# Top 10 in Tech - What to know for Week ending December 18, 2020

Published: 18 December 2020
Canonical: https://www.top10in.tech/posts/week-ending-december-18-2020

We're going to make this weeks newsletter a customer-focused edition:

## 1. SaaS METRIC OF THE WEEK

LTV/CAC. The ratio of a customer lifetime value (LTV) versus costs associated to acquire that customer (CAC) is one of the primary metrics that companies use to measure efficiency. Many think the higher the better - but [3 is actually the magic number](https://www.founderviews.com/the-famous-31-ltv-cac-ratio-is-it-too-low/), if it's higher, you are more than likely leaving customer money on the table - but [this article is interesting as it gives 4 reasons (from an advertising lens) as to why LTV/CAC is not a great metric](https://www.growthengblog.com/blog/ltv-cac) for early startups (and what to use instead). HINT: It’s totally payback period…...

Link: https://www.founderviews.com/the-famous-31-ltv-cac-ratio-is-it-too-low/

## 2. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Customer loyalty drives the success of a business, and the customer experience (CX) drives loyalty. Zen Desk has published their [CX Trends Report for 2020](https://d1eipm3vz40hy0.cloudfront.net/pdf/cxtrends/cx-trends-2020-full-report.pdf)and it's full of great nuggets: 74% of customers feel loyal to a particular brand or company and 52% of customers report going out of their way to buy from their favorite brands.

Link: https://d1eipm3vz40hy0.cloudfront.net/pdf/cxtrends/cx-trends-2020-full-report.pdf

## 3. CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALS

When it comes to trust, people trust people over brands. Chart Mogul has posted an '[Ultimate' Guide to Using Customer Testimonials to Boost Sales](https://blog.chartmogul.com/customer-testimonials/), noting that a generic and insincere endorsement is just as helpful as not using anything. It's also possible to take it a step further by leveraging those frothiest of customers into a referral channel. [Here is a playbook from SaaStr](https://www.saastr.com/the-playbook-to-building-a-customer-reference-program-with-talkdesk-svp-of-client-services-gillian-heltai-video-transcript/) on how to make that happen.

Link: https://blog.chartmogul.com/customer-testimonials/

## 4. CUSTOMER CASE STUDIES

Latching onto #3 above, beyond testimonials, case studies are super valuable at early-stages as a company needs to demonstrate to the market not just their credibility but both the business value and the technical context of the product. Heavy Bit has a great guide on [how to craft that first customer case study](https://www.heavybit.com/library/blog/customer-case-study-template) and Uplift provides [6 best practices to be using in your story](https://www.upliftcontent.com/blog/case-study-best-practices).

Link: https://www.heavybit.com/library/blog/customer-case-study-template

## 5. CUSTOMER SERVICE

In this current age of the customer, enhanced by COVID, SaaSx makesthe argument that [Customer Success is actually the product](https://saasx.com/2019/10/06/customer-success-is-product/). Want to start building out that product? Check the HubSpot guide on [getting started](https://blog.hubspot.com/service/saas-customer-service-team) with your customer team.

Link: https://saasx.com/2019/10/06/customer-success-is-product/

## 6. CUSTOMER SEGMENTATION

In order to calculate the cost for Customer Service Managers, it’s best to segment customers out in order to understand the efforts required. Chartmogul has [this great visual](https://blog.chartmogul.com/proactive-customer-success/) and once again Gainsight take a look at how to Benchmark efforts over segmentation. [Here is what they found](https://www.gainsight.com/blog/customer-success-team-planning-cost-benchmarks/). The median amount of ARR that an Enterprise CSM can manage is between $2M and $5M and The median amount of customers an Enterprise CSM manages is 10-50 - these revenue figures drop with mid and SMB customer segments and increase fairly dramatically with number of customers per CSM.

Link: https://blog.chartmogul.com/proactive-customer-success/

## 7. CUSTOMER PERSONAS

SaaS B2B Marketing is a [pretty unique beast](https://neilpatel.com/blog/how-saas-marketing-is-different/) - and getting [into the minds of an idealized customer](https://www.getbeamer.com/blog/saas-personas) often requires going through the practice of creating personas - [you should try it](https://userguiding.com/blog/user-persona-examples/)- it will def make you a better SaaS marketer. For most SaaS companies [creating multiple personas](https://tomtunguz.com/marketing-to-two-different-people-at-the-same-time) is often a strategic necessity. So here is an additional differentiator (and what the difference is compared to a persona) [of an Ideal customer profile](https://blog.close.com/ideal-customer-profile-vs-buyer-persona).

Link: https://neilpatel.com/blog/how-saas-marketing-is-different/

## 8. CUSTOMER DATA

Customer data management is a practice, not a technology. I love that simple message. Bluconic give the crib notes/5-steps [in this article about how to develop a strategy to optimize and improve customer experience](https://www.blueconic.com/blog/customer-data-management) using good data management practices.

Link: https://www.blueconic.com/blog/customer-data-management

## 9. CUSTOMER ONBOARDING

Onboarding success is often de-prioritized with scrappy fast-growing business but giving customers all the tools they need to succeed with your product is the best way to ensure that they stick around. Profitwell [review the importance of good SaaS onboarding](https://www.profitwell.com/blog/saas-onboarding) and discuss steps to create an awesome program. Userpilot also have a great tactical [complimentary post here](https://userpilot.com/blog/customer-onboarding-software-saas/) on the best customer onboarding software options for SaaS companies.

Link: https://www.profitwell.com/blog/saas-onboarding

## 10. CUSTOMER DELIGHT AUDIT

. Its the [Age of the Customer](https://blog.hubspot.com/service/age-of-the-customer) you know, so this needs to be a thing - here is an in-depth post from CopyHackers on [how to make this kind of Audit happen](https://copyhackers.com/2019/08/user-centric-delight-audit-saas) and here is a case study on how 3 big Tech companies (GitLab, HubSpot and Zoom) make delight happen. Also[here is a Case Study on building a customer centric B2B organization](https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/case-study-building-a-customer-centric-b2b-organization) from McKinsey.

Link: https://blog.hubspot.com/service/age-of-the-customer

## POD OF THE WEEK

WFH life for Customer Success teams - [the CEO of ChurnZero has a perspective on how to build this function remotely](https://www.saastock.com/blog/you-mon-tsang-churnzero-podcast)[https://www.saastock.com/blog/you-mon-tsang-churnzero-podcast](https://www.saastock.com/blog/you-mon-tsang-churnzero-podcast)

Link: https://www.saastock.com/blog/you-mon-tsang-churnzero-podcast