "Customer vs. Business Goals - When No One Wins" Running two days behind my usual schedule because I wanted to get this one right. Here's the lie product teams have been sold: customer outcomes and business objectives are opposing forces. Reality? Teams become firefighters constantly rebuilding the model home with new backsplashes while competitors win with better floorplans. The pattern I keep seeing: → Customer escalations drive roadmap decisions → Wrong discovery questions generate feature requests instead of revealing problems → "Customer-centric" becomes code for "we'll build whatever customers ask for" Result: You're doing customer support with engineering resources, not product strategy. When you solve systematic customer problems that drive their success, those solutions naturally create business value at scale. Both outcomes matter equally because they're the same thing when you understand patterns instead of chasing symptoms. Check out my article here on Substack for more: https://lnkd.in/gKEV5EPu #ProductManagement #CustomerSuccess #ProductStrategy #strategy

Support Teams have some of the best Product and Customer insights. Is your Product team really listening? Most Product teams build roadmaps in conference rooms. Support teams build understanding in real customer conversations. I've seen this pattern across multiple platforms: Product creates features based on assumptions. Support deals with the reality. What Support teams see that Product teams miss: - Real usage patterns - How customers actually use features vs. how they're supposed to work - Feature gaps - The workarounds customers create when products don't meet their needs - Priority misalignment - Which "minor" issues cause the most customer frustration - Implementation friction - Where customers get stuck during onboarding and adoption The disconnect happens because: - Support feedback gets filtered through ticket summaries instead of direct conversation - Product teams measure success differently than customer satisfaction - Support insights are treated as "problems to fix" rather than "opportunities to improve" What actually works: - Direct exposure - Product managers should spend time listening to support calls - Systematic feedback loops - Regular support-to-product insights sessions, not just escalations - Shared metrics - Both teams measured on customer satisfaction and retention From managing cross-functional teams: the strongest products come from organizations where Support and Product collaborate as strategic partners, not separate functions. Support teams don't just solve problems. They uncover opportunities. How does your organization bridge the Support-Product gap? #ProductManagement #CustomerSupport #CrossFunctionalTeams #CustomerInsights #ProductStrategy

🚨 Delivering on customer expectations isn’t enough. It never was. If we in Customer Success only give customers what they ask for, we’re already behind. Here’s the truth 👇 Someone else will show up with a bigger vision and a bolder idea — and your customer will listen. Not because you did something wrong. But because you didn’t lead. That’s the real missed opportunity. So how do we stay ahead as CSMs? By playing offence. 💪 3 steps. Simple (but not easy): 1️⃣ Know their goals better than they do Don’t wait for them to spell it out. Uncover what they should want. Study their industry, spot blind spots, and bring clarity. (Pro tip: GenAI can speed this up.) 2️⃣ Bring bold ideas, not safe ones Safe ideas get forgotten. If your value is only “support,” you’re replaceable. Use Quarterly/Monthly Reviews to spark bigger conversations. 3️⃣ Own outcomes, not tasks Stop reporting usage. Start showing results. Tie your product to real business impact. Lead them to their next win. Because in Customer Success, you either lead your customer forward… Or you watch someone else do it. 👉 Your turn: 🚀 What’s one bold idea you’ve brought to a customer that changed the game? #customersuccess #CSM #CustomerSuccessManager #AccountManager

If it feels like your customer success team’s inbox is a constant stream of 🔥 fire drills 🔥—you’re not alone. Support tickets come in through 7 channels. They all say the same thing. But the root cause? It’s buried somewhere between Sales, Product, and a half-documented spreadsheet from 2022. And the kicker is that your KPIs don’t reflect half the work your team actually does. Customer Success isn’t a dumping ground. It’s a strategic function that deserves the tools to act like one. Here’s what happens when CS gets the real-time visibility, growth planning, and cross-functional alignment it actually needs👇 🧠 Proactive support 📊 Relevant KPIs 📉 Fewer avoidable contacts 📈 Revenue-driving impact It’s not magic. It’s 180ops. Learn more here: #Customersuccess #cxleadership #Customerintelligence #CSops #Retentionstrategy #Revenueenablement

