Constellation ShortList™ Customer Success Software

About This Constellation ShortList™

Perspectives on customer success have been evolving over the past several years. As we find ourselves more entrenched than ever in the “retention” and “everything as a service” economy, customer success as a technology category is becoming a far more critical element than a simple tool for tracking subscription/software-as-a-service (SaaS) renewal cycles. In addition, with advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), customer success software has become a tool to drive a more strategic, growth-oriented approach to customer success operations.

The core tenets of customer success solutions remain focused on automating postsale processes, leading up to managing renewal and, in some cases, expansion revenue opportunities. Customer success software differs from customer relationship management (CRM) software, in that it is less designed for the “lead to opportunity close” process and instead homes in on more structured engagement cycles. Customer success software, in the best-case deployment models, draws upon CRM, enterprise resource planning (ERP), and other systems to create a richer mosaic of data that customer success managers and other stakeholders in the renewal/expansion cycle can leverage to better prioritize with whom they engage, and when.

In 2025 we expect to see further integration of AI tools and features into customer success solutions. These features will drive a more proactive engagement model for customer success teams. Through enhanced integration and more seamless analysis of disparate data inputs with AI, teams will be able to better predict churn scenarios and react before issues become critical. Product usage and other related data will power insightful cross- and upsell recommendations. And generative AI will power outbound content and other interactions aimed at building upon existing relationships to power more profitable growth and stronger retention.

Threshold Criteria

Constellation considers the following criteria for these solutions:

• Integration with CRM and other data sources for a holistic customer view
• Management of customer profiles, including contact information, subscriptions, and usage data
• Segmentation of customers, based on various criteria (industry, usage level, etc.)
• Tracking of key customer health metrics (usage, sentiment, support tickets)
• Generation of automated health scores to identify atrisk customers
• Setting up of alerts for critical events requiring proactive outreach
• Creation of personalized onboarding workflows for different customer segments
• Delivery of in-app guidance and tutorials to drive product adoption
• Tracking of user progress and completion of onboarding milestones 
• Automation of repetitive tasks such as sending follow- up emails or updating customer records
• Creation of custom workflows for different customer success activities
• Management of task assignments and track completion for the customer success team 
• Generation of reports on customer health, adoption, engagement, and churn 
• Visualization of key metrics through dashboards and reports
• Export of data for further analysis and custom reporting needs
• Integration with billing and subscription management systems
• Feedback and survey management to capture customer sentiment
• User activity tracking and product usage analytic
• Role-based access control for different user permissions
• Proprietary or embedded AI technologies to better identify churn risks, upsell opportunities, etc.
• Proprietary or embedded generative AI technologies to power content for outbound and other interactions and customer communications

Constellation evaluates around 25 solutions categorized in this market. This Constellation ShortList is determined by client inquiries, partner conversations, customer references, vendor selection projects, market share and internal research.

• GAINSIGHT
• TOTANGO
• PLANHAT
• CHURNZERO
• VITALLY