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Model 66 of 74 · Customer & Growth

Customer Success Maturity Assessment

Assess how well your organisation helps customers achieve their goals and grows long-term relationships.

Pillars & areas

Onboard

Get customers started

  1. 01Strategy & Segmentation
  2. 02Onboarding & Adoption

Engage

Keep them succeeding

  1. 03Customer Health & Risk
  2. 04Value Realisation & Advocacy

Expand

Grow together

  1. 05Renewals & Expansion
  2. 06Team, Process & Cross-Functional Voice

Levels

  1. 1Renewal-ChasingReactive & last-minute
  2. 2Proactive SuccessStructured & proactive
  3. 3Value-PartneredOutcome-driven partnership

01 Strategy & Segmentation

Does the organisation have a clear customer success strategy and serve different customers appropriately?

0/4 answered

SS-1How clearly is the purpose of customer success defined?

Think about whether customer success has defined goals and a clear role distinct from sales and support.

SS-2How are customers segmented for customer success?

Consider whether all customers get the same treatment, or whether service varies by value, needs and potential.

SS-3How are smaller or lower-value customers supported?

Think about whether customers without a dedicated manager still receive proactive help.

SS-4How does your organisation define success from the customer's point of view?

Consider whether you know what each customer is trying to achieve, not just what they bought.

02 Onboarding & Adoption

Are new customers onboarded consistently and helped to adopt and use what they bought?

0/4 answered

OA-1How are customers handed over from sales to customer success?

Think about whether customer success knows what was promised and why the customer bought.

OA-2How consistent is your onboarding process?

Consider whether every customer goes through a defined onboarding plan with milestones.

OA-3How quickly do customers reach their first meaningful result?

Think about the time from signing to the customer getting real value, and whether you measure it.

OA-4How does your organisation drive adoption after onboarding?

Consider whether customers are helped to use more of the product or service over time.

03 Customer Health & Risk

Can the organisation see which customers are at risk early enough to act?

0/4 answered

HR-1How does your organisation assess customer health?

Think about whether there is a consistent view of which customers are healthy and which are at risk.

HR-2How early are risks to a customer relationship identified?

Consider whether risks surface months before renewal or only when the customer gives notice.

HR-3What happens when a customer is identified as at risk?

Think about whether there is a defined response, or whether each case is handled differently.

HR-4How well does your organisation understand why customers leave?

Consider whether churn reasons are captured consistently and analysed for patterns.

04 Value Realisation & Advocacy

Can customers see the value they receive, and do satisfied customers become advocates?

0/4 answered

VA-1How are regular reviews with customers conducted?

Think about business reviews with customers — are they a sales pitch, a support update, or a discussion of the customer's goals?

VA-2How is the value customers receive measured and demonstrated?

Consider whether you can show customers, in their own terms, what they have gained.

VA-3How strong are relationships across customer organisations?

Think about whether relationships depend on one contact, or span several stakeholders and levels.

VA-4How does your organisation turn satisfied customers into advocates?

Consider references, case studies, reviews, community participation and referrals.

05 Renewals & Expansion

Are renewals managed well in advance, and does growth come from genuine customer value?

0/4 answered

RE-1How are renewals managed?

Think about how far in advance renewal conversations begin, and who leads them.

RE-2How are expansion opportunities identified and pursued?

Consider whether upsell and cross-sell come from customer needs, or from sales targets.

RE-3How accurately does your organisation forecast retention and growth?

Think about whether leaders can predict renewal and expansion revenue with confidence.

RE-4What customer revenue metrics are tracked?

Consider gross and net revenue retention, logo churn and expansion rates.

06 Team, Process & Cross-Functional Voice

Is the customer success team well run, and does customer insight influence the wider organisation?

0/4 answered

TP-1How consistent are customer success practices?

Think about whether there are defined playbooks for common situations, or each person works their own way.

TP-2How is customer success capacity planned?

Consider whether workloads are matched to customer needs and value.

TP-3How does customer insight reach product and leadership?

Think about whether customer feedback influences product roadmaps and strategic decisions.

TP-4How are customer success team members developed?

Consider training, coaching, career paths and skills such as commercial acumen and consulting.

Self-assessment report

Customer Success

Answer the questions above and your report builds here: an overall score, a score and target for each area, and the three changes that matter most.

About this model

About the Customer Success maturity model

Winning a customer is only the beginning. In subscription, contract and repeat-purchase businesses, most of the value of a customer relationship comes after the first sale — through renewals, expansion and referrals. Customers stay and grow when they achieve the outcomes they bought the product or service for. When they don't, they leave, often quietly, and the organisation discovers the problem only when the contract ends.

