Let’s say you had a sixth sense for your customers – a way to sense their needs and challenges before they even say a word.
No more struggling through endless alerts or guessing what’s really going on. Instead, you have a clear and confident view of every customer’s journey, through which you step in with the right support at exactly the right moment.
Believe it or not, this isn’t just a dream – it’s becoming the new reality of Customer Success.
In our last story, we shared the moment we realized that giving every customer their own personal success manager, powered by AI, could change everything.
But turning that vision into reality meant building an observer system that could truly understand and predict customer needs in real time.
Trust me, the journey wasn’t easy.
Today, we’re diving into how we created that system, the challenges we overcame, and the powerful difference it’s making for our team and our customers.
Building a Watchful Eye: Designing a Configurable Monitoring System
First things first: we quickly realized there’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution. Every customer is unique, and their journeys are.
Let me tell you, they’re anything but simple. We needed a system that was not just smart, but flexible. This is something we could tweak and tune to watch the right signals for each customer.
So, where did we start?
We mapped out what really mattered: product usage patterns, support ticket trends, customer communications, and those sneaky behavioral indicators like login frequency. But here’s the kicker—these data points were scattered everywhere! It was like a digital scavenger hunt every single day.
Designing the Observer was honestly like building a watchful eye that never blinks. Always on, always learning, always ready to nudge us when something was off.
We dove into machine learning to spot patterns and prioritize alerts based on the likelihood of customer success (or churn—yikes!).
And NLP? That’s where the magic happened!
It helped us read between the lines in customer messages and emails, surfacing those hidden sentiments that might otherwise slip right past us.
And do you know what made the biggest difference?
We didn’t build this in a vacuum. Our Customer Success Managers and product experts were right alongside the engineers. They made sure the Observer wasn’t just smart—it was actually practical and valuable in the real world.
Connecting the Dots: Tracking Product Usage and Customer Signals
Here’s where things got really interesting. Before the Observer, we were bombarded with alerts, but they didn’t tell a story. Was a dip in usage just a fluke, or was someone frustrated?
Did a spike in support tickets mean a crisis was brewing, or just a busy day?
The Observer changed everything. Suddenly, we could connect the dots between all those signals. It would see, for example, that a customer who logged in less and started submitting more support tickets was probably struggling. That meant we could swoop in and help before they even had to ask.
Honestly, this was a game-changer.
We went from drowning in noise to having clear, actionable insights. No more chasing every single alert—just focusing on what truly mattered.
Adapting to Each Customer: Customizing the Observer’s Watchlist
But wait, there’s more!
What really set the Observer apart was how customizable it was. Because let’s face it, every customer has their own “normal.” For one, a drop in usage is a red flag. For another, it’s business as usual.
So, we built the system to be customizable. Our Customer Success Managers could customize the Observer’s watchlist for each customer, selecting which signals to prioritize based on their unique journey and business context.
This meant the Observer wasn’t just a generic monitoring tool. It became a personalized assistant for every customer. It could help us deliver support that was actually relevant and timely. And let me tell you, that did wonders for our relationships and trust.
From Reactive to Proactive Support: How the Observer Changed Our Customer Success Game
Wow, what a shift!
Before the Observer, we were always on the back foot—reacting to fires, scrambling to keep up. Now? We had a proactive partner, helping us spot trouble before it started.
The impact? Huge!!!
Our team felt less overwhelmed and way more focused. We could finally prioritize our energy where it counted. Fewer crises, happier customers, and yes—a noticeable drop in churn.
And here’s the best part: our customers felt the difference. They felt heard, supported, and understood in ways we’d never managed before. The Observer didn’t replace our human touch—it amplified it, giving us the space to build deeper, more meaningful relationships
Listening to the Quiet Signs: What Comes After the Observer
But, alas, just when we thought we’d cracked the code, we realized some issues still slipped through.
The Observer was powerful, but hey, no system is perfect.
That’s when the next big idea hit us: what if we could listen even more closely? What if there were a way to catch the quietest whispers before churn happened?
So, we started working on the next evolution—a layer we call The Observer’s Observer. It’s designed to catch what even our smartest system might miss, giving us that extra edge and peace of mind.
Curious how we’re doing it? I bet you’ll want to stick around.
In our next chapter, we’ll explain how we’re learning to listen to the subtle signals—the whispers before churn—and how it’s changing the game all over again.
