case study for customer success manager interview

20 Customer Success Manager Interview Questions and Answers

Common Customer Success Manager interview questions, how to answer them, and sample answers from a certified career coach.

So, you have an interview for a customer success manager position coming up. You’ve done your research on the role and the company, but now comes the hard part: preparing to answer the questions the interviewer is likely to ask.

It can be difficult to predict exactly what questions the interviewer will throw at you during your customer success manager job interview. But with some preparation, you can come into the interview feeling confident and ready to wow them with your answers. To help get you started, here are some of the most common customer success manager interview questions—and advice on how to answer them.

• What strategies do you use to ensure customer satisfaction?
• Describe a time when you had to manage an unhappy customer and how you handled the situation.
• How do you measure customer success?
• Explain your experience with developing customer onboarding processes.
• What methods do you use to identify customer needs and develop solutions?
• How do you handle difficult conversations with customers?
• Are you comfortable working with clients from different cultural backgrounds?
• Tell me about a successful customer retention strategy you have implemented in the past.
• How do you stay informed of industry trends and changes that may affect customer success?
• What metrics do you use to track customer engagement and loyalty?
• Describe a time when you had to troubleshoot a complex customer issue.
• How do you approach upselling or cross-selling products and services to existing customers?
• What strategies do you use to build relationships with customers?
• Do you have any experience with customer feedback surveys?
• How do you handle customer complaints and requests for refunds?
• What is your experience with creating customer service policies and procedures?
• How do you handle customer escalations and disputes?
• What strategies do you use to motivate customer service teams?
• How do you ensure customer data security and privacy?
• Describe a time when you had to work with other departments within the company to resolve a customer issue.

1. What strategies do you use to ensure customer satisfaction?

Customer satisfaction is a priority for any company, but it’s especially important for a customer success manager. This job requires you to be proactive in building relationships with customers and anticipating their needs, so it’s important for the interviewer to know that you have a strategy for doing so. Answering this question will show the interviewer that you understand the importance of customer satisfaction and know how to make it happen.

How to Answer:

Your answer should include the strategies you use to ensure customer satisfaction. This could include things like proactively reaching out to customers, checking in with them regularly, and following up promptly when they have an issue or question. You can also mention how you use data and analytics to track customer satisfaction levels and identify areas of improvement. Finally, be sure to highlight any successes you’ve had in improving customer satisfaction at previous jobs.

Example: “I believe that customer satisfaction is the key to success for any business, so I take this responsibility very seriously. To ensure customer satisfaction, I use a combination of proactive outreach and data-driven insights. I make sure to reach out regularly to customers to check in on their experience and ask if there’s anything else they need. Additionally, I track customer satisfaction metrics using analytics tools and look for areas where we can improve our service or product offering. In my previous role, I was able to increase customer satisfaction levels by 10% over two years through these strategies.”

2. Describe a time when you had to manage an unhappy customer and how you handled the situation.

It’s important for customer success managers to be able to handle difficult conversations and customer complaints in a professional and efficient manner. The interviewer wants to see that you understand the importance of customer satisfaction and that you are capable of resolving customer issues quickly and effectively.

Start by describing your approach to customer interactions and how you strive to ensure that customers are satisfied. Explain any strategies you use, such as active listening or providing helpful resources. Talk about the methods you use to assess customer satisfaction, such as surveys or feedback forms. Finally, discuss how you track customer issues and follow-up with them to make sure they’re happy with the resolution.

Example: “I take customer satisfaction very seriously and always strive to ensure that customers are happy with the product or service they’ve purchased. I use active listening techniques to really understand their concerns, provide helpful resources like FAQs or user guides if needed, and follow up regularly to make sure they’re satisfied with the resolution. For example, when a client recently had an issue with one of our products, I was able to quickly identify the root cause and work with them to come up with a solution. I followed up with them several times over the course of the next few weeks to make sure everything was working as expected and that they were completely satisfied.”

3. How do you measure customer success?

Customer success managers are responsible for understanding customer needs and expectations, and helping to ensure that their customers are satisfied and successful. It’s important to understand how customer success is measured, as this will help determine the success of a customer success manager’s efforts. Therefore, it’s important to be able to articulate how you measure customer success and how this contributes to the overall success of the company.

To answer this question, you should start by outlining the key metrics that you use to measure customer success. These can include customer satisfaction scores, retention rates, product usage and adoption, or any other metric that is relevant to your specific role. You should also explain how you use these metrics to track customer success over time, and how they help inform decisions about strategy, product development, and customer service. Finally, you should be able to discuss how customer success contributes to overall company goals and objectives.

Example: “I measure customer success in a variety of ways, including customer satisfaction scores, product usage and adoption rates, and retention rates. I use these metrics to track customer success over time, so that we can identify trends or changes in customer behavior and make adjustments where necessary. I also use this data to inform decisions about strategy, product development, and customer service. Ultimately, my goal is to ensure that our customers are successful and that their success contributes to the overall success of the company.”

4. Explain your experience with developing customer onboarding processes.

Customer success managers are responsible for helping customers understand the value of their products and services. An interviewer will want to know that you have the ability to develop and implement effective customer onboarding processes. This type of question will also give the interviewer an indication of how you think about customer success and how you approach it.

To answer this question, you will want to explain your experience with developing customer onboarding processes. Talk about the types of processes you have created in the past and how they have been successful in helping customers understand the value of their products or services. If possible, provide a specific example of an onboarding process that you developed and implemented. Additionally, describe any strategies that you use to ensure customer success after the onboarding process is complete.

Example: “My experience with developing customer onboarding processes involves creating a tailored plan for each client that outlines the steps needed to get them up and running quickly. I have created both online and in-person onboarding processes, depending on the needs of the client. My strategies involve providing detailed instructions, offering resources such as tutorials and FAQs, and ensuring that customers have access to the necessary support channels when they need it. Additionally, I follow up regularly with clients to ensure their success after the onboarding process is complete.”

5. What methods do you use to identify customer needs and develop solutions?

The customer success manager acts as a facilitator between the customer and the organization. They are responsible for understanding the customer’s needs and developing solutions to meet those needs. As such, the interviewer wants to know what methods you use to identify customer needs and develop solutions. Examples of methods include surveys, interviews, and focus groups. The interviewer wants to know that you have a process that you use to ensure that customer needs are met.

When answering this question, you should provide a brief overview of the methods you use to identify customer needs and develop solutions. You can also discuss any processes that you have in place to ensure that customer needs are met. Additionally, you can mention any customer success software or tools that you use to track customer feedback and satisfaction. Finally, if you have experience with customer segmentation and targeting strategies, be sure to mention those as well.

Example: “I use a variety of methods to identify customer needs and develop solutions. I regularly conduct surveys, interviews, and focus groups with customers to get their feedback. Additionally, I use customer success software to track customer satisfaction levels and monitor trends in customer behavior. Finally, I have experience with customer segmentation and targeting strategies to ensure that our products are tailored to the specific needs of each customer group.”

6. How do you handle difficult conversations with customers?

Customer Success Managers are expected to build relationships with customers, but sometimes that involves having tough conversations. It’s important for a potential hire to show that they understand how to handle these conversations with empathy and professionalism. This question will help the interviewer gauge how well the candidate can handle difficult conversations and how they plan to resolve customer issues.

You can answer this question by discussing how you have handled difficult customer conversations in the past. Talk about the strategies you used to remain professional and empathetic while resolving the customer’s issue. You should also explain how you use active listening skills to ensure that you understand the customer’s needs, as well as how you strive to build a positive relationship with them despite the difficulty of the conversation.

Example: “When I have a difficult conversation with a customer, I always strive to remain professional and empathetic. I use active listening skills to make sure that I understand their needs, and then work to find a solution that meets their expectations. I also try to focus on building a positive relationship with the customer, even in tough situations. My goal is always to ensure that they feel heard and respected, so that we can reach a resolution that satisfies both parties.”

7. Are you comfortable working with clients from different cultural backgrounds?

Customer success managers often work with clients from around the world. It’s important to make sure that you’re comfortable working with people who may have different cultural backgrounds or ways of communicating. Questions like this one can help the interviewer assess your ability to connect with a wide variety of people and understand the cultural nuances of working with different types of customers.

To answer this question, think about any experiences you have had working with people from different cultural backgrounds. If you have worked in customer service or sales roles, chances are that you’ve interacted with customers from various countries and cultures. Talk about how you adapted to their communication style and what strategies you used to ensure a successful outcome for the customer. You can also discuss your experience learning about different cultures through travel, language classes, or other activities.

Example: “I have worked with people from a variety of cultural backgrounds throughout my career, and I’m comfortable adapting to different communication styles. For example, when I was working in sales for XYZ Corporation, I had customers from all over the world and quickly learned how to adjust my approach depending on who I was speaking with. I also took Spanish classes for several years, so I understand the importance of being able to communicate effectively across language barriers. I’ve found that having an open mind and showing respect for other cultures is key to providing successful customer service.”

8. Tell me about a successful customer retention strategy you have implemented in the past.

Customer success managers are responsible for ensuring customer satisfaction and loyalty with a company’s products or services. As such, they must have an understanding of effective customer retention strategies that can help to reduce customer churn and maximize customer lifetime value. The interviewer wants to get an idea of the strategies you have used in the past and the success you have had with them.

Start by giving an example of a successful customer retention strategy you have implemented in the past. Explain the steps you took to develop and implement the strategy, such as researching customer needs, creating targeted campaigns, or using data analysis tools. Then discuss the results of your efforts, such as increased customer loyalty, improved customer satisfaction scores, or higher customer retention rates. Finally, explain what lessons you learned from this experience that can be applied to future customer success initiatives.

Example: “I recently implemented a customer retention strategy for a software company that had been struggling to keep customers engaged. I started by researching customer needs and developing a targeted campaign focused on addressing those needs. I then used data analysis tools to better understand customer behavior, so that I could create more personalized and effective communications. As a result of this strategy, the company saw an increase in customer loyalty and satisfaction scores, as well as a decrease in customer churn. I learned that customer success initiatives should be tailored to the individual customer, and that data analysis can be a powerful tool in understanding customer behavior.”

9. How do you stay informed of industry trends and changes that may affect customer success?

As a customer success manager, you’ll need to keep an eye on a variety of industry changes that may affect how you advise your customers. This question is a way for the interviewer to get a sense of your ability to stay ahead of the curve and make sure that your customers are always getting the most up-to-date advice.

You should come prepared to answer how you stay informed of industry trends and changes. Talk about the various sources you use, such as publications, conferences, trade shows, or online forums. If you have any certifications that help keep your skills sharp and up-to-date, mention those too. You can also talk about how you make sure to build relationships with key people in the industry who can provide valuable insights into what’s happening. Finally, emphasize how you take this knowledge and apply it to your customer success efforts.

Example: “I stay informed of industry trends and changes through a variety of methods. I read industry publications to stay abreast of the latest news and developments, attend conferences and trade shows, and participate in online forums. I also have a network of contacts in the industry that I can turn to for insights into what’s happening. I also make sure to apply this knowledge to my customer success efforts. For example, if I learn of a new technology that could help customers, I’ll create an action plan to introduce it to them and provide training and support.”

10. What metrics do you use to track customer engagement and loyalty?

Customer Success Managers are expected to have a deep understanding of how customers interact with their products and services, as well as how to improve customer engagement and loyalty. An interviewer wants to know that you have the skills and strategic insights to measure and track customer behavior, and to use those insights to develop solutions that will keep customers coming back.

This question is designed to assess your understanding of customer success metrics and how you use them to measure the effectiveness of customer engagement initiatives. You should be able to demonstrate that you have an understanding of key customer success metrics, such as customer churn rate, customer lifetime value, net promoter score (NPS), customer satisfaction score (CSAT), and customer effort score (CES). Additionally, you should provide examples of how you have used these metrics in the past to improve customer retention and loyalty.

Example: “I have experience using a variety of customer success metrics to measure customer engagement and loyalty. My go-to metrics for tracking customer engagement include customer churn rate, customer lifetime value, net promoter score (NPS), customer satisfaction score (CSAT), and customer effort score (CES). I also use A/B testing to understand how different customer engagement strategies affect customer behavior. For example, I recently used A/B testing to measure the impact of an email campaign on customer retention and loyalty. The results of the test showed that customers who received the email campaign were more likely to remain loyal to the company, and the results helped inform our customer engagement strategy going forward.”

11. Describe a time when you had to troubleshoot a complex customer issue.

This question is designed to assess a candidate’s problem-solving and technical skills. It’s also a chance to evaluate their ability to think on their feet and find creative solutions to difficult customer issues. The interviewer will be looking for evidence that the candidate can handle complex customer problems, identify and address the root cause of the issue, and provide the customer with a satisfactory resolution.

Start by providing a brief overview of the customer issue you had to troubleshoot. Then, explain how you identified and addressed the root cause of the issue. Be sure to provide specific details about your approach and any tools or techniques you used to resolve the problem. Finally, explain what the outcome was and how it benefited the customer. If possible, include an example of how the customer thanked or praised you for your work.

Example: “I recently had to troubleshoot a complex customer issue for a large manufacturing company. The customer was experiencing intermittent system outages, but the cause of the issue was unclear. I worked closely with the customer’s IT team to identify the source of the problem and develop a solution. After a thorough investigation, I was able to pinpoint the issue to a faulty router that was causing network latency. I replaced the router, and the customer’s system outages were eliminated. The customer was extremely grateful for my quick and thorough response and thanked me for my help.”

12. How do you approach upselling or cross-selling products and services to existing customers?

Customer success managers are not only responsible for helping customers get the most out of a product or service, but they are also responsible for helping companies grow their customer base. Knowing how to approach upselling or cross-selling products and services to existing customers is a key skill for customer success managers. The interviewer wants to know that you understand the importance of providing value to existing customers and how to do so in a way that makes them want to buy more.

