Customer Success teams cannot scale effectively through spreadsheets, CRM fields, and scattered dashboards. As companies grow, the complexity of onboarding, adoption, renewals, and expansion increases. Without a unified platform, teams lack the visibility and structure needed to manage accounts proactively.
Customer Success teams cannot scale effectively through spreadsheets, CRM fields, and scattered dashboards. As companies grow, the complexity of onboarding, adoption, renewals, and expansion increases. Without a unified platform, teams lack the visibility and structure needed to manage accounts proactively.
Customer Success teams cannot scale effectively through spreadsheets, CRM fields, and scattered dashboards. As companies grow, the complexity of onboarding, adoption, renewals, and expansion increases. Without a unified platform, teams lack the visibility and structure needed to manage accounts proactively.
Customer Success teams cannot scale effectively through spreadsheets, CRM fields, and scattered dashboards. As companies grow, the complexity of onboarding, adoption, renewals, and expansion increases. Without a unified platform, teams lack the visibility and structure needed to manage accounts proactively.
This guide is for VP Customer Success, CS leaders, RevOps teams, and SaaS founders who want to build a scalable, predictable retention engine. You’ll learn what Customer Success software does, the capabilities that matter most, how to evaluate vendors, and how to choose a platform that aligns with your CS model and growth stage.
A dedicated Customer Success Platform (CSP) brings product, CRM, support, finance, and contract data together in one place and powers workflows across the entire post-sale lifecycle. Throughout this guide, we’ll also show how platforms like Planhat approach data unification, health scoring, and customer collaboration in a flexible workspace designed for clarity and scale.
This guide is for VP Customer Success, CS leaders, RevOps teams, and SaaS founders who want to build a scalable, predictable retention engine. You’ll learn what Customer Success software does, the capabilities that matter most, how to evaluate vendors, and how to choose a platform that aligns with your CS model and growth stage.
A dedicated Customer Success Platform (CSP) brings product, CRM, support, finance, and contract data together in one place and powers workflows across the entire post-sale lifecycle. Throughout this guide, we’ll also show how platforms like Planhat approach data unification, health scoring, and customer collaboration in a flexible workspace designed for clarity and scale.
This guide is for VP Customer Success, CS leaders, RevOps teams, and SaaS founders who want to build a scalable, predictable retention engine. You’ll learn what Customer Success software does, the capabilities that matter most, how to evaluate vendors, and how to choose a platform that aligns with your CS model and growth stage.
A dedicated Customer Success Platform (CSP) brings product, CRM, support, finance, and contract data together in one place and powers workflows across the entire post-sale lifecycle. Throughout this guide, we’ll also show how platforms like Planhat approach data unification, health scoring, and customer collaboration in a flexible workspace designed for clarity and scale.
This guide is for VP Customer Success, CS leaders, RevOps teams, and SaaS founders who want to build a scalable, predictable retention engine. You’ll learn what Customer Success software does, the capabilities that matter most, how to evaluate vendors, and how to choose a platform that aligns with your CS model and growth stage.
A dedicated Customer Success Platform (CSP) brings product, CRM, support, finance, and contract data together in one place and powers workflows across the entire post-sale lifecycle. Throughout this guide, we’ll also show how platforms like Planhat approach data unification, health scoring, and customer collaboration in a flexible workspace designed for clarity and scale.
Share
What is Customer Success Software?
What is Customer Success Software?
What is Customer Success Software?
What is Customer Success Software?
Customer Success Software is a purpose built platform that unifies customer data from product usage, CRM, support, finance, and contract systems. It creates a 360-degree view of the customer and provides workflows, automation, alerts, and insights that help CS teams manage the post-sale lifecycle.
It replaces manual work with structured processes and gives teams visibility into health, risk, adoption, and value. With one platform, companies shift from reacting to managing revenue predictably.
Why Your CRM Is Not a Customer Success Platform
CRMs are designed for pre-sale workflows. They manage leads, contacts, pipelines, and forecasting. They help sales teams close revenue.
Customer Success Platforms manage what happens after the deal closes. They track onboarding, adoption, risk, renewals, expansions, and value delivery. They consolidate product signals, support activity, sentiment, and contract data to create a full picture of customer health.
A simple example illustrates the difference. A CRM can store account notes and renewal dates, but it will not surface a drop in weekly active users or alert the team when a champion leaves. A CS platform connects these signals, flags the risk in real time, and prompts the CSM to take action. This is the gap most teams feel when trying to run Customer Success from a sales tool.
CRM vs Customer Success Platform Comparison
Dimension | ||
Primary Goal | Manage pipeline and new business | Drive retention, adoption, and expansion |
Key Data | Contacts, activities, opportunities | Usage, health, lifecycle stage, sentiment |
Main User | Sales teams | CS teams, onboarding, CS Ops, leadership |
Workflow | Pre sale processes | Post sale journeys and value delivery |
Automation | Sales sequences | Playbooks triggered by health and lifecycle |
Visibility | Static account info | Real time trends, risks, and opportunities |
A CRM shows who you sold to. A CSP shows if the customer is achieving outcomes and whether they are likely to renew or expand.
The Core Benefits: Why Invest in a CS Platform?
A Customer Success Platform drives measurable financial and operational impact. The core benefits include:
Proactively reduce churn by surfacing early risk signals such as declining usage, onboarding delays, unresolved issues, or negative sentiment. For example, a drop in product activity several months before renewal can trigger a risk workflow, giving teams time to intervene long before the customer reaches a decision point.
Increase Net Revenue Retention (NRR) by identifying expansion opportunities through usage trends, value patterns, adoption gaps, and changes in executive engagement. Signals like consistent feature growth or new user groups emerging can prompt a CSM to explore an expansion path at the right moment.
Drive operational efficiency by automating repetitive tasks like onboarding milestones, renewal preparation, success plan updates, risk alerts, and survey follow-ups. Even light automation can give each CSM back several hours per week, freeing time for strategic conversations and higher-value work.
Provide executive visibility with clear, real time reporting on health trends, forecasted renewals, churn risks, adoption patterns, and team capacity.
As a result, your entire business operates with greater predictability and efficiency, reinforcing strategic objectives for leadership.
Build vs Buy: Why a Purpose Built Platform Wins
Some organizations try to create their own version of a Customer Success platform with spreadsheets, reporting dashboards, or internal applications. This approach may work for a small customer base, but it breaks once the business scales. Data becomes fragmented, workflows are inconsistent, and teams spend more time maintaining tools than supporting customers.
Why Internal Tools Fail to Scale
Internal tools struggle because they:
Require constant maintenance
Lack advanced workflows
Cannot support journeys across segments
Miss predictive insights and trend analysis
Do not include customer collaboration features
Advantages of a Purpose Built Platform
A dedicated CS platform provides:
Scalable data integrations
Configurable health scoring
Flexible lifecycle automation
Customer portals
AI driven insights
Robust reporting and forecasting
Investing in a purpose-built platform conserves resources, reduces operational risk, and equips your teams with scalable, future-proof capabilities to meet executive goals.
Customer Success Software is a purpose built platform that unifies customer data from product usage, CRM, support, finance, and contract systems. It creates a 360-degree view of the customer and provides workflows, automation, alerts, and insights that help CS teams manage the post-sale lifecycle.
It replaces manual work with structured processes and gives teams visibility into health, risk, adoption, and value. With one platform, companies shift from reacting to managing revenue predictably.
Why Your CRM Is Not a Customer Success Platform
CRMs are designed for pre-sale workflows. They manage leads, contacts, pipelines, and forecasting. They help sales teams close revenue.
Customer Success Platforms manage what happens after the deal closes. They track onboarding, adoption, risk, renewals, expansions, and value delivery. They consolidate product signals, support activity, sentiment, and contract data to create a full picture of customer health.
