What are KPIs in customer service?

Customer relationship management (CRM) software is a well-known tool for sales teams. CRMs make the most of their time by tracking leads as they become more qualified to purchase and make following up at ideal times seamless.

But what happens after the sale?

Current customers spend 67% more than new customers. So why do most CRMs only focus on enabling that first sale? At Planhat, we’ve discovered that data-backed customer success analytics re the key to increasing customer retention—and maximizing customer lifetime value.

So which customer success metrics for SaaS will benefit you the most and how can you keep track of them all? Let’s dive in.

What Are Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)?

When talking about customer success, key performance indicators (KPIs) are customer service metrics that give insight into how effective your CS team is. The specific objectives that KPIs measure vary from business to business depending on their individual goals. Many organizations share the goals of measuring team performance, boosting customer satisfaction, and increasing customer retention. Of course, when you put it all together, you improve your bottom line.

You get what you measure. By tracking the right KPIs, you can identify opportunities and make improvements on those specific metrics.

Types of Key Performance Indicators

When assessing the effectiveness of your customer success team, your KPIs will measure different types of customer data that reveal insights about their engagement, experience, journey, lifetime, and retention:

• Customer Engagement: How are your customers using your software? Are they using all of its features, or are they only using a key few? What about your brand as a whole—are customers attending webinars or sharing the successes they’ve won thanks to your service?

• Customer Experience: Are your customers happy with the service you provide? Are problems solved quickly and effectively, or are they left to fester until customers decide to leave?

• Customer Journey: Do customers with different journeys have different outcomes? What led your customers to their current level of service? Did they start with an ebook that led to a free trial to a premium account?

• Customer Lifetime: How much revenue do your customers generate from their first purchase to their last?

• Customer Retention: How many customers make repeat purchases or referrals?

With a wide array of customer data, you can see what’s keeping your customers from making more purchases and how you can increase their lifetime value.

What Are the 5 Key Performance Indicators in Customer Success?

While there are more KPIs you can set with your customer success team, these five customer service KPI examples can help you create a structure for your improvement plan.

• 1. First Response Time (FRT): FRT measures how long it takes a CS representative to respond to a customer. Customers want fast service. In fact, 59% of customers are more likely to buy from or refer your service if you answer their questions in under a minute.

• 2. Customer Retention Rate (CRR): It costs less money to convert a repeat customer than a new customer (acquiring new customers can cost up to 5 times more!). To determine your CRR, you can use this formula for a given period of time:

• Customer Retention Rate = ((Number of customers at the of the period - Number of new customers gained during the period) / Number of customers at the start of the period) x 100

• 3. Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT): It makes sense that satisfied customers are more likely to continue doing business with you. But how do you measure customer satisfaction? A common way to get a customer satisfaction score is with a survey. Ask if they’re satisfied with your service, then allow them to rate specific aspects of your service on a scale of 1-10. Not only will you know where you need to improve, you might even get some great results to boast about in marketing materials!

• First Contact Resolution (FCR): This measures how effective your first attempt at resolving a customer’s problem is. Are they unable to access a key feature of your service? Are you able to unlock it on their first call, or do they have to have several conversations before they can get back to work?

• Net Promoter Score (NPS): On a scale of 1-10, are your customers likely to recommend you to someone within their network? The more promoters (would recommend) compared to detractors (would not recommend) and passives (wouldn’t mention you positively or negatively) you have, the more your brand is benefitting from word of mouth. Increasing your NPS can help you bring in new business. Like CSAT, NPS is often measured with surveys.

Is your CS team currently tracking these metrics?

How Do You Set KPIs for Customer Service?

Your goals will determine which KPIs you should focus on. Do you want current users to upgrade to a premium plan or start new with another service you offer? Do you have little contact with customers once they’re onboarded and want more feedback that you can use to improve your service?

For example, if you’ve been struggling with customer retention, you may want to track your customers’ health score. With customer health scoring, you can see when your clients are engaging less, so you can reach out before they jump ship.

Planhat: The CRM for Your CS Team

A great CRM makes it easy for the end user–not just data scientists–to take action. Planhat is a data platform built for action that makes crucial information accessible to all decision makers.

No matter what your customer success goals are, Planhat makes achieving them easier with insights like you’ve never seen before. You can identify and act on opportunities like building playbooks so your team members know when and how to reach out to customers throughout their lifecycle. You can also track engagement so you know how you can improve your service.

See for yourself how you can supercharge your CS team! Sign up for a free demo!