When answering this question, it is important to emphasize the value that you will be providing to the customer. Explain how you would take the time to understand their needs and goals and then suggest additional products or services that could help them achieve those goals. Show that you understand the importance of building trust with customers and that you are not just trying to make a sale. Finally, showcase your ability to think outside the box when it comes to upselling and cross-selling—demonstrate that you can come up with creative solutions to meet customer needs.

Example: “My approach to upselling and cross-selling products and services to existing customers is centered around providing value to them. I take the time to understand their goals and needs, and then suggest additional products or services that could help them achieve those goals. I emphasize the value that these products or services can provide to them and make sure that I am not just trying to make a sale. I also like to think outside the box when it comes to upselling and cross-selling—I look for creative solutions to meet customer needs. My goal is to build trust with customers and make them feel that I genuinely care about their success.”

13. What strategies do you use to build relationships with customers?

Customer success managers need to be able to build relationships with customers in order to ensure their success. This question allows the interviewer to get a sense of how you approach building relationships with customers, as well as what strategies you use to ensure customer satisfaction. Additionally, the interviewer can get a sense of your customer service skills and whether you are a good fit for the customer success team.

When answering this question, be sure to emphasize your ability to build strong relationships with customers. Describe the strategies you use to get to know customers and understand their needs. Examples of strategies include asking questions about customer goals, understanding customer pain points, actively listening to customer feedback, offering personalized solutions, and providing ongoing support. Additionally, explain how you maintain a positive attitude when dealing with difficult situations or challenging customers. Finally, highlight any successes you have had in building relationships with customers in the past.

Example: “I believe that building relationships with customers is essential to their success. My approach is to get to know the customer and understand their goals and pain points. I ask open-ended questions to gain insights into their challenges and use that information to offer personalized solutions. I also make sure to actively listen to customer feedback so that I can adjust my strategy as needed. I strive to maintain a positive attitude when dealing with difficult situations and challenging customers, and I always strive to ensure that their experience is as positive as possible. I have had great success in building relationships with customers in the past and I am confident that I can do the same for this position.”

14. Do you have any experience with customer feedback surveys?

Customer feedback surveys are an important tool for customer success managers. By understanding what customers think of their experience with the product or service, customer success managers can better serve their customers. This question can help an interviewer determine if the candidate has experience with customer feedback surveys and how they might use them to improve customer service.

The best way to answer this question is to provide specific examples of how you have used customer feedback surveys in the past. Talk about any initiatives or projects that you have implemented based on the results of a survey. You can also discuss any successes or challenges that you experienced while using customer feedback surveys and how you overcame those challenges. Finally, make sure to emphasize your understanding of the importance of customer feedback surveys and why they are essential to providing great customer service.

Example: “Yes, I have experience with customer feedback surveys. In my previous role as a customer success manager, I implemented a customer feedback survey program to collect detailed insights into our customers’ experiences. I worked with the marketing team to create surveys that asked customers about their experiences with our product, their level of satisfaction, and their overall opinion of the company. I also monitored the results of the surveys and created reports on the findings. I was able to use the survey results to identify areas of improvement, which allowed us to better serve our customers and increase customer satisfaction.”

15. How do you handle customer complaints and requests for refunds?

Customer success managers are responsible for ensuring customer satisfaction and building long-term relationships with customers. As such, they need to be able to handle customer complaints and requests for refunds in a professional and efficient manner. The interviewer wants to know that you understand the importance of customer service and that you have the skills necessary to handle difficult conversations and maintain customer loyalty.

When answering this question, you should emphasize your ability to remain professional and courteous in difficult conversations. Talk about how you listen carefully to customer complaints and requests for refunds, and explain the steps you take to resolve the issue. You should also discuss any strategies you have implemented to prevent similar issues from occurring again in the future. Finally, be sure to mention any successes you’ve had in retaining customers despite their dissatisfaction with a product or service.

Example: “I always strive to provide excellent customer service and ensure that my customers are happy with their purchases. I understand that customer complaints and requests for refunds can be difficult conversations to have, but I take each one seriously and try to resolve the issue in a fair and timely manner. I always listen carefully to understand the customer’s perspective, and I work to find a solution that is satisfactory for both parties. I also work hard to prevent similar issues from occurring in the future by implementing customer feedback loops and regularly checking in with customers to gauge their satisfaction levels. I’m proud to say that I have been able to retain many customers despite their initial dissatisfaction with a product or service.”

16. What is your experience with creating customer service policies and procedures?

Customer success managers are responsible for making sure customers are getting the most out of their products and services. They must have the skills to craft customer service policies and procedures that will ensure customers have a positive experience. This question is designed to determine whether or not you have the necessary knowledge and experience to create and maintain customer service policies.

The best way to answer this question is by providing concrete examples of your experience creating customer service policies and procedures. Talk about any projects you’ve worked on in the past that involved crafting customer service policies, as well as what processes you used to ensure they were effective. You should also talk about any feedback or results you received from customers after implementing those policies. This will show the interviewer that you have the necessary skills and knowledge to create successful customer service policies.

Example: “I have a lot of experience crafting customer service policies and procedures. In my current role as a customer success manager, I am responsible for creating customer service policies that are tailored to the needs of our customers. I regularly consult with customers to understand their unique needs and preferences, and then craft policies that are tailored to their specific requirements. I also ensure that the policies are regularly reviewed and updated to ensure they remain effective. I’ve also worked with customers to develop feedback systems that allow us to measure the effectiveness of our policies and ensure that they are meeting customer expectations.”

17. How do you handle customer escalations and disputes?

This question is designed to gauge your ability to handle customer disputes. It’s important to be able to recognize when a customer is unhappy and how to quickly address the situation. You should be able to demonstrate that you understand how to de-escalate a customer’s emotions and help them find a resolution to their concern.

Explain how you would handle a customer escalation. You should emphasize your ability to listen and understand the customer’s problem, as well as your willingness to work with them to find an appropriate solution. Be sure to mention any steps you take to ensure the customer is satisfied with the resolution. Additionally, explain how you document customer interactions in order to keep track of disputes and resolutions.

Example: “When a customer escalates an issue, I focus on understanding the root of their concern. I listen to their feedback and ask clarifying questions to ensure I understand the full scope of the issue. I then work with the customer to find a resolution that meets their needs. I strive to provide a resolution that is both satisfactory and timely. I document the customer interaction and resolution in our customer relationship management system to ensure that the issue is tracked and that we can provide a consistent experience if the customer contacts us again.”

18. What strategies do you use to motivate customer service teams?

Customer success managers are responsible for ensuring that customer service teams are able to provide the best possible customer experience. They must be able to motivate their teams, be aware of the latest customer service trends, and know how to measure success. This question allows the interviewer to gauge your understanding of customer success and how you would apply it to their organization.

Start by talking about the strategies you have used in the past to motivate customer service teams. You can discuss any incentives or rewards programs that you implemented, as well as any team-building activities that helped foster a sense of camaraderie and collaboration among your team members. Additionally, be sure to mention any metrics that you use to measure success, such as customer satisfaction scores or response times. Finally, discuss how you would apply these strategies to the company’s specific needs and goals.

Example: “At my previous job, I was able to increase customer satisfaction by implementing an incentive program for customer service teams. This program rewarded employees for providing excellent customer service, and it helped motivate them to do their best. Additionally, I held regular team-building activities to foster a sense of camaraderie among the team members. I also tracked customer satisfaction scores and response times to measure our success. For this role, I would use a similar approach to motivate the customer service team. I would also take into consideration the company’s goals and needs to ensure that the strategies I implement are tailored to the organization’s success.”

19. How do you ensure customer data security and privacy?

Data security and privacy are important to any business, and as a Customer Success Manager, you’ll likely be responsible for ensuring that customer data is secure and protected. This question is meant to test your knowledge on the topic and to see if you have experience with data security protocols and procedures. This is important not only to protect the customer’s data but also to protect the company’s data from any potential breach.

You should be prepared to answer this question with a few examples of how you ensure customer data security and privacy. Talk about any protocols or procedures you’ve implemented in the past, such as encrypting customer data, using two-factor authentication for logins, or requiring customers to use secure passwords. You can also talk about your experience training employees on data security best practices and monitoring compliance. Finally, emphasize that you understand the importance of protecting customer data and are committed to ensuring its safety.

Example: “I take data security and privacy very seriously, and I’ve implemented a number of protocols and procedures to ensure the security of customer data. I’ve implemented encryption of customer data, two-factor authentication for logins, and secure passwords for customers. I’ve also trained my team on data security best practices and monitored compliance to make sure everyone is following the necessary protocols. I understand the importance of protecting customer data, and I’m dedicated to ensuring its safety.”

20. Describe a time when you had to work with other departments within the company to resolve a customer issue.

Customer success managers need to be able to handle customer issues on their own, but they also need to be able to recognize when an issue requires the help of other departments and be able to collaborate effectively with them. This question is designed to get a sense of how well you’re able to handle inter-departmental communication and cooperation.

To answer this question, you should walk the interviewer through a specific example of when you had to work with other departments. Explain the customer issue and how it required collaboration between multiple departments, what your role was in resolving the issue, and how you were able to effectively communicate and coordinate with the other departments to resolve the problem. Be sure to emphasize that you understand the importance of inter-departmental communication and cooperation and can handle it successfully.

Example: “A few months ago, I was working with a customer who had a complex issue that required the collaboration of multiple departments. I had to coordinate with the product team, the engineering team, and the customer service team to ensure that the customer got the best possible resolution. I was the main point of contact for the customer, so I was responsible for explaining the issue to the other departments, ensuring that everyone was on the same page, and communicating the resolution back to the customer. In the end, we were able to solve the customer’s issue and they were very satisfied with the outcome. It was a great example of how effective inter-departmental communication can lead to successful customer resolution.”

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• Diana De Jesus
• Jul 27, 2023

Customer Success Manager Interview Presentations: How To Stand Out And Get The Job!

Updated: Jan 23

There’s a point in the customer success interview process that gets a little mysterious: the task/presentation.

What is the task/presentation?

You won’t know until it gets assigned to you. Usually, this comes up during the third round of a customer success interview.

And after completing several tasks myself and working with clients who are in the customer success interview process, here are some of the tasks I’ve seen:

Handoff mock presentation

Health check mock presentation

Upselling/cross-selling a product

Onboarding/kickoff mock presentation

Renewal mock presentation

Answering customer emails/questions

It’s clear that tasks come in all shapes and sizes, so no one-size-fits-all template can tackle this assignment. But, despite the variety, there is ONE thing you need to do if you want to take your task delivery to the next level and get the job.

You can’t study for this ONE thing CS leaders are looking for in your presentation interviews.

It’s not a skill, there’s no certification, and it can cost you the job 😬

But what can you do? And what is this ONE thing?

It’s confidence!

I recently asked CS leaders why an interview presentation blew them away. Most of them mentioned that the interviewees' confidence sealed the deal. So how can we be more “confident” during our presentations? Let’s break it down in this post.

Know the material inside and out.

The whole “fake it till you make it” rhetoric… Yeah, I’m gonna need you to toss that out the window.

You can’t be confident about something you don’t know.

First, read the presentation prompt several times. If something is giving you pause, ask questions (it’s okay). Understanding the objective of your task prompt is key because it’s the thing that will ensure you’re delivering what they’re asking of you.

Make a list of the details and requirements and ensure you address them all in your deliverables.

Then, your next step is to do your thorough research.

Invest as much time as possible to learn about the tool, product, and company. Read the case studies, check the blogs, and study their website. If they are a more established company, they might have YouTube videos, events, or podcasts, which you can leverage.

Create your presentation.

I am loyal to Google Slides! I can edit the theme of the slides easily, use the speaker notes while I’m presenting so I don’t have to memorize everything, and I even have a timer to help me stay on track.

But what else should you keep in mind? Let’s pretend we’re doing a mock presentation for a health check. Here’s an outline of what it might include:

Introduction

Slide 1: Have a title slide. Mention the name of the account you'll be doing the health check for (bonus points if you use their logo).

Slide 2: Agenda slide for alignment. Walk them through what you’ll be covering in the presentation.

Slide 3 (optional): If they haven’t met you yet, kick things off with a brief introduction of yourself and your role as a Customer Success Manager.

Objectives and Goals Realignment

Slide 4: Outline the objectives and goals set when the account was onboarded if they’re still new OR since you last established your success plan with them.

Slide 5: Mention any specific KPIs or targets the customer aims to achieve.

Performance Analysis

Slide 6: Present key performance metrics and data related to the account's usage and success with your product or service. This is information that would’ve been provided to you in the prompt. Use charts and graphs to visualize data trends, highlighting successes and areas that need improvement.

Challenges and Obstacles

Slide 7: Identify challenges and obstacles the customer is facing in using your product or achieving their goals. Offer insights into possible reasons for these challenges and their potential impact on customer success.

Action Plan

Slide 8: Propose a clear action plan to address the identified challenges and obstacles. Offer specific solutions and steps the customer can take to overcome these issues.

BONUS Opportunities

- Suggest additional ways the customer can leverage your product or service to achieve more significant results.

- Demonstrate how your offering can help impact their business and achieve their long-term objectives.

Slide 9: Summarize the key takeaways from the health check. Clearly outline the next steps that both you and the customer will take to work towards their success.

Slide 10: Q&A and Closing Remarks

- Prepare for potential questions from the interviewer by having a Q&A section.

🔥Hot tip: Use visuals, graphs, and charts to make the presentation more engaging and easy to understand. You can get those from their website!

With your presentation in order, it’s time to see it in action.

Practice your presentation.

You’re practicing to work the kinks out.

You’re practicing fine-tuning your delivery.

You’re practicing to make sure it all comes together.

You’re practicing to be within the time window they provided.

You're solid if you improve your presentation by at least 10%! And that’s coming from the cofounder at Google, Larry Page.

We’ll always hear about one of the greatest speakers of our time, Steve Jobs. It turns out the guy practiced a ton! He thought about "every word, every step, every demo," according to John, the former Apple CEO.

So what does practicing look like?

