If you’re not in Amsterdam (or at the least, applying what they’re doing) you’re already behind.

This European powerhouse isn’t just about canals and bicycles—it’s the secret weapon for businesses that take customer success seriously. With world-class talent, cutting-edge tech, and a thriving SaaS scene, Amsterdam is where companies scale faster, retain customers longer, and dominate globally. Want to know why the biggest names are setting up shop here? Keep reading. 

Thanks to our fantastic moderators—Federico Lai, Eline Wolters, Fauve Smeets, Julian Lindhorst, Nadia Nicolai, Pieter Boon, Sanne vd Meer, Wout Hermans, and Bobby Brown—we had an incredibly insightful session!

Here are the key topics we covered during the Customer Success Snack event:

1. AI & Prompt Engineering
2. CS Enablement and Scaled CS in 2025
3. Upselling together with Sales & Marketing
4. Conflict Management and Feedback
5. Client Change management, Success Plans & tooling
6. Communities, Playbooks, Automation, and Customer Engagement
7. Value-based communication, Time to value & Stakeholder management
8. For leadership only: CS Processes and Metrics

AI & Prompt Engineering

AI is transforming how CS teams manage meetings, track customer interactions, and predict churn. Tools like Carve, Granola, and Fathom automatically capture meeting notes, generate action points, and even draft emails, reducing manual workload for CSMs. Some AI assistants now analyze past calls to provide insights and help CSMs respond to similar customer queries in the future.

A particularly noteworthy tool, Churned.io, helps analyze churned customer behavior to prevent future churn, proactively assigning tasks to CSMs to drive Gross Revenue Retention (GRR). AI is also being leveraged to build automated health scoring frameworks, though teams must ensure these tools understand nuanced customer engagement beyond mere product usage. In this session hosted by Pieter Boon, we discussed this Start, Stop, Continue model. 

Start ✅

Continue 🔄

Security & Governance: Establish clear AI data security guidelines, ensure transparency in AI adoption. Risk & Automation: Implement AI-driven early warnings for customer risk, automate documents with Azure Document AI Parser. AI Education & Enablement: Develop a CS-specific AI course, train teams on effective prompt engineering, and use role-play for conversational AI training. Integration & Outreach: Explore AI-CRM integrations (HubSpot, Dynamics), leverage AI for long-tail customer engagement.

Operational Efficiency: Use ChatGPT for emails, translations, reports, health scores, competitor research, QBR prep, and Excel automation. Enhanced Customer Insights: AI-powered customer outreach, AI-driven note-taking (Co-Pilot, Gong, Fixxer AI, etc.), and AI-supported customer support testing. Content & Communication: Generate HTML for email signatures, stay updated on customer-relevant affairs, and improve AI-driven brainstorming & problem-solving.

CS Enablement and Scaled CS in 2025

Health Scoring: A Critical Asset for Scaling CS

Health scoring is a must-have for scaling CS teams, yet many organizations still rely on manual methods, relying on CSM sentiment rather than data-driven insights. To improve health scoring:

• Regularly review and refine health scores to ensure they reflect real risks.
• Incorporate product adoption metrics alongside qualitative inputs.
• Identify “non-action” behaviors, such as customers who never file support tickets, which could indicate disengagement.
• Follow the DEAR framework for structuring health scores effectively.

By tracking account progression over time, CS teams can refine their models and gain a clearer picture of customer health.

Time Management: Prioritizing High-Value Activities

One of the biggest challenges CSMs face is managing time effectively. To stay focused:

• Avoid constant distractions like keeping Slack and emails open all day.
• Prioritize high-impact activities that drive customer engagement.
• Shift from 1:1 interactions to scalable solutions, such as converting insights into blog posts, community discussions, or FAQs.

Strategic Conversations Over Operational Discussions

CSMs often get dragged into operational discussions, which can dilute the value of strategic calls. To avoid this:

• Keep conversations value-driven and aligned with strategic goals.
• Resist feature requests during strategic meetings—direct them to the proper channels instead.
• Set clear expectations on what different meetings should cover.

Customer Enablement as CS Enablement

Educating customers is just as crucial as enabling CS teams. Many customers, especially those onboarded after the initial implementation, lack clarity on who to contact and for what. Best practices include:

• Providing a clear slide or document outlining support contacts and their roles.
• Re-onboarding customers when key contacts change.
• Encouraging customers to seek answers from the community or self-service resources before reaching out to CSMs.