A simple example illustrates the difference. A CRM can store account notes and renewal dates, but it will not surface a drop in weekly active users or alert the team when a champion leaves. A CS platform connects these signals, flags the risk in real time, and prompts the CSM to take action. This is the gap most teams feel when trying to run Customer Success from a sales tool.
CRM vs Customer Success Platform Comparison
Dimension | ||
Primary Goal | Manage pipeline and new business | Drive retention, adoption, and expansion |
Key Data | Contacts, activities, opportunities | Usage, health, lifecycle stage, sentiment |
Main User | Sales teams | CS teams, onboarding, CS Ops, leadership |
Workflow | Pre sale processes | Post sale journeys and value delivery |
Automation | Sales sequences | Playbooks triggered by health and lifecycle |
Visibility | Static account info | Real time trends, risks, and opportunities |
A CRM shows who you sold to. A CSP shows if the customer is achieving outcomes and whether they are likely to renew or expand.
The Core Benefits: Why Invest in a CS Platform?
A Customer Success Platform drives measurable financial and operational impact. The core benefits include:
Proactively reduce churn by surfacing early risk signals such as declining usage, onboarding delays, unresolved issues, or negative sentiment. For example, a drop in product activity several months before renewal can trigger a risk workflow, giving teams time to intervene long before the customer reaches a decision point.
Increase Net Revenue Retention (NRR) by identifying expansion opportunities through usage trends, value patterns, adoption gaps, and changes in executive engagement. Signals like consistent feature growth or new user groups emerging can prompt a CSM to explore an expansion path at the right moment.
Drive operational efficiency by automating repetitive tasks like onboarding milestones, renewal preparation, success plan updates, risk alerts, and survey follow-ups. Even light automation can give each CSM back several hours per week, freeing time for strategic conversations and higher-value work.
Provide executive visibility with clear, real time reporting on health trends, forecasted renewals, churn risks, adoption patterns, and team capacity.
As a result, your entire business operates with greater predictability and efficiency, reinforcing strategic objectives for leadership.
Build vs Buy: Why a Purpose Built Platform Wins
Some organizations try to create their own version of a Customer Success platform with spreadsheets, reporting dashboards, or internal applications. This approach may work for a small customer base, but it breaks once the business scales. Data becomes fragmented, workflows are inconsistent, and teams spend more time maintaining tools than supporting customers.
Why Internal Tools Fail to Scale
Internal tools struggle because they:
Require constant maintenance
Lack advanced workflows
Cannot support journeys across segments
Miss predictive insights and trend analysis
Do not include customer collaboration features
Advantages of a Purpose Built Platform
A dedicated CS platform provides:
Scalable data integrations
Configurable health scoring
Flexible lifecycle automation
Customer portals
AI driven insights
Robust reporting and forecasting
Investing in a purpose-built platform conserves resources, reduces operational risk, and equips your teams with scalable, future-proof capabilities to meet executive goals.
Customer Success Software is a purpose built platform that unifies customer data from product usage, CRM, support, finance, and contract systems. It creates a 360-degree view of the customer and provides workflows, automation, alerts, and insights that help CS teams manage the post-sale lifecycle.
It replaces manual work with structured processes and gives teams visibility into health, risk, adoption, and value. With one platform, companies shift from reacting to managing revenue predictably.
Why Your CRM Is Not a Customer Success Platform
CRMs are designed for pre-sale workflows. They manage leads, contacts, pipelines, and forecasting. They help sales teams close revenue.
Customer Success Platforms manage what happens after the deal closes. They track onboarding, adoption, risk, renewals, expansions, and value delivery. They consolidate product signals, support activity, sentiment, and contract data to create a full picture of customer health.
A simple example illustrates the difference. A CRM can store account notes and renewal dates, but it will not surface a drop in weekly active users or alert the team when a champion leaves. A CS platform connects these signals, flags the risk in real time, and prompts the CSM to take action. This is the gap most teams feel when trying to run Customer Success from a sales tool.
CRM vs Customer Success Platform Comparison
Dimension | ||
Primary Goal | Manage pipeline and new business | Drive retention, adoption, and expansion |
Key Data | Contacts, activities, opportunities | Usage, health, lifecycle stage, sentiment |
Main User | Sales teams | CS teams, onboarding, CS Ops, leadership |
Workflow | Pre sale processes | Post sale journeys and value delivery |
Automation | Sales sequences | Playbooks triggered by health and lifecycle |
Visibility | Static account info | Real time trends, risks, and opportunities |
A CRM shows who you sold to. A CSP shows if the customer is achieving outcomes and whether they are likely to renew or expand.
The Core Benefits: Why Invest in a CS Platform?
A Customer Success Platform drives measurable financial and operational impact. The core benefits include:
Proactively reduce churn by surfacing early risk signals such as declining usage, onboarding delays, unresolved issues, or negative sentiment. For example, a drop in product activity several months before renewal can trigger a risk workflow, giving teams time to intervene long before the customer reaches a decision point.
Increase Net Revenue Retention (NRR) by identifying expansion opportunities through usage trends, value patterns, adoption gaps, and changes in executive engagement. Signals like consistent feature growth or new user groups emerging can prompt a CSM to explore an expansion path at the right moment.
Drive operational efficiency by automating repetitive tasks like onboarding milestones, renewal preparation, success plan updates, risk alerts, and survey follow-ups. Even light automation can give each CSM back several hours per week, freeing time for strategic conversations and higher-value work.
Provide executive visibility with clear, real time reporting on health trends, forecasted renewals, churn risks, adoption patterns, and team capacity.
As a result, your entire business operates with greater predictability and efficiency, reinforcing strategic objectives for leadership.
Build vs Buy: Why a Purpose Built Platform Wins
Some organizations try to create their own version of a Customer Success platform with spreadsheets, reporting dashboards, or internal applications. This approach may work for a small customer base, but it breaks once the business scales. Data becomes fragmented, workflows are inconsistent, and teams spend more time maintaining tools than supporting customers.
Why Internal Tools Fail to Scale
Internal tools struggle because they:
Require constant maintenance
Lack advanced workflows
Cannot support journeys across segments
Miss predictive insights and trend analysis
Do not include customer collaboration features
Advantages of a Purpose Built Platform
A dedicated CS platform provides:
Scalable data integrations
Configurable health scoring
Flexible lifecycle automation
Customer portals
AI driven insights
Robust reporting and forecasting
Investing in a purpose-built platform conserves resources, reduces operational risk, and equips your teams with scalable, future-proof capabilities to meet executive goals.
Customer Success Software is a purpose built platform that unifies customer data from product usage, CRM, support, finance, and contract systems. It creates a 360-degree view of the customer and provides workflows, automation, alerts, and insights that help CS teams manage the post-sale lifecycle.
It replaces manual work with structured processes and gives teams visibility into health, risk, adoption, and value. With one platform, companies shift from reacting to managing revenue predictably.
Why Your CRM Is Not a Customer Success Platform
CRMs are designed for pre-sale workflows. They manage leads, contacts, pipelines, and forecasting. They help sales teams close revenue.
Customer Success Platforms manage what happens after the deal closes. They track onboarding, adoption, risk, renewals, expansions, and value delivery. They consolidate product signals, support activity, sentiment, and contract data to create a full picture of customer health.
A simple example illustrates the difference. A CRM can store account notes and renewal dates, but it will not surface a drop in weekly active users or alert the team when a champion leaves. A CS platform connects these signals, flags the risk in real time, and prompts the CSM to take action. This is the gap most teams feel when trying to run Customer Success from a sales tool.
CRM vs Customer Success Platform Comparison
Dimension | ||
Primary Goal | Manage pipeline and new business | Drive retention, adoption, and expansion |
Key Data | Contacts, activities, opportunities | Usage, health, lifecycle stage, sentiment |
Main User | Sales teams | CS teams, onboarding, CS Ops, leadership |
Workflow | Pre sale processes | Post sale journeys and value delivery |
Automation | Sales sequences | Playbooks triggered by health and lifecycle |
Visibility | Static account info | Real time trends, risks, and opportunities |
A CRM shows who you sold to. A CSP shows if the customer is achieving outcomes and whether they are likely to renew or expand.