This model assesses customer success as a proactive discipline focused on customer outcomes. It looks at how customers are segmented and served, how well they are onboarded and helped to adopt, whether risks are spotted early, whether value is demonstrated, how renewals and growth are managed, and whether customer success has a voice in the rest of the organisation. It applies to software and subscription businesses, professional services, B2B suppliers and any organisation with ongoing customer relationships.

The Customer Success maturity model contains 24 questions across 6 areas: strategy and segmentation, onboarding and adoption, customer health and risk, value realisation and advocacy, renewals and expansion, and team, process and cross-functional influence. Each question describes three levels of maturity through observable practices. It focuses on proactive, outcome-oriented relationship management; the Customer Experience and Customer Service & Contact Centre models cover the wider experience and support operations.

Who this assessment is for

  • Heads of customer success and account management
  • Customer success managers and onboarding teams
  • Chief revenue officers and commercial leaders
  • Founders of SaaS and subscription businesses
  • Product and support leaders who work with customer success teams

The three maturity levels

  • Level 1 — Renewal-Chasing: Customers are left largely to themselves after the sale, and contact happens mainly when there is a problem or a renewal is due. Onboarding varies by person, nobody tracks whether customers are using what they bought, and churn is a surprise. Renewal is a last-minute negotiation, and customer feedback rarely reaches product or leadership.
  • Level 2 — Proactive Success: Customers are segmented with a defined service model for each segment. Onboarding follows a structured plan with clear milestones, customer health is tracked using usage and engagement signals, and at-risk customers trigger defined actions. Regular business reviews discuss progress towards customer goals, and renewals are managed well ahead of time.
  • Level 3 — Value-Partnered: Customers' desired outcomes are captured at the start and tracked throughout the relationship. Health insight is predictive, interventions are timely and tailored, and customers can see the value they are receiving. Renewal and expansion follow naturally from demonstrated value, customers become advocates, and customer success insight shapes product, marketing and strategy decisions.

The 6 areas assessed

1. Strategy & Segmentation

The foundations of the customer success approach. This area covers the purpose and goals of customer success, how customers are segmented, the service model for each segment, and the definition of success from the customer's point of view.

2. Onboarding & Adoption

How customers get started and build usage. This area looks at the handover from sales, onboarding plans, time to first value, and how adoption is driven after onboarding.

3. Customer Health & Risk

How customer health is understood and managed. This area covers health scoring, early warning signals, intervention when risk is identified, and understanding the reasons customers leave.

4. Value Realisation & Advocacy

How customers experience and recognise value. This area looks at business reviews, how value is measured and demonstrated, relationships with customer stakeholders, and customer advocacy.

5. Renewals & Expansion

The commercial side of customer success. This area covers renewal management, expansion opportunities, forecasting of retention and growth, and the metrics used to track customer revenue.

6. Team, Process & Cross-Functional Voice

How customer success operates as a function and influences others. This area covers playbooks and tooling, capacity and coverage, the flow of customer feedback into product and leadership, and the skills and development of the team.

How this model relates to other frameworks

This is an original, simplified maturity model and is not derived from or intended to replace any of the following. However, organisations that use this assessment may also find value in these established frameworks:

  • Customer Success Association resources — practitioner resources on customer success practices
  • ISO 10002 (Complaints handling) — guidance on handling customer complaints, relevant to recovery activities
  • Net Promoter System — a widely used approach to measuring customer loyalty and acting on feedback
  • SaaS retention metrics (gross and net revenue retention) — commonly used measures of customer revenue retention in subscription businesses

Frequently asked questions

What is the Customer Success maturity model?

Assess how well your organisation helps customers achieve their goals and grows long-term relationships. It is an original, simplified model with three maturity levels (Renewal-Chasing, Proactive Success and Value-Partnered), assessed through 24 questions across 6 areas: Strategy & Segmentation, Onboarding & Adoption, Customer Health & Risk, Value Realisation & Advocacy, Renewals & Expansion and Team, Process & Cross-Functional Voice.

How long does the Customer Success assessment take?

Most people finish in 10–14 minutes. Each of the 24 questions has three concrete answer options. Your progress is saved in the page URL, so you can bookmark it and come back later.

How is the score calculated?

Each answer scores 1 (Renewal-Chasing), 2 (Proactive Success) or 3 (Value-Partnered). An area's score is the average of its answered questions, and the overall score is the average of the area scores, so every area counts equally. Scores run from 1.0 to 3.0.

Is my data stored or shared?

No. Your answers are never sent to a server. They are stored only in the page URL, which you control. Copy the link to share results with colleagues, or export a PDF or CSV report.

How should I use the results?

Start with "Where to focus" in your report. It lists the questions with the biggest gap to the target you set for each area, and shows what the next level looks like in practice. For a fuller picture, ask several people from different teams to complete the assessment and compare their links. Differences in perception are often as revealing as the scores themselves.