If you have a buddy you can practice in front of, do it! I know it’s awkward, but the stakes are low here.

If you don’t have a buddy to lean on, record yourself on your computer and play it back to give yourself feedback. You’re looking for areas where it gets boring, and you don’t sound like you know what you’re talking about, the presentation isn’t flowing, etc.

Need professional help with your CS presentation? We got you covered!

Speak clearly and slowly.

Repeat after me, “Everything I have to say is important.”

I get it, we get nervous, and we start talking at a million miles per minute, but when we step into our confident energy, we slow down, bake in pauses, and take up space.

I remember my first few customer-facing presentations as a Customer Success Manager. You would’ve thought I was getting charged by the minute by how quickly I was talking. Looking back, it’s like I didn’t want to take up their time; their time was too important.

It wasn’t until I realized what I was doing and started taking small steps to rectify my speedy chatter.

Clarity, on the other hand, comes with practice and a handful of speaking tactics to make what you’re saying is digestible to your audience. Here are some of my favorites:

Enumerate - “I’m going to show you how you can use X in three ways. First…” This is my favorite technique; it lets your audience know what to expect.

Avoid jargon - Drop the lingo and don’t complicate things. Keep your words simple and clear. You’re not impressing anyone with your big fancy words #toughlove

Don’t talk about EVERYTHING - Be concise! If you don’t absolutely need to say something, don’t. Rule of thumb: if your audience wouldn’t care about it, don’t bring it up.

Analogies - Tie your ideas to something your audience might be familiar with, like a show, an activity, or a tool.

Tell stories - These stories could be personal or about another customer’s success.

Be authentic.

It’s hard to be confident when you’re not even you.

Don’t try to sound like someone you’re not. Yes, it’s a professional setting, but we’re not meant to sound like robots.

As you’re rehearsing your presentation, it may feel like you’re losing touch with your style and personality, and that’s because you can’t practice authenticity. So what can you do?

Be vulnerable.

It’s the way you are bold enough to show up as yourself. Share personal stories to help connect the dots with your audience and present your work with sincerity.

Stay calm and carry on.

Lewis Hamilton is one of the most successful Formula 1 drivers out there.

The guy is so calm under pressure, and it’s mind-boggling.

Whenever I am in a setting where I need to remain calm, I say to myself, “You are Lewis Hamilton.” Find your Lewis Hamilton.

If there’s a time for sh*t to go wrong, it’s gonna be during the interview.

The wifi will go out.

The audio won't work.

You can’t log into the meeting room.

You don’t have the permission to share.

Handle these situations with grace, don’t panic.

The same things will happen on client calls, and the hiring managers want to know that you can work a room even when things aren’t going your way.

Enthusiasm is everything.

You can have the BEST presentation in the world: perfect slides, stories, analogies, and clarity everywhere. But if your energy puts your audience to sleep, you might lose them.

You are NOT this guy ⬇️

Remember that!

I dug up an article that can help us ensure we’re not losing our audience; it’s called “ Is your voice making your presentation boring? 5 tips to making your voice more impressive ,” and here’s the TL;DR:

Speak clearly and deliberately. This means enunciating your words and speaking at a steady pace.

Vary your tone and volume. This will help to keep your audience engaged and interested.

Use pauses effectively. This will give your audience time to process what you're saying and make your presentation more impactful.

Care about your voice. This means taking care of your vocal health and speaking with passion and conviction.

Practice regularly. The more you practice, the more confident and comfortable you'll become speaking in front of an audience.

You are ready to NAIL your presentation, not just for your interview but for any presentation you’ll give after that (if you’re going into a CSM role, you’ll be presenting regularly).

If you want to team up on your career search journey and need a coach, we've got your back! Check out our Career Search Coaching.

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Interview Questions for Customer Success Managers (with Top Questions and Answers)

Mastering the Art of Job Interviews for interview questions for customer success managers: Job Interview Examples and Insights

In the increasingly competitive business landscape, the role of a Customer Success Manager (CSM) has become crucial for the success of organizations. The demand for skilled CSMs is on the rise, making it important for job seekers to understand what hiring managers are looking for in this role and how to excel in interviews. This comprehensive guide provides essential insights, interview questions and answers, preparation tips, and do’s and don’ts to help you land your dream job as a Customer Success Manager .

What are hiring managers looking for in a customer success managers role?

When hiring for the position of a Customer Success Manager , there are several key attributes that employers typically look for. These can include strong communication skills, problem-solving abilities, a customer-centric approach, and a proven track record of driving customer success and satisfaction. Additionally, the ability to understand complex product functionalities and translate them into tangible benefits for the customer is highly valued. Moreover, successful candidates should be adept at building and nurturing long-term relationships with clients and have a keen understanding of the company's products and services.

How to prepare for a customer success managers interview

Preparing for a Customer Success Manager interview requires a strategic approach to showcase your qualifications effectively. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you get ready for your upcoming interview:

Step 1: Research the Company and Product

Prior to your interview, conduct thorough research on the company, its products, and its target market. Gain a deep understanding of the company's mission, values, and culture. Familiarize yourself with the products or services offered, recent company news, and the key challenges and opportunities in the industry.

Step 2: Understand the Customer’s Journey

Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the customer's journey and the value they seek from the product or service. Highlight your ability to engage with customers at every touchpoint and effectively address their needs and concerns. Showcase your experience in onboarding, support, and ongoing relationship management to ensure customer success.

Step 3: Highlight Your Interpersonal Skills

Emphasize your exceptional communication, negotiation, and problem-solving skills. Showcase how you can effectively communicate complex information, build trust, and foster strong client relationships. Additionally, be prepared to discuss your experience in managing customer expectations, resolving conflicts, and driving customer satisfaction.

Use Lark for video interviews and candidate tracking .

Top 5 interview questions for customer success managers and how to answer them

Question 1: how do you measure customer success, why does this question matter.

This question is vital as it assesses your understanding of what constitutes success for your customers. Hiring managers want to ensure that you can define, measure, and track customer success effectively.

What do they listen for in your answer?

In your response, hiring managers will be listening for your ability to identify key customer success indicators, your experience in implementing metrics to measure customer success, and your approach to using this data to drive customer engagement and retention.

Sample Answer

"In my previous role, I measured customer success by implementing a comprehensive engagement scoring system that tracked customer interactions, product usage, and feedback. By leveraging this data, we could proactively identify at-risk accounts and tailor proactive outreach to ensure continued success and satisfaction."

Question 2: What strategies do you use to handle challenging customers?

This question aims to gauge your ability to handle difficult customer situations with professionalism and empathy, ensuring that their needs are effectively addressed.

In your response, hiring managers will be assessing your capacity to remain calm under pressure, your skills in de-escalating tense situations, and your approach to finding mutually beneficial solutions for both the customer and the company.

"I believe in actively listening to the customer, understanding their concerns, and offering alternative solutions. In a recent scenario, I was able to convert a dissatisfied customer into a brand advocate by acknowledging their frustrations, proposing a personalized solution, and following up to ensure their complete satisfaction."

Question 3: How do you align with sales teams to drive customer success?

This question is important as it evaluates your ability to collaborate cross-functionally and ensure a cohesive customer experience across various touchpoints.

In your response, hiring managers will be looking for your experience in collaborating with sales teams, your ability to align customer success strategies with sales objectives, and your approach to maximizing customer lifetime value.

"This involves constant communication and collaboration with the sales teams. By understanding their goals and aligning them with successful customer outcomes, we ensure a seamless customer journey from acquisition to retention. It’s about shared objectives with both sales and customer success teams to drive long-term value for our clients."

Question 4: What approaches do you use to drive product adoption and engagement?

This question is significant as it assesses your strategies to ensure that customers effectively utilize the product, maximizing its value and their satisfaction.

In your response, hiring managers will be assessing your experience in creating personalized success plans for customers, your understanding of product adoption challenges, and your methods to increase customer engagement and retention.

"I have found that creating interactive onboarding sessions and personalized success plans have significantly increased product adoption rates. By actively engaging with customers to understand their unique needs, we customize our support and training to ensure maximum product utilization and overall satisfaction."

Question 5: How do you prioritize and manage multiple customer accounts?

This question aims to assess your organizational and time management skills in handling a diverse portfolio of customers effectively.

In your response, hiring managers will be looking for your ability to efficiently prioritize tasks, balance workload, and maintain a high level of service across various customer accounts.

"In my role, I utilize a combination of time-management tools, account segmentation, and proactive outreach strategies to ensure that all customer accounts receive the attention and support they need. By implementing clear communication channels and personalized touchpoints, I've effectively managed a large client portfolio while maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction."

Do’s and don’ts for customer success managers interviews

• Showcase your understanding of the customer’s perspective: Demonstrate your ability to put yourself in the customer's shoes and tailor your responses to reflect a customer-centric approach.
• Provide specific examples of successful customer interactions: Use real-life scenarios to showcase your abilities and provide evidence of your track record in driving customer success.
• Demonstrate a proactive approach in driving customer success: Highlight instances where you have taken proactive measures to ensure customer satisfaction and retention.

Don'ts

• Avoid focusing solely on sales-related achievements: While it’s important to align customer success with business objectives, it's crucial not to overemphasize sales achievements during the interview.
• Don't overlook the importance of communication skills: Ensure that you highlight your exceptional communication abilities and the impact they have had on cultivating strong client relationships.
• Avoid being overly generic in your responses: Provide unique, tailored responses that showcase your individual approach to customer success management.

How to Express Interest in a Leadership Role Professionally

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People also ask (faq)

What are the key responsibilities of a customer success manager?

A Customer Success Manager is responsible for ensuring the long-term success and retention of clients by fostering strong relationships, understanding customer objectives, and advocating for the customer within the organization. They work to drive customer satisfaction, loyalty, and ultimately, the renewal and expansion of the customer relationship.

How do you measure customer success?

Measuring customer success involves assessing various key performance indicators (KPIs) such as customer retention, net promoter scores, customer satisfaction metrics, and product adoption rates, among others. These metrics provide a holistic view of customer engagement, satisfaction, and the overall success of the customer relationship.

What strategies do you use to handle challenging customers?

When dealing with challenging customers, it's important to actively listen to their concerns, empathize with their frustrations, and offer personalized, effective solutions. By demonstrating understanding and providing value-driven resolutions, challenging customer interactions can often be turned into opportunities for strengthening the customer relationship.

This detailed guide offers valuable insights and strategies to help you succeed in your quest to become a highly sought-after Customer Success Manager . By understanding the expectations of hiring managers, preparing thoughtfully for potential questions, and showcasing your capabilities effectively, you can increase your prospects of securing the desired role in this dynamic field.

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20 Customer Success Interview Questions to Ask Your Next Candidate

Published: September 06, 2022

A great customer success manager (CSM) needs to be a jack-of-all-trades. That’s why it’s imperative when hiring that your customer success interview questions are ones that allow you to gauge whether or not the candidate is the right fit.

CSMs specialize in customer service, of course — both providing reactive customer support and proactively offering solutions and strategies for their customers. But in addition to all of those skills, CSMs also need to learn the product or service inside and out to answer questions. They need to be able to write helpful emails and knowledge base content to send to their customers. And on top of all of that, they need to be able to navigate conversations about upselling and cross-selling .

This level of multi-disciplinary expertise requires a certain set of skills and traits that team leaders should screen for in all CSM interviews. Product details and email best practices can be taught, but emotional intelligence and other character traits are necessary dealbreakers to adding a new CSM to your team. Keep reading to learn the skills all CSMs need, and what interview questions to ask to evaluate your next candidate.

Customer Success Skills

• Resourcefulness
• Communicative
• Relationship-Builder
• Technical Acumen
• Self-Motivation

In order to help customers, day-in and day-out, CSMs absolutely need to be empathetic people — a key aspect of emotional intelligence .

Whether they're answering the same question for what seems like the millionth time, or they're counseling an angry customer through a pricing change , the ability to understand and share the feelings of other people is critical for CSMs to effectively de-escalate tough customer situations, understand a customer's goals and desired outcomes, and advocate for the customer with other teams and departments within the company.

2. Resourcefulness

Effective problem-solving, all day every day, requires a certain level of resourcefulness, too.

CSMs need to quickly answer customer questions — and if they can't answer their question, they need to track down the resource or colleague in a different department that can. This means that prospective CSM candidates must demonstrate a willingness and readiness to collaborate across teams and across departments — and a track record of being able to solve problems no matter how big or small.

100 Customer Success, Service, and Support Interview Questions

Fill out this form to access the template., 3. communication skills.

CSMs need to be able to clearly communicate — with customers, with team members, and with other departments within a company — in order to be successful.

CSMs need to answer questions and teach customers — over the phone, on live chat or email, or in a knowledge base article. They also need to share and teach best practices to other team members — as well as identify trends, feedback, and user data to share with other teams within the organization. Excellent oral and presentation skills are important to evaluate in the interview as well.

4. Relationship-Builder

It might seem obvious, but it's worth emphasizing here: A good CSM needs to be able to build rapport with just about anyone in order to get the job done. And this is a hard skill to teach.

Friendly, open, and genuine individuals who can build rapport in a short interview will likely be able to do it over the course of a longer customer relationship, too.

5. Technical Acumen

If they get the job, a new CSM will have to learn how to use a product or service, but a demonstrable level of skill with using — and explaining how to use — technology is valuable during the interview process.

Even once they get to an expert level with the products and technologies a company uses, a CSM will need to break it down from the beginning for new customers, or customers that aren't as technologically savvy — so being able to use and explain different technologies will be key.

6. Self-Motivation

CSMs should be go-getters who don't need to be asked to go the extra mile or put in 110%. Listen for answers that indicate examples of when the candidate went above and beyond to solve problems and get answers for their customers — or examples of when the candidate took extra time and effort to help a fellow CSM or a sales rep to achieve their shared goals.

Now that we've outlined the skills you should be looking for in a candidate, let's review the questions you should ask during an interview.

