Most companies still spend most of their time trying to win new customers. But when you look at the numbers, it’s clear that keeping the customers you already have is where the real impact happens. Retention is simply more cost-effective than acquisition — and even small improvements can make a big difference. Harvard Business Review notes that acquiring a new customer can cost 5 to 25 times more than keeping one, and that a 5 percent lift in retention can increase profits by 25 to 95 percent.
With tighter budgets, lower switching costs and more choice than ever, retention isn’t just something that’s “nice to have” anymore. It’s becoming one of the strongest levers a business has. And that’s exactly where Customer Success Managers come in.
What great CSMs actually do
Customer Success is often misunderstood as another version of support. In reality, strong CSMs sit at the intersection of:
- Onboarding – ensuring new customers get value fast
- Adoption – helping teams use the product or service properly
- Retention – spotting early signs of disengagement and preventing churn
- Expansion – identifying ways customers can get more value through additional features, services, or higher usage
- Insight – feeding customer intelligence back into product, sales, and leadership
Whether you’re selling software, services, hardware, education, or consulting, the principle is the same:
Customers stay when they feel supported, understood, and able to achieve outcomes.
Why CSMs matter even more in the age of AI
AI can now automate tasks like reporting, alerts, usage insights, follow-up reminders, and even drafting communication. That’s useful. But it doesn’t replace the strategic parts of customer success.
If anything, AI increases the need for good CSMs because:
- There’s more data, which means someone needs to interpret it and act on it.
- Customers expect personalised, outcome-focused engagement, not just faster automated emails.
- Buying processes have become more complex, with more stakeholders and more moving parts.
- The gap between “we implemented the product” and “we’re seeing real results” is now a major churn risk.
AI can tell you a customer’s usage is dropping.
A great CSM can tell you why, what to do about it, and how to prevent it from happening again.
If you’re looking to turn customer success into a real advantage, we have CSMs on Huzzle with the capability to shape onboarding, reduce churn and deepen the value customers get from your product or service
Talent Spotlight
When a CSM hire makes more sense than “one more salesperson”
If any of these sound familiar, a CSM is probably your next critical hire:
- Customers onboard successfully but value drops after a few months
- You are losing accounts for preventable, non-product reasons
- Adoption across teams is inconsistent
- You are not generating consistent expansion or renewal momentum
- Support is handling relationship tasks that belong in CS
- Your sales team keeps closing deals that no one “owns” post-sale
In these situations, a CSM doesn’t just protect revenue. They grow it.
When customers feel supported, they stay. It’s a simple idea, but it makes a big difference. A thoughtful CSM helps turn that into an everyday reality.
