customer-success

name	customer-success
description	Design onboarding flows, churn prevention systems, NPS/CSAT measurement, and health scoring—time-to-first-value as the core metric and churn analysis segmented by timing because interventions differ. Use when building onboarding, reducing churn, measuring satisfaction, or designing customer health systems.

Customer Success

Core Principle

The sale is the beginning, not the end. Time-to-first-value is the single most important metric because a customer who never experiences value is a churn statistic waiting to happen.

Onboarding Flows

Time-to-First-Value (TTFV)

TTFV = Time from signup to the moment the customer says "this is useful"

The shorter the TTFV, the higher the retention.

Benchmark targets:
  Self-serve SaaS: < 5 minutes
  SMB SaaS: < 1 day
  Mid-market: < 1 week
  Enterprise: < 30 days

Onboarding Design Framework

Step 1: Define the "aha moment"
  What's the SINGLE action that makes users stick?
  Slack: Send first message in a team channel
  Dropbox: Save first file
  Zoom: Complete first call

Step 2: Remove everything between signup and aha
  Every screen, field, and choice between signup
  and aha moment is friction that kills activation.

Step 3: Measure completion rates at each step
  Signup → Step 1 → Step 2 → ... → Aha moment
  Find where the drop-off is. Fix that step.

Onboarding Checklist Template

IMMEDIATE (first session):
  - [ ] Welcome message with clear next step
  - [ ] Guide user to one core action (not all features)
  - [ ] Show progress indicator
  - [ ] Success state when aha moment is reached

DAY 1-3 (follow-up):
  - [ ] Email: "Here's what you can do next"
  - [ ] In-app: Surface second-most-valuable feature
  - [ ] If inactive: Nudge with specific use case

DAY 7 (habit formation):
  - [ ] Email: Case study or tip from similar users
  - [ ] In-app: Introduce team/collaboration features
  - [ ] Check: Has user returned 3+ times?

DAY 14-30 (value confirmation):
  - [ ] NPS or CSAT survey
  - [ ] Expansion prompt (upgrade, invite team)
  - [ ] CSM check-in for higher-tier accounts

Churn Prevention

Churn Segmented by Timing

The critical insight: Churn at different stages has different causes
and requires different interventions.

EARLY CHURN (0-30 days)
  Cause: Failed onboarding, didn't reach aha moment
  Intervention: Improve onboarding, reduce TTFV
  Signal: User never completed core action

MID-TERM CHURN (1-6 months)
  Cause: Product doesn't deliver ongoing value, competitor switch
  Intervention: Feature adoption campaigns, QBRs, use-case expansion
  Signal: Declining login frequency, support tickets

LATE CHURN (6+ months)
  Cause: Budget cuts, org changes, contract renegotiation
  Intervention: Multi-stakeholder relationships, ROI reporting
  Signal: Champion departure, billing contact changes

Churn Analysis Template

Metric	Calculation	Target
Monthly churn rate	Lost customers / Start-of-month customers	< 5% (SMB), < 1% (enterprise)
Revenue churn	Lost MRR / Start-of-month MRR	< 2% monthly
Net revenue retention	(Start MRR + expansion - contraction - churn) / Start MRR	> 100% (ideally 120%+)
Logo churn	Lost logos / Start-of-month logos	Track alongside revenue churn

NPS / CSAT Measurement

NPS (Net Promoter Score)

Question: "How likely are you to recommend [product] to a colleague?" (0-10)

Segments:
  Promoters (9-10): Loyal fans — ask for referrals and testimonials
  Passives (7-8): Satisfied but switchable — find what's missing
  Detractors (0-6): At risk — intervene immediately

NPS = % Promoters - % Detractors

Benchmarks:
  > 50: Excellent
  30-50: Good
  0-30: Needs improvement
  < 0: Problem

CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score)

Question: "How satisfied are you with [specific interaction]?" (1-5)

CSAT = (# of 4-5 responses / Total responses) × 100

Use CSAT for specific touchpoints:
  - Post-onboarding
  - After support ticket resolution
  - After feature release
  - Post-QBR

Use NPS for overall relationship health.

Survey Timing

NPS: Quarterly (or after major milestones)
CSAT: After specific interactions (support, onboarding, call)
CES (Customer Effort Score): After task completion

Rule: Never survey more than once per month per customer.

Customer Health Scoring

Health Score Components

Signal	Weight	Green	Yellow	Red
Product usage (DAU/WAU)	30%	Above average	Declining 2+ weeks	Inactive 30+ days
Feature adoption	20%	Using 3+ core features	Using 1-2 features	Only login feature
Support sentiment	15%	Positive CSAT	Neutral	Negative or escalations
NPS	15%	Promoter (9-10)	Passive (7-8)	Detractor (0-6)
Engagement (meetings, training)	10%	Regular QBRs	Occasional contact	No response to outreach
Contract signals	10%	Expansion discussions	Flat renewal	Downgrade or at-risk

Health Score Actions

GREEN (80-100): Expansion opportunity
  → Ask for referrals, case studies, upsell

YELLOW (50-79): Intervention needed
  → Schedule check-in, identify blockers, re-onboard on unused features

RED (0-49): Churn risk
  → Executive outreach, save plan, offer concessions if warranted

Anti-Patterns

CS Theater	Real Customer Success
"We have a help center"	Proactive onboarding that guides to aha moment
Measuring NPS but never acting on it	Detractor follow-up within 48 hours
Treating all churn the same	Segmenting by timing and tailoring interventions
Health score based only on logins	Multi-signal health score with actionable thresholds
CS only talks to customers who call	Proactive outreach to yellow and red accounts

Power Move

"Design a customer health scoring model for [product]. Define the aha moment, build an onboarding flow that minimizes TTFV, create a churn analysis segmented by timing (early/mid/late), and write the intervention playbook for each health score tier."

The agent becomes your head of customer success — turning onboarding into retention and retention into expansion.