Customer Success Interview Questions and Answers

Below is a list of the best questions to ask during a customer success interview. We'll explain why you should ask these questions as well as the answers you should look for from candidates.

Customer Success Interview Questions

• How do you deliver bad news to customers?
• How do you communicate with customers if you can't resolve a problem right away?
• What's the toughest case you've ever handled?
• How do you collaborate with sales and product teams in your current role?
• Explain to me how [Product Feature] works.
• How would you explain Twitter to your grandparents?
• How do you demonstrate value in the first phone call or email?
• Pitch me on an upsell of our product's next tier-level.
• How would you explain our product or service in a single sentence?
• How would you change our product or service?
• Why customer success?
• How do you handle rejection?
• What skills are you hoping to develop in this role?
• How do you measure success in your current role?
• What would you add to our culture, or what would you change about it?
• How would you prevent customer churn?
• How would you de-escalate a frustrated customer?
• Let's say you have to complete multiple tasks, how would you determine their priority?
• If you saw a customer using more seats than they’re paying for, how would you handle it?
• What feedback would you give the interviewer?

Screening for Empathy

1. how do you deliver bad news to customers.

Stuff happens. Ask the candidate how they diplomatically share tough news while keeping a customer positive and engaged — or give them a scenario based on a past customer support issue CSMs have had to tackle — to get a sense of their ability to adapt to challenges and bounce back.

Ideal Answer:

"I deliver bad news to customers by getting on a Zoom call, if possible, since it's easier to gauge their response when I can see their body language. If Zoom is not an option, I'll communicate this information through a phone call as I feel it's important to deliver bad news in a real-time setting where you can answer questions and provide support immediately."

What to Look For:

Look for a candidate who can put themselves in the customer’s shoes — anticipating any concerns or questions they may have prior to calling them. Pay close attention to their problem-solving skills and ability to read customers.

Be on the lookout for candidates who deliver bad news through an impersonal email or phone script and don’t make themselves available for explanation.

2. How do you communicate with customers if you can't resolve a problem right away?

CSMs can't answer every question right away — and they can't always promise the customer a solution. Ask candidates their strategies for managing long-term requests and following up with customers — and how they handle letting a customer know if their feedback or request won't be taken into account by the product team.

"I would be proactive with my communication. If a customer requested a product feature that didn't exist, I'd let them know why this feature isn't available and what their alternatives were instead. If the customer was insistent on having that feature, I'd meet with our product team to share this feedback.

If the product could make the feature, great! I'll share the timeline for when the feature will be created. If not, I'd communicate the reason why to the customer, re-emphasize the alternatives provided earlier, then share some channels they can use to pitch this idea formally to my company."

Someone who can proactively set customer expectations is a good sign. If they can’t fulfill a certain request, they should be able to communicate to the customer why they can’t, then provide alternative solutions. If you can’t provide a solution, you should at least demonstrate to the customer that you are trying to solve their issue.

A candidate that provides a terse “no” without providing an explanation or context is most likely not a good fit. If they don't mention providing an alternative solution when available, that's also a bad sign.

Screening for Resourcefulness

3. what's the toughest case you've ever handled.

The candidate's experience and strategies will demonstrate their problem-solving abilities — as well as their communication and conflict resolution skills .

"One customer called me demanding a refund for their purchase. They were clearly upset because they felt they had purchased the wrong product and that the sales rep they worked with only wanted to close a deal. Thing is, the product they had was exactly what they needed, they just needed to learn how it could help them achieve their goals.

I apologized for the frustration they must have felt and asked them to walk me through the problems they had with the product. Once they shared all of their feedback, I aligned myself by telling them that their concerns were fair and that what they wanted the product to do, it wasn't designed to do it. But, I told them if they used the product slightly differently, they might see different results. I then offered to walk them through how I'd recommend using the product, and it became clear to them that they misunderstood how to properly use our software.

Once this was cleared up, the customer was excited about using the product moving forward. They decided not to cancel their subscription and we agreed to follow up in a couple of weeks to make sure everything was still going well."

While no one likes being yelled at, candidates should be able to keep a level head when dealing with an upset customer. Additionally, they will have mastered the art of delivering a sincere apology and work to remedy the situation.

If you have a frustrated customer, you definitely do not want a service rep that matches their energy. Being curt or flippant with an already upset customer can just make the situation worse. If the candidate can't come up with an example of a difficult call or interaction with a customer, they may not be a seasoned CSM.

4. How do you collaborate with sales and product teams in your current role?

Customer success professionals have to communicate and collaborate with other people across the company in order to get the job done. Whether it's sharing product feedback or collaborating on an upsell, the candidate should share their workflows and best practices for cross-team communication that suggest speed, diligence, and a collaborative mindset.

"I will often refer customers to sales reps if it's clear that there is a product that they need but do not currently have. I will only do that, however, if I truly feel that product will help the customer achieve their short- or long-term goals.

If a customer requests a product or feature we don't currently offer, I'll report this to our product team. They might have a workaround the customer can use, or they might be working on this new product or feature already. If that's the case, I'll share this timeline with my customer to let them know when they can expect to see that product, service, or feature. "

Look for CSMs that can get to the heart of the customer’s pain points and evaluate what products would work best, rather than simply trying to upsell them. These reps should also be able to demonstrate how well they function across teams and highlight any method's for successful collaboration that they've used.

Avoid those CSMs who indicate they may be unwilling to work across teams to solve for the customer.

Screening for Communication Skills

5. explain to me how [product feature] works..

The answer to this question will tell you two things: if the candidate did their research about your product or service before arriving, and how well they can break down complicated concepts and demonstrate value.

"HubSpot's Workflow tool automates tasks for your business. Workflows begin with a trigger or an action that the customer must complete. Once completed, that launches a series of actions that are executed chronologically. You can also set up branches within the workflow that act as secondary triggers. If a customer completes that action — or doesn't — the next step in the workflow changes based on the customer's behaviors."

Look for a CSM that can simply and succinctly connect the dots for your customers. The best way to understand a concept or product is to explain it to someone else. This will help you evaluate whether or not the researched your product.

Avoid reps that use jargon and can’t clearly explain what your product or service does.

6. How would you explain Twitter to your grandparents?

This question is along the same lines as the previous one, but it will reveal how skilled the candidate is at breaking down a tool they might use every day to an absolute beginner — which is a key skill needed for new customer onboarding calls.

"Twitter is a platform where you can share brief ideas and comments with peers, strangers, and businesses. Once you create an account, you can customize your profile and start engaging with other accounts on Twitter. The messages you share are called 'Tweets' and these messages have a set character limit. You can't go past that limit, unless you write a follow-up tweet.

You can also engage with other people's tweets by commenting on them, liking them, or "retweeting" them, which essentially means you're reposting their tweet to your account to show support. Who you can engage with depends on which accounts you're following. You can also use hashtags, too, but we'll get to that later on once you've mastered the basics."

Look for a rep that demonstrates patience and empathy. They will most likely be onboarding customers that are completely new to the product and the company — some may not be tech-savvy at all.

Candidates who demonstrate impatience or give a brief answer. For example, responding with "Twitter is a social media company that allows users to communicate with each other” doesn't really explain how a person would use it.

Screening for Relationship-Building

7. how do you demonstrate value in the first phone call or email.

The first phone call with a new customer is a critical building block of the future of the relationship — and it's often a predictor of if the customer will churn or be retained.

During the first phone call, CSMs have to set up new customers to start using the product or service, but need to show the value of working with them so the relationship will continue to grow. Ideally, the CSM will show the customer a way to save time or achieve their desired outcome using the product or service, and then open a conversation for the next steps working together.

"I demonstrate value by immediately aligning myself with the customer and their goals. I show that I understand what they're trying to achieve as well as the roadblocks they're facing, and that I have the resources they need to be successful. I let them know I'm on their team and I'm available for support in whatever way is needed. This helps build rapport and establishes my value early on in the relationship."

Find candidates who are good listeners. It’s easy to get caught up in making the pitch, but listening will help you truly understand the customer’s pain points.

Candidates who deliver a canned response that focuses on getting the customer off the phone rather than addressing their issue should be filtered out.

8. Pitch me on an upsell of our product's next tier-level.

Cross-selling and upselling is a delicate balancing act for any good CSM. Making a suggestion that's not in line with the customer's goals or that seems pushy could endanger the customer relationship — and even make the customer switch to a competitor.

Asking the candidate to demonstrate how they start that conversation will tell you if they understand best practices — and the role of a CSM in the sales process — or not.

"I see that you're using this product to attract new leads to your business. How do you feel that's going? From my standpoint, it looks like it's going well and I'm excited to see this growth.

With that in mind, one concern that you shared with me early on in our relationship is scalability. You're getting close to achieving your goals, but you don't want to plateau once you reach the finish line. We want to keep that growth going so you can continue to scale.

This product that we offer should help you do just that. It's intended for a customer who's facing the same challenges you are and I feel it would be exactly what you need to continue growing your business. If you're interested, I'd like to set up a demo for you with our sales team to see if this tool would be useful. If so, great! If not, no worries at all. I just wanted to keep your best interests in mind."

Candidates that have the ability to make a genuine case why a customer may want to upgrade based on their specific business needs and goals. Solving for the customer should always be the end goal when upselling.

Avoid candidates who suggest new products or upgrades when they don’t necessarily make sense for the customer.

Screening for Technical Acumen

9. how would you explain our product or service in a single sentence.

This question tests the candidate's preparation for the interview, but it also gives them the chance to flex their communication skills and technological muscles to accurately explain what they're proposing to help customers within the prospective role.

"HubSpot's products help businesses grow better and scale faster without having to hire as many employees."

Candidates should be able to put together what your company does at the macro level without making it complicated. This could be with information pulled from your company’s mission statement or “About” section that shows they actually researched your company beforehand.

A vague statement that doesn’t get to the heart of what your company does could indicate that the candidate didn’t do their research.

10. How would you change our product or service?

This is another question that tests the candidate's understanding of the company — but takes it a step further by evaluating how well they understand customers and users, too.

CSMs have to interpret Voice of the Customer (VoC) and share it with the broader organization, and answering this question will give you an idea of how they'd do that in the role.

"One piece of feedback that I've noticed from online reviews is that customers are struggling with understanding how to use some of your tools. I notice your company doesn't offer a knowledge base and that might be useful to customers who need support, but don't want to spend time reaching out to your service team for help."

CSMs are often the bridge between customers and the broader organization. Look for someone that can find patterns in customer feedback about what’s working and what’s not — plus figure out what's causing the friction.

Short-sighted candidates don’t go beyond initial customer complaints. They won't examine the cause or how the issue might be remedied.

Screening for Self-Motivation

Why do you want to work in customer success.

The 'why' behind a job or career choice is an important aspect of self-motivation. You want someone on your team who's intrinsically motivated to help and advocate for others to achieve their goals and not just by external goals set by team management. Someone like this will be a positive example and leader on your team.

"I really like to help people. I've always been a team player and I always feel a sense of accomplishment whenever I help others achieve their goals."

Look for a candidate that indicates they will solve for the customer and have a vested interest in helping them succeed.

A candidate that can’t articulate why they want to work as a CSM or provide service at all is a red flag.

12. How do you handle rejection?

People working in customer success might face as much rejection as salespeople. And it might even be tougher to bear after building a relationship with your customers, only for them to churn and leave for a competing product or service.

By asking this question, you'll learn how the candidate is intrinsically motivated, as well as how adaptable they are. There could be months when customers churn due to outages or a competitor dropping their price, and you need to make sure the candidate will be motivated enough to keep creatively problem-solving to keep things going.

"I always take failure as an opportunity to learn and improve myself for next time. If possible, I'll ask for feedback or advice on where I can stand to improve. Then I apply that learning moving forward and move on to the next case."

Customer success candidates should take rejection in stride and use the experience as a learning opportunity to improve for next time. They may have a routine or other method that doesn't allow customer rejection to derail their entire day.

A candidate who internalizes customer churn or rejection may not last long in a customer success role.

13. What skills are you hoping to develop in this role?

As with any position at your company, applicants should consider how they'll develop in their role over time. They should be familiar with the skills needed to be a successful CSM and create a roadmap that will outline how they'll acquire those abilities. During their response, pay attention to the skills they describe, as this will outline some of the candidate's weaknesses.

"I would really like to fine-tune my ability to problem solve and think creatively while on my feet. Working with customers in a face-to-face setting should help me develop these skills which will help me become more proficient in this role."

Look for candidates that are proactive and seem eager to learn new skills. We’re always learning and there are always areas to improve.

Avoid candidates that indicate there isn’t any room for improvement.

Questions to Ask Customer Success Manager (CSM) Candidates

14. how do you measure success in your current role.

The answer to this question will tell you two things: It will tell you how the candidate was evaluated in the past, and what concepts and metrics they're familiar with. It will also demonstrate the candidate's views on individual vs. team success, and how the team's success contributes to business success. You want a CSM who's highly motivated to achieve goals, but is also looking toward making a bigger impact for the team, and for the business as a whole.

"In my current role, I measure success by analyzing customer feedback and quantitative performance data. I always ask customers for feedback because I'm eager to hear their thoughts about working with me and with my company. For a more objective viewpoint, I'll look at how many cases I take each week, how often I'm on the phone, and how many emails I send to each customer. This gives me real-time data that I can track over time to ensure I'm meeting my customers' and my team's goals."

Look for someone who demonstrates they care about customer feedback as well as feedback from their team.

If a candidate hasn’t measured their success at all, whether qualitative or quantitative, it could be a sign that they don’t have a handle on what constitutes success in their role.

15. What would you add to our culture, or what would you change about it?

When you're hiring for a managerial position, you're bringing on someone who will influence your company's culture. They're in charge of leading employees and ensuring your team meets short- and long-term goals. You'll want to make sure their philosophy and methods align with your business's corporate culture. If not, it will be difficult to motivate team members and maintain employee satisfaction.

"I would love to add a diversity and inclusion program to your company's culture. This would make everyone feel more involved and appreciated while working on our team. It would also show that we're paying as much attention to our employees' needs as we do with our customers'."

