The 2025 mostCreative Customer Success Leaders is Here!

At Port.io, Jonathan Gruber redefined how proofs of concept transition into full customer success. By introducing a unified onboarding and scoping framework integrated into HubSpot and EverAfter, he replaced disconnected tools with a single, structured flow. Each POC now includes guided learning through Tech Academy and a discovery process using Command of the Message to capture user stories, pains, and business outcomes. The result: consistent execution across all teams, faster POC cycles, and seamless handoffs to CSMs with full business context — turning every POC into a repeatable, measurable customer success story.

At EAB, Keishla Ceaser Jones redesigned the upsell motion by introducing bundled enhancement packages and targeted professional service offers tied to partner goals. This new approach transformed one-off upgrades into strategic conversations focused on outcomes rather than features. The result was a 12 percent increase in upsells, a 30 percent rise in professional service purchases, and a 300 percent expansion in the upsell pipeline over three years. The initiative not only boosted revenue but also deepened partner engagement and retention.

In 2023, Parul looked around the room of a CS conference she was at, there were about 100 professionals, and maybe 3 of them were of South Asian descent in the room. It made her want to do more. So, Parul founded South Asian Success in 2024, a Community Development & Enablement Program to empower underrepresented South Asian professionals in Customer Success. Inspired by the need for more diversity, she created a space where members can meet as they want to through - chai chats, webinars, whatsapp and a blog for fresh voices. Within a year, the community grew to 150 members, has developed diverse content, and hosted workshops to support people looking to drive diversity and for job seekers in CS. This initiative has fostered connections and encouraged South Asian professionals to share their stories and insights in the industry.

Dannah Vaughan, Founder of Rebels of SaaS Podcast and Platform, created and deployed an innovative value mechanism called the Value Roadshow to address low customer engagement. By proactively connecting key customers with other relevant stakeholders, the Value Roadshow facilitated a continuous feedback loop that resulted in impressive outcomes: - CSAT improvement of 7%, elevating customer satisfaction. - Reduction in support ticket volume by 25%, streamlining operations. - Quarter-over-quarter retention increase by 6%, strengthening customer relationships. This approach not only enhanced engagement but also bolstered long-term satisfaction and loyalty, showcasing the power of proactive customer success.

At OneTrust, Justin Chappell reimagined onboarding for customers without assigned CSMs or paid services. His Digital First Onboarding and Activation program introduced scalable, self guided enablement and adaptive engagement nudges based on user behavior. The results were remarkable: 82 percent of customers went live within the first month (up from 16 percent), and average deployment time dropped from 40 to 16 days. The initiative set a new standard for scalable onboarding, driving faster time to first value and measurable improvements in adoption and ROI.

When renewal and upsell probabilities were low across her strategic accounts, Shalini Arya built a proactive, data-driven success system that transformed account management at Jio Haptik. She created a real-time Account Health Dashboard that tracked engagement, adoption, and risk indicators across metrics like license utilization, deployment status, and overdue payments. Based on these scores, she developed tailored success plans for each account segment—using AI-powered competitor analysis, demo simulations, and proactive communication cadences to showcase value and prevent churn. This approach shifted conversations from reactive firefighting to strategic forecasting. Within months, retention rose to 97%, $2M in ARR was secured, and client relationships evolved from vendor-based to long-term strategic partnerships.

Mohit Lal at TruOps addressed customer uncertainty around adoption success by developing an Enablement & Academy Program focused on measurable, customer-centric engagement. Through personalized plans aligned to each account’s key objectives and timelines, and continuous adoption assessments, Mohit’s team tracked a "stickiness score" to identify and address low-engagement accounts. The program included customer certification to build confidence with the platform. This proactive approach led to a 40% increase in usage and over 25% revenue growth by aligning TruOps more closely with customer success.

Ezra Zimbler launched a consultative Enablement & Academy Program using LinkedIn Talent Insights to deliver data-driven hiring and skill mapping solutions. Initially piloted with a major EMEA client, the program received 100% positive feedback and achieved 0% churn. By aligning Talent Acquisition with Learning & Development teams, Ezra’s initiative has helped bridge skill gaps, drive internal growth, and unlock interest from senior stakeholders across regions, demonstrating the strategic value of skill development in fostering customer loyalty and satisfaction.

Facing limited visibility into customer data and product adoption, Jeremy implemented a targeted Customer Dashboards & QBRs program to transform how his team approached churn and growth. His strategy included cross-functional workshops and a new data export strategy, leveraging PowerBI for a unified reporting tool. By creating a prioritized roadmap of key metrics, Jeremy established a robust 12-month plan that provided visibility into customer adoption at an exceptional level. The program resulted in a 5-point increase in ARR retention, a 10-point boost in adoption, and a 7-point improvement in forecasting accuracy.

At HARRIS OnePulse, Lisa Redman turned post-merger complexity into a unified growth strategy built around the voice of the customer. By combining insights from support tickets, sentiment data, and customer conversations, her team uncovered cross-product opportunities with measurable impact across the healthcare portfolio. This customer-led approach replaced siloed product strategies with scalable, insight-driven themes that resonated across all 24 software applications. The result was stronger engagement, continuous feedback loops, and sustained revenue growth proving that when you truly listen, alignment and retention follow.

Seeing a need for a dedicated space for CS leaders to share insights and break free from internal echo chambers, Mike founded Customer Success Leaders London. Modeled on the success of CS Snack events, this community was created to connect CS leaders in tech across southeast England through in-person gatherings. Hosting events every two months at various member offices, the group has grown to nearly 80 members, fostering collaboration on topics such as value generation, CS funding, AI, and account enablement. With five successful events to date, this initiative is now expanding onto a dedicated platform, amplifying knowledge-sharing and industry collaboration.

Lindsey at Isometric Technologies developed a Retention & Success Plan featuring a Maturity Matrix to assess each customer’s stage of readiness, complemented by a data-driven success plan with milestones set at 30, 60, 90 days, 6 months, and 1 year. This personalized, metrics-based approach has cut time to value (TTV) by nearly 50% and stabilized monthly active users (MAU), enabling customers to adopt features progressively while aligning success metrics to their growth path.

