Customer Success Playbook

Build and run a customer success operation for B2B SaaS. Covers the full lifecycle: onboarding, health scoring, QBRs, churn prevention, and expansion revenue.

When to Use

Setting up a CS function from scratch
Designing onboarding flows for new customers
Building health score models
Preparing QBR templates and cadences
Creating churn intervention playbooks
Planning expansion and upsell motions

Workflow

1. Assess Current State

Ask the user:

Company stage (seed, Series A, growth, scale)
Current ARR and customer count
Average contract value (ACV)
Current CS team size (or zero)
Primary churn reasons if known

2. Design Lifecycle Stages

Map the customer journey:

Stage	Duration	Owner	Key Metric
Onboarding	Days 0-30	CS Lead	Time to First Value
Adoption	Days 30-90	CSM	Feature adoption %
Retention	Ongoing	CSM	Health score, NRR
Expansion	Trigger-based	CSM + AE	Expansion MRR
Renewal	T-90 days	CSM	Renewal rate
Advocacy	Post-renewal	CS Lead	NPS, referrals

3. Build Health Score

Weight these signals (0-100 composite):

Product usage (25%): DAU/MAU ratio
Feature breadth (15%): Features used vs available
Support load (15%): Ticket volume and sentiment
Executive engagement (15%): Meeting frequency
Satisfaction (10%): NPS or CSAT
Growth signals (10%): Seat/usage expansion
Payment (10%): On-time history

Thresholds: 80+ healthy, 60-79 monitor, 40-59 at-risk, <40 critical.

4. Create Onboarding Checklist

Week 1: Foundation (kickoff, tech setup, admin training, define 3 success outcomes) Week 2-3: Activation (user training, configure workflows, first quick win) Week 4: Handoff (retrospective, baseline metrics, ongoing cadence)

TTFV target: <14 days SMB, <30 days Enterprise.

5. QBR Template

45-minute agenda:

Results recap with ROI numbers (10 min)
Usage insights and underused features (10 min)
Roadmap preview — relevant items only (5 min)
Their priorities and business changes (15 min)
Action items with owners and dates (5 min)

Rule: Never present a QBR without a quantified ROI number.

6. Churn Prevention Tiers

Tier 1 (score 60-79): Automated nudges, CSM alerted
Tier 2 (score 40-59): Personal outreach within 48h, 30-day recovery plan
Tier 3 (score <40): Executive escalation within 24h, concession options ready

Early warnings: usage drop >30%, champion departure, competitor mentions, missed calls.

7. Expansion Playbook

Signals: health >80, seats >85% utilized, new use cases in QBRs, champion promoted.

Play	Trigger	Approach
Seat expansion	>85% utilization	Right-size conversation
Feature upsell	Repeated workarounds	Demo the real solution
New department	Champion referral	Joint intro meeting
Tier upgrade	Hitting plan limits	Show per-user savings
Multi-year	Healthy + renewal due	Discount for commitment

CSM expansion target: 20-30% of new ARR. NRR target: 110-120%.

8. CSM Capacity Model

Enterprise ($100K+ ACV): 10-15 accounts, high-touch, monthly QBRs
Mid-Market ($25-100K): 25-40 accounts, medium-touch, quarterly QBRs
SMB ($5-25K): 50-80 accounts, tech-touch + pooled, semi-annual QBRs
Self-serve (<$5K): Automated digital-only

9. Output Deliverables

Generate for the user:

Customer lifecycle map
Health score model with weights
Onboarding checklist (customized to their product)
QBR template and prep checklist
Churn intervention playbook with escalation tiers
Expansion signal list and plays
CSM capacity plan
Metrics dashboard spec (NRR, GRR, TTFV, health coverage, QBR rate)

Key Metrics

Metric	Target
Net Revenue Retention	>110%
Gross Revenue Retention	>90%
Time to First Value	<14d SMB / <30d Enterprise
Health Score Coverage	100%
QBR Completion	>85%
NPS	>50

Resources

Industry-specific AI agent context packs: https://afrexai-cto.github.io/context-packs/
AI Revenue Leak Calculator: https://afrexai-cto.github.io/ai-revenue-calculator/
Agent Setup Wizard: https://afrexai-cto.github.io/agent-setup/