Most teams obsess over surface-level KPIs like Average Handle Time or even CSAT scores. But faster isn’t always better, and a smiley face survey doesn’t tell the whole story. If you really want to measure the impact of support, look deeper: • Resolution rate – Did the customer actually get their problem solved the first time? • Customer effort score – How easy was the process for them? A smooth experience matters more than speed. • Retention and expansion – Do customers who open tickets stay longer or churn faster? Support should protect revenue, not just close cases. • Repeat contact rate – Are people coming back with the same issue, or did your team resolve it fully? • Quality of interaction – Was the answer clear, empathetic, and complete? Why this matters: • Low handle time with poor resolution is a false win. • High CSAT today doesn’t guarantee retention tomorrow. • Metrics should reflect the customer’s journey, not just internal efficiency. The best support teams design their dashboards around outcomes, not vanity metrics. Want help creating a KPI framework that proves support drives growth, not just ticket closure? DM us.

𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 Most people see support as reactive: answering tickets, fixing bugs, and closing loops. But the truth is: support conversations are a goldmine of strategic insight. Here’s what I’ve seen firsthand: 👉 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗣𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗢𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀  When multiple customers struggle with the same issue, it's more than “another ticket.” It’s a signal. Escalating those patterns has helped product teams prioritize fixes that improve retention. 👉 𝗗𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝘀 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁  By meticulously logging feedback and trends, support gives sales, customer success, and leadership the context for better, data-driven decisions. 👉 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗲𝘀 𝗥𝗼𝗮𝗱𝗺𝗮𝗽𝘀  Sometimes the most impactful features aren’t dreamed up in a boardroom; they come directly from customers sharing what they need to succeed. In my own experience, escalating issues thoughtfully, sharing suggestions in content discussions, and flagging improvements have helped teams move faster and smarter. Support isn't just about solving today's problems; it's about using those insights to shape tomorrow's strategy. #CustomerSupport #SupportLeadership #CustomerExperience #CXStrategy #Teamwork

What nobody usually mentions about working in Customer Success. 1. Those 5-minute calls usually end up becoming long discussions on strategy. 2. Many times, your role is simply showing customers hidden features they didn’t even realise were there. 3. At the same time, you’ll often need to explain to your internal teams what the customer’s actual pain points are. 4. Slowly, you start knowing the product inside out, sometimes even more than the people who designed it. 5. And of course, you’ll always find yourself balancing between what sales teams commit and what we can actually deliver. Customer Success is much more than solving queries. It’s about connecting people, shaping future plans, and adding value without always having formal authority. In the end, you act as the customer’s voice inside the company and the company’s voice for the customer. That’s where the real impact of CS comes in. #customersuccess #trust

How broken systems amplify with more people: 1 Person with Broken Process: * Makes mistakes consistently * Customers get frustrated with one experience * Problems are contained and predictable 3 People with Same Broken Process: * 3 different interpretations of unclear procedures * Customers get conflicting information * Coordination overhead slows everything down * More handoffs = more chances for things to go wrong 5 People with Broken Process: * Complete chaos and inconsistency * Customers bounced between reps with different answers * Management spends all day putting out fires * Nobody knows who's handling what * Customer satisfaction plummets despite more "help" The Math is Brutal: Broken process × 1 person = manageable problem Broken process × multiple people = exponential dysfunction The Solution: Fix the process with one person first. Then replicate success, not chaos. When systems work, adding people multiplies solutions. When systems are broken, adding people multiplies problems. Choose wisely. #SystemsThinking #ProcessManagement #TeamDynamics #CustomerExperience #BusinessSystems https://wix.to/WtgOr3j