If a candidate can find a gap in your company’s culture code or overall employee satisfaction, and propose a solution for it, it shows they can anticipate needs and provide employees with support when needed.

Avoid candidates that provide answers indicating they’re not concerned with employee needs. You want people who will add to your company’s culture, not alienate the rest of team.

16. How would you prevent customer churn?

As a CSM, your job is to prevent customer churn . So, you need a candidate who's passionate about customer retention and willing to go above and beyond to retain a user. Consider laying out a mock scenario for your candidate, then ask this question to see what they'd do to ensure the customer reaches their goals.

"I would prevent customer churn by proactively communicating with the customer. If I noticed a potential roadblock that might impede a customer from achieving a goal, I would reach out immediately to provide a solution. I would also follow up afterwards to make sure the customer is still happy and that our workaround solution is still effective."

Hiring a candidate that can anticipate customer needs and roadblocks is key. It’s much better to be proactive in communicating roadblocks rather than waiting for the fallout after. Your customers will appreciate your honesty and attention. This is also why it's important your CSMs have excellent relationship-building skills.

Avoid candidates that lack patience or the foresight to anticipate potential problems and communicate them to customers.

17. How would you de-escalate a frustrated customer?

Not all customers are good at receiving bad news. Some will be rightfully upset that your company can't help them achieve their goals. In these situations, you need a CSM who can diffuse an angry user and salvage their customer experience. While your company should always strive for perfection, what matters most is how your success team responds to your organization's mistakes.

"De-escalation starts with aligning yourself with the customer. You need to show that you truly understand why they're upset and what they want to change. If possible, physically align yourself by sitting on the same side of the table as the customer. This symbolically shows that you are on the same side of the issue as they are — not on the opposite side, where the friction is being created.

Once aligned, summarize the situation for the customer. Talk about what they want to accomplish, the roadblock that's preventing them, and their options moving forward. This will show that you understand their case and will make it clear what the potential solutions are. You can recommend one solution over another, but only if you can tie that solution back to the customer's needs.

Once a solution is settled upon, always follow up with the customer. Make sure the solution is still effective, and offer follow-up support if needed. This continued effort will prove to the customer that you are committed to their needs."

Having empathy is key. Hiring someone who can keep their cool under pressure is equally important. Remaining calm will help you figure out a solution to your customer's issue or at least provide an alternative.

Beware of hot heads. The last thing you want when dealing with a flustered customer is a flustered CSM. CSMs should focus on solving for the customer and not get distracted by anger.

18. Let's say you have to complete multiple tasks; how would you determine their priority?

This question will help you understand the candidate's ability to manage time. Customer success managers need to be adaptive and capable of changing their routines on the fly. Sometimes they'll provide proactive customer service , while other times they'll handle inbound service requests. Your CSM should be able to account for all of their daily tasks and consistently complete them on time.

"I would first look at how long I have to complete each task. Tasks that have a more immediate deadline would be prioritized first, then followed by simple, easy-to-complete tasks that I can do in a matter of minutes. I would save the most complex tasks for when I have more time to dedicate to them."

CSMs should be able to create a plan for themselves to tackle each task. You’re not looking necessarily for a “right” answer as everyone will solve problems differently. However, they should be able to put together a game plan and execute it.

A candidate that can’t articulate how they would prioritize tasks or gives clues that show a lack of organization may not be a good fit. For example, if they don't take into account deadlines or how long certain tasks take to complete, that could prove to be a pain point later on.

19. If you saw a customer using more seats than they're paying for, how would you handle it?

This one is a bit of a trick question because there really isn't a right or wrong answer. Instead, this question demonstrates the candidate's ability to think critically about a complicated customer situation.

They not only have to consider the possible actions they can take but also the potential repercussions that will occur when they take those steps. The best candidates will provide a comprehensive breakdown of how they'd approach the situation as well as how they'd handle any roadblocks that may arise.

"The first step I would take is to analyze their account details. I would look at how long they've been a customer, when their subscription will be renewed, what their monthly recurring revenue (MRR) is, if they've opened previous support cases, etc. This should give me an idea of how valuable they are to our company and how I should best proceed.

If the customer's subscription is close to renewal, I would let them know about the situation, but assure them that their rates won't increase until the upcoming renewal. If this felt like a problem, I would talk to the customer about their options at this point — either paying for more seats, or brainstorming ways to use the product the same way with fewer seats.

If the customer's subscription isn't close to renewal, I would touch base with my team. Since we made the clerical error, it doesn't feel right that the customer has to suffer. I would see if we could continue with their rate until the next renewal. If not, I would be proactive and immediately reach out to the customer to brainstorm solutions."

Like the previous question, this is more about observing the candidate’s thought process rather than getting the answer right. Look for someone who takes into account the customer’s history with the company and their willingness to discuss options with the team before diving in and charging the customer more.

A CSM that moves immediately to charge the customer without communicating why could indicate that they make hasty decisions without evaluating the scope of the issue.

20. What feedback would give the interviewer?

This is another interview question that doesn't necessarily have a right answer. Rather, this question shows the candidate’s ability to pay attention and think on their feet. You want a candidate who's actively listening and taking note of important details. By having them provide feedback, you can get a feel for their ability to read and react to customers.

"I would love to see a little more transparency with the interview process. While I feel confident enough to speak to anyone, it would be nice to know how many interviews I can expect to participate in during this process and who those conversations will be with."

Look for signs they were actively listening. Can they reference a particular question or have feedback regarding how the interview is formatted?

Not having any feedback to give at all could be a sign that the candidate wasn’t really invested in the interview or simply lacks the ability to think on the fly.

Hiring the Right Customer Success Manager

The best customer success managers are customer-centric, empathetic, and creative problem solvers. Use the list of questions above during your interview process to effectively evaluate candidates and find the right person for your company.

This article was originally published in August 2021 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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39 Interview Questions to Ask a Customer Success Manager

By the BrightHire Team

Additional Interview Questions

Collaboration Interview Questions

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Happy, engaged customers are the key to more revenue and growth. That’s where a customer success manager comes in. They’re highly skilled at building strong relationships with customers, helping them learn how to use your product, overcome challenges, and get the most value out of the partnership.  

If you’re searching for a phenomenal customer success manager , begin with finding the best interview questions.

In this article, you’ll find 39 interview questions to help you hire a customer success manager. Along with general questions for a customer success manager, you’ll also find questions for related competencies, including empathy, collaboration , and service-oriented.

Read on to uncover all of the interview questions to ask a customer success manager.

General Interview Questions for a Customer Success Manager

Empathy interview questions, service-oriented interview questions.

• Tell me about a time when you had to convince a large group to try something new.
• Tell me about a time when you confronted an unfamiliar problem with a technical component and had to discover the right solution.
• What kinds of work tasks or projects motivate you?
• When was the last time you were really curious about something? How did you learn about it?
• Tell me about the most challenging client you’ve ever had to manage. What made them challenging? How did you keep the relationship healthy?
• We move fast, and our success depends on everyone working well together. Tell me about a time when you built relationships with other teams or departments in the past.
• What do you think is an underestimated but critical part of doing customer success well?
• Tell me about something that happened at work in the last year that made it a truly great day.
• What kind of coaching would you provide to a new client to ensure we get high adoption?
• What topics would you include in your first conversation with a new client?
• Tell me about a time when you created content from scratch to encourage behavior change. What actions were you trying to influence, and what was the result?
• Describe a time when you led a client through a change management process. What was your role, and what was the final outcome?
• Tell me about a time when you tracked a client’s engagement data to measure and understand how they use your product. Did you use any business intelligence platforms to track the data?
• Share an example of a time when you worked in a fast-paced environment. How did you navigate the situation? What steps did you take to thrive in the environment?
• Describe your ideal work environment. What do you need to do your best work? What environment makes it challenging for you to do your best work?
• Tell me about a time when you received constructive feedback that you acted on. What was the feedback, and how did you implement it?

Empathy is a critical skill for customer success managers. A great customer success manager knows how to practice empathy when working with customers and helping them problem-solve.

The below questions can help you find candidates who are skilled at empathy.

• Give me an example of a time when you noticed a colleague felt down, and you provided words of encouragement or support.
• How do you ensure that people on your team and other colleagues feel heard when you’re interacting with them (especially virtually)?
• Tell me about a time that you used empathy to turn a negative situation into a positive one.
• Tell me about a time when listening well was especially challenging. What was the result of that interaction?
• Tell me about a time when you picked up on negative feelings from a colleague and adapted your communication to overcome the situation.
• Tell me about a time when you made a mistake because you didn’t listen carefully enough to what a team member said.
• Sometimes we encounter emotional situations with coworkers. Describe a time when you didn’t handle a situation like this well.
• Give me an example of a time when you were able to control and filter your emotions in a constructive way in the midst of a difficult situation.
• Describe a time when you had to deliver challenging news to a team member.
• Tell me about a time when you didn’t show compassion to a team member. What did you learn from the experience?

Filter questions by competency, department, and role with our free question-finding tool.

A great customer success manager can collaborate well with anyone, from go-to-market teams to engineers to customers.

The below questions can help you find candidates who are great at collaboration.

• Tell me about a time when it was critical for you to establish an effective working relationship with someone outside of your department to complete an important assignment or project.
• What is the toughest group that you have had to collaborate with? Describe how you handled it. What was the outcome?
• Describe a time when you had to work effectively with another team that you had never worked with before.
• Describe a time when you set aside your own priorities to help a team member. What did you do, and what was the result?
• Tell me about a time when you wouldn’t have successfully completed a project without teamwork.
• Have you ever been a member of a group or team where two people did not work well together? How did you resolve the situation?
• Tell me about a time when you helped others compromise for the good of the team.
• Give me an example of a time when you were willing to compromise on something relatively important to you so that your team could proceed with a project.
• Tell me about the most memorable contribution you’ve made as part of a task group or special project team.

Customer success managers must know how to engage customers, help them solve problems, and build trusting relationships. The key to doing all of these things well? A service-oriented mindset.

The below questions can help you find candidates who are service-oriented.

• Tell me about a time when you went above and beyond in your work for a customer.
• Tell about the last work-related project you supported or managed that you were really proud of. What made your contribution to that particular project special?
• Tell me about a time when you had to balance doing high-quality work and driving results while maintaining a work-life balance for yourself.
• Tell me about a time when you made a lasting impression on a customer.

Hire better with help from 300+ interview questions

Looking for more helpful interview questions? With our interview question-finding tool, you can access 300+ interview questions that you can filter by competency, department, and role.

Download the Interview Question Finder to unlock a free bank of interview questions. Or, visit the Interview Question Resource Hub to find more interview questions by competency and role.

11 Customer Success Manager Interview Questions Companies Ask & Why

Summary points:.

Customer Success roles are among the top 10 fastest expanding professions, with a growth rate of 736%, according to a LinkedIn study . But because this role is still very new, and many companies look for Customer Success Managers, especially in the SaaS industry, the hiring process is not an easy one.

One of the reasons hiring isn’t as smooth is HR Managers need customer success understanding and experience to be able to ask relevant, highly-informative questions.Plus, they need to follow-up on the conversation to get the insights required to make a decision.

In this article, we share with you a list ofcustomer success interview questions that have proven their effectiveness. These are great helpers, especially when you’re hiring for leadership roles such as Customer Success Managers.

A dedicated customer success leader whose job is to create customer success practices from scratch will perform much better than a senior leader who does this role as a side gig with no fixed goals. Anant Singh, CSM at Fireflies.ai

In addition, you’ll get hands-on feedback from SaaS companies who have successfully hired CSMs using the questions below.

Customer Success Manager Interview Questions SaaS Companies Should Ask:

1. can you tell me about any jobs that aren’t in your resume.

It might seem strange to ask CSM candidates about their experience outside the role they’re applying for, but, actually, this can reveal just how customer-focused they are .

As a Customer Success Manager, one needs to know how to identify opportunities and solve issues even if they only have ambiguous or opaque information.

“Almost every CSM I’ve ever hired was once a waiter, worked in hotels or tourism, or some other service job in their younger life. I want people that hustle and know how to bust their butt to get that customer to be a good, growing opportunity” – Lucas Robinson , CMO at Crediful .

2. How do you find a balance between customer interactions and daily tasks?

This is, probably, one of the most important Customer Success interview questions SaaS companies need to ask because great CSMs excel at prioritization .

They are able to find a balance between answering customer queries and delivering their daily tasks while also differentiating between different customer segments.

During the interview, you need to find out if your candidate can build an account prioritization matrix that allows them and the team to identify where to expand, retain, and maintain customer accounts.

“CSMs should be able to prioritize various customer queries based on the relationship status and their business values” – Shayne Sherman , CEO of Techloris .

3. What measures will you take to prevent customer churn?

A Customer Success Manager’s job is to prevent both revenue and customer churn from happening, so, of course, SaaS companies should analyze each candidate’s experience in the field. Their answer will reveal how capable they are when it comes to at-risk customers who are on the verge of switching.

They should touch upon “how they would adapt their customer engagement activities to turn a no to yes, how quickly they can recognize at-risk clients, and what metrics they measure to get an early warning” – Emily Deaton, Financial Journalist at LetMeBank .

4. What’s our product’s unique selling proposition?

• whether they took the time to learn about your company and its main offerings and how committed they are to their job ;
• their ability to summarize all your features in a simple tagline based on how the conversation is going. In the end, each customer is different, and showcasing the product from a different angle based on their primary needs is a useful skill.

5. How do you look for and approach upsell opportunities?

On a somewhat related note, depending on how skilled candidates are at digging information about your business, you’ll be able to determine how good they’ll be at identifying upsell and cross-sell opportunities in your clients’ companies.

6. A customer’s showing churn precursors – can you walk me through your process to try and save them?

This is more of a Customer Success Manager live demo that enables you to see how candidates think , their views on the sale process, and what retention strategies they come up with.

