Bespoke at Scale
Efficiently Personalizing
In SaaS, we never have a lack of ideas, but we often lack resources to execute, so we must be ruthlessly efficient. One of the most effective strategies is creating a culture where work is leveraged repeatedly, yet still delivers a bespoke experience to each customer.
How do we achieve this balance? Here are some tactical steps to foster a collaborative environment that maximizes existing resources while maintaining that personalized touch:
Centralize and Share Knowledge: Create a robust internal Notion Page, GoogleDrive or other database where all work products, templates, and best practices are stored. Encourage your team to consult this repository first before building anything new. If they are looking for an asset that doesn’t exist, make sure they add it for the next person.
Organization is key. Everyone needs to be able to find what they need when they need it with little effort or they won’t use the database. Consider building an AI widget that pulls from the repository that allows natural language questions to help surface what they need when they need it.
Invest Where It Matters: For commonly used items like kickoff decks, implementation project plans, or EBRs- consider leveraging some design help from UX, Marketing, or another team to help uplevel the graphics and data visualizations.
Look for solutions that include a way to manipulate the underlying information in charts, so that CSMs can be self-sufficient when making future changes. For example, Canva offers a way to create 1 template, and then upload a spreadsheet of data of all the customers. This will automatically create unlimited customized decks with each customer’s data from a single upload. CSMs can then add or subtract slides for each customer to support they story they are trying to tell. This is a lifesaver during renewal season!
Adopt Scalable Technology: Just because a customer is segmented as “low-touch” they should never feel like you consider them low value. Utilize tools that can automate routine tasks without compromising the personal touch. AI-driven platforms can help customize communications at scale, ensuring that each client feels heard and valued.
Many Customer Success Platforms (CSPs) have incorporated AI as a copilot to help craft system-informed messages in the CSM’s voice and tone, personalized to the customer they are messaging. Smaller scrappier teams can use consumer-facing AI. Building prompts at a team level can create efficiency and improve the content these tools generate.
Encourage Cross-Functional Teams: Break down the silos. When teams across different functions come together, they bring diverse perspectives that can transform a standard solution into something truly tailored and innovative. Look for ways to leverage work being done by Product Marketing, Sales, and Support which might have been intended for a different audience or purpose but also could add value for your customers.
Also, let x-functional teams know what resources you have created that they might leverage. For example, a help article that tells how to complete a task could be even more impactful if it links to customer education materials that teach end-users why they should bother doing the task in the first place.
Change Management: CSMs who are used to the wild west where they can throw any old clip art on a slide at a moment’s notice may be resistant to using existing materials. We recommend establishing a guideline that 80% of the work be replicable- meaning you could use the majority of most things for another customer. 20% should be bespoke- meaning the CSM expects to tweak most existing assets to personalize them for their clients. Engage detractors to help create master assets for the rest of the group, and praise them for contributing to the team’s efficiency. Spotcheck periodically to ensure that people have created new habits.
By cultivating a culture where work is intelligently leveraged and creativity is nurtured, your startup can achieve more with less, accelerate growth, and maintain a competitive edge in the bustling tech ecosystem.