The Core Benefits: Why Invest in a CS Platform?
A Customer Success Platform drives measurable financial and operational impact. The core benefits include:
Proactively reduce churn by surfacing early risk signals such as declining usage, onboarding delays, unresolved issues, or negative sentiment. For example, a drop in product activity several months before renewal can trigger a risk workflow, giving teams time to intervene long before the customer reaches a decision point.
Increase Net Revenue Retention (NRR) by identifying expansion opportunities through usage trends, value patterns, adoption gaps, and changes in executive engagement. Signals like consistent feature growth or new user groups emerging can prompt a CSM to explore an expansion path at the right moment.
Drive operational efficiency by automating repetitive tasks like onboarding milestones, renewal preparation, success plan updates, risk alerts, and survey follow-ups. Even light automation can give each CSM back several hours per week, freeing time for strategic conversations and higher-value work.
Provide executive visibility with clear, real time reporting on health trends, forecasted renewals, churn risks, adoption patterns, and team capacity.
As a result, your entire business operates with greater predictability and efficiency, reinforcing strategic objectives for leadership.
Build vs Buy: Why a Purpose Built Platform Wins
Some organizations try to create their own version of a Customer Success platform with spreadsheets, reporting dashboards, or internal applications. This approach may work for a small customer base, but it breaks once the business scales. Data becomes fragmented, workflows are inconsistent, and teams spend more time maintaining tools than supporting customers.
Why Internal Tools Fail to Scale
Internal tools struggle because they:
Require constant maintenance
Lack advanced workflows
Cannot support journeys across segments
Miss predictive insights and trend analysis
Do not include customer collaboration features
Advantages of a Purpose Built Platform
A dedicated CS platform provides:
Scalable data integrations
Configurable health scoring
Flexible lifecycle automation
Customer portals
AI driven insights
Robust reporting and forecasting
Investing in a purpose-built platform conserves resources, reduces operational risk, and equips your teams with scalable, future-proof capabilities to meet executive goals.
Planhat Insight
Don't settle for a rigid tool that forces you to change your process. Look for a platform that combines these essential capabilities with the flexibility to map your unique customer journey and scale as your strategy evolves.
Planhat Insight
Don't settle for a rigid tool that forces you to change your process. Look for a platform that combines these essential capabilities with the flexibility to map your unique customer journey and scale as your strategy evolves.
Planhat Insight
Don't settle for a rigid tool that forces you to change your process. Look for a platform that combines these essential capabilities with the flexibility to map your unique customer journey and scale as your strategy evolves.
Planhat Insight
Don't settle for a rigid tool that forces you to change your process. Look for a platform that combines these essential capabilities with the flexibility to map your unique customer journey and scale as your strategy evolves.
The 10 Core Features of Customer Success Software
The 10 Core Features of Customer Success Software
The 10 Core Features of Customer Success Software
The 10 Core Features of Customer Success Software
These ten features represent the foundation of a modern Customer Success Platform. Use this list as your evaluation checklist.
The Customer 360 Degree View
The Customer 360 view consolidates:
Usage trends
Account attributes
Contract details
Support history
Stakeholders
Notes and tasks
Lifecycle stage
Success plans
Why It Matters
With every data point in one place, CS teams prepare faster and make informed decisions. Leaders gain complete insight into revenue and risk.
A typical workflow might include a CSM opening a single customer record and seeing recent usage shifts, open tickets, upcoming renewal dates, and active playbooks in one view. This level of context helps teams spot risks early, guide value conversations, and coordinate with product, support, and sales without searching through multiple tools.
Configurable Customer Health Scores
Health scores blend quantitative and qualitative signals, such as:
Usage frequency
Feature adoption
Sentiment
Support load
Renewal timeline
CSM input
Why It Matters
Health scores predict churn and expansion before they happen. Configurable models let teams adapt the scoring logic as strategies evolve.
In practice, a decline in weekly active users combined with an upcoming renewal date can automatically trigger an at-risk playbook, prompting the CSM to review usage, reach out to the customer, and realign on goals. This turns the health score from a static number into an actionable early-warning system.
See the full model in our Customer Healthscore Guide. [Insert Internal Link]
Automated Playbooks and Task Management
Automation triggers actions when conditions occur.
Examples include:
New customer onboarding
Renewal preparation
Low usage alerts
Multi-stakeholder engagement plans
Upsell readiness signals
Why It Matters
Playbooks create consistency, scale, and predictable outcomes. They help new CSMs ramp quickly and ensure best practices are followed.
Customer Lifecycle and Journey Mapping
Journey mapping defines the stages customers move through after the sale.
Lifecycle Benefits
Clear milestones for onboarding
Better adoption tracking
Standardized renewal motions
Scalable digital touches for low-touch segments
Lifecycle mapping ensures each customer receives the right actions at the right time. Learn more in our Customer Onboarding Best Practices. [Insert Internal Link]
Robust Analytics, Forecasting, and Reporting
Analytics and reporting give visibility into performance across the entire customer base.
What Strong Analytics Include
NRR and GRR trends
Renewal forecasts
Churn analysis
Health patterns
Usage cohorts
Onboarding progress
CSM performance
Executives and managers leverage real-time, data-driven insights to make informed, timely decisions for the business.
Customer Facing Portals and Collaboration
Portals create a shared workspace between you and your customers.
How Teams Use Portals
Track onboarding projects
Share timelines and responsibilities
Align goals and KPIs
Prepare for QBRs
Communicate next steps
Portals establish accountability and trust with customers, driving partnership outcomes valued by executive teams.
AI-Driven Insights and Augmentation
AI improves the quality and speed of decisions across Customer Success by turning large amounts of customer data into clear, timely insights that teams can act on.
Common AI Capabilities
Predictive churn and expansion indicators
Automated summaries of meetings and account history
Suggested next steps based on customer behavior
Analysis of usage pattern and engagement trends
In practice, this often looks like AI condensing recent activity across emails, notes, and product usage into a short brief that helps a CSM prepare for an upcoming meeting. It can also flag unusual changes in engagement, such as a noticeable drop in usage of an important feature, which may signal early churn risk or an emerging expansion opportunity.
These kinds of focused prompts help teams spend less time piecing together information and more time addressing the moments that matter most for customer outcomes and long-term revenue.
Survey and Feedback Collection (NPS, CSAT)
Integrated survey tools collect key sentiment signals.
Why Sentiment Matters
NPS identifies loyalty
CSAT measures interaction quality
CES tracks customer effort
Robust feedback loops empower leaders to inform product strategy and service improvements that strengthen outcomes at scale.
Seamless Integration Capabilities
Integrations keep your CSP connected to your tech stack.
Essential Integration Categories
CRM
Product analytics
Support ticketing
Data warehouse
Billing and subscription systems
Integrated systems provide reliable data and workflow consistency, supporting executive visibility into the customer journey and operational efficiency.
User-Friendly Interface and Ease of Use
Ease of use drives adoption and operational consistency.
Signs of a Strong UI
Clear navigation
Simple data structure
Configurable views
Minimal onboarding time
As a result, your teams operate more efficiently and dependably, ensuring the platform remains central to daily business operations and executive oversight.
These ten features represent the foundation of a modern Customer Success Platform. Use this list as your evaluation checklist.
The Customer 360 Degree View
The Customer 360 view consolidates:
Usage trends
Account attributes
Contract details
Support history
Stakeholders
Notes and tasks
Lifecycle stage
Success plans
Why It Matters
With every data point in one place, CS teams prepare faster and make informed decisions. Leaders gain complete insight into revenue and risk.
A typical workflow might include a CSM opening a single customer record and seeing recent usage shifts, open tickets, upcoming renewal dates, and active playbooks in one view. This level of context helps teams spot risks early, guide value conversations, and coordinate with product, support, and sales without searching through multiple tools.