Scaling CS: Communities, Cohorts, and Playbooks

To efficiently scale CS, companies are leveraging cohorts, communities, and playbooks:

• Encourage customers to engage in community forums and open office hours.
• Use video recordings to provide reusable onboarding and troubleshooting resources.
• Expand playbook use beyond SMBs to enterprise accounts, ensuring all customers receive structured guidance.
• Develop post-churn playbooks to gather insights from lost customers and drive future retention strategies.

The Role of Cultural and Regional Differences in Digital CS

Automation and digital engagement strategies must be adapted to cultural and regional nuances. For example, CS interactions in Japan or Southern Europe may require a more personalized approach compared to North America. Companies need to customize digital strategies based on customer preferences and behaviors.

Value Frameworks and Benchmarks for Deeper Insights

Creating a prescriptive framework based on customer value drivers enhances automation in CS. Consider:

• Using customer surveys to determine their value drivers and maturity levels.
• Providing automated benchmarks, as customers often lack access to broader industry data.
• Requiring customers to contribute data in exchange for benchmark access to ensure a richer dataset.

Leveraging KPIs for Smarter Customer Engagement

Defining clear internal and external KPIs ensures that customers recognize the value delivered. Best practices include:

• Aligning CS and Sales teams to share objectives from the start.
• Integrating value-checks into onboarding to confirm alignment with customer goals.
• Ensuring the right stakeholders are involved, as different roles may have varying definitions of success.

Here’s a Start, Stop, Continue model we’ve gathered from the session.

Start ✅	Stop🚫	Continue🔄
Implement AI and automation for reporting, data gathering, churn detection, and customer health scoring to free up CSM time. Adopt scalable CS models such as webinars, playbooks, and self-service resources to reach more customers efficiently. Strengthen in-product engagement as email effectiveness declines, using event-based messaging and personalized notifications. Introduce gamification and milestone-based engagement to enhance customer involvement and product adoption. Develop clear customer segmentation and outcomes from the start to align engagement models with customer maturity and goals.	Implement AI and automation for reporting, data gathering, churn detection, and customer health scoring to free up CSM time. Adopt scalable CS models such as webinars, playbooks, and self-service resources to reach more customers efficiently. Strengthen in-product engagement as email effectiveness declines, using event-based messaging and personalized notifications. Introduce gamification and milestone-based engagement to enhance customer involvement and product adoption. Develop clear customer segmentation and outcomes from the start to align engagement models with customer maturity and goals.	Expanding digital CS initiatives by mixing webinars, community-led discussions, and self-service tools. Testing and iterating engagement strategies to refine email effectiveness, in-product messaging, and automation use cases. Leveraging CS platforms (e.g., HubSpot, Gainsight) to ensure smooth integration across sales, CS, and marketing. Focusing on customer outcomes over feature adoption, aligning success with customer business goals rather than product usage alone. Experimenting with AI to drive efficiency while keeping human interactions personalized and meaningful.

Upselling together with Sales & Marketing

Breaking Silos: How CS, Sales, and Marketing Can Win Upsells Together

Upselling isn’t just a sales motion—it’s a team sport. When Customer Success, Sales, and Marketing work together, they can drive expansion revenue, deepen client relationships, and create seamless customer experiences. However, many companies still operate in silos, missing opportunities to engage existing clients effectively.

To maximize upselling, organizations need to shift their mindset and align their efforts across departments. Here’s a Start, Stop, Continue model to follow:

Start ✅	Stop🚫	Continue🔄
Focusing marketing efforts on existing clients, not just new customer acquisition. Expansion ABM campaigns should become a priority. Collaborating with the product team to develop compelling stories, ROI data, and impactful presentation decks. Tracking client changes using Google Alerts, LinkedIn, and customer data insights. Conducting white space analysis to proactively identify upsell opportunities.	Working in silos—Sales, CS, and Marketing should have shared workspaces and collaborate frequently. Relying only on inbound interest for upsells. Instead, proactively engage customers with targeted campaigns. Assuming CSMs should handle all upsells alone—involve Account Managers in closing deals. Letting handoffs between teams create friction—implement clear ownership and transition processes.	Using segment-based campaigns, webinars, customer boards, and roadshows to drive engagement. Fostering collaboration through shared GTM meetings, forecast reviews, and shoutout channels to celebrate wins. Ensuring smooth handoffs between CS, Sales, and Marketing for a seamless customer experience. Managing potential relationship risks with a structured approach, using KAMs and CSMs strategically.

Client Change management, Success Plans & tooling

Managing client change is critical for long-term success, but many organizations fall into the trap of reactive support instead of proactive planning. How can we guide customers through change, ensure alignment with their goals, and leverage the right tools for success?

