Dashboards & Automation Drive Team Efficiency – A Success Story

ConsumerAffairs is an online marketplace that helps connect consumers with the best companies across hundreds of categories. Each month millions of consumers research purchases, write reviews and stay up to date on important news. ConsumerAffair’s mission is to arm every consumer with the knowledge they need to make smart purchasing decisions.

The Challenges  

The ConsumerAffairs Customer Success team had previously found other CS platforms cumbersome and difficult to use. As the team sought to increase efficiencies, they sought a dedicated tool that could automate existing processes without a need for extensive development. 

ConsumerAffair’s challenges included: 

1. While the team had the ability to view aggregate customer data, it existed in a web of unorganized spreadsheets.
2. Uncovering customer insights required time-intensive manual analysis. This made the team more reactive, rather than proactive.
3. ConsumerAffairs struggled to automate their regular day-to-day activities. This significantly increased the workloads of Customer Success Managers.
4. Clients were treated the same, regardless of their contract value or other special characteristics. A more targeted approach to account management was needed as their customer count grew. 

Meeting ConsumerAffair’s Goals  

ConsumerAffairs took several steps to increase the productivity of their Customer Success team: 

• Segment Accounts – Segmenting accounts and the introduction of data analysis allow smaller accounts to receive the high-touch experience once reserved for larger customers. Key logos receive the dedicated support to ensure their long-term success. 

• Introduced Automation through ‘Plays’ – The team set up automated tasks and communications to coincide with important client milestones. Automating these common activities have reduced manual processes. This allow ConsumerAffairs to focus on delivering an exceptional customer experience. 

• Created Real-Time Alerts – Push notifications enable the team to stay up to date with the latest account changes. These insights provide timely notifications when health scores change or when important customers require a touchpoint. 

• Access Key Customer Insights – By properly applying the appropriate customer metrics, the team is enabled to access key insights like a customer’s likelihood to renew. The team can now easily identify and address any potential customer issues. 

The Impact 

The ConsumerAffairs team has realized considerable gains after an easy implementation process. Their adoption of a dedicated Customer Success platform added efficiency to their CS function while unlocking the customer insights that drive retention and loyalty. 

• Automation and Task ensure Customer Success Managers to be more efficient. Automation and task management ensures that the team doesn’t skip a beat despite increasing account workloads by 100%. 
• Robust automation allow for CSMs to focus on higher-level interactions that require a human touch. Redundant tasks for smaller accounts have been eliminated.  

• Segmenting their customer base has client outreach easier and more productive. As a result, the team has experienced a 10% increase in retention year-over-year since implementation.  
• Dashboards allow for insightful visualization of customer trends. Native data analysis allows the team to identify the perfect moments to engage and manager their customers. 

Don’t just take it from us – when opting for a solution that can scale with your team’s rapid growth, consider the gains that a Customer Success platform can provide. 

Curious to learn more about ConsumerAffair’s Customer Success transformation? Read the complete case study here.