Margo Barysheva at Stream Security recognized that new customers were struggling to use basic features due to the absence of an onboarding process. She built an Onboarding & Implementation Program from scratch, starting with a playbook that evolved into presentations and automated email resources. This structured approach allowed customers to reach full product adoption within two weeks. Though early, Margo’s onboarding initiative is set to reduce churn and create a smoother, more effective customer journey.

At Droplr, Sanchit Kharbanda tackled early churn by creating a retention and growth program focused on delivering quick, visible wins. By combining behavioral insights with personalized, automated outreach — including milestone nudges, onboarding videos, and proactive success emails — the team re-engaged customers before drop-off. The initiative boosted onboarding completion by 28 percent, reduced early churn by 18 percent, and increased upgrade revenue by 22 percent. By blending automation with empathy, Sanchit turned disengaged users into loyal advocates and made retention a catalyst for growth.

Rupal Nishar led the design and rollout of SaaS Business Management™ (SBM), a transformative operating model that broke down silos across Sales, Product, Finance, and Customer Success at a Fortune 100 SaaS company. Facing declining NRR and fragmented execution, Rupal’s framework aligned every team around shared metrics and connected strategy to measurable customer value. The model introduced three core “Operating Loops”: the Revenue Engine (driving expansion and retention), the Product-to-Value Loop (linking product development to outcomes), and the Capital Efficiency Core (enabling data-driven forecasting and ROI visibility). Within nine months, the program delivered a 9% improvement in NRR, 25% reduction in churn risk, and 30% faster renewals. Beyond the numbers, it redefined Customer Success as a growth catalyst, turning alignment into acceleration and establishing SBM as the enterprise’s new standard for value realization.

At Courseplay, Pragya Mishra solved a key visibility gap—clients were using the LMS but couldn’t connect engagement metrics to real business value. She created the LMS Impact Report, a client-validated deliverable that transformed raw usage data into clear, ROI-focused insights and prescriptive recommendations. By correlating activity, completion, and adoption data with business outcomes, the reports turned routine check-ins into strategic consulting sessions. The results: a 10 percent increase in platform adoption, stronger client engagement, and consistent executive buy-in as clients began using the reports to justify investment and expansion.

When user adoption lagged after Websure CRM's initial launches, with 50% of users reverting to manual processes, Dean identified the need for a proactive change management approach. Collaborating with a change management consultant, he introduced the ADKAR methodology early in the implementation process, providing targeted support and guidance for clients on managing staff transitions. This approach addressed user concerns, promoted the product’s benefits, and fostered enthusiasm for Websure. Following these initiatives, adoption rates improved dramatically, with the most recent launch seeing 90% user retention and a CSAT score of 4.8/5, signifying sustained engagement and satisfaction.

De’Edra Williams set out to transform Customer Success from a reactive support function into a strategic revenue engine. Through her innovative Fab5 for 2025 framework, she combined storytelling, AI, and cross-functional alignment to guide teams into the next evolution of Customer Success. Each “Fab” represented a core initiative: customer-led growth through journey “Flight Plans,” cross-team alignment via the S.P.I.C.E.D. methodology, AI-driven personalization with “Star Maps,” revenue dashboards linking CS metrics to growth, and engagement programs elevating employee experience. This creative and structured approach delivered powerful results: $1.5 million in expansion revenue, a 20 percent increase in renewals, 45 percent faster time to value, and higher executive and employee engagement. The initiative redefined Customer Success as a creative, data-driven growth driver and positioned De’Edra’s vision at the forefront of the Customer Success 5.0 movement.

Dmitry Harapko at airSlate tackled the challenge of equipping the CSM team with a unified, holistic view of customer usage data. Without centralized insights or alerts, the team lacked the tools to proactively address new ARR opportunities. To solve this, Dmitry led a program that integrated data from three separate products (with two more on the way) into a Data Warehouse and merged it with Salesforce data, making it available across the company via one unified ID, combining business and usage information. This initiative introduced a flexible schedule for alerts and predictions for when customer usage was nearing limits, along with detailed health scores pinpointing areas needing improvement, historical trends, and a variety of cross-product dashboards. Furthermore, the availability of unified data and signals made it possible to create a complete CSM ecosystem with actionable insights delivered via Slack on various occasions. The program transformed the post-sales process, generating $500k in new ARR for only 6 months since kick off with an additional $500k in the pipeline and reducing churn by 5% through more proactive and targeted QBRs, as well as equipped Digital CSM motion with tools to proactive onboarding.

Marcus Euzebio at Logicalis faced the challenge of scaling Customer Success support beyond large accounts while retaining a personalized approach. He implemented a hybrid tech-touch model that combined automated communication with proactive CSM interventions, effectively serving SMBs while nurturing mid-market accounts. Through personalized automation, strategic CSM involvement, and educational resources, Logicalis saw a 20% increase in renewals, a 35% conversion of SMBs to mid-market clients, and a 15% rise in CSAT, reducing churn by 10% and boosting lead generation by 25%.

Chenoa at Enter Health revolutionized their Onboarding & Implementation process, cutting onboarding time from 6 months to 6-8 weeks. She introduced project management tools for seamless collaboration, established cross-team agile processes, and set SMART goals tailored to client objectives. This structured, client-aligned approach reduced year-on-contract terminations by 14.3%, built stronger relationships across client teams, and enabled new second-order revenue opportunities as departing client executives invited Enter Health to bid with their new employers.

At Antavo Ltd, Sara Arecco tackled the challenge of fragmented customer resources and repetitive communication by creating a single, dynamic customer hub using EverAfter integrated with HubSpot. The platform centralizes all key materials, contracts, product news, EBRs, and FAQs, into a branded, easy-to-navigate space where customers can self-serve, collaborate, and stay aligned with their CSMs. Designed and launched in under a month, the hub improved customer sentiment by 10 percent and increased Academy adoption by 26 percent year-over-year. Support inquiries about where to find information dropped entirely, while 22 percent of customers highlighted the new experience as a major value driver. The initiative strengthened efficiency, transparency, and partnership across teams and customers alike.

At Go-to-Market Pros, Michael Phelan identified that customers were not fully leveraging the Quickbase platform due to limited training opportunities. To address this, he launched a professional, face-to-face customer training program focused on practical enablement and hands-on learning. The initiative equipped users with the confidence and skills to maximize platform value, directly translating to measurable retention impact customers who participated in the program reported higher engagement and achieved zero churn.