A walkthrough is a particularly important topic to touch upon during the interview because it reveals how the candidate fits within your existing team, what they think about your current processes, and the improvements they suggest.

7. What’s the biggest flaw in our customer retention strategy right now?

This is our favorite Customer Success Manager interview question! That’s because most candidates refrain from responding and say that the product is great and the processes are well-thought-out. This is impossible in the SaaS world – things can (and should!) always be improved.

So be wary of these candidates as they’ve probably been too lazy to research your company before the interview or think that they’ll get the job by praising you. In contrast, those who feel confident criticizing your current way of doing things will offer you a fresh perspective you could actually implement.

“The actual answer gives me insights into their managing style too. I can get a picture of their specialty and what they’re passionate about when it comes to their job. If they align well with what we need and our company values, a person who does well on this question would be an instant hire for me” – Dan Bailey , President of WikiLawn .

8. How do you reduce tensions and de-escalate a situation with a difficult customer?

Being customer-facing staff, CSMs also need to handle situations where clients are displeased, and good CSMs are able to turn customer complaints and issues into net wins for the company.

After they explain their strategy, you should also follow up with a question regarding whether they’ve tried this before and their results.

9. How would you communicate a known issue and an important change to customers?

Proactivity is the core of Customer Success. So even if CSMs should be prepared to handle displeased customers, more importantly, they should be on the lookout for possible issues and eliminate them before the client has the chance to find out about them and become upset.

Two of the most common reasons customers complain are quality issues (crashes, unavailability, etc.) and major changes to the product, especially to the features they relied most on. If a CSM is able to prepare the customer for receiving the bad news, this will go a long way towards strengthening the relationship with that customer.

10. Working in customer success can be very distracting, how do you push through those distractions and refocus?

This is another Customer Success interview question that doesn’t necessarily reveal much about a candidate’s skills but offers you insights into how they prioritize tasks to ensure they remain productive.

Coping with disruptions in the workday is an important skill for CSMs as urgent matters come up regularly.

11. Have you ever surpassed customer expectations and been noticed for it?

A Customer Success Manager’s primary role is to serve customers, so candidates should have numerous examples of how they provided excellent service. If they’re not sure what to answer, it means that they’ve never impressed their previous clients.

These are just a couple of Customer Success Manager interview questions top SaaS companies ask, but this doesn’t mean you should solely rely on them. Depending on the type of product you have and your industry, you can come up with your own specific questions.

For more information on how to hire CSMs, check out our blog article on How to hire a Customer Success Manager the right way .

Written by Philipp Wolf

As the CEO of Custify, Philipp Wolf helps SaaS businesses deliver great results for customers. After seeing companies spend big money with no systematic approach to customer success, Philipp knew something had to change. He founded Custify to provide a tool that lets agents spend time with clients—instead of organizing CRM data.

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Dover recommends tailoring your interview plan to each specific role. For CSM roles, you can tailor your Interview Plan in Dover using the suggested interview plan, interview questions, scheduling templates, and feedback forms.

📆 Interview Plan

First interview ⏰ 30 mins.

Dover Interviewer or Recruiter Screen

Second Interview - Hiring Manager Interview ⏰ 30 mins

Deep dive on requisite skills

Onsite ⏰ 2 hrs 30 mins

Intro/Prep - ⏰ 15mins

Overview of what the day will look like

Interviewer: Recruiter / Head of Talent

Behavioral 1 - ⏰ 30mins

Review cultural fit questions

Interviewer: Hiring Manager / Leadership in Business Area

Role Play - ⏰ 30mins

Role play with customer

Interviewer: Full time Employee from Business Area

Social Interview - ⏰ 30mins

Casual non-evaluative opportunity for candidate to meet people from other Business Areas

Interviewers: 2 Full time Employees from different Business Areas

Behavioral 2 - ⏰ 30mins

Interviewers: Other Hiring Manager / Leadership in Business Area

Wrap-Up - ⏰ 15mins

Close out the day with the candidate, sell company

Interviewers: Chief of Staff / C-Suite / Founder / Executive

👩‍💻 Case Study

Customer success case study preparation.

Preparation Instructions for the Candidate:

Research the company's target customer base, industry, competitors, and the unique challenges customers face in this industry.

Review case studies and success stories from the company's existing customers. Analyze how the company's products or services have helped customers achieve their goals and overcome challenges.

Familiarize yourself with customer success metrics and KPIs commonly used in the industry.

Develop a strong understanding of the customer success lifecycle, from onboarding to ongoing support and renewal.

Prepare to discuss your past experiences in customer success, highlighting specific examples where you successfully managed and retained key accounts.

Remember to tailor these assessments to your startup's specific needs and objectives. Additionally, consider providing candidates with a reasonable timeframe (4-7 days typically) to complete the tasks and allow them to ask questions if needed.

Customer Success Interview Exercise

You will be presented with a customer success case study during the onsite interview. You will have a designated amount of time to review the case study and formulate your approach.

The exercise will involve:

Analyzing the customer's current situation, goals, and challenges based on the provided case study.

Developing a customer success strategy and action plan to address the identified needs and maximize the customer's success.

Identifying potential risks or obstacles that may impact the customer's success and devising contingency plans.

Presenting your strategy and action plan to the interviewers, explaining your thought process and rationale.

Answering questions from the interviewers about your approach and demonstrating your expertise in customer success.

Remember to showcase your analytical thinking, problem-solving skills, and ability to apply customer success principles in a real-world scenario.

✉️ Scheduling Email Templates

The following are examples of scheduling emails for each interview round.

First Interview

Scheduling email a (interview with person sending outreach).

Subject: Let's Chat! Interview Invitation for Customer Success Role

Hi {{first_name}},

I hope this message finds you well. We're excited about your interest in the Customer Success role at {{company_name}}, and we'd love to get to know you better!

We'd like to invite you for an initial screening interview with our team to discuss your qualifications and explore if this might be a great fit.

To make scheduling easier, could you please find a time here: {{scheduling_link}}

{{sender_first_name}}

Scheduling Email B (Interview with person who did not send outreach)

Great to hear from you! We’d love to schedule a call with a member of our recruiting team to learn further about your experience and share further information on this opportunity.

Subject: Update from {{company_name}}

Thanks for taking the time to talk with us about the {{job_title}} position. Your background is impressive, and we really enjoyed speaking with you. Unfortunately, at this time we feel it's not the right fit.

We appreciate the time you took to learn more about {{client_name}} and hope you don't mind if we reach back out in the future.

Second Interview

Subject: Next Step: Second Interview Invitation for Customer Success Role

Great news! You've made it to the next stage of our hiring process. We're impressed with your qualifications and would love to continue getting to know you.

You'll speak with the hiring manager for the second interview and dive deeper into your experience and qualifications. It's a chance for us to connect on a more personal level. No preparation is required for this call.

Here's {{interviewer_first_name}}'s calendar to find a time: {{scheduling_link}}.

Hope the two of you find a chance to connect soon!

Thanks for taking the time to learn about the {{job_title}} role at {{client_name}}. Our team enjoyed speaking with you, but ultimately we felt that it wasn't a fit at this time.

I hope you don't mind if we keep your information on file and reach out to you in the future! Best of luck in your search.

Subject: Onsite Interview Invitation for Customer Success Role

We're thrilled to share that you've successfully moved on to the final stage of our hiring process.

As part of this stage, we'd like to invite you for an onsite interview, where you'll have a chance to engage in a role-play exercise to showcase your abilities and to meet with team members from across the company. It's an excellent opportunity for you to demonstrate your customer success expertise and assess the cultural fit.

Here’s what you can expect:

Prep Session with < Interviewer Name> (Recruiter/HoT) - 15mins

Behavioral Interview with < Interviewer Name> (Hiring Manager)- 30mins

Role Play with <Interviewer Name> - 30mins

Casual Chat with < Interviewer Name> and <Interviewer Name> -30mins - Casual non-evaluative opportunity to learn more about the company’s culture - 2 FTE from other BAs

Behavioral Interview with <Interviewer Name> (Other HM/Leadership in BA) - 30mins

Close out the day with < Interview Name> ( CoS/C-Suite)

Preparation Instructions:

Research our target customer base, industry, competitors, and the unique challenges customers face in this industry. [insert link]

Review case studies [insert link] and success stories from the company's existing customers. Analyze how the company's products or services have helped customers achieve their goals and overcome challenges.

Onsite Interview Exercise: You will be presented with a customer success case study during the onsite interview. You will have a designated amount of time to review the case study and formulate your approach.

Answering questions from the interviewers about your approach and demonstrating your expertise in customer success. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or need further information.

Thank you for meeting the team for our {{job_title}} role. We really appreciate you taking the time to be part of our interview process over the last few weeks.

At this point, we will not be able to move forward with your candidacy. We'll keep your information on file and hope we can reconnect in the future.

📓 Feedback Forms / Evaluation criteria

Interview rubrics / feedback form criteria can be an effective tool to assess candidates consistently and objectively during the interview process across various interviewers. Here's an example of a rubric for evaluating candidates for a customer success role.

Initial Call

Communication Skills: Clear and effective communication, active listening, and ability to articulate ideas.

Customer Orientation: Understanding of customer needs and ability to empathize with their challenges.

Experience and Knowledge: Relevant experience in customer success, familiarity with customer success best practices, and understanding of the industry.

Problem-Solving Skills: Ability to analyze situations, identify potential solutions, and think critically.

Interviewer picks one of the above and adds comments based on their conversation with the candidate,

Hiring Manager Interview

Leadership Skills: Ability to take ownership, demonstrate initiative, and drive customer success initiatives.

Relationship Building: Skills in building and maintaining strong relationships with customers.

Strategic Thinking: Ability to develop and execute long-term customer success strategies.

Accountability: Demonstrating responsibility for customer outcomes and meeting customer success metrics.

Adaptability: Agility in responding to changing customer needs and evolving business priorities.

Interviewer picks one of the above and adds comments based on their conversation with the candidate.

Onsite Interview with Role Play

Rapport Building: Establishing a positive connection with the "customer" through effective communication and relationship-building skills.

Needs Identification: Demonstrating understanding and identifying the customer's goals, challenges, and pain points.

Solution Presentation: Clearly articulating the value proposition of the company's products or services and addressing customer objections or concerns.

Active Listening: Actively listening to the "customer," asking relevant questions, and providing thoughtful responses.

Overall Performance: Assessing the candidate's performance across the exercise, including their ability to handle the scenario and deliver a customer-centric experience.

Interviewer picks one of the above and adds comments based on their conversation with the candidate

Culture Fit (part of Onsite)

Informal cross-functional discussions

Cultural Fit: Alignment with the company's values, mission, and customer-centric approach.

Relationship Building: Skills in building and maintaining strong relationships.

Please note that this is just a sample rubric, and you can modify it to align with your specific company's needs and requirements. The rubric should reflect the key skills, competencies, and qualities you are looking for in a customer success candidate at each interview stage.

Top 20 Customer Success Manager Interview Questions and Answers in 2024

Editorial Team

To start with, who is a customer success manager? A customer success manager is an individual who helps and guides customers in the support phase.

Below Are The Top 20 Customer Success Manager Interview Questions And Answers

1.    Why Are You Interested In This Role?

First, if your interviewer asks you this question, they expect you to tell them why you want to work for them. Consider talking about putting your skills into place and learning from them as well.

Sample Answer

“Having learned that you were recruiting, I was motivated to apply for this role to put my knowledge and skills into place. I want to use the skills I gained from my university and the experience I have had in my previous roles to better your company’s performance. As I was researching your company, I loved the good performance I saw. I want to be part of a team that helps customers get their desired expectations. Lastly, I am a person who likes learning from others. I am not shy to say that I would like to sharpen my skills further by learning from your company. ”

2.    What Are The Roles Of A Customer Success Manager?

The interviewer expects you to mention the essential duties and responsibilities you should perform as a customer success manager in this question. Only mention the critical roles.

“There are several duties that I, as a customer success manager, should perform. Among them are;

a)    Advocating the company

b)    Onboarding new customers

c)    Building close relationships between the customers and the company’s support team

d)    Encourage upsell and cross-sells.

e)    Follow up on renewals

I believe that those are the top customer success manager roles that I will be delighted to perform in your company.”

3.    What Are The Qualities That A Customer Success Manager Needs To Be Successful?

As a customer success manager, you should have certain qualities to be successful in the role. Mention the qualities that you think can help you be successful in this role.

“As a customer success manager, there are qualities that I need to have so that I can be successful in this role. First, I need to have good communication skills to make it easy to communicate efficiently to the customers and other customer support teams. In addition, I should have problem-solving skills to solve problems whenever they arise. As a customer success manager, I am also expected to have industry knowledge, managing skills, and have active listening skills. Lastly, I am expected to be able to teach, mentor and train. I believe that having all that is what defines a successful customer success manager.”

4.    What Major Challenges Did You Face During Your Last Role? How Did You Manage?

The interviewer knows that at some point, you faced challenges. That’s what they expect you to talk about. Tell them about the challenges and how you managed them.

“Due to high customer expectations, sometimes the customers could find no value for their money in the product. This is a challenge that my previous company and I went through at our early stages. However, I realized that it is good to engage with your customers and tell them what to expect and what not to expect in the product. I must say that this was my biggest challenge, but I managed to solve it through the customer engagement program.”

5.    Describe Your Daily Routine As a Customer Success Manager

When the interviewer asks this question, they expect you to tell them what you would do as your daily activities. Give them a very organized routine of your daily activities as a customer success manager.

“After arriving at the office, I would start by reviewing tasks for the day and create a schedule. I would then meet with my team to brief and respond to emails and prior support tickets. I would then attend to onboarding customer’s calls. I would then follow up on customers before breaking for lunch. After lunch, I will handle customer support communications across multiple channels. Lastly, I would then hold inter-departmental meetings and check-ups. That would be a perfect day for me at work.”

6.    Describe Briefly About Your Experience

Here, the interviewer wants you to talk about your previous work experiences. Talk about where you have worked and for how long.

