Why Customer Success Must Focus on Outcomes, Not Logins: A Case Study in Driving True Value

May 5

In Customer Success, it’s tempting to fall for easy metrics.

"How many users logged in this week?"
"Are they clicking around enough?"
"What features did they touch?"

✅ Activity metrics feel good because they’re easy to measure.
✅ But they’re not what customers actually buy — and they’re not what earns renewals, expansions, or loyalty.

At Conductor, I had the opportunity to help shift our Customer Success approach from activity tracking to value storytelling and outcome-driven engagement — and the results spoke for themselves.

Here’s how we made the change — and why it mattered.

The Problem: Logins ≠ Value

When I first stepped into leadership at Conductor, we, like many SaaS companies, tracked plenty of activity data:

Daily active users
Weekly logins
Feature click-throughs
Pageviews inside the platform

✅ These metrics were useful indicators — but they became crutches.

✅ Accounts that logged in often were often considered "healthy" — even if they weren't actually seeing success.
✅ Meanwhile, some strategic customers who logged in less frequently were being flagged as "at-risk" — even when they were achieving major business wins using our insights.

We were missing the forest for the trees.

The Shift: From Activity to Impact

The question I asked our team was simple:

"If our customers could only log in once a month — but we helped them win in the market — would they still renew?"

The answer was an overwhelming yes.

✅ So we redefined what "healthy" and "successful" meant:

Instead of logins, we measured insight application.
Instead of feature clicks, we tracked business storytelling.
Instead of NPS surveys alone, we sought executive outcomes — wins that mattered at the CMO, SEO Director, and VP of Digital levels.

We made outcomes the North Star, not activity.

How We Did It

1. Shifted Business Reviews to Outcome Storytelling

✅ Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) stopped being platform tours.

✅ Instead, CSMs focused on:

The customer’s original goals
Wins achieved using our insights
Stories of how teams made better decisions based on Conductor’s data
Tying usage to actual business KPIs (traffic lifts, SEO growth, market share capture)

Example:
Instead of saying,

"You logged in 12 times this month!"

We said,

"Your team leveraged our Content Insights to launch 14 new optimized blog posts — resulting in a 22% increase in organic traffic in Q2."

2. Elevated Engagements to Executive Outcomes

✅ CSMs were trained to ask bigger questions:

"What KPIs are you being measured on this quarter?"
"How can we tie our support directly to your board-level metrics?"

✅ We turned CSMs from "usage coaches" into "outcome strategists."

✅ Customers started seeing us not just as a tool vendor — but as strategic partners.

3. Rebuilt Health Scoring to Reflect Impact

✅ Health scores were recalibrated to focus on:

Engagement with strategic assets (like business reporting features)
Number of strategic wins captured per quarter
Presence of executive champions and references

✅ A customer who logged in less but captured major wins was healthier than a "busy" customer with no outcomes.

The Results

Higher retention rates across mid-market and enterprise accounts
Stronger customer advocacy — more referenceable accounts for Sales
Clearer product feedback — based on real business usage, not just feature click counts
Increased expansion revenue tied to proven value delivered

✅ CSMs became more confident advisors.
✅ Customers saw us as true partners.
✅ Leadership trusted CS metrics more — because they reflected real business impact.

Lessons Learned: Building Outcome-Driven Customer Success

✅ Logins are a signal, not the story.
✅ Vanity metrics can hide real churn risk — or real advocacy opportunities.
✅ CSMs thrive when they're empowered to focus on business impact, not busywork.
✅ Customers renew for outcomes, not activities.

How to Start Driving Outcomes Instead of Activity

1. Ask Bigger Questions Early

✅ During onboarding, set business goals with customers — not just product training sessions.

2. Redesign Success Plans Around Outcomes

✅ Build Success Plans tied to customer KPIs, not just "adoption milestones."

3. Train Your Team to Tell Value Stories

✅ CSMs should connect usage to wins in every conversation — not just quarterly reviews.

4. Reward CSMs for Driving Outcomes, Not Ticket Closures

✅ Align internal incentives with true success, not just platform activity.

Final Thoughts: Real Customer Success Is Measured in Wins, Not Logins

If your CS strategy can be derailed by a dip in daily logins,
✅ You’re managing activity, not impact.

✅ Great Customer Success teams help customers win bigger, faster, smarter — whether they log in daily, weekly, or once a quarter.

✅ The companies that thrive in the next era of SaaS won't be the ones with the busiest dashboards — they'll be the ones with the strongest customer stories.

👉 Focus on the wins.
👉 Tell the right story.
👉 Build measured success.

Want to Shift Your Customer Success Strategy From Vanity Metrics to True Value?

👉 At Measured Success, we help CS teams evolve beyond activity tracking to outcome-driven engagement strategies that improve retention, expansion, and advocacy.

Work With Us →

Michael McAvoy