UserIQ’s Customer Success + Product Management Alignment Benchmarking Report 2017 infographic

In our research on this topic of post-sales alignment, we found very little information or discussion, so we put together a survey to gather feedback and data on the current state of alignment between these two teams and benchmarks for improvement.

We wanted to know: what does such alignment look like? Can we produce a true map of alignment today and the steps needed to improve alignment going forward? To answer these questions, we surveyed customer success and product management leaders across small and large B2B SaaS organizations in various industries and published UserIQ’s first annual 2017 Benchmarking Report for Customer Success and Product Management Alignment. This infographic shows the highlights from that report.

Click the infographic to enlarge it.

PURPOSE:
To better understand the SaaS industry’s perceptions of alignment between Customer Success and Product Management today and devise actionable steps companies can take to improve their post-sales alignment going forward.

WHO:
Respondents surveyed worked at organizations that range in size from 1-5,000+people
48% from Customer Success
41% in Product Management
90.2% work for B2B or B2B/B2C companies

PERCEPTIONS:
1. 58% of survey respondents claimed their teams were at least somewhat aligned
2. 84% of respondents say that alignment was considered “important” or “very important” at the leadership level
3. 81% of teams say that processes are in place to encourage alignment and the expectation of frequently meeting face-to-face.
4. Generally, respondents feel satisfied with their overall team alignment and believe they’re on the right track to improvement.

REALITIES:
1. C-Suite positions for Customer Success teams are relatively rare, which shows an imbalance between leadership representation from Success and Product
2. 1/3 of respondents say they have NO shared metrics for success between teams in terms of leadership representation
3. On average, teams are discussing their product roadmap only once per quarter
4. More than 80% of respondents said their teams work in completely separate applications

KEYS TO IMPROVING ALIGNMENT:
1. Make Alignment a Priority at the Top
2. Implement Measurable Outcomes
3. Share Tools and Technology
4. Democratize Customer Insights
5. Be Proactive and Strategic Rather than Reactive and Tactical