Happier customers, stronger relationships, and a more predictable business. If this is something your company is striving for, you need to adopt a customer success plan. These plans are modeled on the old adage that prevention is better than cure—and adding this to your customer service arsenal can work wonders. Following a blueprint can lead to better customer satisfaction, which eventually turns into client retention and business growth. After all, 59.1% of experts in the field agree that their customers experience measurable value from their efforts.
Not sure where to find a customer success plan example? That’s okay. This article will tell you what you need to know about customer success planning and give you customer success plan templates based on the goals you want to achieve.
What Is a Customer Success Plan?
A customer success plan is a roadmap for helping your customers get the most value out of your offering. Essentially, it guides clients toward successfully reaching their goals using your products or services. And since modern customers don’t usually think twice about churning, this often requires being proactive, engaging, and thoughtful.
Indeed, a TechSee survey shows that US customers lack loyalty, with 43% reporting switching to a competitor due to poor customer experiencec. One way to ensure customers stick around and view your company as a trusted partner is to anticipate their desires and prevent pain points. That’s what a customer success plan is for.
What is the purpose of a customer success plan?
The main goal of a customer success plan is simple: make sure your customers achieve what they set out to do when they signed up. With a detailed strategy prepared, you’ll be able to understand their expectations, outline key milestones, and track progress.
But don’t forget that a customer success roadmap is a two-way street (pardon the pun). So, it should also set clear responsibilities on your side, letting your customer success experts know when to step in and what to do to keep clients engaged.
Instead of just fixing problems as they arise, a strong customer success implementation plan helps you stay ahead of client needs—and competition. It also makes it easier to introduce new features or upgrades in a way that feels natural.
Do all companies need a customer success plan?
A good customer success plan helps your business and customers by ensuring they get real value from what you offer. But that doesn’t mean every business should have one.
Companies that thrive on customer retention, long-term subscriptions, repeat customers, or upselling should definitely consider customer success planning. The same goes for companies that offer complex solutions (e.g., CRM software, ERP systems) and, therefore, need to help clients with implementation and integration.
Businesses with simple products, one-off transactions, or minimal customer engagement generally don't need a formalized customer success plan. However, they should still pay attention to providing good customer service. So, if you want to differentiate your company from your competitors, a customer success strategy may just do the trick.
Customer success plans are critical for:
SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) companies
B2B businesses with complex products or services
Companies with subscription-based models
Companies that rely on repeat business
High-touch industries (e.g., financial services, healthcare, enterprise IT, etc.)
Customer success plans are optional for:
Companies with simple products or one-time transactions
E-commerce and low-touch businesses
Commodity-driven businesses
One-time service providers
Freemium models or low-cost offerings
What is the difference between customer success and customer service?
Simply put, customer service jumps in when something goes wrong: fixing issues, answering questions, and putting out fires. Customer success, on the other hand, is about making sure those fires don’t start in the first place. It’s a proactive approach focused on guiding customers toward typical customer success goals, checking in regularly, and spotting roadblocks.
So, in a sense, a carefully designed customer success plan takes some of the load off customer support, leading to fewer support tickets, happier customers, and stronger long-term relationships.
The benefits of customer success planning
On top of providing value and keeping customers satisfied, following a clear customer success plan leads to robust relationships and business growth. Case in point: Forrester discovered that client-centric businesses grow 2.5 times faster. Additionally, a solid customer success strategy helps your team stay organized, ensuring that everyone knows what to focus on instead of scrambling to keep up.
Other benefits include:
- Better client retention
- Reduced churn rates
- Better resource allocation
- Increased cross-selling opportunities
- Reduced customer support expenses
- Stronger brand loyalty
What do you get if your company skips customer success planning? Probably worse customer experience, higher churn rates, missed upsell opportunities, and difficulty measuring customer success.
Key Components of a Customer Success Plan
Did you know that the ROI of a thoroughly designed customer success program is 91% over three years? So, make sure your plan is well-structured, clear, actionable, and built around what your customers actually need to succeed. Here are the essential elements your success plan requires to flourish.
Understanding client objectives
A one-size-fits-all strategy won’t cut it since every client has different priorities: some want to streamline workflows, others want to boost revenue, and some just want fewer headaches. So start by asking the right questions: What problem are they trying to solve? What outcomes do they expect?
Setting measurable goals
Measurable goals help you track progress and keep everyone focused. But you have to be clear with the targets: instead of "improve onboarding" or “get more clients,” try “reduce onboarding time by 30%” or “increase product adoption by 20% within three months.”
Defining success metrics
Work with your clients to define what numbers signify achieving their goals. These could include product usage stats, customer satisfaction scores, client retention rates, support ticket trends, or others.
Outlining action plans and timelines
Once you know the goals, break them down into steps with realistic deadlines. For example, if the goal is to boost user adoption, the plan might include training sessions, onboarding check-ins, and progress reviews at 30, 60, and 90 days.
