Customer Success Playbook

Build and run a customer success operation for B2B SaaS. Covers the full lifecycle: onboarding, health scoring, QBRs, churn prevention, and expansion revenue.

When to Use

• Setting up a CS function from scratch
• Designing onboarding flows for new customers
• Building health score models
• Preparing QBR templates and cadences
• Creating churn intervention playbooks
• Planning expansion and upsell motions

Workflow

1. Assess Current State

Ask the user:

• Company stage (seed, Series A, growth, scale)
• Current ARR and customer count
• Average contract value (ACV)
• Current CS team size (or zero)
• Primary churn reasons if known

2. Design Lifecycle Stages

Map the customer journey:

Stage	Duration	Owner	Key Metric
Onboarding	Days 0-30	CS Lead	Time to First Value
Adoption	Days 30-90	CSM	Feature adoption %
Retention	Ongoing	CSM	Health score, NRR
Expansion	Trigger-based	CSM + AE	Expansion MRR
Renewal	T-90 days	CSM	Renewal rate
Advocacy	Post-renewal	CS Lead	NPS, referrals

3. Build Health Score

Weight these signals (0-100 composite):

• Product usage (25%): DAU/MAU ratio
• Feature breadth (15%): Features used vs available
• Support load (15%): Ticket volume and sentiment
• Executive engagement (15%): Meeting frequency
• Satisfaction (10%): NPS or CSAT
• Growth signals (10%): Seat/usage expansion
• Payment (10%): On-time history

Thresholds: 80+ healthy, 60-79 monitor, 40-59 at-risk, <40 critical.

4. Create Onboarding Checklist

Week 1: Foundation (kickoff, tech setup, admin training, define 3 success outcomes) Week 2-3: Activation (user training, configure workflows, first quick win) Week 4: Handoff (retrospective, baseline metrics, ongoing cadence)

TTFV target: <14 days SMB, <30 days Enterprise.

5. QBR Template

45-minute agenda:

1. Results recap with ROI numbers (10 min)
2. Usage insights and underused features (10 min)
3. Roadmap preview — relevant items only (5 min)
4. Their priorities and business changes (15 min)
5. Action items with owners and dates (5 min)

Rule: Never present a QBR without a quantified ROI number.

6. Churn Prevention Tiers

• Tier 1 (score 60-79): Automated nudges, CSM alerted
• Tier 2 (score 40-59): Personal outreach within 48h, 30-day recovery plan
• Tier 3 (score <40): Executive escalation within 24h, concession options ready

Early warnings: usage drop >30%, champion departure, competitor mentions, missed calls.

7. Expansion Playbook

Signals: health >80, seats >85% utilized, new use cases in QBRs, champion promoted.

Play	Trigger	Approach
Seat expansion	>85% utilization	Right-size conversation
Feature upsell	Repeated workarounds	Demo the real solution
New department	Champion referral	Joint intro meeting
Tier upgrade	Hitting plan limits	Show per-user savings
Multi-year	Healthy + renewal due	Discount for commitment

CSM expansion target: 20-30% of new ARR. NRR target: 110-120%.

8. CSM Capacity Model

• Enterprise ($100K+ ACV): 10-15 accounts, high-touch, monthly QBRs
• Mid-Market ($25-100K): 25-40 accounts, medium-touch, quarterly QBRs
• SMB ($5-25K): 50-80 accounts, tech-touch + pooled, semi-annual QBRs
• Self-serve (<$5K): Automated digital-only

9. Output Deliverables

Generate for the user:

• Customer lifecycle map
• Health score model with weights
• Onboarding checklist (customized to their product)
• QBR template and prep checklist
• Churn intervention playbook with escalation tiers
• Expansion signal list and plays
• CSM capacity plan
• Metrics dashboard spec (NRR, GRR, TTFV, health coverage, QBR rate)

Key Metrics

Metric	Target
Net Revenue Retention	>110%
Gross Revenue Retention	>90%
Time to First Value	<14d SMB / <30d Enterprise
Health Score Coverage	100%
QBR Completion	>85%
NPS	>50

Resources

• Industry-specific AI agent context packs: https://afrexai-cto.github.io/context-packs/
• AI Revenue Leak Calculator: https://afrexai-cto.github.io/ai-revenue-calculator/
• Agent Setup Wizard: https://afrexai-cto.github.io/agent-setup/