Trim Size: 6in x 9in  Mehta572763 c01.tex V1-04/03/2020 11:45pm Page 17 Customer Success: What It Is and Why It Affects Everything 17 Software-as-a-service vendors realize that they need to systematically create programs that allow for interaction between them and their cus- tomers. Most SaaS companies need to address how to service the largest portionoftheircustomerbaseinatechnicallyfriendlywaywhileatthesame time reducing the need for labor-intensive ways of building relationships. Depending on your product and service, you will decide how to cre- ate a customer experience that develops a connection with your company. Onceoutlined, that customer experience needs to be captured, driven, and continually refined by your Customer Success team. Keep in mind that customer experience must be a top company priority; it can’t be deliv- ered by individual relationships with your customers or even by a single department. This reads like common business practice, yet most organizations do not have a cohesive plan (key word being cohesive) to deliver the optimal customer experience.  Law#7:Product Must Be Priority Number One  The key to customer retention, client satisfaction, and scaling the support and service organizations is a well-designed product that’s combined with a best-in-class customer experience. Consumer technology has changed the way we work, as well as our customers’ expectations. To ensure you have created a product that meets the needs and expectations of your customers, create a client experience team that focuses on building out programs in a client engagement framework—one that drives community among clients, encourages engagement at all levels and roles of the customer base, and provides clear feedback loops that inform product improve- ments. The data about product usage and adoption should be available to everyone—from the Product team to Marketing to Customer Success. In addition, increasingly Customer Success teams are using in-application messages and guidance in the product to scale their Customer Success operations. It’s also important to note that, in the new customer economy, we need to think very differently about how we build products. Gone are the days of big, monolithic applications. Today’s world demands building blocks that enable the land-and-expand model. This is the only way to take advantage of the major investment we are all making in Customer Success.