Configurable Customer Health Scores
Health scores blend quantitative and qualitative signals, such as:
Usage frequency
Feature adoption
Sentiment
Support load
Renewal timeline
CSM input
Why It Matters
Health scores predict churn and expansion before they happen. Configurable models let teams adapt the scoring logic as strategies evolve.
In practice, a decline in weekly active users combined with an upcoming renewal date can automatically trigger an at-risk playbook, prompting the CSM to review usage, reach out to the customer, and realign on goals. This turns the health score from a static number into an actionable early-warning system.
See the full model in our Customer Healthscore Guide. [Insert Internal Link]
Automated Playbooks and Task Management
Automation triggers actions when conditions occur.
Examples include:
New customer onboarding
Renewal preparation
Low usage alerts
Multi-stakeholder engagement plans
Upsell readiness signals
Why It Matters
Playbooks create consistency, scale, and predictable outcomes. They help new CSMs ramp quickly and ensure best practices are followed.
Customer Lifecycle and Journey Mapping
Journey mapping defines the stages customers move through after the sale.
Lifecycle Benefits
Clear milestones for onboarding
Better adoption tracking
Standardized renewal motions
Scalable digital touches for low-touch segments
Lifecycle mapping ensures each customer receives the right actions at the right time. Learn more in our Customer Onboarding Best Practices. [Insert Internal Link]
Robust Analytics, Forecasting, and Reporting
Analytics and reporting give visibility into performance across the entire customer base.
What Strong Analytics Include
NRR and GRR trends
Renewal forecasts
Churn analysis
Health patterns
Usage cohorts
Onboarding progress
CSM performance
Executives and managers leverage real-time, data-driven insights to make informed, timely decisions for the business.
Customer Facing Portals and Collaboration
Portals create a shared workspace between you and your customers.
How Teams Use Portals
Track onboarding projects
Share timelines and responsibilities
Align goals and KPIs
Prepare for QBRs
Communicate next steps
Portals establish accountability and trust with customers, driving partnership outcomes valued by executive teams.
AI-Driven Insights and Augmentation
AI improves the quality and speed of decisions across Customer Success by turning large amounts of customer data into clear, timely insights that teams can act on.
Common AI Capabilities
Predictive churn and expansion indicators
Automated summaries of meetings and account history
Suggested next steps based on customer behavior
Analysis of usage pattern and engagement trends
In practice, this often looks like AI condensing recent activity across emails, notes, and product usage into a short brief that helps a CSM prepare for an upcoming meeting. It can also flag unusual changes in engagement, such as a noticeable drop in usage of an important feature, which may signal early churn risk or an emerging expansion opportunity.
These kinds of focused prompts help teams spend less time piecing together information and more time addressing the moments that matter most for customer outcomes and long-term revenue.
Survey and Feedback Collection (NPS, CSAT)
Integrated survey tools collect key sentiment signals.
Why Sentiment Matters
NPS identifies loyalty
CSAT measures interaction quality
CES tracks customer effort
Robust feedback loops empower leaders to inform product strategy and service improvements that strengthen outcomes at scale.
Seamless Integration Capabilities
Integrations keep your CSP connected to your tech stack.
Essential Integration Categories
CRM
Product analytics
Support ticketing
Data warehouse
Billing and subscription systems
Integrated systems provide reliable data and workflow consistency, supporting executive visibility into the customer journey and operational efficiency.
User-Friendly Interface and Ease of Use
Ease of use drives adoption and operational consistency.
Signs of a Strong UI
Clear navigation
Simple data structure
Configurable views
Minimal onboarding time
As a result, your teams operate more efficiently and dependably, ensuring the platform remains central to daily business operations and executive oversight.
These ten features represent the foundation of a modern Customer Success Platform. Use this list as your evaluation checklist.
The Customer 360 Degree View
The Customer 360 view consolidates:
Usage trends
Account attributes
Contract details
Support history
Stakeholders
Notes and tasks
Lifecycle stage
Success plans
Why It Matters
With every data point in one place, CS teams prepare faster and make informed decisions. Leaders gain complete insight into revenue and risk.
A typical workflow might include a CSM opening a single customer record and seeing recent usage shifts, open tickets, upcoming renewal dates, and active playbooks in one view. This level of context helps teams spot risks early, guide value conversations, and coordinate with product, support, and sales without searching through multiple tools.
Configurable Customer Health Scores
Health scores blend quantitative and qualitative signals, such as:
Usage frequency
Feature adoption
Sentiment
Support load
Renewal timeline
CSM input
Why It Matters
Health scores predict churn and expansion before they happen. Configurable models let teams adapt the scoring logic as strategies evolve.
In practice, a decline in weekly active users combined with an upcoming renewal date can automatically trigger an at-risk playbook, prompting the CSM to review usage, reach out to the customer, and realign on goals. This turns the health score from a static number into an actionable early-warning system.
See the full model in our Customer Healthscore Guide. [Insert Internal Link]
Automated Playbooks and Task Management
Automation triggers actions when conditions occur.
Examples include:
New customer onboarding
Renewal preparation
Low usage alerts
Multi-stakeholder engagement plans
Upsell readiness signals
Why It Matters
Playbooks create consistency, scale, and predictable outcomes. They help new CSMs ramp quickly and ensure best practices are followed.
Customer Lifecycle and Journey Mapping
Journey mapping defines the stages customers move through after the sale.
Lifecycle Benefits
Clear milestones for onboarding
Better adoption tracking
Standardized renewal motions
Scalable digital touches for low-touch segments
Lifecycle mapping ensures each customer receives the right actions at the right time. Learn more in our Customer Onboarding Best Practices. [Insert Internal Link]
Robust Analytics, Forecasting, and Reporting
Analytics and reporting give visibility into performance across the entire customer base.
What Strong Analytics Include
NRR and GRR trends
Renewal forecasts
Churn analysis
Health patterns
Usage cohorts
Onboarding progress
CSM performance
Executives and managers leverage real-time, data-driven insights to make informed, timely decisions for the business.
Customer Facing Portals and Collaboration
Portals create a shared workspace between you and your customers.
How Teams Use Portals
Track onboarding projects
Share timelines and responsibilities
Align goals and KPIs
Prepare for QBRs
Communicate next steps
Portals establish accountability and trust with customers, driving partnership outcomes valued by executive teams.
AI-Driven Insights and Augmentation
AI improves the quality and speed of decisions across Customer Success by turning large amounts of customer data into clear, timely insights that teams can act on.
Common AI Capabilities
Predictive churn and expansion indicators
Automated summaries of meetings and account history
Suggested next steps based on customer behavior
Analysis of usage pattern and engagement trends
In practice, this often looks like AI condensing recent activity across emails, notes, and product usage into a short brief that helps a CSM prepare for an upcoming meeting. It can also flag unusual changes in engagement, such as a noticeable drop in usage of an important feature, which may signal early churn risk or an emerging expansion opportunity.
These kinds of focused prompts help teams spend less time piecing together information and more time addressing the moments that matter most for customer outcomes and long-term revenue.
Survey and Feedback Collection (NPS, CSAT)
Integrated survey tools collect key sentiment signals.
Why Sentiment Matters
NPS identifies loyalty
CSAT measures interaction quality
CES tracks customer effort
Robust feedback loops empower leaders to inform product strategy and service improvements that strengthen outcomes at scale.
Seamless Integration Capabilities
Integrations keep your CSP connected to your tech stack.
Essential Integration Categories
CRM
Product analytics
Support ticketing
Data warehouse
Billing and subscription systems
Integrated systems provide reliable data and workflow consistency, supporting executive visibility into the customer journey and operational efficiency.
User-Friendly Interface and Ease of Use
Ease of use drives adoption and operational consistency.