Seeing a gap in resources focused on Digital Customer Success and CX, Alex Turkovic launched The Digital CX Podcast, a show dedicated to helping CS leaders design and scale digital-first strategies. Over nearly 100 episodes, Alex has combined his own experience with insights from more than 90 industry leaders to create one of the most practical and tactical learning hubs in the CS community. The podcast now reaches over 2,000 listeners monthly across platforms and newsletters, has gained sponsorships from companies like Gainsight and Vitally, and continues to inspire leaders to adopt and refine digital customer success frameworks that drive measurable impact.

At Observe.AI, Sneha Iyer built the First-Mile Intelligence Platform to solve a recurring challenge, broken handoffs and siloed discovery slowing customer ROI. By connecting onboarding, Customer Success, and value consulting through one guided workflow, the platform ensures every team starts from a shared, data-ready foundation. It maps KPIs to measurable data, triggers collaboration tasks automatically, and surfaces proven AI enrichments by industry. The impact: 70% faster discovery, 40% quicker time-to-value, and a 3-month reduction in CSM ramp time. Beyond speed, the initiative transformed enablement into a culture of data-driven collaboration and consultative customer partnerships.

Shambhavi at Commvault tackled declining engagement and customer satisfaction by launching a Customer Success Program focused on proactive education, personalized support, and community engagement. Key initiatives included onboarding workshops, dedicated CSMs, and a knowledge base with self-help resources. This multi-layered approach led to a 25% increase in customer retention, a 40% rise in product adoption, a 30% reduction in support tickets, and an NPS jump from 45 to 65. The program also increased upsell revenue by 20%, driving both customer and business growth.

At 1Password, Vanessa Moriarty reimagined cybersecurity education by launching the October Cybersecurity Awareness Month (OCAM) program, a turnkey AI themed engagement campaign for enterprise customers. The initiative equipped IT and Security teams with ready to use, co branded materials, events, and enablement kits that made security awareness both easy and engaging. Within the first month, over 250 customers participated, driving a 12 to 18 percent increase in active adoption and setting a new standard for creative, scalable customer enablement.

Pankaj Bhardwaj at Saviynt recognized that their one-size-fits-all support model wasn’t keeping up with rapid growth, resulting in a fragmented customer experience. To address this, he implemented an AI-powered Customer Success Program with personalized offerings and proactive interventions. By segmenting standard and premium support tiers, Saviynt achieved a 25% increase in CSAT, a 10% boost in NPS, and a 15% rise in premium support revenue—all while scaling alongside 40%+ company growth.

Guy at LinearB developed a Retention & Success Program to address limited visibility into customer adoption and prioritize engagement effectively. By collaborating with the Data Team, he created dashboards in Tableau and integrated proactive alerts via Slack to identify risks and highlight power users early. This shift from a traditional churn score to Ideal Customer Behavior (ICB) metrics increased retention rates and enabled more accurate forecasting, transforming the team’s approach to customer health and engagement.

This year, our Go-to-Market strategy centered on Account Teaming—a collaborative approach that unites Account Executives, CSMs, Account Development Representatives, Solution Engineers, and Consultants within a defined territory. Each team member leverages their expertise to drive renewals, expansions, and adoption within accounts, with the Account Executive leading the charge. As a CSM, my role was to strengthen relationships by helping clients fully realize the value of our solutions, thereby securing renewals and driving expansion opportunities. The impact of this strategy was remarkable: we achieved a 100% Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) across all accounts.

To address slow platform adoption in the US market, Anunay at MoEngage launched a Client Enablement & Education Program with weekly, customized product workshops and knowledge-sharing sessions. These workshops, designed to close gaps in understanding platform value and personalization for US client needs, bridged communication between the India-based engineering team and US-based clients. This targeted strategy resulted in a 3x adoption increase and a dollar churn reduction to 2%, solidifying MoEngage’s impact in a competitive market.

Ajoke at Eden Life transformed the Onboarding & Implementation program to address low first-month retention, which was impacted by unclear onboarding processes. Key changes included: 1. Enhanced product clarity and value communication, in collaboration with product and marketing teams. 2. Flexible onboarding options (calls or video tutorials) for a tailored experience. 3. Weekly check-ins and an ""Issue Resolution Tracker"" for faster support. These updates led to a 94% Gross Retention Rate, a 300% revenue boost, and 3X MRR growth, achieving 98% CSAT in the process.

At evcoms, Tracie Newton built the company’s first Customer Success function from the ground up, transforming support from reactive to strategic partnership. With no automation tools, she created a structured success framework, launched customer feedback programs, and aligned internal teams around measurable outcomes. The result was a 100% renewal rate, customer satisfaction of 9.14 out of 10, and world class advocacy scores, proving that process, empathy, and partnership can deliver enterprise level results in any organization.

I’m Arun from the CS Team at Omnify and a passionate volunteer in CS communities like CS SuperStars, Allin1Place, and CXxchange. I contribute to CS job board updates and host talk shows with CS leaders, sharing knowledge and fostering connections. For a global workshop with an enterprise client, I tackled the challenge of onboarding 2,000 non-tech-savvy employees and 50 trainers. Using a Custom Onboarding Program in two Go-Live phases, over 100 attendees were seamlessly checked in within 10 minutes. The results were remarkable: zero support tickets, zero delays, and zero customer effort. My recipe for CS Excellence: [Fast TTV] + [Low CES] + [Quick Preemptive Solutions]

At Omnify, Arun PR transformed how Customer Success and Growth Operations function by embedding AI across every stage of the customer journey. Facing scattered data, repetitive onboarding, and slow decision-making, he designed a unified AI ecosystem that automated onboarding, streamlined workflows, and empowered both teams and customers. His initiatives included custom GPTs for discovery and analysis, an internal knowledge portal for cross-functional alignment, AI-powered dashboards for adoption tracking, and automation that delivered actionable insights in real time. The impact was transformative: faster time to launch, a 60% increase in adoption among non-tech-savvy users, and consistent customer experiences across all segments. By using AI not as a tool but as an enabler, Arun redefined how Omnify drives growth, efficiency, and customer confidence.

