Design automated customer success orchestration plays that proactively prevent churn, drive expansion, and ensure successful renewals.

Objective

Create a comprehensive post-sale orchestration system that monitors customer health, triggers intervention at the right moments, and systematically drives expansion revenue.

Instructions

Step 1: Define Customer Health Signals (10 min)

Identify signals that indicate customer health status. Categorize as positive (expansion opportunity) or negative (churn risk).

Churn Risk Signals:

Product Usage Declines:

• Login frequency drops >50% MoM
• Feature usage decreases significantly
• Number of active users declining
• Key workflow abandoned
• No usage in 14+ days

Engagement Signals:

• Support tickets increasing
• Negative NPS score (<6)
• Declining email open rates
• Missed QBR meetings
• Champion left company (job change)

Business Signals:

• Company layoffs announced
• Budget cuts reported
• Competitor tool detected in tech stack
• Contract value decreased last renewal

Expansion Opportunity Signals:

Product Signals:

• Approaching plan limits (seats, API calls, storage)
• Power user behaviors (daily usage, advanced features)
• Multiple departments using product
• High NPS score (9-10)
• Feature requests for premium capabilities

Growth Signals:

• Company raised funding
• Company hiring rapidly
• New offices/locations opened
• Frequent user invitations

Example Health Score Matrix:

Signal Category	Weight	Healthy Range	At Risk Threshold	Critical Threshold
Login Frequency	25%	>15 per month	5-15 per month	<5 per month
Feature Adoption	20%	Using 5+ features	Using 2-4 features	Using <2 features
Support Sentiment	15%	Positive/Neutral	Some negative	Mostly negative
NPS Score	15%	8-10	6-7	0-5
Engagement	15%	Opens emails, attends calls	Sporadic	Non-responsive
Payment History	10%	On-time	1 late payment	2+ late

Health Score Formula:

Weighted average of all signals, scaled 0-100

• 80-100: Healthy (Green)
• 60-79: Monitor (Yellow)
• 40-59: At Risk (Orange)
• 0-39: Critical (Red)

Your Task: Define 10-12 health signals for your product with scoring criteria. Create a health score formula with appropriate weights.

Step 2: Design Churn Prevention Plays (12 min)

For each churn risk scenario, design an automated intervention workflow.

Play 1: Usage Decline Detected

Trigger: Customer's usage drops 50% over 30 days

Qualification: Account ARR >$5K AND health score drops into "At Risk" zone

Automated Actions:

1. Day 1:
   • Create "At-Risk" flag in CRM
   • Alert assigned CSM via Slack
   • Generate usage report for CSM review
2. Day 2:
   • Send automated email to customer champion:
     • Subject: "Haven't seen you lately - quick check-in?"
     • Content: "We noticed you haven't been as active. Is everything okay? Can we help?"
     • Include: Usage summary, link to book 15-min call
3. Day 5 (if no response):
   • CSM manually reaches out via LinkedIn or phone
   • Offer: Complimentary success session
4. Day 7 (if still no engagement):
   • Escalate to CSM Manager
   • Consider executive outreach
5. Day 14:
   • If re-engaged → Move to recovery nurture track
   • If not → Flag for executive save attempt

Play 2: Champion Departure

Trigger: LinkedIn signal shows champion changed jobs

Qualification: Account in good health prior to departure

Automated Actions:

1. Immediate:
   • Alert CSM: "[Name] left [Company] - identify new champion"
   • Research: Who is replacement? (auto-enrich)
2. Day 1-3:
   • CSM reaches out to former champion (LinkedIn): "Congrats on new role! Who should we work with at [Company]?"
   • Simultaneously reach out to other known contacts at account
3. Week 2:
   • Once new champion identified: schedule onboarding/handoff call
   • Send new champion personalized welcome package
4. Week 4:
   • Check health score - has it declined?
   • If yes: Deploy re-engagement tactics

Play 3: NPS Detractor Response

Trigger: Customer submits NPS score 0-6

Qualification: Any customer (all ARR levels)

Automated Actions:

1. Within 1 hour:
   • Alert CSM + CSM Manager
   • Create high-priority ticket
2. Within 4 hours:
   • CSM personally calls customer
   • Email sent: "We saw your feedback and want to make it right"
3. Day 2:
   • Schedule recovery call
   • Assign product specialist if technical issue
4. Week 2:
   • Follow-up survey: "Have we addressed your concerns?"
   • If resolved → Monitor closely
   • If not → Executive escalation

Your Task: Design 3 churn prevention plays using this format, covering different risk scenarios. Include timing, actions, and escalation paths.

Step 3: Design Expansion Orchestration (10 min)

Create plays that automatically identify and act on upsell/cross-sell opportunities.