Signs of a Strong UI
Clear navigation
Simple data structure
Configurable views
Minimal onboarding time
As a result, your teams operate more efficiently and dependably, ensuring the platform remains central to daily business operations and executive oversight.
These ten features represent the foundation of a modern Customer Success Platform. Use this list as your evaluation checklist.
The Customer 360 Degree View
The Customer 360 view consolidates:
Usage trends
Account attributes
Contract details
Support history
Stakeholders
Notes and tasks
Lifecycle stage
Success plans
Why It Matters
With every data point in one place, CS teams prepare faster and make informed decisions. Leaders gain complete insight into revenue and risk.
A typical workflow might include a CSM opening a single customer record and seeing recent usage shifts, open tickets, upcoming renewal dates, and active playbooks in one view. This level of context helps teams spot risks early, guide value conversations, and coordinate with product, support, and sales without searching through multiple tools.
Configurable Customer Health Scores
Health scores blend quantitative and qualitative signals, such as:
Usage frequency
Feature adoption
Sentiment
Support load
Renewal timeline
CSM input
Why It Matters
Health scores predict churn and expansion before they happen. Configurable models let teams adapt the scoring logic as strategies evolve.
In practice, a decline in weekly active users combined with an upcoming renewal date can automatically trigger an at-risk playbook, prompting the CSM to review usage, reach out to the customer, and realign on goals. This turns the health score from a static number into an actionable early-warning system.
See the full model in our Customer Healthscore Guide. [Insert Internal Link]
Automated Playbooks and Task Management
Automation triggers actions when conditions occur.
Examples include:
New customer onboarding
Renewal preparation
Low usage alerts
Multi-stakeholder engagement plans
Upsell readiness signals
Why It Matters
Playbooks create consistency, scale, and predictable outcomes. They help new CSMs ramp quickly and ensure best practices are followed.
Customer Lifecycle and Journey Mapping
Journey mapping defines the stages customers move through after the sale.
Lifecycle Benefits
Clear milestones for onboarding
Better adoption tracking
Standardized renewal motions
Scalable digital touches for low-touch segments
Lifecycle mapping ensures each customer receives the right actions at the right time. Learn more in our Customer Onboarding Best Practices. [Insert Internal Link]
Robust Analytics, Forecasting, and Reporting
Analytics and reporting give visibility into performance across the entire customer base.
What Strong Analytics Include
NRR and GRR trends
Renewal forecasts
Churn analysis
Health patterns
Usage cohorts
Onboarding progress
CSM performance
Executives and managers leverage real-time, data-driven insights to make informed, timely decisions for the business.
Customer Facing Portals and Collaboration
Portals create a shared workspace between you and your customers.
How Teams Use Portals
Track onboarding projects
Share timelines and responsibilities
Align goals and KPIs
Prepare for QBRs
Communicate next steps
Portals establish accountability and trust with customers, driving partnership outcomes valued by executive teams.
AI-Driven Insights and Augmentation
AI improves the quality and speed of decisions across Customer Success by turning large amounts of customer data into clear, timely insights that teams can act on.
Common AI Capabilities
Predictive churn and expansion indicators
Automated summaries of meetings and account history
Suggested next steps based on customer behavior
Analysis of usage pattern and engagement trends
In practice, this often looks like AI condensing recent activity across emails, notes, and product usage into a short brief that helps a CSM prepare for an upcoming meeting. It can also flag unusual changes in engagement, such as a noticeable drop in usage of an important feature, which may signal early churn risk or an emerging expansion opportunity.
These kinds of focused prompts help teams spend less time piecing together information and more time addressing the moments that matter most for customer outcomes and long-term revenue.
Survey and Feedback Collection (NPS, CSAT)
Integrated survey tools collect key sentiment signals.
Why Sentiment Matters
NPS identifies loyalty
CSAT measures interaction quality
CES tracks customer effort
Robust feedback loops empower leaders to inform product strategy and service improvements that strengthen outcomes at scale.
Seamless Integration Capabilities
Integrations keep your CSP connected to your tech stack.
Essential Integration Categories
CRM
Product analytics
Support ticketing
Data warehouse
Billing and subscription systems
Integrated systems provide reliable data and workflow consistency, supporting executive visibility into the customer journey and operational efficiency.
User-Friendly Interface and Ease of Use
Ease of use drives adoption and operational consistency.
Signs of a Strong UI
Clear navigation
Simple data structure
Configurable views
Minimal onboarding time
As a result, your teams operate more efficiently and dependably, ensuring the platform remains central to daily business operations and executive oversight.
How to Choose the Right CS Platform for Your Business
How to Choose the Right CS Platform for Your Business
How to Choose the Right CS Platform for Your Business
How to Choose the Right CS Platform for Your Business
Choosing the right Customer Success Platform starts with a structured evaluation process.
Use a structured evaluation process to make a confident, informed decision.
Step 1: Define Your CS Maturity and Touch Model
The way you support customers should determine which platform capabilities you prioritize. Each touch model benefits from a different mix of structure, automation, and visibility, so aligning your evaluation to your operating model makes the selection process more focused and practical.
High Touch
Designed for complex customers that require close partnership. Must-have capabilities:
Detailed success plans and goal tracking
Deep account visibility through a 360-degree view
Collaboration tools for onboarding and ongoing alignment
Mid Touch
Balances personal engagement with structured automation.
Must-have capabilities:
Playbooks that standardize repeatable motions
Flexible health scoring to track larger portfolios
Lifecycle workflows that maintain consistency
Digital Led or Tech Touch
Built for scale across large customer bases.
Must-have capabilities:
Automated lifecycle messaging and triggered actions
In-app guidance and digital adoption tools
Analytics that highlight trends across segements
Your touch model gives you a clear way to prioritize which features you need now and which can be added as your CS function evolves.
Step 2: Identify Your Must-Have Integrations
Define the systems that need to integrate from the beginning. This creates a reliable foundation for customer insights, automation, and reporting as your team grows.
Common Must-Haves
Salesforce
HubSpot
Zendesk
Jira
Snowflake
Billing systems
Product analytics
Integrations eliminate data silos and ensure reliable workflows.
Step 3: Create a Vendor Scorecard (Free Template)
A vendor scorecard helps you compare Customer Success platforms with clarity and consistency. It creates a structured way for your team to evaluate each platform against the ten core features outlined earlier.
Here are the ten features to include in your scorecard:
Customer 360 Degree View
Configurable Customer Health Scores
Automated Playbooks and Task Management
Customer Lifecycle and Journey Mapping
Robust Analytics, Forecasting, and Reporting
Customer Facing Portals and Collaboration
AI-Driven Insights and Augmentation
Survey and Feedback Collection
Seamless Integration Capabilities
User-Friendly Interface and Ease of Use
Score each vendor from 1 to 5 based on how well their platform supports your needs. Have each stakeholder complete the scorecard independently, then compare results to align on strengths, gaps, and next steps.
Download the full scorecard template to use during your platform evaluations. [Link to Scorecard Template]
Step 4: Ask These 7 Questions During Your Demo
These questions surface the platform’s real strengths, constraints, and how well it aligns with your needs.
Demo Day Questions
How do you bring CRM, product, support, and finance data together?
How flexible is your health scoring model?
How do customer journeys and lifecycle stages work?
How are playbooks triggered and assigned?
How do customer portals work for collaboration?
How do you support scaled or digital-led CS?
What does implementation include and how long does it take?
Ask for live examples, not just conceptual slides.
Choosing the right Customer Success Platform starts with a structured evaluation process.
Use a structured evaluation process to make a confident, informed decision.
Step 1: Define Your CS Maturity and Touch Model
The way you support customers should determine which platform capabilities you prioritize. Each touch model benefits from a different mix of structure, automation, and visibility, so aligning your evaluation to your operating model makes the selection process more focused and practical.
High Touch
Designed for complex customers that require close partnership. Must-have capabilities:
Detailed success plans and goal tracking
Deep account visibility through a 360-degree view
Collaboration tools for onboarding and ongoing alignment
Mid Touch
Balances personal engagement with structured automation.