Amber at Paradigm enhanced the Customer Dashboards & EBRs Program by implementing a structured EBR form that standardized questions, automated feedback collection, and eliminated manual CRM updates. This efficient process increased weekly EBRs from 15-20 to 92 in the first week post-launch, and 67 the following week, totaling over 150 EBRs within 3.5 weeks. This solution allows Paradigm to engage 50% of its customer base quarterly—up from 12%—while gathering valuable, consistent customer insights for business growth.

Alexandra at PeopleForce developed a Retention & Success Program to drive expansion and price increases without overwhelming the high-touch CS team. She implemented a “15-Min Call” initiative, allowing Support to resolve technical issues quickly, freeing CS to focus on upsells and strategic calls. This approach resulted in $15,000 in Q3 net expansion, with expansion rates increasing by 10% monthly and CSAT reaching over 98% across four consecutive months, reflecting stronger customer satisfaction and openness to feedback.

At the Women Reform Organization, Gloria Michael launched the Switch to Tech as a CSM program the first Africa-focused Customer Success education and mentorship initiative. Designed for professionals transitioning from support to strategic CS roles, the program combines job-ready training, mentorship, and locally relevant learning to address the lack of accessible, contextual education in Africa. Since launch, it has trained over 400 learners across three countries, helping many secure global SaaS and fintech roles and proving that world-class Customer Success talent is thriving across the continent

Success Programs Himansu managed over 5,000 long-tail customers without dedicated CSMs through an AI-powered Customer Success Program. The challenge was scaling engagement while meeting customer needs. Using NPS feedback, [Nominee] developed an engagement model integrating SFDC and Sigma for insights, plus email campaigns, webinars, and gamified sessions. This approach resulted in a 30% response rate increase, 52% session participation, and an 84% renewal rate over three quarters.

Julie Fox transformed a manual, ad-hoc upsell motion into a digital-first, data-driven growth system that scaled across 8,000 customers. With only two Account Managers, she built a repeatable Account Management framework that automated education, discovery, and intent routing, freeing CSMs to focus on strategic, high-value moments. Her team embedded the buyer’s journey directly inside the product, using in-app guides, videos, and automated nurtures to drive awareness and self-service purchases. When strong intent signals appeared, customers were routed to human engagement for tailored discussions and business outcome confirmation. The initiative proved that digital-first doesn’t mean impersonal, self-service upsells converted successfully, while the new CSQL and Account Management systems created a scalable foundation for consistent revenue growth and exceptional customer experience.

At mindZvue, Vinay Chaturvedi recognized that teams were buried under static data and manual processes, slowing decisions and limiting insight. To change that, he integrated Agentforce capabilities into mindZvue, creating an intelligent automation layer that transforms how teams interact with data and workflows. By combining adaptive AI agents with human-centered design, the platform now predicts next best actions, personalizes insights, and automates reporting in real time. Within six months, manual data work dropped by 40 percent, response times improved by 30 percent, and onboarding adoption rose by 25 percent. Agentforce turned raw data into real-time intelligence—empowering teams to move faster, make smarter decisions, and focus on strategic growth.

Natalie at IHG Hotels & Resorts implemented a GEO Footprint Operational Scaling Program to drive efficiency and scalability. Her strategy focused on expanding geographic diversity, adding new partners, and integrating digital solutions to reduce costs and operational risks. This approach also led to reduced risk exposure and enhanced IHG’s ability to scale efficiently and sustainably.

Gloria launched The CX Men’s Club, a Customer Success community platform exclusively for men, addressing the lack of tailored support in the industry. This program includes personalized mentorship, mental health resources, and peer-led learning, fostering a strong support system for men’s growth in Customer Success. Since June, membership has grown to over 500 active users, LinkedIn posts reached 15,000 impressions, and the inaugural event attracted over 100 participants, demonstrating strong demand and engagement.

At Workstream Technologies, Jody Alarva faced the challenge of high SMB churn and limited Customer Success capacity. To solve this, she created the Product Advocate Team—a small, agile group responsible for both onboarding and driving initial adoption for SMB and HRIS customers. By combining sales and success functions within a 4–6 person team, Workstream reduced acquisition costs, delivered faster onboarding, and ensured customers received immediate value without needing full-scale CSM involvement. The result was a scalable, cost-efficient engagement model that strengthened early retention and laid the foundation for long-term customer success.

At Samsara, Sam Morris built the world’s first dedicated CS Quality program to bring structure and insight to customer interactions. By combining scorecards, calibration, and data-driven analysis, the team created a unified framework that linked quality directly to business outcomes. Within one quarter, participation tripled and targeted behavior metrics improved by 137%, transforming QA from a compliance task into a powerful enablement engine that elevated consistency, confidence, and impact across the global post-sale team.

At Payatu, Bharath Jagannath saw that clients were stuck in a reactive cycle, identifying security vulnerabilities only after they were exploited. To break this pattern, he launched a proactive cybersecurity program combining continuous vulnerability assessments, research-driven insights, and real-time advisory. The program blended automation with expert-led analysis, giving clients earlier visibility into risks and clear remediation paths. This hands-on, partnership-based approach strengthened client confidence, increased customer satisfaction by 25 percent, and led over 80 percent of clients to re-engage within a year. The initiative set a new standard for how proactive, high-touch security success can drive long-term customer retention and trust.

Ashley used an AI-powered Customer Success Program to creatively increase cross-sell rates after acquiring a new company. Instead of relying on third-party solutions, Ashley’s team embedded AI-powered call recording and transcription directly within their asset management tool, sharing these recordings with targeted cross-sell customers. This personalized approach led to a 50% increase in high-quality cross-sell leads and a 12% rise in product adoption, showcasing the potential of leveraging AI tools to drive customer engagement and growth.

Sara Arecco at Antavo Ltd enhanced customer sentiment by embracing an “action over perfection” approach within the Retention & Success Plans framework. By increasing feedback collection points and openly sharing the company’s commitment to improvement, Sara encouraged customers to offer insights that guided strategic decisions across teams. Initiatives like improved documentation, targeted mini-courses, and tools to showcase platform value led to a 23% increase in customer sentiment, a 70% rise in customer-authorized award submissions, and a 20% boost in published case studies year-over-year.

