Customer success is an essential function in subscription-based businesses, where the goal is to ensure customers achieve their desired outcomes while using your product or service. However, as companies scale, the customer success function tends to become more complex, and roles start to take on more specialized responsibilities. Two such roles that often get confused are the Head of Customer Success and the Customer Success Manager. While they both work towards the same ultimate goal, their day-to-day responsibilities, skills, and career paths are vastly different.

In this article, we'll dive into the specific responsibilities of each role, the skills required to excel, and the career progression opportunities for each. By the end, you'll have a clear understanding of which role aligns best with your skills, experience, and career aspirations.

Key Responsibilities and Focus Areas

While both Head of Customer Success and Customer Success Manager roles are crucial to ensuring customers achieve their desired outcomes, there are distinct differences in their key responsibilities and focus areas.

Head of Customer Success

The Head of Customer Success is a strategic leadership role responsible for developing and executing the customer success strategy across the organization. Their primary focus areas include:

• Strategy Development: Defining the customer success vision, goals, and objectives that align with the company's overall strategy.

• Team Management: Leading and managing a team of Customer Success Managers, providing guidance, and ensuring they have the necessary resources and support.

• Process Development: Designing, implementing, and refining customer success processes to ensure scalability, efficiency, and consistency.

• Metrics and Analytics: Defining and tracking key performance metrics to measure customer success, including net dollar retention, churn rate, and customer satisfaction.

• Stakeholder Collaboration: Working closely with cross-functional teams, such as sales, marketing, and product development, to ensure a customer-centric approach.

Customer Success Manager

A Customer Success Manager is a tactical role focused on ensuring customers achieve their desired outcomes while using the product or service. Their primary focus areas include:

• Customer Relationships: Building and maintaining strong relationships with customers, understanding their needs, and providing personalized support.

• Onboarding and Adoption: Guiding customers through the onboarding process, ensuring they understand the product or service, and facilitating adoption.

• Issue Resolution: Resolving customer issues and concerns, escalating complex problems to internal teams when necessary.

• Upsell and Cross-Sell: Identifying opportunities to upsell or cross-sell relevant products or services that align with the customer's goals.

• Data Analysis: Analyzing customer data to identify trends, opportunities, and challenges, and providing recommendations for improvement.

Key Responsibilities of a Head of Customer Success and a Customer Success Manager

Now that we've clarified the distinct roles of the Head of Customer Success and the Customer Success Manager, let's dive deeper into their key responsibilities.

Head of Customer Success:

The Head of Customer Success is responsible for developing and implementing the overall customer success strategy across the organization. Some of the key responsibilities include:

• Defining and tracking key customer success metrics, such as customer health scores, churn rates, and net dollar retention.

• Developing and managing the customer success team's budget, ensuring alignment with the organization's overall goals and objectives.

• Collaborating with cross-functional teams, including sales, marketing, and product development, to ensure a seamless customer experience.

• Identifying and prioritizing customer needs, and developing targeted initiatives to address them.

• Staying up-to-date with industry trends and best practices, and applying this knowledge to continuously improve the customer success strategy.

Customer Success Manager:

The Customer Success Manager is responsible for managing a portfolio of customers, ensuring they achieve their desired outcomes and remain satisfied with the product or service. Some of the key responsibilities include:

• Onboarding new customers, providing training and support to ensure a smooth transition.

• Developing and executing customized success plans, tailored to each customer's unique needs and goals.

• Building and maintaining strong relationships with key customer stakeholders, understanding their evolving needs and priorities.

• Identifying and addressing customer pain points, escalating issues to internal teams as necessary.

• Conducting regular business reviews, providing insights and recommendations to drive customer growth and retention.

By understanding the distinct responsibilities of the Head of Customer Success and the Customer Success Manager, organizations can ensure they're optimizing their customer success function and driving long-term growth.

Comparing Responsibilities and Skills

When comparing the Head of Customer Success and the Customer Success Manager, it's essential to dive deeper into their responsibilities and required skills. While both roles share some similarities, there are distinct differences that set them apart.

Responsibilities

The Head of Customer Success is responsible for developing and implementing the overall customer success strategy, while the Customer Success Manager focuses on executing that strategy on a day-to-day basis. The Head of Customer Success oversees the entire customer journey, from onboarding to upselling and cross-selling opportunities. They identify areas for improvement and create processes to optimize the customer experience.

In contrast, the Customer Success Manager is responsible for managing a portfolio of customers, ensuring their satisfaction, and identifying opportunities for growth. They work closely with customers to understand their needs and provide solutions, often working alongside other teams like sales and support.

Skills

Both roles require strong communication, interpersonal, and problem-solving skills. However, the Head of Customer Success demands stronger leadership, strategic thinking, and analytical skills. They need to be able to interpret data, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions to drive the customer success strategy.

The Customer Success Manager, on the other hand, requires excellent relationship-building skills, a strong understanding of the product or service, and the ability to navigate complex customer relationships. They need to be empathetic, organized, and able to prioritize multiple customer needs simultaneously.

What are the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Each Role?

When evaluating the performance of a Head of Customer Success and a Customer Success Manager, it's essential to track specific KPIs that align with their responsibilities. Here are some key metrics to consider:

Head of Customer Success KPIs:

• Customer Retention Rate: The percentage of customers retained over a specific period, indicating the Head of Customer Success's ability to develop and implement effective retention strategies.

• Customer Health Score: A metric that assesses the overall health of the customer base, taking into account factors like adoption rates, support requests, and revenue growth.

• Net Revenue Retention (NRR): The percentage of revenue retained from existing customers, including upsells and cross-sells.

• Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) Scores: Measured through surveys, reviews, or feedback, CSAT scores provide insight into customers' happiness with the product or service.

Customer Success Manager KPIs:

• Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) Scores: Similar to the Head of Customer Success, CSAT scores are crucial for Customer Success Managers, as they directly interact with customers and influence their experience.

• Customer Adoption Rates: The rate at which customers adopt new features, products, or services, indicating the Customer Success Manager's ability to facilitate successful onboarding and training.

• Support Request Resolution Rate: The percentage of support requests resolved efficiently, showcasing the Customer Success Manager's problem-solving skills and responsiveness.

• Customer Churn Risk Identification: The ability to identify potential churn risks and develop strategies to mitigate them, demonstrating the Customer Success Manager's proactive approach to customer success.

By tracking these KPIs, organizations can effectively evaluate the performance of their Head of Customer Success and Customer Success Managers, making data-driven decisions to optimize their customer success strategies.