2016 Customer Success Salary Survey

2016 Customer Success Salary Survey & Stateof the ProfessionReport

presents

Introduction

Executive Summary

Meet the Survey Participants

Customer Success Salary Survey Results

Compensation StructureBonus ComponentsCommission ComponentsAnnual Compensation DistributionAnnual Compensation ComparsionCompensation Summary: Customer Success ManagerCompensation Summary: Sr. Customer Success Manager

State of the Customer Success Profession

Where Does Customer Success Reside in Your Company?Customer Success MaturityWhat Was Your Previous Background?Customer Success Team Growth and Turnover

Top Goals Of Customer Success TeamsChallenges Of Customer Success TeamsTechnology Used By Customer Success Teams

3

4

6

7

89

1011121314

20

21222324

262728

Table of Contents

Compensation Summary: Customer Success Engineer 15Differences By Team Size 29

Compensation Summary: Director of Customer SuccessCompensation Summary: VP of Customer SuccessCompensation Summary: Chief Customer Officer

161718

Average Compensation YoY Comparison 19

Highest Priority Goals of Customer Success Teams 25

The 2016 Customer Success Salary Report surveyed 1000 respondentsto establish industry benchmarks for Customer Success professionalsregarding compensation trends, the growth and maturity of the role, andthe unique challenges and goals in our industry.

This year’s survey saw a 25% increase in the number of respondents, andincludes participants from all seven continents.

Executive Summary - State of the Profession

A growing number of companies are taking steps to build and manage customer success programs. Enterprises in particular are showing significant strides in adopting the practice of customer success based on their evolving team structures and upgraded technology stack.

Customer Success is Going Enterprise

The number of teams reporting to the CEO has climbed from 15% to 50% over the lasttwo years, followed by teams that are reporting directly to sales (20%).

Around 40% of participants reported customer success teams larger than 10 and a highervolume of “Customer Success” titles are being reported than ever before.

Enterprise companies are focused on similar goals as their smaller counterparts, but havea higher reliance on customer success platforms.

Executive Summary - Salary Survey

Customer Success executives and teams are starting to be held accountable for direct business outcomes.With the combination of variable compensation and a decrease in overall compensation, we assume thatthere is a misalignment between customer success team goals and outcome expectations.

Tying Business Outcomes to Customer Success Compensation

CCO/VP of Customer Success - $158,000Director of Customer Success - $126,000Sr. Customer Success Manager - $110,000

More than 25% of respondents saw a decrease or no change in compensation compared to last year, with all titles seeing a decrease in average annual compensation.

Customer Success Engineer - $90,000Customer Success Manager - $77,000

Almost 75% of professionals received some form of variable compensation, with the majority(47%) receiving bonuses based on metrics like churn reduction, adoption, and customer health.

Meet The Survey Participants

By Job Title

Chief Customer OfficerVP of Customer SuccessDirector of Customer SuccessCustomer Success ManagerCustomer Success EngineerAccount ManagerOther*

* Includes CEO, COO, Sales, Support, Operations

10.9%

20.8%

42.2%

3.6%

19.2%

2.4%

1.1%By Team Size

1-5 Team Members6-25 Team Members> 25 Team Members

41%

41%

18%

By Region USA (73%), Europe (11%), North America (Excluding USA) (9%), Asia (3%), Middle East (2%), South America (1%), Australia NZ (1%), Africa (<1%)

Customer Success SalarySurvey Results

Compensation Structure

28%

47%

13%

12%

Base + Bonus + Commission

Base + Commission

Base + Bonus

Base Salary Only The majority of survey participants (72%) earn incentivesalong with their base salary, with 47% earning a bonus formetrics including churn reduction, portfolio health, andproduct adoption.

Commission continues to be a less common component of variable compensation. Only 12% of the respondentsreported compensation that includes base salary, bonusand commission.

Bonus Components

The primary driver for the bonus continues to be team and company performance at 42%. A smallerpercentage of customer success professionals have bonuses tied to other components such as case studies (5%) or Net Promoter Score (11%).

Team/Company Performance

Renewal Goal

Upsell Goal

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Onboarding/Training

Case Studies

Other

42%

29%

21%

11%

9%

5%

14%

Commission Components

Commission on Renewals + Upsells

Commission on Upsells

Commission on Renewals

56%

25%

19%

Approximately 25% of survey respondents earn commission as part of their compensation package. Of that 25%, the majority earn commission on both renewals and upsells (56%), while less than half earn commission on either just upsells (25%) or just renewals (19%).

Annual Compensation Distribution

12%

23%

17%

9%

19%

12%

8%

Note: Compensation figures include variable compensation (bonus and/or commissions)

$0-50K

$125K-150K

$100K-125K

$50K-75K

$75K-100K

$150K-175K

$175K+

Annual Compensation Comparison

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

$0-49,999 $125-149,999$100-124,999$50-74,999 $75-99,999 $150-174,999 $175,000+

201620152014

Compared to last year’s data, compensation is less uniformly distributed. With an increase ofhiring entry-level customer success managers, an upward trend has emerged for respondentsreporting compensation below $75,000.