At Silverfort, Eran Silverman enhanced cross-team collaboration by introducing an AI-augmented journey that automatically summarizes and translates meeting recordings from Gong. Each summary is shared with customers via email and internally through Slack, keeping all stakeholders aligned without manual effort. This automation has saved CSMs significant time, improved internal visibility, and strengthened ongoing customer engagement through consistent, high-quality communication.

Yamika Cherukupally launched the Adoption Acceleration Program to counter a declining trend in product adoption that risked impacting retention and renewals. The program included three key stages: tailored onboarding with early cadence meetings and data-driven interventions, personalized training, and engagement through gamification and incentives. These initiatives drove a 90% adoption rate across customers, a retention rate exceeding 95%, and a 25% increase in ARR expansion, ultimately boosting CSAT and strengthening customer loyalty.

Focused on boosting customer engagement across all segments at vCom Solutions, Kirsten launched a wholly digital user experience with interactive, on-demand micro business reviews. AI agents deliver program health reports with personalized recommendations and insights, answer account specific, real-time questions, and empower customers to dig deeper. The [shorter than five minutes] campaigns have reached previously disengaged contacts, increased inbound inquiries, expanded product adoption and facilitated new revenue opportunities. Since the February launch, this innovative initiative has increased engagement by 26% and earned widespread positive feedback.

At Xrecruiter, Emma Lamb created a customer facing system powered by EverAfter.ai that guides clients through every stage of their business journey. The platform is built around the concept of Start, Run, and Grow: onboarding and training, mentoring and tools for daily operations, and frameworks to accelerate growth. Since launch, client engagement has surged, with a 75 percent reduction in manual support requests and steady growth in active users. By centralizing processes and resources, Xrecruiter now delivers a seamless, scalable experience that helps clients run and grow their businesses with confidence.

Dana at Customer Everything Solutions created the C.S.A.T. Growth Engine Tool to redefine Customer Success (CS) as a revenue-driving function in SaaS. Evaluating companies across 60 data points, the tool aligns CS efforts with strategic growth objectives. A recent implementation in a high-growth SaaS firm led to a 2X increase in revenue, a 3X rise in customer advocacy, and doubled CSQL opportunities within a month. The C.S.A.T. tool is transforming CS from a cost center into a powerful growth engine for SaaS.

Rachel at Provan Success, LLC developed The Focus Formula Program to help Customer Success teams transition from reactive to strategic work. By dedicating just one hour daily, CS Leaders focused on quarterly initiatives, while CSMs analyzed customer data for insights. Using AI tools and a structured mindset approach, 90% of leaders who implemented the program completed major strategic projects—such as journey mapping and digital customer strategies—within three months, boosting team efficiency and improving customer health.

At LifeLoop, Jeremy Donaldson transformed the QBR process by integrating Gong’s AI to automate preparation and improve strategic alignment. The new system generates custom briefs built around ten key customer questions, replacing manual decks and reports. This innovation cut QBR prep time by 50 percent, improved discovery quality, and enabled a 25 percent increase in strategic customer conversations, allowing teams to focus more on value and less on admin work.

When Virginia Bloom stepped into her role, she found a renewal process that was fragmented, reactive, and disconnected from customer value. Instead of layering on sales tactics, she reimagined the entire approach by making Customer Success the natural owner of renewals. By aligning process, data, and purpose, Virginia built a model where renewals aren’t just transactions. They are moments to deepen trust, showcase outcomes, and drive mutual growth. The new process led to stronger adoption and higher net revenue retention, proving that when customers stay at the center, growth naturally follows.

Raman Bindra at Recruiterflow tackled CSAT scores and onboarding delays by revamping the Onboarding & Implementation Program with a customized playbook. By tailoring onboarding processes to both SMB and Enterprise customers, setting clear timelines, and offering proactive support, Raman’s approach led to a 45% increase in product adoption and a 30% boost in SMB retention. Additionally, CSAT hit an all-time high of 4.9 out of 5, underscoring the success of this personalized, strategic onboarding program.

Julie Fox at Cin7 tackled the challenge of scaling upsell strategies for a customer base of over 8,000 with just one Account Manager. By implementing a creative, scaled approach—including group demos, in-app walkthroughs, automated welcome journeys, and trigger-based nurture campaigns—Julie transformed customer engagement. In the first week of launching group demos, over 100 customers attended, and the program achieved 198% of its goal within the first month. With these initiatives in place, Cin7 is on track to grow upsell revenue by over 20% in 2025, proving the power of strategic scaling.

At Okta, Austin Henline tackled declining renewal rates by building a digital success plan that delivers personalized recommendations at scale. Using EverAfter’s integration with Okta’s tech stack, the initiative connected real-time adoption data to tailored success roadmaps aligned with each customer’s identity maturity stage. Customers received customized checklists, resources, and guided steps within their own admin consoles. The impact was clear: over 8,600 customer goals captured, 34 percent increase in Success Hub traffic, and 18-point higher adoption rates for engaged users. The program also empowered 200+ Okta employees to drive more strategic, data-backed customer conversations.

By standardizing our onboarding procedures with EverAfter, we streamlined recurring tasks, reducing manual steps. Customers now mark task completion directly, allowing CSMs to monitor progress in real-time. Visibility rules ensure customers see only relevant information, while automated task updates in Salesforce provide full visibility to all account stakeholders. This optimized process has reduced deployment time, minimized the need for additional meetings, and decreased back-and-forth emails.

Cristina tackled the challenge of last-minute, high-pressure QBRs by implementing a Customer Dashboards & QBRs Program with a collaborative, expert-driven approach. In this model, subject matter experts join CSMs to present specific insights, allowing CSMs to focus on customer engagement and value-oriented questions. By starting preparations three weeks in advance and assigning clear roles, CSMs reduced prep time by 60%. This structure increased customer engagement by 25%, raised upsell opportunities, and fostered a 25% increase in internal accountability.

At Spryker, scaling Customer Success across hundreds of enterprise clients was becoming unmanageable. Pablo Kern built an AI-powered Customer Success Hub that automated routine work while personalizing the customer experience. The result was a 30% faster onboarding process, a 7% increase in CSAT, and zero churn among active users. The platform saved each CSM up to seven hours weekly and delivered consistent, high-quality engagement worldwide.