“After completing my university degree, I was employed in a supermarket as an intern. Here I interacted with a lot of seniors who trained me. After completing the first year, I was permanently employed for a contract of three years. Meaning, I have four years of experience in this field as a customer success manager. I believe that I will use these relevant skills and experience to work for your company for better customer satisfaction.”

7.    What Kind Of Strategies And Mindset Are Required For This Role?

The interviewer wants to know your primary focus as a customer success manager. Talk about your attitude towards this role.

“As a customer success manager, it should always be at the back of my mind that I am working towards customer success. And so, customer first. All the activities that I need to perform should always be focused on customer satisfaction first. One should ensure close relationships, communication efficiency, customer advocacy, and support. Whenever a customer raises an issue, it should be handled and solved immediately without any delays. The response should be 100%. I believe having that kind of mindset is what we call success!”

8.    What Is The Biggest Challenge That You Foresee In This Role

Since you have experience or knowledge in this role, the interviewer might ask you these questions to see whether you can research and predict future challenges. Talk about a big challenge that you think might affect this field negatively.

“As a customer success manager, I see a challenge in the response sector in this field. More than one must be an online shopper in every four individuals you see in today’s world. A large percentage of customers are online, and they keep increasing as technology advances. In the future, we need to use more advanced customer software and tools to help us manage a large number of emails, tickets, and chats that we will be receiving. The improvement in websites and electronic payment systems have greatly impacted online shopping.”

9.    How Do You Stay Motivated In Your Work?

Here, your interviewer is trying to understand your daily morale keeper. Consider talking about achievements and meeting your expectations as your motivation.

“As a customer success manager, nothing motivates me more than meeting my client’s expectations. Whenever there is an issue that arises from our customer, I try my level best to solve it. Solving the problem is my motivation. That makes me see that my strategies and skills are being useful in this role. That is the biggest motivation in my career. Solving customer’s issues and meeting my customer’s expectations.”

[VIDEO] Top 20 Customer Success Manager Interview Questions with Sample Answers: ►  Subscribe for more useful videos

10.      Describe A Time When You Failed In This Role And The Lessons You Learned.

The interviewer knows that you might have made a mistake at some point and led to poor performance. They are asking you this to see how you can learn from making mistakes. Talk about a time when you made a mistake, and you could solve the error and the lesson you learned.

“As we all know, mistakes are there to be made. And we learn from our mistakes. As a customer success manager from my previous role, I used to get a lot of pressure from customers enquiring about product details. There would be thousands of emails flowing in and lots of website support service tickets. This was overwhelming us. Sometimes, customers would complain about late responses from the support team. However, we were able to solve this. We had to update all the information about the products we offered. Many customers could access any information they needed without emailing or booking a ticket with customer support. Lately, we have been getting a few emails just for follow-ups.”

11.      Why Do You Feel You Are Most Suitable For This Role?

The interviewer is asking why you feel that they should choose you over the other candidates. Talk about the unique qualities, experience, and achievements that you have that no other candidate has.

“Despite having all the academic qualifications, it is my understanding that this role needs someone who has enough experience from a very company-customer interaction. Having worked at a bustling institution with a lot of customer engagement, I think I am the candidate you are looking for. In addition, the strategies that I have learned from my previous role will help in bettering this field in your company.”

12.      Share With Us Your Greatest Achievement

The interviewer is asking you the most meaningful goals you have achieved while working in this role. Talk about your achieved goals and any promotions and awards that you have ever received in your career.

“In my previous work, a customer would rate your service after attending to them. That would add or deduct your performance points which were being reviewed at the end of the year. There could be an award for the top positively rated employees. That could be the employee of the year. I have won this title three times for the four years I have worked in that company. That means that it’s only one year that I did not get this award. Yes. Of course, that was my entry-level position year. Along with this, there could be a trophy for the staff of the year title.”

13.     Talk About The Customer Success Process And Its Process

The interviewer is testing your academic knowledge on this role. Give an organized approach from the first activity involved in the process up to the last one.

“A customer success process is a framework that ensures that your customers understand your product, improves on your ability to engage with them, and answer questions and feedback as soon as possible. The process involves;

• Identification of customer preferences
• Formation of customer success journey map
• Creation of a customer success team
• Getting the right tool
• Establishing your metrics
• Customer onboarding
• Customer engagement

Having such a customer success process is very important since it entails everything involved in customer success. Using the process mentioned in your company could give the expected customer success.”

14.      Define Customer Success Software And Give Us Six Examples Of The Software.

The interviewer wants to know whether you know the technology tools used in the customer success role. Clearly define and mention six of them.

“This is a software that allows you to have a 360 degrees view of all customer data pulled together and combined from third-party applications like the email, live chat, customer support tickets, among others. Some of the top five examples are; Gainsight, Live Agent, Client Success, UserIQ, and Custify. These apps help you manage all the data coming in.”

15.      What Are The Benefits Of Using The Customer Access Tools

In other words, the interviewer wants to see whether you know the importance of using the mentioned tools and software.

“There are many benefits of using these software and customer success tools. Among them are;

i)             Keep track of customer’s data and requests

ii)           Respond to every customer request with an automated response

iii)          Get the customer request to the right person

iv)          Ensures quick response

v)            Keep all customer support information in one place.

These are just five among other benefits of using software and tools in the customer success field.”

16.      Tell Us The Different Types Of Customers That You Know Of.

The interviewer wants to see whether you know the types of customers you will interact with within this role.

“There are different types of customers that I will be expected to deal with and serve as a customer success manager.

a)    Loyal customers

b)    Impulse shoppers

c)    Bargain hunters

d)    Wandering consumers

e)    Need-based customers.

These are the top five types of customers that I will be serving in your organization if given a chance to.”

17.      Give Us A Customer Success Strategy Framework.

The interviewer wants to know whether you have a strategy in your mind that you are supposed to use to make this field a success. Talk about the strategic framework for customer success.

“I would say that the framework depends on the type of company’s products. But there is a general and standard customer success methodology used to better the customer success field. The methodology involves;

a)    Brand awareness

b)    Product/service education

c)    Customer acquisition

d)    Guided onboarding

e)    Customer support

f)     Value realization

g)    Customer loyalty

h)   Expansion offers

These are the main methods that you can use to strategize customer success.”

18.       What Is Your Biggest Strength

The interviewer wants to know what it is that you think that you are best in. Talk about any quality that you think it’s relevant to this role.

“As far as my biggest strength is concerned, I would prefer saying that working as a team is my biggest strength. I am a people person. I love working with hardworking people and have one major goal to attain at the end of it all. In my previous role, I had a team that used to pull together towards a certain goal. The morale was so high, and no one could get bored. I believe that I will meet a hardworking team to work with like the one I had before. ”

19.     What Do You Know About Our Products And Have You Ever Used Them? If So, Tell Us The Experience.

The interviewer wants to know whether you know the products that you are coming to promote. Tell them what products they are using and give them a review.

“First, I must say that your makeup foundations are just on point. I understand that you have used 95% herbal as the components of this product. It was introduced in the market in 2012. Yes. I use it and am proud to say that I used it today as I was coming for this interview. What a beauty indeed.”

20.      What Would Be Your Best Part Of Working In This Role?

The interviewer wants to know where your main interest is in this field. Tell them what part of the field you like working on as a customer success manager.

“I must say that I am good in this role in general, but my best is responding to customer’s queries about our products on emails, support tickets, direct messages, and other platforms.”

This is a significant role in every company and a fascinating one indeed. You should be able to show politeness while answering questions. All the best 

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Customer Success Case Study Interview

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There is still confusion everywhere on the differences between Customer Support, Customer Success, and Account Management. Understand the industry-standard outcomes that each of these roles drives and how the company that you are interviewing with has aligned them.

How the company aligns these roles will directly impact your day-to-day responsibilities and possibly your happiness.

Incorporate Case Studies Into Your Marketing Plan

Not only do customer case studies showcase the value of your product or service, but potential customers are provided with a better sense of how real customers leverage it to excel their business. And as a bonus, its free publicity for your customersthat’s a win-win in my book!

If you have any other tips for creating a successful customer case study, let us know in the comments below!

‘curveball’ Interview Questions For Customer Success Managers

Find out our top 5 ‘curveball’ interview questions for Customer Success Managers that will help you separate the strategic high performers from crowded candidate marketplace.

The primary objective of any interviewer is to make sure you get the best out of every candidate you meet, but sometimes its interesting to throw in the odd curveball question. These questions are designed to help you get a deeper level of insight around candidates and their potential.

Due to the broad range of backgrounds and skillsets migrating towards the area of customer success, it will sometimes be necessary to find potential diamond candidates in the rough. We asked our network of hiring managers to give us some of the curveballs they throw into an interview. Here are our top five curveball customer success interview questions.

#1: Tell me about yourself…

#2: Put the following in priority order: the business, the customer, yourself…

#3: How can you tell whether a customer is happy or not?

#4: When was the last time you asked someone for a favour? What did you need? How did you go about it?

#5: How many customers do you think you should manage?

If you’re looking to scale your customer success function why not check out our latest report entitled: So you want to be successful in Customer Success?

***NOTE OF CAUTION WHEN USING THESE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS***

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If You Had To Handle Multiple Problems At The Same Time What Would You Do

Skill: Task prioritization and time management

Customer success jobs require good work organization and flexibility. Usually, teams are understaffed and this means that they need to juggle between many cases each day. Choosing which ones require their attention at any given time is a skill. And an important one too.

A good candidate should prove that they know how to prioritize tasks and align them with the business goals of your company.

Example answer

I would go through them one by one and not try to do everything at once. The most natural thing to do would be to prioritize tasks by the amount of time they require, their urgency, and overall importance. However, evaluating them can also be time-consuming and ineffective. Thats why it is better to do it in real-time. In my previous job, we designed a system of tags and labels. It used to automatically organize task priority in our customer database software . And if someone was busy they could assign it to a different agent with one click.

What you should pay attention to as a candidate: Many employees take on too many tasks. Therefore, the ability to delegate tasks or schedule them over time is critical. Especially for managerial positions. Youll be better off if you admit that sometimes it is impossible to handle everything all at once.

Extra follow-up question: Do you know or use any good time-management techniques?

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What Are You Hoping To Learn In This Role

This sort of question takes a forward-thinking approach to this job, and hiring managers are looking for a few things here. Firstly, theyre looking to see if you plan on actually sticking around, or spending enough time in the role to learn and develop skills. Secondly, theyre observing how you self-assess your own skills. What skills do you believe you already possess, and what skills do you think youre lacking? Thirdly, theyre seeing if youre someone who values continuous learning , and how trainable you are.

The best way to answer this question is to highlight skills you already have, that youre hoping to advance, to showcase where your strengths lay. You should also answer this question in a way that exhibits your drive for on-the-job continuous learning, to demonstrate that you are extremely trainable.

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Customer Success Interview Questions

• How do you handle rejection?
• What skills are you hoping to develop in this role?
• How do you measure success in your current role?
• What would you add to our culture, or what would you change about it?
• How would you prevent customer churn?
• How would you de-escalate a frustrated customer?
• Let’s say you have to complete multiple tasks, how would you determine their priority?
• If you saw a customer using more seats than theyre paying for, how would you handle it?
• What feedback would you give the interviewer?

What Challenges Were You Facing And What Motivated You To Solve Them

This is the core of your success story: the problem your customer encountered that drove them to you. So ask questions that help your client really dig into the root of their issues and why exactly they were so bad.

The worse the problem seems at this stage, the more impressive your solution will become. Delve into the turning point when your customer knew their situation needed to be fixed, and what they were feeling at that point. What was at stake?

Also Check: How To Do A Group Interview

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Which Type Of Interview Is Best When Asking Customer Success Manager Interview Questions

Structured interviews make it simpler to assess candidates responses, especially when using interview scorecards. Avoid unstructured interviews, because they can lead to a bad candidate experience and damage your employer brand .

Unstructured interviews are also more time-consuming when compared to structured interviews. They are not as legally defensible because of the lack of structure and the fact that the interview questions may not all be related to the role youre looking to fill.

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How Would You Explain Our Product To Your Friends

This type of question, where the interviewer is asking you to explain their product, is used to gauge several things. Firstly, theyre again checking if you did your homework when it came to understanding their company and their product. But second, theyre seeing if youre able to deliver value and information effectively in a short amount of time. These skills come in handy in many aspects of Customer Success, including during customer onboarding .

In order to answer this question effectively, you need to demonstrate your persuasion and influence skills when speaking about the product and your services as a CSM. You get the chance to showcase your general communication skills , and display that youre easily able to get to the meat of a subject and express it in an engaging way.

Why Do You Want To Join Customer Success

This field has just gotten established, unlike other roles. You need to have the necessary information before you make this call. This question is certainly recruiters favorite one to throw at you out of curiosity to know what got you interested. Have you done your research to arrive at your decision?

To think upon, customer success is about helping the customers achieve the value they seek from a product or service to ideally meet their business goals. So, that requires you to know the ins and outs of the product. And that must drive you to a sense of accomplishment. If you feel so, it is only then you are in alignment with customer satisfaction as your priority. Else, it isnt a cup of your tea.

With that said, customer success is a multidisciplinary field. It includes you to be

• Exceptionally good at communicating your knowledge to solve their problems.
• Involved in giving the best training to customers to make them understand your product better.
• Believes in building a rapport with the customers.
• Advocate your customers in making impactful decisions as they trust you with their goals.
• being well versed with customer success tools
• Initiate cross-selling and up-selling conversations as an advisory sales pitch.
• Of all, proactively initiate the processes as you are knocking customers systematically before even they think of you.
• Most importantly be empathetic to dealing with customers as this role solely keeps the customers in the center!

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Required Skill Set Of A Csm

While the above skills are mandatory in a candidate and should be an essential part of their daily job, there are some more basic customer success skills which a CSM should possess. Lets take a brief look at them so that you can check these skills in them through the interview questions.