Here’s how to optimize client change management, success plans, and tooling:

Treat Change as a New Business Opportunity

When clients undergo change—whether it’s leadership shifts, restructures, or new strategic priorities—it’s essential to remap key stakeholders, rebuild relationships, and ask open-ended questions to uncover new needs.

Success Plans Should Be Segmented & Proactive

Not all customers have the same goals or challenges. Tailoring success plans based on customer segments helps drive engagement. Proactive guidance, rather than reactive problem-solving, ensures your product remains aligned with their evolving objectives.

Quantify & Prove ROI Continuously

Value isn’t just about features—it’s about measurable impact. Confirming a client’s perceived value at every stage ensures they see clear alignment between your product and their business outcomes. Utilizing tools like Impactpilot helps teams identify impact areas and drive adoption.

Empower Power Users as Internal Advocates

Some power users act as gatekeepers, limiting senior stakeholder engagement. Instead of seeing this as a barrier, turn these power users into product champions by showcasing how your tool can elevate their performance and make them shine in front of leadership.

Start✅	Stop🚫	Continue🔄
Treating client change as a new business opportunity—remap stakeholders and ask open-ended questions. Tailoring success plans based on customer segments and proactively guiding them toward objectives. Conducting C-level to C-level communication to gather direct strategic insights. Empowering power users—position them as key advocates who drive adoption internally. Using ROI quantification methods to confirm perceived value continuously.	Holding meetings just for the sake of meetings. Every interaction should provide meaningful value, or you risk losing long-term engagement. Allowing power users to act as gatekeepers. Instead, educate them on how the product can help them demonstrate results to leadership. Assuming clients will naturally adapt to changes. Proactive communication and resource sharing are crucial for smooth transitions.	Utilizing Impactpilot to identify impact areas and measure adoption success. Using Gong for call recordings and learning to refine messaging and customer engagement strategies. Preparing clients for changes with clear, benefit-driven resources. Implementing monthly Q&A webinars and community forums to enhance knowledge-sharing and peer learning. Leveraging Matiq for EBR data automation to ensure success plans are informed by real customer insights.

Key Resources & Tools

📌 Impactpilot – Measure impact areas and drive adoption.
📌 Gong – Call recording & learning for improved customer conversations.
📌 Matiq – Automate EBR data for better success planning.
📌 Books: The First 90 Days (Michael D. Watkins) – Managing transitions effectively.
📌 Podcasts: Customer Success Leader Podcast – Insights on CS strategies and best practices.

By embracing these strategies, teams can proactively manage client change, drive adoption, and ensure long-term success. 

Value-based communication, Time to value & Stakeholder management

Customer Success is also about demonstrating tangible impact on time savings, efficiency, and business growth. However, many CS teams struggle to quantify success effectively, leading to missed opportunities for expansion and advocacy.

To bridge this gap, CS teams must embed value tracking into onboarding, align communication to different customer segments, and proactively engage executives and stakeholders.

Why Value Measurement Matters

• Baseline Impact from Day One: Without defined commercial value metrics (e.g., time saved, cost reduction), proving ROI later becomes difficult.
• Proactive Data Collection: Instead of relying on customers to provide impact data, integrate data tracking into onboarding.
• Stakeholder Alignment: Different stakeholders (end-users, IT, execs) care about different success metrics—CS teams must adapt messaging accordingly.

Start✅	Stop🚫	Continue🔄
Baseline Measurements at Onboarding – Track key metrics (time savings, contract value impact) from day one to measure progress over time. Early CS Engagement During Sales – Align expectations, scope internal customer resources, and set realistic implementation timelines for faster time-to-value. Stakeholder Mapping Playbooks – Identify end-users, decision-makers, and IT early, and tailor communication to their specific needs. Regular “Value Conversations” in Check-ins – Embed questions into QBRs such as: “What value are you getting today?” “What would make this partnership indispensable? “How likely are you to renew and why?”	Relying on Customers to Provide Impact Data – Instead, design onboarding and implementation to capture key impact metrics automatically. Assuming One-Size-Fits-All Communication – Enterprise customers need executive reports & benchmarks, while SMEs might prefer community-driven engagement Overextending Services Without Boundaries – Clearly define what’s included in CS support and what requires paid services.v	Using QBRs & Benchmarks for Enterprise – Structure success narratives around customer-specific metrics and industry benchmarks. Tracking Time-to-Value (TTV) – A crucial metric, especially in complex implementations. Keep optimizing to shorten TTV. Leveraging Community for SME Engagement – Enable self-service value via peer discussions, knowledge-sharing, and product education. Early Executive Alignment – Don’t wait for QBRs—set up governance structures and ensure exec buy-in from kickoff.