At CustomerXSuccess, Parul Bhandari helped a client launching a brand new company and product build their entire go-to-market and Customer Success foundation from scratch. She led market research, customer journey mapping, and crafted enablement materials for both beta and full launch phases. Parul gamified user training with quizzes and incentives, boosting engagement among 500 beta users. The result: 95 percent adoption within 90 days and 90 percent manager participation within six months, proving that strong Customer Success design can drive immediate impact even from day one.

At Braze, Sumitra Narayanan cut CSM hiring time from two months to just two weeks by reengineering the process through an insight-driven, AI-enabled framework. She applied ICP principles to talent by defining an Ideal CSM Profile (I-CSM-P), used AI talent insights towards building a balanced team, and implemented competency-based keyword filters in the ATS to surface top candidates fast. The approach not only reduced time-to-hire by 75%+ but also delivered high-performing talent quickly, establishing a scalable model for building world-class Customer Success teams.

At Zendesk, Tara Myles, alongside Bernardo Chabert from Zendesk's business transformation team, led the creation of an AI adoption framework designed to bridge the gap between innovation and implementation. As advanced AI capabilities rolled out rapidly, many customers struggled to adopt them effectively, limiting both their ROI and Zendesk’s growth potential. The team built a structured maturity model, dynamic assessment system, and curated enablement toolkit that empowered customer success managers to guide customers with clarity and confidence. The result was transformative: customers using the framework saw up to a 65% reduction in manual workload and an 85% boost in agent efficiency, while CSMs gained the tools to lead more strategic, value-driven conversations. By blending education, proactive engagement, and data-driven insights, this initiative redefined how Zendesk helps customers realize the true power of AI.

Ankit Aggarwal at MoEngage developed a high-impact Customer Upsell Program designed to generate Customer Success Qualified Leads (CSQLs) without adding strain on Customer Success Managers. By capturing upsell intent within the customer success platform, Ankit’s program led to 7 figure in upsells in just one quarter and boosted ARR by 20%. This efficient approach enabled MoEngage to drive significant growth and revenue, capitalizing on targeted upsell opportunities with minimal resource impact.

At Silverline Solutions, Dannah Vaughan redefined the customer journey by replacing a linear model with a four-quadrant framework that integrates AI into every phase of the experience. Each stage of the SPAN model was mapped to success metrics and aligned across teams for full organizational buy-in. The result was a 27% increase in CSAT and an 8% lift in NRR, proving that AI-driven enablement can create a more dynamic, connected customer experience.

When Haig joined Employment Hero, the UK business had no formal advocate program and no process for tracking saved churns. Seeing the gap, Haig introduced a structured customer advocacy framework and began tracking advocates, growing this from 0% to nearly 10% of ARR, equivalent to $14 million. In parallel, he launched a new risk process to proactively identify and mitigate churn risks. Within just four months, the program has driven $294,000 in saved ARR and achieved 100% logo retention across the portfolio.

Barak Milel at Kovrr addressed the challenge of users struggling to confidently present Kovrr’s cyber risk quantification capabilities in high-stakes settings. To overcome this, he launched the Enablement and Academy hub, featuring immersive simulations to prepare users for boardroom presentations. The program led to a 35% increase in user confidence, a 40% rise in platform logins during preparation, a 25% boost in customer satisfaction, and a 15% improvement in retention rates. By equipping users with practical skills and confidence, Barak ensured Kovrr’s platform became indispensable for cybersecurity resilience.

Addie Batson from CXAI faced the challenge of launching CXApp as a white-label solution for Fortune 100 clients like PepsiCo, Visa, and MetLife. Adoption wasn’t straightforward—these multinational brands required a scalable, brand-aligned strategy to engage employees across diverse regions and cultural contexts, all within a tight 100-day timeline. To solve this, Addie developed the Hybrid Launch Activation Package (HY-LAP), a tailored solution featuring custom-branded materials, interactive smart landing pages, in-app engagement tools, and regional scalability. The program ensured seamless adoption, with PepsiCo achieving 74% usage in the first month and HY-LAP becoming a repeatable playbook for global success.

At NovoPath, Daniel Wilson tackled inefficiencies caused by repetitive issue resolution and a lack of feedback loops across support systems. Using Zapier, he built an AI agent that scans incoming tickets, searches the knowledge base for relevant solutions, drafts responses, and when no solution exists, creates new documentation automatically. This continuous learning system streamlined operations, reduced resolution time by 20 percent, cut touches per ticket to under two, and raised CSAT to 98 percent. The result: faster problem solving, smarter knowledge reuse, and a consistent customer experience at scale.

At Salesloft, David Jessup tackled the challenge of inconsistent, time-consuming call evaluations by developing the CSM Call Grader Gem, an AI-powered system that transforms unstructured call data into objective, actionable insights. Using predefined rubrics for key call types, the tool automatically scores transcripts and pinpoints targeted coaching opportunities. This innovation replaced subjective reviews with data-backed performance insights, reducing manager prep time from up to 6 hours to just 1.5 hours per week — a 62.5 percent efficiency gain. The result is standardized excellence, faster coaching cycles, and consistent, high-quality customer interactions across the entire CS team.

David identified a need to reduce the time customers took to move from kickoff to deployment, which was delaying value realization. To streamline this process, David introduced a structured onboarding timeline displayed visually during kickoff calls, allowing clients to see their journey and next steps from the outset. This program empowered customers to engage earlier and stay on track, transforming kickoff calls into actionable planning sessions. The result was a faster deployment across accounts, significantly improving time-to-value and setting clear, shared expectations for a seamless onboarding experience.

When Ilse joined Simetrik, adoption was lagging. The onboarding process was fragmented, the educational materials lived on limited platforms, and clients struggled to navigate a highly specialized accounting tool without heavy support. To turn this around, Ilse reimagined the entire enablement journey—building a centralized learning library, creating user personas, and giving the platform a new, customer-centered voice. She introduced workshops and webinars across LATAM, turning complex concepts into simple, actionable steps and fostering a community of shared learning between industries. The result: completion rates on educational materials doubled from 30% to 60%, over 50 customer workshops were launched, and engagement surged among Simetrik’s largest enterprise clients.