Peoples person

Interacting with multiple clients is the key responsibility of a CSM. Hence, they should be able to deal with tough as well as easy going clients. There would be situations when a CSM must be working on high-pressure situation. In your interview, you must gauge their capability to deal effectively in such situations. How do you deal with an angry customer interview question is one of those questions which will help you examine their response in tough situations?

Problem solving attitude

When you hire someone for a CSM role, make sure that they understand that helping their customers in every situation that is called for is their prime focus. Every time a customer approaches a CSM, it is an opportunity to create a positive impression about the brand. So, a CSM must do whatever in their capacity to solve the customers problem. If they cant do it by themselves, then they should know whom to approach. A director of customer success should be a part of this interview and assess this quality in a candidate.

Technical knowledge

When should you use these customer success manager interview questions.

Use these customer success manager interview questions during the interview stage, at the bottom of your hiring funnel.

We strongly advise you to use skills assessments before interviews, in order to evaluate candidates knowledge and suitability for the role before you actually spend time interviewing them.

With this approach, youll be able to filter unqualified candidates early on and only spend time and resources interviewing the ones who meet your requirements.

This will help you reduce unconscious bias, mitigate the chances of making a bad hire, reduce your time-to-hire, and help you hire exceptional talent.

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What Are The 3 Most Important Skills Candidates Should Highlight During Their Customer Success Manager Job Interview

The three most important skills for a customer success manager are:

1. Communication: The ability to clearly and effectively communicate with customers is essential for success in this role.

3. Organization: A customer success manager must be able to keep track of multiple projects and deadlines, and prioritize their time accordingly.

4. Interpersonal skills: The ability to build strong relationships with customers is key to success in this role.

Wrap Up The Interview

At the end of the interview, ask some general business case study questions relating to customer satisfaction and relationship management. You can use these to conclude the case study. This section of the interview is also likely to generate some potential customer quotes you can use in your .

• Have you referred us to your friends or clients?
• How likely are you to work with us again?
• How can we improve our product to best meet your future needs?
• In which other instances can you see our product providing a viable solution?
• Is there anyone else I can talk to for more information?

Also Check: Interviewing Skills Training Course Outline

Why Should You Tell A Customer Success Story

Case studies are more than proving your company’s achievements. Through eloquence and thoughtfulness, you can demonstrate your product or service’s power by telling a real story.

Think about it: Real customers use your product. Real employees deliver successful projects. Real customers, real professionals, real people.

What does that look like? Well, it’s educating a prospect through a thoughtful perspective, and answering the following questions:

• How did the client feel at the beginning versus the end?
• What struggles did the project manager face?
• How did they feel when they overcame them?

These questions will help you pull the key sections of your story and craft together a compelling piece of content.

Get Feedback From The Client

Once you have a draft, youll need to send it to the client for approval.

They may provide feedback on anything from the visual design to the way theyre portrayed.

We are delighted to launch our customer success story series with @GaryWidger , Head of Change at @mercuryeng – about how Mercury leveraged #nocode / #lowcode technology to connect their people through shared knowledge. Kianda

Because this is a collaborative process, its essential that both parties are satisfied with the end result.

“Make sure to have the customers approve the drafts before publishing – that’s so important,” says Gullatt. “Customers may have to ask their marketing teams, legal teams before they say certain things publicly so you don’t want to burn bridges.”

This is why having a good relationship with the customer is key this will make addressing issues with the content so much easier.

Gullatt adds that flexibility is key.

“Be flexible even when it’s inconvenient because customers doing stories is a favor to you and your organization,” she says. “Making it easy for them and being patient goes a long way.”

Also Check: What Type Of Questions Do Interviewers Ask

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How Would You Ensure That Upsells Are A Part Of Your Role

Looking for growth opportunities is essential for the role of a customer success manager.

Ask candidates this question to determine how they would look for opportunities to maintain long-term relationships and upsell relevant products. Look for candidates who can provide examples of how they have used different upselling tactics in their careers.

Read Also: Long Term Goals Examples For Interview

Have You Ever Had To Explain A Major Product Update To A Customer How Did You Do This

Listen for responses that suggest your candidate can adapt to product updates and changing requirements.

If your SaaS product undergoes a major update, how would your candidates put themselves in the customers shoes and help them understand whats new?

Do they know how to communicate effectively the reasons behind the product change while making sure theyre able to retain customers?

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20+ Best Case Study Questions for Customer Interviews

Updated April 2023 : Case studies are a critical element of most SaaS marketing strategies. But what case study questions do you ask in the interview to ensure you elicit an authentic and compelling story?

In research we conducted this year, SaaS marketers ranked case studies the #1 most effective marketing tactic to increase sales—ahead of general website content, SEO, blog posts, social media and other marketing tactics.

Gathering the insights, data and customer quotes that make a case study resonate, however, takes some savvy when coming up with relevant case study questions for interviews with customers.

In this post, we’ll explore the best case study questions to ask at your next customer interview. 

Prepare your case study questions in advance

The best case study questions for interviews with customers, find a convenient time for the interview, send the case study questions ahead of time, an email interview won’t cut it, take notes and record the interview, watch out for these 4 common interview mistakes.

20+ Best Case Study Questions for Customer Interviews is the 4th post in a 7-part series on best practices for case studies .

You’ll probably have just 20 or 30 minutes to capture your customer’s story so be thoroughly prepared before you even schedule the case study interview. Case study questions generally fall into these categories:

• who your customer is (background)
• what their pain is (challenge)
• why they chose your solution (solution)
• what results they experienced (results)

Usually, the most logical way to structure your case study questions is chronologically—it’s helpful to think of the case study as a story with a natural narrative arc:

• beginning (background and challenge)
• middle (solution, including implementation)
• end (results)

Do you need help with your case studies? Partner with Uplift to drive more sales with case studies that convert .

Use the 4 categories below to craft a list of case study interview questions you’ll want to ask your customers:

• Tell me a little about your company.
• What do you love about working there?
• Tell me a bit about your role.
• What are your goals? Your company’s?
• What business challenges were you facing that caused you to look for a solution?
• Why were these challenges such a big problem for your company? For you?
• What were you hoping to achieve with a new solution?
• What criteria did the new solution need to meet?
• How were you planning to meaure the success of the new solution?
• What solutions did you try before you came to us? 
• How did you discover us?
• What did the vetting process look like?
• Why, specifically, did you choose to work with us?
• What services are we providing for you?
• What challenges do those services solve for you?
• Tell me a bit about the implementation process. 
• How are we supporting you when you need it?
• How has our solution impacted or benefited your end users?
• How has our solution impacted or benefited your company as a whole?
• Do you have any measurable data you can share around the impact or benefits of our solution?
• Overall, what’s it like working with us?
• What’s next for your company and us?
• What advice would you have for others considering our solution?

Tailor these case study questions to suit the person you’re talking to. Eliminate any that seem repetitive or irrelevant—and highlight 1 or 2 from each category that are most important. Leave space and time for follow-up questions.

Learn how to write a SaaS case study in 9 steps.

Your customers are busy—and they’re doing you a big favor by participating in the case study—so be as flexible as possible when you’re scheduling the case study interview. And while you’ll likely want to talk to them for hours, be respectful of their time and ask for 30 minutes.

Some people worry that sending case study questions in advance will result in less candid and honest responses. Not true. You want your customer to be at ease during your case study interview, and you want them to have all the information and data they need at their fingertips.

Providing the case study questions for interviews with customers ahead of time will lead to a more informative and useful interview. It also helps ensure that you have enough time to cover all the important points. During the interview, you can jump in with follow-up questions to dive deeper into certain areas if needed.

9 components your case studies need to include.

Don’t settle for a case study interview done by email. Not only are people more candid in conversation, but you’ll also be able to ask spur-of-the-moment questions and explore ideas as they’re presented.

Here are the 4 best ways you can conduct your case study interview:

• face-to-face (this is the best and most personable choice; try to arrange this if your customer is in your region)
• phone interview
• repurposing webinar

A recording and transcription of the case study interview will ensure accuracy and give you peace of mind. Down the road, you can also use the transcript for other marketing activities, such as grabbing testimonials and pull quotes, writing blog posts and more.

Use an app to record phone calls, or use Zoom or Google Meet to record video calls. Make sure you have permission to record the conversation.

1 . Using yes/no questions

Does your list have any yes/no questions? If so, be ready with follow-up questions. Better yet, revise the question so it’s open-ended to elicit a more thoughtful response.

2 . Not pushing for numbers

Don’t be afraid to ask for numbers, concrete examples or more information. You need these for a quality case study and this is your chance to get them. Don’t be afraid to repeat case study questions or rephrase them to make sure you get what you need.

3 . Not allowing the conversation to flow

You don’t need to be rigid about asking every single question on your list. The best insights are often unexpected so allow the conversation to flow a little—but don’t get too far off-topic or you’ll run out of time.

4 . Not listening to your customer

Don’t think you already have all the answers. Go into the case study interview with an open mind and be ready to listen.

Get help with your case studies

As a  SaaS content marketing agency , we write case studies, ebooks and blog posts for high-growth SaaS companies like ClickUp, WalkMe and Lean Data.  Check out our case study writing service .

21 Interview Questions to Help You Uncover Case Study Gold Get the powerful questions we use when conducting a case study interview, plus 7 interviewing dos and don'ts.

As the founder of Uplift Content, Emily leads her team in creating done-for-you case studies, ebooks and blog posts for high-growth SaaS companies like ClickUp, Calendly and WalkMe. Connect with Emily on Linkedin

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• Technology Recruitment
• Technology Consulting

5 'curveball' interview questions for Customer Success Managers

Find out our top 5 'curveball' interview questions for Customer Success Managers that will help you separate the strategic high performers from crowded candidate marketplace.

David Struth

The primary objective of any interviewer is to make sure you get the best out of every candidate you meet, but sometimes it’s interesting to throw in the odd ‘curveball’ question. These questions are designed to help you get a deeper level of insight around candidates and their potential. 

Due to the broad range of backgrounds and skillsets migrating towards the area of customer success, it will sometimes be necessary to find potential diamond candidates in the rough. We asked our network of hiring managers to give us some of the curveballs they throw into an interview. Here are our top five curveball customer success interview questions.

#1: Tell me about yourself...

This is a great interview question to open with when interviewing for a Customer Success Managers simply because it is so open. It helps to identify whether your candidate has the ‘qualifier’ trait. Will they ask you to narrow down the question to relate to their work experience or personal interests? Or will they launch into a 10-minute narrative around their life story? Customer Success Managers need to be strong communicators and that means being able to qualify a requirement and adapt their response accordingly. Customer Success Managers are problem solvers by nature and this question helps to separate those that can get to the detail of a customer requirement from those that can’t.

#2: Put the following in priority order: the business, the customer, yourself...

There’s likely to be a bit of a debate as to the right answer to this question but ultimately, it’s a bit of a confidence test. Hiring managers have told us that 99% of candidates will place the customer as number one priority. That stands to reason. They’ve applied for a job in customer success and want to put the client at the heart of everything they do. But are they just telling you what you want to hear? Are they likely to have the confidence to push back on a customer or hold them accountable for actions? It’s great to be passionate about the customer but hiring managers tell us it’s the confident 1% that put themselves first, to do their best for the business, to meet the requirements of the customer that often go on to be the real success stories in this discipline. Those that answer in this way demonstrate an important ‘leadership’ trait by their willingness to stand out from the crowd.

#3: How can you tell whether a customer is happy or not?

This question opens the door to understanding whether your candidate is data-driven or will simply take things on face value. It’s the proactivity test that uncovers the ‘forward thinking’ trait. Strong candidates will come back to you with answers around the hard statistics of user adoption rates or how the customer is progressing against their mutual success plan. They may even mention the new use-cases that a client has potentially unlocked or how the customer is assessing their maturity against industry benchmarks. It’s this level of factual discussion that helps separate the proactive from the reactive. The danger of a face value approach is that by the time a customer is telling you that they need to be ‘saved’ it’s often too late to save them. Customer Success Managers may come into an interview pointing to how they’ve saved a customer, but the reality is that it should never really get to that stage. One hiring manager we spoke to stated that we are not looking for heroes in customer success to come in and save the day. We need individuals that will avoid the need for last minute heroics through proactive behaviors.

#4: When was the last time you asked someone for a favour? What did you need? How did you go about it?  

One of the primary responsibilities of a strong Customer Success Manager is to bring together the right internal resources on behalf of the customer. That means we need to identify the ‘networker’ trait in a strong candidate. The ability to build relationships is a pretty hard thing to teach and candidates who possess this as a core competency will be at a distinct advantage in this discipline. Focus in on how the candidate brings other stakeholders on-board with their agenda. How do they win the hearts and minds of others? Are they committed to building sustainable relationships? Being successful in customer success is all about bringing the right people to the table at the right time.

#5: How many customers do you think you should manage?  

This is an interesting question, particularly for candidates who have previous experience in working within customer success functions. The response is going to give you an indication of the type of customer success manager they are at the moment, whilst also highlighting potential areas of development going forwards. We are looking for the ‘strategist’ trait here. If the candidate responds with a relatively low number of customers (say 3-10) then you know your likely to be dealing with someone who has taken a fairly proactive, hands on role with clients in the past. That leads the conversation on nicely to the associated best practices of managing a very targeted set of strategic accounts. If it’s a high number (we’ve heard numbers as high as 120 accounts per CSM) then it might be a case of understanding how they’ve found that type of environment and how much value they’ve really been able to add whilst being stretched quite thinly. It’s obviously not a candidate’s fault if they’ve come into a high volume customer success function, but at that point you’ve got to hone in on whether they’ll be strategic enough or proactive enough.

If you're looking to scale your customer success function why not check out our latest report entitled:  So you want to be successful in Customer Success?  

    ***NOTE OF CAUTION WHEN USING THESE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS***

Your role as the interviewer is to get the absolute best you can out of the candidate and give them the perfect platform to share their experience. Do not derail the interview by asking too many 'curveball' questions.

Head of Marketing

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