Assigning responsibilities
Who needs to do what? Who is the main point of contact? Who handles training? Who needs to check in on progress? Having specified roles and responsibilities keeps everyone accountable and ensures nothing falls through the cracks.
Map out customer journeys
Some customers need more hands-on guidance, while others prefer a self-serve approach. Mapping out the typical customer journey—from onboarding to adoption to long-term success—helps to provide the right support at the right time.
Regular review and adaptation
Your customer success strategy should evolve as your customers’ needs change. So be sure to regularly review your plan, track key metrics, and gather customer feedback to see what’s working and what’s not.
Measuring the Success of Your Customer Success Plan
You need to track progress and make adjustments to ensure your customer success roadmap is working. Primarily, this can be done through key performance indicators (KPIs). The following metrics reflect your customers' success and satisfaction best:
- Customer Retention Rate: The percentage of customers who continue to use your service over a specific period.
- Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): The total revenue a customer contributes throughout their time with your business.
- Net Promoter Score (NPS): Measures customer willingness to recommend your product to others. The higher the score, the higher the loyalty.
- Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT): Direct feedback on how much the customer is content with your service.
- Churn Rate: Percentage of customers who stop using your product or service regardless of the reason.
- Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR): PThe income your business will earn from subscriptions each month.
Another way of measuring the effectiveness of your plan is to regularly gather customer feedback through surveys and questionnaires, one-on-one interviews, and feedback forms. Combining these two approaches will give you plenty of information to identify trends, strengths, and areas needing attention.
Customer Success Plan Templates
You may be tempted to cut and paste customer success plan examples you find online, but trust us: if you learn to write customer success plans yourself, you’ll be able to design individual plans for different clients and scenarios.
That’s why we recommend taking these customer success plan templates as a basis and expanding or adjusting them to meet your processes and goals.
For making customer support more helpful and efficient
Here’s what you need to do to improve support interactions and increase satisfaction.
Goals
KPIs:
Process:
- Assess current support performance metrics.
- Identify common customer issues and train support staff accordingly.
- Set clear response and resolution time targets.
- Monitor support interactions and gather customer evaluations.
- Continuously refine support processes based on feedback and performance data.
For turning negative feedback into a positive experience
If you want to turn dissatisfied customers into loyal advocates, follow this customer success plan example.
Goals
KPIs:
Process:
- Monitor channels for customer feedback (social media, reviews, direct communications).
- Acknowledge negative feedback promptly and empathetically.
- Investigate the issue thoroughly to understand its root cause.
- Communicate the proposed solution to the customer and implement it swiftly.
- Follow up to ensure the customer is satisfied with the resolution.
For keeping customers happy and coming back
Typical customer success goals include minimizing churn and maximizing customer lifetime value. Here’s one way to achieve them.
Goals
KPIs:
Process:
- Identify customers at risk of churn using data (e.g., reduced usage or negative feedback).
- Reach out with tailored offers, training, or support.
- Implement a rewards program to encourage continued engagement.
- Schedule regular customer success reviews to assess satisfaction and needs.
- Adjust retention strategies based on customer behavior and feedback.
For rebuilding trust after a service issue
It can be hard to restore trust in your business after technical disruptions during important interactions. But here’s how a customer success strategy can help.
Goals
KPIs:
Process:
- Identify the scope and impact of the issue immediately.
- Communicate openly with affected customers via multiple channels (email, social media, in-app notifications).
- Implement a rewards program to encourage continued engagement.
- Provide regular updates on resolution progress.
- Offer compensation, if needed, to affected customers (discounts, free service extensions).
- Conduct a post-mortem analysis and implement preventive measures.
Conclusion
A solid customer success plan will help you support clients, keep them engaged, and reduce churn. It offers a clear framework for setting goals, tracking progress, and making adjustments based on your clients' real data.
Not every business needs a formal plan, but it's worth the effort if you rely on repeat customers, subscriptions, or long-term client relationships. After all, a structured approach helps you anticipate challenges, provide better support, and ensure customers get real value from your offering.
Frequently Asked Questions About Customer Success Plan
A customer success plan is a proactive strategy designed to help your customers achieve their goals using your product or service. It outlines clear objectives, timelines, and responsibilities to ensure customers see value—and stick around.
Typically, customer success managers (CSMs) or teams are responsible for building and maintaining success plans. However, input from sales, product, and support teams is often essential to create a well-rounded, actionable strategy.
Track key metrics like retention rate, customer satisfaction (CSAT), Net Promoter Score (NPS), and churn rate. If these are improving over time, your plan is likely effective. You should also gather qualitative feedback to validate your efforts.
At minimum, it’s a good idea to review your customer success plan quarterly. However, high-touch customers or rapidly changing industries may require monthly reviews to stay aligned with evolving needs and metrics.
