What is customer success? Difference and importance from customer satisfaction

What customers who go to a 24-hour gym don't really want is the right to use their gym 24 hours a day. The results include a ``toned body'' and ``a healthy lifestyle.'' The attitude that ``as long as we provide good products and services, the rest is the responsibility of the customer'' is no longer valid.

As subscription-based businesses expand, customer success (CS) is attracting attention as a way to maintain contracts with customers and increase revenue from existing customers. It not only measures whether customers are satisfied with the service, but also helps customers achieve their desired outcomes by using the service.

“Customer success is a business approach that provides outcomes for customers.”

This is what Hisanori Yamada, representative director of the Japan Customer Success Association, says. How should we define customer success and what kind of support system should we use to connect CS to business growth?

“Customer satisfaction” and “customer success” – what is the difference?

Customer Success (CS) and "Customer Satisfaction" are two terms that we often hear about, but what is the difference between them? Mr. Yamada explains as follows.

Customer satisfaction is a ``quantification of the degree to which customers are satisfied with the products and services they purchase and use, and a business approach to measuring it.'' The idea behind this is that ``if customers are satisfied, they will return.''

On the other hand, CS is "a business approach that helps customers achieve desired outcomes by using the products and services they purchase and use."

"Satisfaction is about whether the customer is satisfied, but success is a little different because it's about delivering results to the customer."

The spread of the concept of CS is said to be due to the development of the Internet, which has made it possible to track the actual usage of services.

An increasing number of services, such as Amazon, Uber, and car sharing, allow users to track usage status even after signing a contract or making a purchase. As a result, service providers are now required to ask themselves, ``Are customers getting the results they deserve?''

Mr. Yamada points out that there is now a growing recognition that both should be addressed.

What are the important points in CS? How to understand the customer's true needs?