2018 - Customer Success Salary Survey 64% of survey respondents said that they have a team larger than five. Customer Success is strategic, but reporting structures remain in flux. With roughly 50% of Customer Success teams reporting to the C-suite, its clear that Customer Success is strategic. Still, reporting structures remain in flux as Customer Success means different things to different companies. These realities are seen in significant differences in year-to-year survey results regarding reporting structures. Customer Success Priorities Remains the Same Reducing churn, onboarding, and product adoption have remained the trifecta of top priorities since 2015. But minimizing churn is by far the biggest concern (held by more than 80% of respondents in each of the past three surveys). Customer Success is increasingly responsible for revenue: 52% of respondents are charged with meeting revenue targets. Customer Success technology platforms are gaining momentum. Customer Success teams increasingly acknowledge the need to trade general purpose, siloed business tools for purpose-built platforms that enable them proactively ensure customer success. Usage of Customer Success platforms rose from 25% in 2015 to 43% in 2018. 5TOTANGO | 2018 - CUSTOMER SUCCESS SALARY SURVEY & STATE OF THE PROFESSION REPORTCustomer Success SalariesBonuses are a critical component of Customer Success compensation. Companies are shifting more revenue responsibility to Customer Successand that is reflected in compensation structure. Nearly 70% of customer success professionals receive some type of bonus on top of their base salaries in 2018, up from 56% in 2016.As Customer Success expands beyond California and New York, overall average salaries are slipping. For every job title, we saw an increase in the number of people with salaries at the lower ends of the spectrum and a decrease in those making the highest salary levels. We attribute this decline to overall growth, which means less experienced people are joining the Customer Success ranks as well as to an increase in Customer Success professionals located outside of California and New York, where salaries remain high. 6TOTANGO | 2018 - CUSTOMER SUCCESS SALARY SURVEY & STATE OF THE PROFESSION REPORTDetail of Survey ResultsState of the IndustryOverall, our survey found that Customer Success teams continue to grow and mature, even as the top priority of reducing churn remains the same. But as a young profession, some things continue to evolve. Reporting structures have been in a state of flux over the past five years as companies adjust their priorities to their ever-changing goals and requirements. At the same time, organizations increasingly acknowledge the need for specialized technology to simplify and improve Customer Success operations.Customer Success Gains Traction in Large EnterprisesThe Customer Success profession is gaining traction across organization types. While the profession originated in Software as a Service (SaaS) companies, today more than 10% of survey respondents come from large enterprises, compared to just a handful in 2016. At the same time, startups also understand the need to consider customer success initiatives as they build out their organization and establish their culture. Were also seeing Customer Success expand into ITSM, B2C and many other types of organizations. As a result, we expect to see Customer Success adoption increase dramatically in the coming years. Customer Success Teams are Maturing The number of success teams in operation for less than a year has fallen by more than 40% over the past two years. In 2014-2016, 22% of CS teams had been in operation for less than a year. By 2018, that number had fallen to just 13.4%. The number of teams in operation for more than 3 years increased, from 25% in 2016 to 42 % in 2018.Customer Success Maturity42%More than 1 Year but less than 342%More than 3 yearsNot sure0 months, just starting out13.4%Less than 1 year7TOTANGO | 2018 - CUSTOMER SUCCESS SALARY SURVEY & STATE OF THE PROFESSION REPORTCustomer Success Teams Grow Larger and Show No Signs of Slowing DownGrowth in the CS profession shows no sign of abating. In each of the last three surveys, 80% or more teams saw growth in team size. Today, more than 64% have more than five members on their Customer Success team compared with 59% in 2016. As more companies recognize the importance of Customer Success and the profession becomes increasingly mainstream, we can expect this growth rate to continue.At the same time, the distribution of the team roles is evolving. In 2014, 92% of CS professionals had the title of either CS Vice President, Director or Manager. By 2018, these three roles made up 80.3 % of CS titles.This result mirrors our own observations regarding our customers CS departments. As companies scale, we see increasing specialization, with CS teams expanding to include field engineers, account managers, onboarding roles, renewals experts, and so on. Growth83% of CS teams saw growth in team size within the last year. 17%No growth20%0-25% growth in team size16%26-50% growth in team size25%100%+ growth in team size22%51-100% growth in team size8TOTANGO | 2018 - CUSTOMER SUCCESS SALARY SURVEY & STATE OF THE PROFESSION REPORTTitles and Team SizeDistribution of titles didnt change much from 2016.64% have more than 5 people on the team, compared to 59% in 2016. 11.8%Chief Customer Officer/Vp of Customer Success13.4%Other48.7%Customer Success Manager19.8%Director of Customer SuccessAccount Manager Customer Success Engineer16%25+36%1548%6259TOTANGO | 2018 - CUSTOMER SUCCESS SALARY SURVEY & STATE OF THE PROFESSION REPORTCustomer Success is Strategic, but Reporting Structures FluctuateWhen looked at from a macro level, reporting structures tell us that Customer Success is very strategic to companies. Roughly 50% of teams report to the C-Suite-either the CEO, COO, CRO or CCO.However, overall reporting structures differ significantly from one company to the next. In some companies, Customer Success is its own department entirely reporting directly to the CEO. In others it may be part of sales. In still others, Customer Success also provides support and professional services.The reason for these differences in reporting structures is that Customer Success means different things to every company. For example, the Customer Success team at a large company may be responsible for all upsells and expansion while a startup might concentrate solely on renewing contracts. Moreover, the role of Customer Success can change over a companys lifecycle. In keeping with these first-hand observations of our customers in the field, our survey results find that the reporting structure has remained unstable since we began performing these surveys. This reflects the myriad of definitions of what an ideal reporting structure should look like. Organizations continue to adjust their model to find what works best for them.Anecdotally, we also see that more organizations are rolling Customer Support and Professional Services into Customer Success teams. Because all of these areas are so critical for supporting customers, putting them into one larger team facilitates coordination.Where Does CS Reside?CEO COO Sales Marketing CCO VP of CS CROService/Support33%16%14%3%2%3%2%14%10TOTANGO | 2018 - CUSTOMER SUCCESS SALARY SURVEY & STATE OF THE PROFESSION REPORT