When it comes to growth, most B2B SaaS companies focus on acquiring new customers. But what about keeping the ones you already have? Net retention is one of the most critical metrics in any recurring revenue business, and customer journey mapping is the secret weapon to making sure customers not only stick around but grow with you.
Recently, Marc DiGiorgio sat down with R40 Performance‘s Nicola Dickinson to dive deep into how customer journey mapping can transform customer success and drive higher retention. Nicola, who spent 20 years growing SparkRock before its successful exit, has a wealth of experience in building strong, lasting customer relationships.
Nicola shared that one of her biggest takeaways from running SparkRock was the importance of understanding and optimizing the customer journey.
“I wish we had invested earlier in the business around customer journey work,” she admitted. “We focused on it, but not as early as I would have liked. Understanding the customer journey and creating efficiencies so they get the best experience possible should be a priority from day one.”
Customer journey mapping is all about stepping back and seeing the experience from the customer’s perspective. What’s working? Where are they struggling? What friction points can be eliminated? Getting these right translates directly into higher retention, stronger expansion revenue, and overall company growth.
One of the biggest misconceptions in SaaS is that customer success is just account management rebranded. Nicola broke it down in a way that makes total sense:
“Account management is transactional,” Nicola explained. “Customer success is a strategy that cuts across the entire organization. When you get it right, everyone from product to sales to implementation is aligned on delivering value.”
One of the biggest challenges for SaaS companies is that they’re too close to their own processes to see what’s not working.
“Having an outside perspective is invaluable,” Nicola said. “Tech companies are busy, and it’s hard to take a step back. But getting an external expert to map the journey can uncover inefficiencies and highlight opportunities for improvement that might not be obvious from the inside.”
At the end of the day, keeping customers engaged and ensuring they achieve success is what drives net retention. With today’s emphasis on efficiency over growth-at-all-costs, companies need to focus on maximizing the lifetime revenue of every customer.
“You can’t grow a customer if they’re not with you,” Nicola said. “If they’re not happy, they’re leaving. And if they leave, you’ve lost the opportunity to expand their revenue and maximize their value.”
Want to hear the full conversation and get practical takeaways for your business? Watch the webinar here where Nicola and Marc break it all down.