Must-have capabilities:
Playbooks that standardize repeatable motions
Flexible health scoring to track larger portfolios
Lifecycle workflows that maintain consistency
Digital Led or Tech Touch
Built for scale across large customer bases.
Must-have capabilities:
Automated lifecycle messaging and triggered actions
In-app guidance and digital adoption tools
Analytics that highlight trends across segements
Your touch model gives you a clear way to prioritize which features you need now and which can be added as your CS function evolves.
Step 2: Identify Your Must-Have Integrations
Define the systems that need to integrate from the beginning. This creates a reliable foundation for customer insights, automation, and reporting as your team grows.
Common Must-Haves
Salesforce
HubSpot
Zendesk
Jira
Snowflake
Billing systems
Product analytics
Integrations eliminate data silos and ensure reliable workflows.
Step 3: Create a Vendor Scorecard (Free Template)
A vendor scorecard helps you compare Customer Success platforms with clarity and consistency. It creates a structured way for your team to evaluate each platform against the ten core features outlined earlier.
Here are the ten features to include in your scorecard:
Customer 360 Degree View
Configurable Customer Health Scores
Automated Playbooks and Task Management
Customer Lifecycle and Journey Mapping
Robust Analytics, Forecasting, and Reporting
Customer Facing Portals and Collaboration
AI-Driven Insights and Augmentation
Survey and Feedback Collection
Seamless Integration Capabilities
User-Friendly Interface and Ease of Use
Score each vendor from 1 to 5 based on how well their platform supports your needs. Have each stakeholder complete the scorecard independently, then compare results to align on strengths, gaps, and next steps.
Download the full scorecard template to use during your platform evaluations. [Link to Scorecard Template]
Step 4: Ask These 7 Questions During Your Demo
These questions surface the platform’s real strengths, constraints, and how well it aligns with your needs.
Demo Day Questions
How do you bring CRM, product, support, and finance data together?
How flexible is your health scoring model?
How do customer journeys and lifecycle stages work?
How are playbooks triggered and assigned?
How do customer portals work for collaboration?
How do you support scaled or digital-led CS?
What does implementation include and how long does it take?
Ask for live examples, not just conceptual slides.
Choosing the right Customer Success Platform starts with a structured evaluation process.
Use a structured evaluation process to make a confident, informed decision.
Step 1: Define Your CS Maturity and Touch Model
The way you support customers should determine which platform capabilities you prioritize. Each touch model benefits from a different mix of structure, automation, and visibility, so aligning your evaluation to your operating model makes the selection process more focused and practical.
High Touch
Designed for complex customers that require close partnership. Must-have capabilities:
Detailed success plans and goal tracking
Deep account visibility through a 360-degree view
Collaboration tools for onboarding and ongoing alignment
Mid Touch
Balances personal engagement with structured automation.
Must-have capabilities:
Playbooks that standardize repeatable motions
Flexible health scoring to track larger portfolios
Lifecycle workflows that maintain consistency
Digital Led or Tech Touch
Built for scale across large customer bases.
Must-have capabilities:
Automated lifecycle messaging and triggered actions
In-app guidance and digital adoption tools
Analytics that highlight trends across segements
Your touch model gives you a clear way to prioritize which features you need now and which can be added as your CS function evolves.
Step 2: Identify Your Must-Have Integrations
Define the systems that need to integrate from the beginning. This creates a reliable foundation for customer insights, automation, and reporting as your team grows.
Common Must-Haves
Salesforce
HubSpot
Zendesk
Jira
Snowflake
Billing systems
Product analytics
Integrations eliminate data silos and ensure reliable workflows.
Step 3: Create a Vendor Scorecard (Free Template)
A vendor scorecard helps you compare Customer Success platforms with clarity and consistency. It creates a structured way for your team to evaluate each platform against the ten core features outlined earlier.
Here are the ten features to include in your scorecard:
Customer 360 Degree View
Configurable Customer Health Scores
Automated Playbooks and Task Management
Customer Lifecycle and Journey Mapping
Robust Analytics, Forecasting, and Reporting
Customer Facing Portals and Collaboration
AI-Driven Insights and Augmentation
Survey and Feedback Collection
Seamless Integration Capabilities
User-Friendly Interface and Ease of Use
Score each vendor from 1 to 5 based on how well their platform supports your needs. Have each stakeholder complete the scorecard independently, then compare results to align on strengths, gaps, and next steps.
Download the full scorecard template to use during your platform evaluations. [Link to Scorecard Template]
Step 4: Ask These 7 Questions During Your Demo
These questions surface the platform’s real strengths, constraints, and how well it aligns with your needs.
Demo Day Questions
How do you bring CRM, product, support, and finance data together?
How flexible is your health scoring model?
How do customer journeys and lifecycle stages work?
How are playbooks triggered and assigned?
How do customer portals work for collaboration?
How do you support scaled or digital-led CS?
What does implementation include and how long does it take?
Ask for live examples, not just conceptual slides.
Choosing the right Customer Success Platform starts with a structured evaluation process.
Use a structured evaluation process to make a confident, informed decision.
Step 1: Define Your CS Maturity and Touch Model
The way you support customers should determine which platform capabilities you prioritize. Each touch model benefits from a different mix of structure, automation, and visibility, so aligning your evaluation to your operating model makes the selection process more focused and practical.
High Touch
Designed for complex customers that require close partnership. Must-have capabilities:
Detailed success plans and goal tracking
Deep account visibility through a 360-degree view
Collaboration tools for onboarding and ongoing alignment
Mid Touch
Balances personal engagement with structured automation.
Must-have capabilities:
Playbooks that standardize repeatable motions
Flexible health scoring to track larger portfolios
Lifecycle workflows that maintain consistency
Digital Led or Tech Touch
Built for scale across large customer bases.
Must-have capabilities:
Automated lifecycle messaging and triggered actions
In-app guidance and digital adoption tools
Analytics that highlight trends across segements
Your touch model gives you a clear way to prioritize which features you need now and which can be added as your CS function evolves.
Step 2: Identify Your Must-Have Integrations
Define the systems that need to integrate from the beginning. This creates a reliable foundation for customer insights, automation, and reporting as your team grows.
Common Must-Haves
Salesforce
HubSpot
Zendesk
Jira
Snowflake
Billing systems
Product analytics
Integrations eliminate data silos and ensure reliable workflows.
Step 3: Create a Vendor Scorecard (Free Template)
A vendor scorecard helps you compare Customer Success platforms with clarity and consistency. It creates a structured way for your team to evaluate each platform against the ten core features outlined earlier.
Here are the ten features to include in your scorecard:
Customer 360 Degree View
Configurable Customer Health Scores
Automated Playbooks and Task Management
Customer Lifecycle and Journey Mapping
Robust Analytics, Forecasting, and Reporting
Customer Facing Portals and Collaboration
AI-Driven Insights and Augmentation
Survey and Feedback Collection
Seamless Integration Capabilities
User-Friendly Interface and Ease of Use
Score each vendor from 1 to 5 based on how well their platform supports your needs. Have each stakeholder complete the scorecard independently, then compare results to align on strengths, gaps, and next steps.
Download the full scorecard template to use during your platform evaluations. [Link to Scorecard Template]
Step 4: Ask These 7 Questions During Your Demo
These questions surface the platform’s real strengths, constraints, and how well it aligns with your needs.
Demo Day Questions
How do you bring CRM, product, support, and finance data together?
How flexible is your health scoring model?
How do customer journeys and lifecycle stages work?
How are playbooks triggered and assigned?
How do customer portals work for collaboration?
How do you support scaled or digital-led CS?
What does implementation include and how long does it take?
Ask for live examples, not just conceptual slides.
Planhat Insight
Your Customer Success Platform shouldn't be a silo. Planhat acts as the central nervous system of your stack, ingesting data from these specialized tools to power intelligent, unified workflows across your entire ecosystem.