At ConstructConnect, Beauly transformed AI hesitation into measurable performance gains through a scalable enablement program that empowered every leader and team to adopt AI with confidence. Anchored on three principles, leaders first, champions everywhere, and continuous feedback, the program trained all 10 managers to model AI use, activated peer champions, and refined learning through real-time pulse insights. Within 12 weeks, active AI usage surged 140%, manager confidence grew 32%, and reclaimed productivity delivered $1.55M in annual value, a 7:1 ROI. The initiative proved that systematic enablement, not experimentation, drives sustainable AI transformation.

Stephanie Workman-Bolden at Discovery Education transformed customer adoption by aligning partner engagement with measurable goals. Through a partner segmentation effort, her team matched partners to tailored adoption journeys and equipped Partner Success Managers (PSMs) with resources and training to lead impactful, goal-focused conversations. This initiative boosted tool adoption, increased instructional time on K-12 campuses, and improved student outcomes. Additionally, collaboration across sales, success, and marketing created a unified approach, driving product expansion and reducing partner disengagement.

Neelu at ZoomInfo addressed high churn in the emerging products division by creating an AI-powered Customer Success Program with advanced health scoring and churn prediction. The solution integrated customer sentiment from call recordings, multivariate churn predictors, and automated health scoring across four metrics: product usage, customer sentiment, support health, and engagement. This AI-driven approach freed up CSMs, improving productivity by 40%, boosted pipeline by generating 15% more CSQLs, and enhanced risk identification by 30%, transforming retention efforts and long-term customer relationships.

Judith Platz at SupportLogic launched the innovative “How Low Can You Go 30-Day Challenge” to tackle the high costs and operational strain caused by frequent escalations. Customers were empowered to reduce negative sentiment in support interactions, leveraging SupportLogic's AI-powered insights to identify and resolve issues proactively. Through gamification and clear milestones, the challenge transformed sentiment management into a fun and impactful team effort. Top-performing participants achieved up to a 31% reduction in negative sentiment, with others seeing improvements of 24%, 23%, and more. This initiative not only improved customer satisfaction but also enhanced team efficiency and strengthened the overall customer journey.

To foster champions and mitigate revenue risk in Fortune 500 clients, Tara designed an immersive, week-long onsite engagement program, aligning key stakeholders during clients' annual strategy meetings. This program included executive strategy alignment, global readouts, end-user shadowing, and roadmap planning. The result was a 75% increase in stakeholder engagement, a 15% CSAT boost, and expansions in seat count, global deployment, and adoption in competitive business units, securing major renewal commitments.

At Aligned, LeeRon Yahalomi transformed Customer Success from an admin-heavy function into a predictive growth engine. Through the AI in Action initiative, her team built a network of AI agents that automate handoffs, summarize meetings, generate forecasts, and craft personalized communications across the customer lifecycle. Within 90 days, administrative work dropped 15 percent, onboarding time fell 72 percent, and time to value rose 62.5 percent. Forecast accuracy improved 30 percent and renewal readiness 25 percent. The result is a CS team operating with precision, speed, and focus—AI empowering people to lead, not just manage, customer success.

At Recruiterflow, Raman Bindra launched the Customer Success Bootcamp to strengthen strategic thinking and value-driven customer engagement. The program focused on consultative mindset, value articulation, and partnership building through real customer scenarios and peer learning. Within one quarter, engagement scores increased by 30 percent, time to first value dropped by 25 percent, and expansion revenue grew by 15 percent, proving the initiative’s power to transform both team performance and customer relationships.

Kobi Alaluf at Playtika implemented a multi-phase Retention & Success Plan by adapting B2B customer success methodologies to a B2C environment. This approach included customer segmentation, reducing the CSM-to-customer ratio, and developing tools to enable CSMs to enhance customer relationships and achieve business KPIs. The program led to over 5% revenue growth and a rise in paying users, demonstrating how B2B strategies can effectively drive engagement and revenue growth in the B2C space.

To streamline complex enterprise onboarding projects, our post-sales team developed a comprehensive "Onboarding to Production" program in EverAfter, tailored to different customer use-case complexities. This structured program offers detailed task milestones, clear role assignments, and automated progress updates, and it integrates with Salesforce, providing real-time status updates on each project to enhance visibility for the company and management. A customer questionnaire was included to assess the use-case complexity, enabling the creation of a tailored onboarding timeline. A project delay mechanism was also implemented, allowing proactive identification of potential delays. The results were impactful, establishing smoother processes, enhancing internal communication, and reducing time to value by 50%, enabling faster customer deployment and production readiness.

Keishla Ceaser-Jones at EAB is working to change partner conversations by shifting the focus from product usage to value-driven KPIs. She led the development of a tailored ROI calculator for higher education campuses, integrating metrics to demonstrate break-even calculations and long-term returns positioning her solution as a revenue driver. The tool empowered Partner Success Mnagers with clear, data-driven insights to support impactful conversations that address partner questions about value and highlight the benefits of EAB’s solution measurably. This early initiative is showing a positive impact on retention and strengthening partner relationships by connecting the performance of the tool to KPIs that matter to the partner while equipping her team with tools to confidently deliver value-focused engagement.

At SupportLogic, Chief Customer Officer Judith (Judi) Platz bridged the gap between AI and human connection with her groundbreaking video series, 15 Mins with Judi. What began as a conversational experiment evolved into a global learning platform featuring 50+ industry leaders from companies like Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Elastic. The series made AI topics, from sentiment analysis to predictive insights, practical and relatable, empowering over 1,400 professionals through the SupportLogic Academy to apply AI with empathy and creativity. By transforming education into storytelling, Judi redefined how customer-facing teams learn to use AI as a catalyst for human connection.

Geoffrey at Core BTS transformed their Retention & Success Plans by creating collaborative Customer Success (CS) Plans. Each plan was co-authored with clients, combining both parties' perspectives on defining success. By making CS Plans part of the organization’s OKRs, Core BTS positioned itself as a partner in clients' value realization. This approach is forecasted to drive a 20% increase in Net Revenue Retention (NRR) based on customers committing to renew if Core BTS meets the goals outlined in these personalized CS Plans.

Angeline at Katalon transformed their Retention & Success Plans by upgrading a basic churn risk indicator to a data-driven Logistic Regression model. By analyzing historical product usage data, she identified and refined 19 potential metrics down to the six most impactful, focusing on what truly drives churn risk. This approach significantly enhanced forecasting accuracy, reducing surprise churn by 27% and saving 33% of at-risk revenue. Additionally, it improved renewal forecasting accuracy, enabling more precise resource allocation and empowering CSMs to intervene proactively, ensuring stronger customer outcomes.

