You’ve built a foundation of trustworthy data, aligned your teams around customer health, and tracked customer objectives to secure renewals. Now, it’s time to shift from retention to expansion. The most successful SaaS companies don’t just prevent churn; they drive growth expansion fueled by customers who are achieving their objectives and primed for more value.
In this article, we’ll review the 4 things revenue operations and customer success (CS) leaders must do to unlock expansion:
- Segment customers by value realization and health scores
- Identify high-potential accounts for expansion
- Map whitespace to uncover upsell opportunities
- Launch joint campaigns across Marketing, CS, and Sales
Why customer-led growth matters
Expansion isn’t about pushing new products onto every customer. Expansion is about identifying customers who are thriving and will benefit by deepening their investment. Customers who achieve their objectives and maintain high health scores are your advocates, your champions, and your best opportunities for up-sell and cross-sell. By segmenting your customer base and targeting these high-potential accounts, I have worked with companies that have increased annual recurring revenue (ARR) by 20-30%.
The key? Leverage the data, alignment, and objective-tracking systems you’ve built to pinpoint where revenue growth lives, and activate your teams to capture it. Here’s how to do it.
Step 1: Segment customers by value realization and health
Not all customers are equal when it comes to expansion. Start by segmenting your customer base using two critical lenses: value realization (are they achieving their objectives?) and health scores (are they engaged and satisfied?). These metrics reveal who’s ready to expand and who needs support to avoid churn.
- High-value, high-health customers: These are your loyal advocates. They’ve hit their objectives (e.g., increased productivity by 20%) and show strong engagement (green health scores). They’re prime for expansion.
- High-value, low-health customers: These accounts are achieving objectives, but show warning signs (yellow/red health scores). Focus on stabilizing them before pitching expansion.
- Low-value, high-health customers: They’re engaged but haven’t fully realized value. Revisit their objectives to unlock potential.
- Low-value, low-health customers: These are at-risk accounts. Prioritize churn prevention over expansion.
Totango’s customer success platform simplifies segmentation by combining objective-tracking with health scores in a unified dashboard. For example, you can see which of your upcoming renewals have overdue objectives, and may be at risk, so you can help identify or filter your expansion targets.
Step 2: Identify high-potential accounts
Once segmented, zoom in on your high-value, high-health customers. These accounts are your growth engine; they’re achieving their goals, trust your solution, and likely to see value in additional products or services. But don’t stop at health and value. Layer on account-specific data to prioritize:
- Account size: Larger accounts often have more budget for expansion.
- Industry trends: Customers in high-growth sectors may need more tools.
- Usage patterns: Heavy users of core features are candidates for advanced modules.
Use predictive analytics to refine your focus. Totango’s AI-driven insights can flag accounts with a high likelihood of expansion based on historical patterns, such as increased feature adoption or positive NPS trends. This ensures you’re targeting accounts with viable potential, not just the loudest champions.
Step 3: Map whitespace for up-sell opportunities
Expansion thrives on relevance. For each high-potential account, map the “whitespace;” map the products, services, or features they haven’t yet purchased, but could benefit from based on their objectives. For example:
- A customer using your analytics platform to track user behavior might benefit from your predictive AI module.
- A client leveraging your core customer relationship management software (CRM) features could expand to your marketing automation suite.
To map whitespace, combine your product usage data with objective insights. If a customer’s goal is to improve team efficiency, and they’ve reached their milestones, check which additional tools align with their next priorities.
It’s also critical to involve customer success managers (CSMs) in this process; they know the customer’s context best. A CSM might note that a client’s efficiency gains came from one team, and suggest expanding to other departments. This targeted approach ensures your expansion pitch feels like a natural extension of their success, not a hard sell.
Step 4: Launch joint campaigns across teams
Expansion requires a team effort. Marketing, customer success, and sales must work together to engage high-potential accounts with coordinated, customer-centric campaigns. Here’s how:
- Marketing: Create personalized campaigns celebrating the customer’s wins (e.g., “You’ve hit your productivity goal; here’s how our advanced tools can take you further”). Use email nurtures or webinars to introduce whitespace products.
- CSMs: Lead with value in 1:1 conversations, like quarterly business reviews. Highlight how new products align with the customer’s next objectives, backed by data from their success.
- Sales: Position expansion as a strategic partnership. Armed with health scores, objective progress, and whitespace insights, account executives can craft tailored proposals that resonate.
Totango’s shared workflows enable this collaboration by centralizing campaign tasks, tracking outreach, and measuring impact. For example, when a CSM flags an expansion opportunity, marketing can trigger a campaign, and sales can follow up, all within the same platform.
The payoff
A customer-led growth strategy turns your most loyal customers into your biggest growth drivers. By segmenting based on value realization and health, identifying high-potential accounts, mapping whitespace, and launching joint campaigns, you maximize annual recurring revenue (ARR) while deepening customer relationships. This isn’t just about selling more; it’s about helping customers achieve more success, which fuels loyalty and advocacy. Put customers first, and growth will follow.
Recurring revenue is a rhythm — not one note. It’s a commitment to continuous improvement and innovation, led by the customers you’ve got. So, they meet their goals, and you meet yours.
Learn how Totango can help your business put revenue on repeat.
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