![\"\"](\"https:\/\/intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/VIP-mix_Final.png\")
\nBefore building out specific support tactics, we identified three distinct groups that would receive VIP support.<\/p>\n
Giving every customer an amazing support experience is a challenge. It\u2019s especially true in the early days of a startup, when resources are limited and you\u2019re fighting to get established.<\/p>\n
Hard decisions about the levels of support customers can expect are unavoidable at this stage, particularly in SaaS, where customers are not locked into long-term contracts and can quit at any time. One prioritization option that can be extremely successful is a VIP customer support tier for key customers. This can be an explicit Service Level Agreement (SLA) on certain custom deals or price plans that charge a small monthly fee, or it can just be an internal emphasis on giving your most valuable customers a little white glove treatment to ensure they have a great experience.<\/p>\n
At Intercom we went down the latter route \u2013 making sure customers who looked like they would be valuable or influential got a little extra help. I set up and ran the VIP support program for nearly two years. For the first six months of that time we didn\u2019t have a sales team, much less global 24\/7 customer support. In lieu of those tools, our VIP customer service helped ensure positive word of mouth among customers we believed were most likely to have influence.<\/p>\n
Comparing the success of VIP companies to non-VIP identified apps is not entirely an apples to apples proposition \u2013 their likelihood to prosper makes them a VIP in the first place, right? But we ran the numbers on what impact VIP customer support has on customer churn. We confirmed it is significantly more likely to make customers become active users, convert those on trial to paying customers, and we retain them for a longer time.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how we made that happen.<\/p>\n
\nBefore building out specific support tactics, we identified three distinct groups that would receive VIP support.<\/p>\n
Customers who sign up to your highest value plans are self-selecting themselves as VIPs. They are spending a significant amount of money with you every month, and they are also likely to be investing significant time, resources, and energy embedding your product or service into their business. That heavy investment means they are much more likely to tell others about their good or bad experiences.<\/p>\n
Depending on your product this could be everything from obvious brands everyone\u2019s familiar with, to important bloggers or consumers with large social followings, to people connected with a company you admire.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t be afraid to cast a wide net. For example, you receive a sign-up from a big enterprise company, who you believe won\u2019t be able to use your desktop or mobile app because you\u2019re too small or too early stage. Your new sign-up is a potentially valuable internal champion and still deserves to be treated extra well. When your team, product, and funding level are of a size that makes using your product more realistic for enterprise customers, these early big company signups will be invaluable for future growth.<\/p>\n
If all goes to plan these will be everyone\u2019s future VIPs, so start treating them that way now. It\u2019s worth devoting some time (daily or weekly) to cross reference new customers against Crunchbase<\/a> to see what funding they have. Most serious startups are not using Gmail or other generic addresses to sign up to your product, so don\u2019t worry about those. When we started doing this at Intercom, we set the bar for this filter at a total investment of $500k or more.<\/p>\n Now that you\u2019ve defined your VIPs, how will you treat them? Some VIPs may be paying for extra attention as part of the SLA included in your premium plans. If that\u2019s the case the SLAs should be clearly defined:<\/p>\n Have all these FAQs answered beforehand and don\u2019t offer what you can\u2019t provide. Your VIP support can be a very simple process and still deliver a lot of value for the customer and be profitable for your company. Here are three tactics we\u2019ve found effective.<\/p>\n A personal message to your VIPs welcoming them to your product and offering extra help is a solid starting point. As you scale you\u2019ll only be able to do this for customers with the biggest potential but when you\u2019re small consider doing it for all your VIPs.<\/p>\n Assuming it makes sense for your product you might consider offering a 1-on-1 demo in this message. For startups without a sales a team this can be a great proto-sales approach to converting more valuable customers. Frequently the person who takes you up on the offer will invite others from their company. The demo then becomes a chance for you to help them convince the rest of their team that your product will help solve their problem.<\/p>\n Concierge or \u201cwhite glove\u201d onboarding can help ensure as many VIPs as possible convert from free trial to paid plan. To successfully implement it, you first need to answer a few key questions:<\/p>\n Uncovering the answers to these questions involves experimentation and will take time, but getting it right will inform how much outreach is needed, and when.<\/p>\n After sending the VIP welcome message, set up a schedule of manual check-ins at key intervals in the trial period to ensure the user is making the expected progress. If all looks good you might just say something like \u201cThings look like they’re going well, but let me know if you have any questions or concerns at this point.<\/em>\u201d If they don\u2019t take you up on the initial offer of a demo, you can always close with, \u201cThe offer for a demo still stands if you\u2019re interested.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n If it\u2019s clear during your check-ins that feature activation is behind schedule or activity levels are low, send them a personal message. Reach out and address a key feature you see they are ignoring or not using effectively. Offer some tips, emphasize the value of the feature, and let them know you\u2019re happy to go into more detail if they have other questions. Again, don\u2019t forget the offer to show them how to get the most out of your product in a quick demo.<\/p>\n While a great product is the most crucial element of customer retention, the personal touch of manual check-ins throughout a customer\u2019s lifecycle also has an impact. Make sure you consider resources: if you\u2019re a United States-based company then your capacity to offer 24\/7 support to global clients regardless of local time may be limited. Set up a regular task to manually check on your VIP customers\u2019 product usage and activity. The first 30 days after conversion are still critical. You can go to quarterly check-ins after that. The goal of these check-ins is to identify and head off \u201cactivity churn<\/a>,\u201d a leading indicator of account churn. If your VIPs are not using your product, it won\u2019t be long before they realize this and stop paying for it. By the time an account churns it\u2019s too late. At best you might get some feedback about why they churned. When you do identify activity churn, how you approach it matters. Fear of making a customer aware they are paying for a product they no longer use is not a reason to stay silent. Instead, reach out in a personal, meaningful way and try to find out what\u2019s wrong and how you might be able to fix it. The end result is greater long-term revenue retention.<\/p>\n VIP onboarding and lifecycle support doesn\u2019t scale infinitely. Beyond a certain scale you won\u2019t be able to provide this kind of manual, concierge experience to every customer unless you hire a team focused on this alone. So using personalized, but automated messages for everyone is a great idea.<\/p>\nDelivering a true VIP customer service experience<\/h2>\n
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1. VIP Welcome<\/h3>\n
2. VIP Concierge Onboarding<\/h3>\n
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3. VIP Lifecycle Support<\/h3>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Activity-Churn.png\")
\nRemember the key is activity at the account rather than the user level. It\u2019s acceptable for one user from a team to disappear temporarily; it\u2019s when the activity of an entire team is dropping that you need to worry. Churn won\u2019t go away if you ignore it.<\/p>\nStay personal at scale<\/h2>\n