Planhat Insight
Your Customer Success Platform shouldn't be a silo. Planhat acts as the central nervous system of your stack, ingesting data from these specialized tools to power intelligent, unified workflows across your entire ecosystem.
Planhat Insight
Your Customer Success Platform shouldn't be a silo. Planhat acts as the central nervous system of your stack, ingesting data from these specialized tools to power intelligent, unified workflows across your entire ecosystem.
Planhat Insight
Your Customer Success Platform shouldn't be a silo. Planhat acts as the central nervous system of your stack, ingesting data from these specialized tools to power intelligent, unified workflows across your entire ecosystem.
Why Planhat is the Flexible Platform for Modern CS Teams
Why Planhat is the Flexible Platform for Modern CS Teams
Why Planhat is the Flexible Platform for Modern CS Teams
Why Planhat is the Flexible Platform for Modern CS Teams
Planhat brings your data, workflows, and customer collaboration into one unified platform built to support any Customer Success model. It adapts to complex account structures, works across regions and segments, and gives teams a flexible data model that fits the way they already operate. As your CS organization grows, Planhat scales with every new product line, customer segment, and workflow.
A Truly Unified 360 Degree Customer View
Data from CRM, product analytics, support, and billing systems comes together in one place to create a complete customer profile. Planhat’s flexible data model supports complex account structures, multi-product environments, and teams operating across regions, so every stakeholder sees the same up-to-date information.
What This Enables
Clear visibility into usage and adoption
Seamless collaboration across teams
Accurate forecasting and health scoring
In practical terms, a CSM can open a single workspace and review key contacts, product activity, open tickets, billing status, and the customer’s active playbooks without switching between tools. Teams prepare faster and make decisions with confidence.
Simple, Clear, and Highly Flexible
Planhat is built to deliver clarity, move quickly, and adapt to the way your team works. The platform supports everything from high-touch enterprise workflows to digital-led programs, with configuration options that fit each segment.
What Teams Experience
Clean interface
Customizable fields and views
Flexible journey design
Easy scaling across segments
The platform supports your existing processes and evolves with them as your needs grow.
Go Beyond Internal Tools with Customer Portals
Planhat’s portals support alignment with customers throughout onboarding, adoption, and value tracking. They create a shared space for expectations, milestones, and progress updates.
How Portals Strengthen Engagement
Share onboarding plans
Track action items
Align on goals
Support QBRs
Maintain accountability
A typical workflow might include publishing an onboarding plan, reviewing goal progress together ahead of a QBR, and updating action items as both teams move through the project. Customers always know where they stand, and internal teams stay coordinated.
See how Planhat unifies your customer data and workflows into one unified platform.
Planhat brings your data, workflows, and customer collaboration into one unified platform built to support any Customer Success model. It adapts to complex account structures, works across regions and segments, and gives teams a flexible data model that fits the way they already operate. As your CS organization grows, Planhat scales with every new product line, customer segment, and workflow.
A Truly Unified 360 Degree Customer View
Data from CRM, product analytics, support, and billing systems comes together in one place to create a complete customer profile. Planhat’s flexible data model supports complex account structures, multi-product environments, and teams operating across regions, so every stakeholder sees the same up-to-date information.
What This Enables
Clear visibility into usage and adoption
Seamless collaboration across teams
Accurate forecasting and health scoring
In practical terms, a CSM can open a single workspace and review key contacts, product activity, open tickets, billing status, and the customer’s active playbooks without switching between tools. Teams prepare faster and make decisions with confidence.
Simple, Clear, and Highly Flexible
Planhat is built to deliver clarity, move quickly, and adapt to the way your team works. The platform supports everything from high-touch enterprise workflows to digital-led programs, with configuration options that fit each segment.
What Teams Experience
Clean interface
Customizable fields and views
Flexible journey design
Easy scaling across segments
The platform supports your existing processes and evolves with them as your needs grow.
Go Beyond Internal Tools with Customer Portals
Planhat’s portals support alignment with customers throughout onboarding, adoption, and value tracking. They create a shared space for expectations, milestones, and progress updates.
How Portals Strengthen Engagement
Share onboarding plans
Track action items
Align on goals
Support QBRs
Maintain accountability
A typical workflow might include publishing an onboarding plan, reviewing goal progress together ahead of a QBR, and updating action items as both teams move through the project. Customers always know where they stand, and internal teams stay coordinated.
See how Planhat unifies your customer data and workflows into one unified platform.
Planhat brings your data, workflows, and customer collaboration into one unified platform built to support any Customer Success model. It adapts to complex account structures, works across regions and segments, and gives teams a flexible data model that fits the way they already operate. As your CS organization grows, Planhat scales with every new product line, customer segment, and workflow.
A Truly Unified 360 Degree Customer View
Data from CRM, product analytics, support, and billing systems comes together in one place to create a complete customer profile. Planhat’s flexible data model supports complex account structures, multi-product environments, and teams operating across regions, so every stakeholder sees the same up-to-date information.
What This Enables
Clear visibility into usage and adoption
Seamless collaboration across teams
Accurate forecasting and health scoring
In practical terms, a CSM can open a single workspace and review key contacts, product activity, open tickets, billing status, and the customer’s active playbooks without switching between tools. Teams prepare faster and make decisions with confidence.
Simple, Clear, and Highly Flexible
Planhat is built to deliver clarity, move quickly, and adapt to the way your team works. The platform supports everything from high-touch enterprise workflows to digital-led programs, with configuration options that fit each segment.
What Teams Experience
Clean interface
Customizable fields and views
Flexible journey design
Easy scaling across segments
The platform supports your existing processes and evolves with them as your needs grow.
Go Beyond Internal Tools with Customer Portals
Planhat’s portals support alignment with customers throughout onboarding, adoption, and value tracking. They create a shared space for expectations, milestones, and progress updates.
How Portals Strengthen Engagement
Share onboarding plans
Track action items
Align on goals
Support QBRs
Maintain accountability
A typical workflow might include publishing an onboarding plan, reviewing goal progress together ahead of a QBR, and updating action items as both teams move through the project. Customers always know where they stand, and internal teams stay coordinated.
See how Planhat unifies your customer data and workflows into one unified platform.
Planhat brings your data, workflows, and customer collaboration into one unified platform built to support any Customer Success model. It adapts to complex account structures, works across regions and segments, and gives teams a flexible data model that fits the way they already operate. As your CS organization grows, Planhat scales with every new product line, customer segment, and workflow.
A Truly Unified 360 Degree Customer View
Data from CRM, product analytics, support, and billing systems comes together in one place to create a complete customer profile. Planhat’s flexible data model supports complex account structures, multi-product environments, and teams operating across regions, so every stakeholder sees the same up-to-date information.
What This Enables
Clear visibility into usage and adoption
Seamless collaboration across teams
Accurate forecasting and health scoring
In practical terms, a CSM can open a single workspace and review key contacts, product activity, open tickets, billing status, and the customer’s active playbooks without switching between tools. Teams prepare faster and make decisions with confidence.
Simple, Clear, and Highly Flexible
Planhat is built to deliver clarity, move quickly, and adapt to the way your team works. The platform supports everything from high-touch enterprise workflows to digital-led programs, with configuration options that fit each segment.
What Teams Experience
Clean interface
Customizable fields and views
Flexible journey design
Easy scaling across segments
The platform supports your existing processes and evolves with them as your needs grow.
Go Beyond Internal Tools with Customer Portals
Planhat’s portals support alignment with customers throughout onboarding, adoption, and value tracking. They create a shared space for expectations, milestones, and progress updates.
How Portals Strengthen Engagement
Share onboarding plans
Track action items
Align on goals
Support QBRs
Maintain accountability
A typical workflow might include publishing an onboarding plan, reviewing goal progress together ahead of a QBR, and updating action items as both teams move through the project. Customers always know where they stand, and internal teams stay coordinated.