Compensation Summary: Customer Success Manager

0

10%

20%

30%

25%26%

6%

25%

6%8%

4%

5%

33%

16%

46%

2016 AverageCompensation - $77,000

$0-49,999

$50-74,999

$75-99,999

$100-12

4,999

$125-149,999

$150-174,999

$175,000+

Increased 0-10%Increased 10-20%Increased 20%+No Change/Decreased

Compensation Compared to Last Year

Compensation Summary: Sr. Customer Success Manager

0

10%

20%

30% 28%

5%

0%

28%

20%

11%

8% 18%

30%52%




$0-49,999

$50-74,999

$75-99,999

$100-12

4,999

$125-149,999

$150-174,999

$175,000+

Compensation Summary: Customer Success Engineer

0

10%

20%

30%

30%

14%

3%

17% 18%

10%8%

11%

25%

25%

39%




$0-49,999

$50-74,999

$75-99,999

$100-12

4,999

$125-149,999

$150-174,999

$175,000+

Compensation Summary: Director of Customer Success

0

10%

20%

13%

6%

1%

19%21%

20% 20%

11%

27%

12%

50%




$0-49,999

$50-74,999

$75-99,999

$100-12

4,999

$125-149,999

$150-174,999

$175,000+

Compensation Summary: VP of Customer Success

0

20%

40%

60%

80%

4%1%0%

9%12%10%

64%

9%

23%

23%

29%

$0-49,999

$50-74,999

$75-99,999

$100-12

4,999

$125-149,999

$150-174,999

$175,000+




Compensation Summary: Chief Customer Officer

0

20%

40%

60%

80%

0%4%

1% 0%

9%8%

78%

9%

36%

27%

28%




$0-49,999

$50-74,999

$75-99,999

$100-12

4,999

$125-149,999

$150-174,999

$175,000+

Average Compensation YoY Comparison

Chief Customer Officer

VP Customer Success

Director of Customer Success

Customer Success Manager

$156K

$180K

$159K

$158K

$180K

159K

$126K

$133K

$135K

$77K

$86K

$94K

201620152014

*Data for Sr. Customer Success Managerand Customer Success Engineer are notavailable from 2015 and 2014.

State of the Customer SuccessProfession

Where Does Customer Success Reside In Your Company?

ReportDirectly to

CEO

Part ofSales

Part ofCOO Org

Part ofServices &

Support

Part ofRevenue

Part ofMarketing

Other (CPO,CTO, CFO, etc)

50%

20%

16%

5%3% 3% 3%

Following last year’s trend, it is becoming more common for Customer Success to roll up directly tothe CEO, jumping from 15% to 34% in 2015 and from 34% to 50% in 2016.

Customer Success Maturity

4%

22%

53%

3%

18%7% 20%

42%

9%

22%

How Long Have You Had a Customer Success Team? How Many Years Have You Worked in Customer Success?

<1 year1-3 years4-6 years7-9 years10+ years

75% of participants reported that their company has had a Customer Success team for 3 years or less. More than 60% of respondents have 3 years experience or less, with only 16% claiming more than 7 years of experience in Customer Success.

What Was Your Previous Background?

Always in Customer SuccessAccount ManagementSupport/ServicesSalesMarketingFinanceConsultingOther (HR, Operations, Engineering, etc)

8%

18%

17%

10%

20%

2%

18%

7%

With 92% of respondents coming from a different background,Customer Success continues to be a relatively young profession.This year we are also seeing a rise in respondents reporting “Associate” titles and entry-level roles in Customer Success.

Customer Success Team Growth & Turnover

How Much Has Your Team GrownIn The Last 12 Months?

How Much Turnover Has Your TeamSeen In The Last 12 Months?

1-10%11-25%26-50%51%+No Turnover

Customer Success teams continue to grow at a rapid pace with only 20% of teams experiencing no growthor team downsizing. Turnover appears to be relatively low, with 67% of respondents reporting little or noturnover (< 10%) for their team in the last twelve months.

5%

28%

19%

39%

9%

27%

11%

19%

16%

12%

5% 10%

1-10%11-25%26-50%51-100%100%+No growthDownsized team

Highest Priority Goals Of Customer Success Teams

Churn ReductionOnboardingProduct Adoption

76%61%

60%Customer SupportCustomer AdvocacyUpsells

48%44%31%

Churn Reduction

Onboard

ing

Product Adoptio

n

Customer S

upport

Customer A

dvocac

yUpsells

0

20%

40%

60%

80%

Top Goals Of Customer Success Teams

High PriorityMedium PriorityLow PriorityNot a Priority

Churn reduction (76%), product adoption(60%), and onboarding (60%) are top goalsfor Customer Success teams. Continuinga 3-year trend, upsells remain a lowerpriority.

0

20%

40%

Reactive

Approaches

Visibility

Into Adoptio

n& Hea

lth

Prioriti

zation

Scaling th

e Team

Clarity

of Role & Goals

Executiv

e Support

Challenges Of Customer Success Teams

Major ChallengeModerate ChallengeMinor ChallengeNot a Challenge

Companies continue to struggle withreactive processes (39%) and gettingmore visibility into adoption and healthmetrics for customers (39%). Only 16%of respondents consider executivesupport as a major challenge.

Technology Used By Customer Success Teams

CRM and helpdesk systems continue to bethe most widely used technology by customer success teams. The use of customer success platforms increased signficantly comparedto last year, jumping from 25% to 36%.

CRM

Helpdesk

Email Automation

Customer SuccessPlatform

Project Management

BusinessIntelligence

78%

49%

40%

36%

29%

24%

Small vs. Large Team Differences

This year, we compared the composition, goals and challenges of small versus large customer success teams. Large teams are defined as organizations with 25 or more customer success team members.

More large teams are using customer success platforms (55%) compared to

the industry average (36%).

Product adoption (66%) is a higher priority than onboarding (57%) for

large teams.

Large teams report higher turnover, with only 12% reporting no turnover

compared to the average (39%).

Totango delivers the most comprehensive customer success solution for recurring revenue businesses by taking a data-driven approach to nurturing customers, accelerating product adoption and ROI, and maximizing lifetime revenue from customers.

www.totango.com

1-800-634-1990

@Totango

2016 Customer Success Salary Survey

Technology

Transcript of 2016 Customer Success Salary Survey