Many customer service programs operate under the assumption that keeping customers happy is the most important indicator of success. However, metrics such as Net Promoter Score (NPS) and customer satisfaction (CSAT) rarely tell the full story and can even create a false sense of security.
A Bain survey found that 75 percent of software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies saw net revenue retention (NRR) decline despite investing in customer success, suggesting that happy customers do not necessarily translate into protected revenue.>
This disconnect is not surprising because often metrics, such as CSAT and NPS, are used for benchmarking and indicating customer health. However, these metrics measure user perception rather than commercial performance. CSAT is a transactional metric that captures satisfaction with a specific interaction, product, or service, while NPS provides a broader view of customer loyalty and the overall strength of the relationship over time.
While customer satisfaction metrics remain useful, the customer service landscape has been seeing a shift toward commercial indicators that demonstrate customer value over time.
From support function to strategic driver
Traditionally, customer service has been reactive, focused on resolving issues as they arise. Over the years, the customer success model has gained popularity, particularly in the past decade alongside the rapid growth of SaaS and subscription-based business models. As organizations shift their focus from short-term service interactions to long-term customer outcomes, a proactive structure focused on helping customers achieve long-term outcomes becomes increasingly effective.
Customer success programs that sync with companies' product roadmap are well poised for achieving or even outperforming customer expectations in the long run. TSIA's "State of Customer Success 2026" report shows that organizations aligning customer success with product management, for example, realize a 26 percent improvement in annual recurring revenue and more than half (51 percent) now directly monetize customer success.
When the customer service function is treated as a value engine responsible for retention, expansion, and financial impact, customer-facing organizations must reconsider their stakeholder relationships: who are the decision-makers and what do they expect to see?
Historically, strong relationships with users and operational leads have been adequate to maintain client accounts. Customer-facing teams were well established on the ground level with middle management, but relationships with senior stakeholders often lacked depth. High switching costs, implementation effort, and lost productivity all made change difficult. This meant decision-makers were often inclined to preserve the status quo.
However, this dynamic is shifting. Today, when it comes to boards and executives, there is a laser focus on financial outcomes. Satisfaction scores alone are not enough to justify continued investment. This is why NPS and CSAT might not be sufficient to persuade customers of a successful business support relationship over time.
Not only is it imperative to ensure the commercial indicators are baked into measurement, but also it's critical to engage with the right decision-makers across the customer organization and to understand their expectations. Users continue to be stakeholders, but now it's a wider group, including senior decision-makers, who will need to see the value proposition and evolution of services to ensure long-term success.
To develop the full picture, it's imperative to benchmark and track real goal-setting metrics with the decision makers and purchasers throughout the lifecycle. Key performance indicators (KPIs) should include customer adoption, contract renewals, and how much recurring revenue is retained and grown—i.e., net revenue retention (NRR). Sustained NRR growth occurs when products are increasingly and deeply integrated into customers' business processes, making them integral to day-to-day operations.
Combining commercial measures with customer sentiment creates a more balanced view and provides stronger evidence of long-term value. Paying close attention to the business impact being delivered by the product beyond the satisfaction scores of users helps address the needs and priorities of all stakeholders.
The shared-goal approach
Another key consideration for long-term success is the internal alignment of goals and outcomes between customer-facing teams and commercial departments responsible for generating or growing revenue.
It can be tempting to separate departmental goals to make ownership boundaries clear; however, in reality, this format can disincentivize team collaboration. It is worthwhile for team leaders to design goals with the mindset that separating the contributions between two departments, such as customer success and sales, is difficult to discern and both teams need each other to achieve success.
A more effective approach is the shared-goal approach, which is particularly well suited to enterprise and mid-market organizations. Many enterprises are already operating with a high-touch customer success model. Mid-market companies have traditionally been the place for digital touch, but this is shifting to more of a high-touch engagement method as the scale of opportunity is large.
In the end, long-term customer service success is measured not just by how satisfied customers are today, but by the business value they continue to realize over time. By aligning the right metrics, engaging executive stakeholders, and fostering shared accountability across customer-facing teams, organizations can transform customer success from a support function into a sustainable driver of growth.<
James Cadman, Luware's chief customer officer, brings more than 15 years of experience in the telecoms and unified communications industries. His background in transformation and leadership has enabled him to reimagine Luware's service offering, ensuring customers achieve their business goals from onboarding all the way through the customer lifecycle. His leadership in building scalable teams has been pivotal to meeting the demands of Luware's growth.