The task of retaining customers has become increasingly difficult in recent years. We live in a world in which companies and platforms emerge as quickly as lightning, and we’re inundated with new companies and tools that claim to help with customer success every single day. But, if there’s one thing that can help in retaining customers, it’s having a product-led approach. 

Before, acquiring new customers with a sales-led approach was the key. Companies were relying on a sales team to go out and find leads, service product demo requests, and contract partners. 

Now, companies are betting on the product itself as the main vehicle for growth and retention, and SaaS companies are moving away from the traditional sales-led model to a product-led approach. But how and why has product-led growth become the new counterpart of customer success? Let’s find out!

This article will cover:  

  • How customer success metrics are directly impacted by a product-led growth strategy
  • How customer success strategies can optimize a product-led growth strategy
  • How the customer is at the core of Product-led growth

How customer success metrics are directly impacted by a product-led growth strategy

As you know, product-led success is all about making sure your product provides the best user experience possible, monitoring user behavior, engagement, and in-app data. These key metrics are, in fact, very similar to the same metrics used for customer success.

Here are two main metrics that completely transform when you take a product-led approach: 

Retention 

If you focus on how your users use your software and improve the product accordingly, you have a higher chance of keeping those users happy and more likely to buy.  One of the main benefits of product-led growth is that customers already understand how your product works when they buy it and this creates a better user fit and improves retention rates. 

Expansion

Because a product-led growth strategy relies heavily on you continuously improving your product, there’s a lot of happy customers who use your platform every day – ideally your clients will be able to grow with, and thanks to, your product. Consequently, implementing a PLG strategy results in expansion, as the success of your product will spread like wildfire. 

Discover more in our blog post on Understanding the Importance of Product Success and Customer Success in Saas.

How customer success strategies can optimize a product-led growth strategy

Reaching out to your customers at the right time is a key part of product-led customer success, and there are some customer strategies that can optimize a product-led growth strategy. With all of those combined, your company can gain agility and efficiency across sales, marketing, product, and CS teams. Here are our top customer success strategies that take PLG to the next level: 

Onboarding

You’re more likely to maintain a good relationship with your customers if they have all the information they need to use your product effectively. Onboarding means improving user adoption and helps build the brand with product experience as its foundation. 

The FROGED onboarding tool is customized for each customer, with live chats for any questions or doubts and demos showing exactly how each feature works, so the customer never gets lost.

Engagement

Things have changed and SaaS companies need to keep their customers engaged, offering proactive support, and taking control of the user experience. By understanding their doubts, obstacles, and suggestions, they can position your product as an essential part of their day-to-day workflow. 

Check FROGED engagement and retention solutions and discover all the tools to bring your customer engagement to the next level. 

Support

When your customers run into an issue, they want to have an answer immediately or within a short period of time. And, if they don’t get the help they need soon, they might give up and move on to another product with better support. 

For example, if someone isn’t using your platform as much as they were before, your system should set up a notification so you can manage what’s going on and give the user a solution. This is proactive support, and offering that is one of the most important things a SaaS company can provide to its customers. FROGED is a versatile and complete proactive customer support solution designed to reduce tickets and centralize customer communication. 

Implement all those customer strategies and optimize the product-led growth strategy for your business. You can solve all your doubts by booking a demo with us! 

Are you interested to find out more? Check out this ClientSuccess tutorial on Customer success for PLG.

How the customer is at the core of Product-led growth

A product-led growth strategy is focused on the customer as well as the product. Offering a free trial of your product allows users whether or not your product is a good fit for them. As a result, they only become customers after experiencing your product positively. That’s the reason why, when building a PLG strategy, you should highly consider the customer feedback, the customer voice, and the customer journey.  

Here are some customer-focused tips to get the ball rolling:

  • The use of a customer’s voice helps anticipate future customer issues and allows you to design product-led processes in a proactive way.
  • Provide multiple solutions to a problem. Fulfill all customer’s needs on different flows.
  • Pay attention to your user/customer behavior when using your product. These are key insights for success.
  • Communicate with your customers less reactively and more proactively.

Final thoughts

The SaaS world is constantly evolving. In order to be successful when building a product-led growth strategy, unifying your customers’ data is essential. It’s vital to understand your customers’ journey and identify the actions that matter most to your business. 

Software as service companies that are still focusing their efforts just on sales will fall behind if they don’t combine both approaches. Great examples of product-led companies growing daily are Slack, Spotify, Calendly, and Dropbox. These companies grow faster and more efficiently by leveraging their products to build a pipeline of active users who convert to paying users. 

Consider all the strategies and resources we discussed in this article and make sure you’re making the most of them to create a more effective product. As a result, you will be setting the groundwork for a better business.

Wondering how to implement a product-led strategy? Check out our Product success ebook  and drive your business forward.