See how Planhat unifies your customer data and workflows into one unified platform.
The Broader Customer Success Tech Stack
The Broader Customer Success Tech Stack
The Broader Customer Success Tech Stack
The Broader Customer Success Tech Stack
A Customer Success Platform sits at the center of the stack and connects the tools that support every stage of the customer journey.
Tools That Extend Your Customer Success Ecosystem
These tools work alongside your CSP to strengthen onboarding, adoption, reporting, and customer engagement.
Supporting Tool Categories
In-app guidance
Community platforms
Project management systems
Business intelligence tools
Communication and messaging tools
Together with your CSP, these tools create a complete customer operations ecosystem.
A Customer Success Platform sits at the center of the stack and connects the tools that support every stage of the customer journey.
Tools That Extend Your Customer Success Ecosystem
These tools work alongside your CSP to strengthen onboarding, adoption, reporting, and customer engagement.
Supporting Tool Categories
In-app guidance
Community platforms
Project management systems
Business intelligence tools
Communication and messaging tools
Together with your CSP, these tools create a complete customer operations ecosystem.
A Customer Success Platform sits at the center of the stack and connects the tools that support every stage of the customer journey.
Tools That Extend Your Customer Success Ecosystem
These tools work alongside your CSP to strengthen onboarding, adoption, reporting, and customer engagement.
Supporting Tool Categories
In-app guidance
Community platforms
Project management systems
Business intelligence tools
Communication and messaging tools
Together with your CSP, these tools create a complete customer operations ecosystem.
A Customer Success Platform sits at the center of the stack and connects the tools that support every stage of the customer journey.
Tools That Extend Your Customer Success Ecosystem
These tools work alongside your CSP to strengthen onboarding, adoption, reporting, and customer engagement.
Supporting Tool Categories
In-app guidance
Community platforms
Project management systems
Business intelligence tools
Communication and messaging tools
Together with your CSP, these tools create a complete customer operations ecosystem.
Customer Success FAQs
Customer Success FAQs
Customer Success FAQs
Customer Success FAQs
What is the main difference between a CRM and a CS platform?
What is the main difference between a CRM and a CS platform?
What is the main difference between a CRM and a CS platform?
What is the main difference between a CRM and a CS platform?
A CRM manages pre-sale activities. A CS platform manages post-sale adoption, retention, and expansion.
A CRM manages pre-sale activities. A CS platform manages post-sale adoption, retention, and expansion.
A CRM manages pre-sale activities. A CS platform manages post-sale adoption, retention, and expansion.
A CRM manages pre-sale activities. A CS platform manages post-sale adoption, retention, and expansion.
How does a CS platform help reduce churn?
How does a CS platform help reduce churn?
How does a CS platform help reduce churn?
How does a CS platform help reduce churn?
It identifies early risk signals, automates follow-up, and ensures customers stay aligned to value outcomes.
It identifies early risk signals, automates follow-up, and ensures customers stay aligned to value outcomes.
It identifies early risk signals, automates follow-up, and ensures customers stay aligned to value outcomes.
It identifies early risk signals, automates follow-up, and ensures customers stay aligned to value outcomes.
What is the best CS software for startups?
What is the best CS software for startups?
What is the best CS software for startups?
What is the best CS software for startups?
The best choice depends on integrations, segment strategy, and growth stage. Startups need flexibility, speed, and scalability.
The best choice depends on integrations, segment strategy, and growth stage. Startups need flexibility, speed, and scalability.
The best choice depends on integrations, segment strategy, and growth stage. Startups need flexibility, speed, and scalability.
The best choice depends on integrations, segment strategy, and growth stage. Startups need flexibility, speed, and scalability.
How long does implementation take?
How long does implementation take?
How long does implementation take?
How long does implementation take?
Typical timelines range from a few weeks to several months, depending on integrations and data readiness.
Typical timelines range from a few weeks to several months, depending on integrations and data readiness.
Typical timelines range from a few weeks to several months, depending on integrations and data readiness.
Typical timelines range from a few weeks to several months, depending on integrations and data readiness.
How do we measure the ROI of a Customer Success Platform?
How do we measure the ROI of a Customer Success Platform?
How do we measure the ROI of a Customer Success Platform?
How do we measure the ROI of a Customer Success Platform?
ROI is typically measured through improvements in retention, expansion revenue, CSM efficiency, and forecasting accuracy. Many teams track ROI by looking at increases in Net Revenue Retention, reductions in churn, and time savings from automation.
ROI is typically measured through improvements in retention, expansion revenue, CSM efficiency, and forecasting accuracy. Many teams track ROI by looking at increases in Net Revenue Retention, reductions in churn, and time savings from automation.
ROI is typically measured through improvements in retention, expansion revenue, CSM efficiency, and forecasting accuracy. Many teams track ROI by looking at increases in Net Revenue Retention, reductions in churn, and time savings from automation.
ROI is typically measured through improvements in retention, expansion revenue, CSM efficiency, and forecasting accuracy. Many teams track ROI by looking at increases in Net Revenue Retention, reductions in churn, and time savings from automation.
Who typically owns the CS platform internally?
Who typically owns the CS platform internally?
Who typically owns the CS platform internally?
Who typically owns the CS platform internally?
Ownership usually sits with Customer Success Operations or the CS leadership team. In some organizations, RevOps or a centralized operations function manages the platform due to its role across multiple departments.
Ownership usually sits with Customer Success Operations or the CS leadership team. In some organizations, RevOps or a centralized operations function manages the platform due to its role across multiple departments.
Ownership usually sits with Customer Success Operations or the CS leadership team. In some organizations, RevOps or a centralized operations function manages the platform due to its role across multiple departments.
Ownership usually sits with Customer Success Operations or the CS leadership team. In some organizations, RevOps or a centralized operations function manages the platform due to its role across multiple departments.
What factors influence the pricing of a CS platform?
What factors influence the pricing of a CS platform?
What factors influence the pricing of a CS platform?
What factors influence the pricing of a CS platform?
Pricing is usually based on the number of users, data volume, required integrations, and the level of automation or advanced features needed. Most platforms scale as your team, customer base, or data requirements grow.
Pricing is usually based on the number of users, data volume, required integrations, and the level of automation or advanced features needed. Most platforms scale as your team, customer base, or data requirements grow.
Pricing is usually based on the number of users, data volume, required integrations, and the level of automation or advanced features needed. Most platforms scale as your team, customer base, or data requirements grow.
Pricing is usually based on the number of users, data volume, required integrations, and the level of automation or advanced features needed. Most platforms scale as your team, customer base, or data requirements grow.
Get Started with Your CS Tech Stack Today
Customer Success Platforms help teams operate proactively, deliver value consistently, and manage revenue with clarity and confidence. They turn retention into a predictable engine for growth. A strong platform brings your data, workflows, and customer collaboration into a single system, so your team can focus on driving outcomes.
Get Started with Your CS Tech Stack Today
Customer Success Platforms help teams operate proactively, deliver value consistently, and manage revenue with clarity and confidence. They turn retention into a predictable engine for growth. A strong platform brings your data, workflows, and customer collaboration into a single system, so your team can focus on driving outcomes.
Get Started with Your CS Tech Stack Today
Customer Success Platforms help teams operate proactively, deliver value consistently, and manage revenue with clarity and confidence. They turn retention into a predictable engine for growth. A strong platform brings your data, workflows, and customer collaboration into a single system, so your team can focus on driving outcomes.
Get Started with Your CS Tech Stack Today
Customer Success Platforms help teams operate proactively, deliver value consistently, and manage revenue with clarity and confidence. They turn retention into a predictable engine for growth. A strong platform brings your data, workflows, and customer collaboration into a single system, so your team can focus on driving outcomes.
Recognized as a world-leader by
Recognized as a world-leader by
Recognized as a world-leader by
Recognized as a world-leader by