Sumitra at Braze devised a Retention & Success Plan that decreased surprise churn through a multi-threaded customer relationship strategy. By mapping and targeting key stakeholders across customer organizations, Sumitra’s team strengthened partnerships and gained early visibility into potential risks. This proactive approach drove over a 12% year-over-year increase in Gross Renewal Rate (GRR) across a ~$20M book of business, even amid economic challenges. This strategy provides an easily-replicable framework for CSMs and CS leaders to secure deeper customer engagement and advocacy.

Daniel at NovoPath addressed key challenges in capturing post-activation license additions and consolidating customer data. Using a customer event log and automation tools, he established a health model to trigger retention-focused playbooks and improve customer satisfaction. Daniel also created a framework for a learning management system to enhance self-service and product knowledge. This initiative increased ARR, reduced ticket volume, and improved time-to-activation (TTA), driving revenue growth, retention, and overall customer enablement.

At BhaiFi Networks, Shubham Parashar tackled “value paralysis” by transforming how Customer Success communicated impact. His team’s data was rich but buried in technical metrics that executives couldn’t connect to financial outcomes. To solve this, Shubham built the Proactive Value Mapping Engine (PVME), an AI powered system that converts operational data into executive level financial insights. The PVME automated 80 percent of reporting, raised Net Revenue Retention from 110 to 122 percent, and generated 4.1 million dollars in expansion revenue. It also increased C suite engagement by 410 percent, turning customer success from a cost center into a strategic growth driver.

At Alloy Labs, Amber Frye designed a data-driven, personalized success model to reenergize member engagement and strengthen partnerships. By creating tailored paths for banks at different innovation stages and introducing an AI-powered Strategy Session Prep Partner, she unified teams and made every conversation more strategic. The results: member retention rose from 86% to 96%, engagement grew by 70%, and executive participation tripled, transforming Alloy Labs into a trusted growth partner for its network.

Jaime at Ontic revamped the Onboarding & Implementation Program by introducing a Slack-based workflow to improve XFN leadership visibility (all the way up to the ELT) and expedite onboarding. This workflow allowed CSMs to provide consistent updates, flag challenges, and request support for timely interventions. For the Enterprise and Global segments, Jaime’s team selectively added Implementation and/or Project Managers Managers and phased deployment, bringing Time-To-First-Value (TTFV) down from 12 to 10-12 weeks for Global clients and from 10 to 8-10 while maintaining high CSAT scores above 75%. These adjustments increased client satisfaction and reference-ability across segments.

"EBS faced misalignment and complexity in their customer segmentation, limiting their growth impact. Working with Thomas Voigt and The CS Academy, they adopted the ACE Framework (Activate – Cultivate – Expand) to simplify strategy and focus on high-value clients. The shift enabled better alignment, stronger relationships, and a scalable process for expansion and retention, transforming Customer Success into a proactive growth engine."

Deepak Paripati at Nektar.ai tackled renewal challenges by building an AI-powered Customer Success Program that leveraged data from Gmail, Zoom, and Slack to analyze successful renewals. Using these insights, Deepak created a structured playbook in Salesforce, detailing essential meetings, key contacts, and engagement benchmarks for CSMs. This approach led to a 15% increase in Gross Revenue Retention (GRR) within six months, while also showcasing the power of Nektar.ai’s AI solution as an internal use case.

Stijn at Whale developed an AI-powered Customer Success Program that leveraged product metrics to drive expansion. By analyzing customer usage, engagement, and health scores, the team proactively identified upsell opportunities and potential churn risks. This program integrates closely with Sales and Product, facilitating a unified, expansion-led approach. As a result, Customer Success boosted its revenue contribution from 33% to 56%, surpassing Sales, while upsell and cross-sell opportunities within accounts grew by 47%, positioning CS as a primary revenue engine.

Pablo Kern at Spryker Systems GmbH developed an enhanced Customer Interface Program using EverAfter to streamline access to essential resources for customers navigating Spryker’s complex digital commerce solutions. By implementing a one-stop portal for documentation, QBRs, checklists, and more, Pablo’s team ensured customers received timely, tailored support at each stage of their journey. This approach cut time to value by 30% and doubled customer satisfaction, allowing the CS team to focus on strategic needs while saving time and enhancing efficiency on both sides.

Priscila Fletcher founded Latinos in Success, a Community Program focused on supporting Latinos in Customer Success and tech through personal and professional development. By offering mentorship, workshops, and fireside chats, the community empowers members to bring their full selves to their careers. With members spanning the Americas and EMEA, Latinos in Success has steadily grown, creating a strong sense of belonging. Feedback highlights increased confidence and connection among members, fostering shared growth and support across regions.

At MoEngage, Ankit Aggarwal built an AI powered system that turns meeting transcripts into proactive insights for Customer Success managers. By analyzing Google Meet notes with a large language model trained to identify MoEngage specific risk and upsell signals, the team gained real time visibility into customer health. The initiative generated more than fifty risk alerts and twenty upsell opportunities, helping the company protect revenue and strengthen its growth pipeline.

At ClearPoint Strategy, Tricia Jessee simplified a complex onboarding process by designing a two-part experience that blended structure with personalization. A Pre-Kickoff Kit guided new admins through key setup steps before the first meeting, while an AI-generated welcome graphic added a personal, engaging touch. Customers then moved into an Onboarding and Adoption Kit that outlined milestones, training, and resources in one place. The result: faster onboarding, higher completion rates, and consistently strong CSAT scores, proving that even complex setups can feel simple, efficient, and human.

Adele applied the SPICED framework to improve customer retention at SafetyCulture, centering her approach on critical customer success metrics. By tailoring interactions and anticipating needs through SPICED insights, she strengthened client relationships and achieved impactful outcomes in safety and operational efficiency. Internally, Adele’s GTM team launched initiatives like a Retention Playbook, Customer Impact Brainstorming Sessions, and Quarterly Win Reviews, all focused on aligning GTM and CS efforts. These strategies collectively reduced churn by 15%, highlighting SafetyCulture’s commitment to proactive and lasting customer success.