Key Resources & Tools

📌 Gainsight Value Realization Framework – Align CS efforts with measurable impact.
📌 LinkedIn & Gainsight – Track stakeholder churn and manage transitions proactively.
📌 Success Plans – Map customer goals, KPIs, ownership, and timelines.
📌 Playbooks for Stakeholder Change – Reduce risk by preparing for leadership shifts.

By embedding value tracking, proactive stakeholder engagement, and structured success plans, CS teams can drive impact, secure renewals, and fuel expansion. 🚀

For leadership only: CS Processes and Metrics

Sales Market VS CSM

For true customer-led growth, CS needs a seat at the table alongside Sales and Marketing—acting as the bridge between customer needs, product adoption, and revenue expansion. Let’s dive onto the Start, Stop, Continue model we got from here. 

Start✅	Stop🚫	Continue🔄
Align Incentives Across Teams – Reward collaboration over competition by tying incentives to shared metrics like Net Revenue Retention (NRR). Train CSMs on Commercial Skills – Equip CSMs to identify and position upsell opportunities naturally without feeling like a salesperson. Leverage Customer Adoption Data for Expansion – Use leading indicators (e.g., high engagement, feature gaps) to proactively spot upsell opportunities. Improve Internal Marketing for CS – Increase CS visibility with Slack updates, all-hands presentations, and customer case studies. Define a Clear Handoff Process for Upsells – Ensure a smooth transition when CS identifies an opportunity and Sales steps in to negotiate. Use Marketing for Customer Storytelling – Support expansion efforts by showcasing customer successes and best practices.	Treating Upselling as a Sales-Only Function – CS has the best insights into customer needs and product adoption gaps. Positioning Upsells as Transactional – Instead, focus on long-term value and customer outcomes. Forcing CSMs to Juggle Too Many Priorities – Free CSMs from support-heavy or project-based work that takes away from growth initiatives. Creating Unclear Ownership Between CS & Sales – Define who handles what to avoid friction over upsell credit. Neglecting Marketing’s Role in Expansion – Marketing should nurture existing customers with relevant content, case studies, and events.	Measuring CS on NRR & Growth Goals – Ensure CS is incentivized to drive expansion and long-term customer success. Encouraging CSMs to “Sow the Seeds” – CSMs should initiate expansion discussions while Sales handles negotiations for larger deals. Bringing CS into Sales & Marketing Meetings – Strengthen alignment through cross-functional collaboration and shared insights. Highlighting Expansion Success via CABs & Community – Leverage Customer Advisory Boards (CABs), success stories, and peer engagement to drive organic growth. Experimenting with CS Incentives for Upsells – Test team-based or individual rewards to motivate expansion efforts. Tracking Expansion Signals – Monitor key adoption metrics (e.g., feature usage, customer maturity) to time upsell conversations strategically.

CS Processes and Metrics

Customer Success isn’t a support function—it’s a revenue and growth driver. CS leaders need to track the right metrics, automate where possible, and align their efforts to business objectives to maximize impact.

Key Challenge Areas:

❌ Misalignment of CS metrics with company goals → Leads to inefficiencies & lack of executive buy-in.
❌ Overextending CS resources on low-value accounts → Reduces impact on high-value customers.
❌ Lack of automation & standardization → Manual work slows down scalability.

Start✅

Stop🚫

Aligning CS Goals to Overall Company Objectives – Ensure that CS metrics contribute directly to revenue retention, expansion, and customer lifetime value (CLV). Tracking Net Retention Rate (NRR) as a Core Metric – NRR is the north star metric for CS in SaaS. How to measure & improve it: Profit.co Guide Automating Customer Journeys & Processes – Standardize health score-based triggers, CTAs, and emails to improve efficiency and scalability. Educating the Entire Company on the Importance of CS – Advocate for CSM impact with leadership, product, and sales teams to drive cross-functional alignment.

Using/Pitching Metrics Leadership Doesn’t Care About – Focus on key business-driven CS metrics (e.g., NRR, Gross Retention, Expansion Revenue). Aligning CS Solely to Sales, Tech, or Other Departmental Goals – If the CS team is doing admin work for other teams without strategic value, it’s a misallocation of resources. Throwing Bodies at Every Customer – Especially small, low-potential customers that require disproportionate support. Instead, optimize engagement models with tech-touch strategies. Expecting CS to Fix Gaps in Product, Sales, or Engineering – Instead, provide structured feedback to these teams so they can proactively address customer challenges.

If you’re looking for more valuable insights on customer success, strategies to reduce churn, and ways to enhance customer retention, don’t miss our next event! Join us for an engaging session where industry experts share actionable tips and best practices to help you drive long-term success.

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