Expansion Play 1: Approaching Plan Limits

Trigger: Customer uses >80% of plan allowance (seats, storage, API calls)

Qualification: Account is healthy (score >70) AND limit approaching within 30 days

Automated Actions:

1. When 80% threshold hit:
   • Alert CSM: "[Company] approaching limit - upsell opportunity"
   • Generate ROI report showing value derived
2. At 85%:
   • Send in-app message + email:
     • "You're getting great value from [Product]! Let's discuss scaling."
     • Include: Current usage stats, next tier benefits
   • Offer: Complimentary expansion consultation
3. At 90%:
   • CSM schedules call to discuss upgrade
   • Sales team prepares custom proposal
4. If they hit limit:
   • Graceful handling (don't hard-stop service)
   • Urgent outreach to resolve

Expected Outcome: 40-60% of limit-approaching customers upgrade before hitting cap.

Expansion Play 2: Power User Detection

Trigger: User logs in daily + uses advanced features + invites others

Qualification: User is not at max tier AND account shows growth signals

Automated Actions:

1. When pattern detected (Week 1):
   • Tag as "Power User" in CRM
   • Send personalized email: "You're a [Product] power user! Here's exclusive content."
   • Invite to power user community
2. Week 3:
   • Share content about premium features they'd benefit from
   • Include case study from similar company at higher tier
3. Week 5:
   • CSM reaches out: "Noticed you're maximizing [features]. Let's discuss [premium tier]."
   • Offer: Trial of premium features for 14 days
4. Week 7 (if accepted trial):
   • Monitor usage of premium features
   • If used → Send upgrade proposal

Expected Outcome: 25-35% of power users upgrade within 90 days.

Expansion Play 3: Department Expansion

Trigger: New user from different department signs up

Qualification: Department not previously active in account

Automated Actions:

1. Immediate:
   • Alert CSM: "New department at [Company] using product - expansion opp"
   • Enrich: Who is department head? What's their budget?
2. Week 1:
   • CSM reaches out to new department users: offer dedicated onboarding
   • Position: "Let's ensure your team gets same value as [original department]"
3. Week 4:
   • Analyze usage across departments
   • Prepare proposal for multi-department licensing or enterprise plan
4. Week 6:
   • Present enterprise pitch highlighting cross-department efficiency

Your Task: Design 2-3 expansion plays covering different growth scenarios (limits, power users, department spread, etc.).

Step 4: Renewal Orchestration Timeline (8 min)

Create an automated timeline for renewals that starts months before contract end.

Renewal Orchestration (Starting 90 days before renewal):

Day -90 (3 months out):

• Action: CSM reviews account health and usage
• Automated: Generate "Renewal Readiness Report"
  • Current health score
  • Usage trends
  • Outstanding issues
  • Expansion opportunities
• CSM Task: Schedule strategic QBR

Day -75:

• Automated Email to champion:
  • Subject: "Your [Product] success story - let's review"
  • Content: Achievements, ROI highlights, upcoming renewal timeline
• Action: Identify any concerns early

Day -60 (2 months out):

• CSM Action: Present renewal proposal
  • Include: Current value delivered, future roadmap preview
  • Discuss: Any changes in needs? Expansion interests?
• Automated: If no engagement → Alert CSM manager

Day -45:

• Automated: Send contract renewal paperwork
• Include: Detailed ROI report, testimonials from similar customers
• Offer: Renewal incentive if signed by Day -30

Day -30 (1 month out):

• If not signed:
  • Escalate to Account Executive
  • Schedule executive business review
• Automated: Email escalation sequence begins

Day -14 (2 weeks out):

• If still not signed:
  • Executive-to-executive outreach
  • Determine blockers - price? features? budget?
• Offer: Custom terms if needed to save

Day -7 (1 week out):

• Critical status:
  • Daily check-ins
  • Remove any friction in renewal process
  • Expedite any final requests

Day 0 (Renewal Date):

• If signed: Celebrate! Send thank-you + loyalty gift
• If not: Churn - exit interview + offer to restart in future

Your Task: Create a complete renewal timeline from -120 days to renewal date, specifying all automated and manual touchpoints.

Deliverables

1. Customer Health Score Model with signals, weights, and thresholds
2. Churn Prevention Playbook (3 plays minimum) with detailed intervention workflows
3. Expansion Playbook (2-3 plays) with trigger conditions and action sequences
4. Renewal Orchestration Timeline mapping all touchpoints from T-90 to renewal
5. Success Metrics Dashboard defining how to measure:
   • Churn reduction from interventions
   • Expansion revenue from triggered plays
   • Renewal rate by health score
   • Time-to-resolution for at-risk accounts

📌

Capstone Save Point

Save your retention orchestration plays for Section 11 (Operating Model) of your Module 22 plan.

Expected Outcome

You'll have a systematic approach to customer success that doesn't rely on CSMs manually monitoring every account. The orchestration ensures no at-risk customer goes unnoticed, expansion opportunities are consistently captured, and renewals are proactively managed. Companies implementing these plays typically see 20-40% churn reduction and 25-50% increase in expansion revenue.