Marketing tech is one of the most competitive industries out there. Competition is fierce, competitors move fast, and customers have endless options. If your product doesn’t deliver clear, immediate value, users won’t think twice before switching to a competitor.
That’s why customer success is the secret weapon for martech companies. Unlike other SaaS products, marketing tools face unique challenges:
- Fast-Changing Strategies – Marketers constantly adapt to new trends, algorithms, and regulations. If your product doesn’t evolve with them, they’ll outgrow it.
- Complex Tech Stacks – Martech platforms rarely exist in isolation—they need to integrate seamlessly with CRMs, automation tools, and analytics platforms. If onboarding isn’t smooth, adoption suffers.
- Pressure to Prove ROI – Marketing teams are under constant scrutiny to show revenue impact. If they can’t quantify the value of your tool, justifying renewals becomes a battle.
By making customer success a core part of your strategy, you don’t just sell software—you help customers win. With the right onboarding, automation, and AI-driven insights, martech companies can drive retention, boost expansion, and build long-term loyalty in a market where staying ahead is everything.
A small increase in customer retention can lead to a massive boost in profitability for martech companies—yet many are struggling to hold onto their customers. According to Forrester and Bain, 75% of software companies are seeing slipping net revenue retention, even as they ramp up investments in customer success. When done right, these efforts can deliver up to a 25% jump in profits, but too often, teams lack clear ownership, get stuck in silos, and overlook post-sales adoption.
Martech companies face unique challenges in customer success. Unclear roles create confusion between CS, support, and professional services. AI and self-service tools remain underutilized, leaving teams bogged down with manual tasks instead of focusing on high-value engagement. And when post-sales implementation isn’t a priority, customers struggle to see the full value of the product—leading to churn.
The good news? A well-structured customer success strategy can change the game. By mapping the entire customer journey, assigning clear responsibilities across teams, and leveraging digital tools at scale, marketing tech companies can drive adoption, increase retention, and rise above the competition. Let’s dive into how to make customer success a true engine for growth.
The Evolution of the Modern Martech Ecosystem
Martech has come a long way from the days of standalone tools like basic email marketing software or simple CRMs. As marketing strategies grew more sophisticated, so did the technology—leading to an explosion of specialized solutions, surpassing 11,000 tools in 2023 (ChiefMartec). While powerful, this rapid expansion created a messy, fragmented ecosystem, with disconnected systems causing data silos, inefficiencies, and integration headaches.
Today, the focus has shifted toward unified platforms. Robust CRMs and customer data hubs now serve as a central backbone, seamlessly integrating with other apps to create a single source of truth. This approach allows marketers to build customized, agile tech stacks without sacrificing efficiency.
But martech companies are at a crossroads. The industry is grappling with an overwhelming number of touchpoints, stricter data regulations, and mounting economic pressures. Outdated, disconnected solutions can’t keep up. Forrester emphasizes that an ecosystem-driven approach—one that simplifies data management, supports omnichannel engagement, and aligns with evolving customer expectations—is the way forward.
Customer success has become a key differentiator in this new era. The most successful martech platforms don’t just offer software—they provide ongoing training, proactive support, and AI-powered insights to ensure customers maximize product adoption and stick around for the long haul.
Of course, building a truly integrated ecosystem comes with challenges. Cross-team alignment, seamless architecture, and real-time data flow are critical for reducing wasted spend and optimizing ROI. But when done right, a well-connected martech stack empowers marketing teams, drives smarter decision-making, and fuels long-term growth.
Looking ahead, martech will continue evolving at breakneck speed. AI-driven tools will streamline workflows, predictive analytics will enable personalization at scale, and open ecosystems will make it easier than ever for companies to pivot quickly as digital landscapes shift. The key to success? Martech companies that prioritize integration, automation, and customer success will lead the way.
Strategies Driving Growth
- Prioritize First-Party Data
With privacy regulations tightening, relying on third-party data is no longer a sustainable strategy. Martech companies must focus on capturing and leveraging first-party data to create more personalized and compliant customer experiences. AI and machine learning play a crucial role in analyzing this data, helping businesses tailor user journeys, improve targeting, and drive higher engagement. - Evaluate Tools Like Team Members
Every martech platform in your stack should be held to the same standards as a new hire. Is it delivering measurable value? Does it contribute to higher retention and customer satisfaction? Instead of accumulating tools without strategy, demand clear performance outcomes from each solution to ensure your technology investments actively support business growth. - Integrate AI Proactively
AI isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a game-changer for customer success. When used strategically, AI can predict churn risks, refine outreach, and automate routine tasks, freeing up your team to focus on high-impact initiatives. Rather than replacing human roles, AI strengthens them—empowering CS teams to provide smarter, more proactive support that keeps customers engaged.
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The Biggest Martech Challenges (and Why They Hurt Growth)
🚨 Low Product Adoption – You’ve built powerful features, but if customers don’t know how to use them, they go to waste. Without clear guidance, adoption stalls, and customers struggle to see ROI—making it easier for them to walk away.
📉 High Customer Churn – Despite heavy investment in post-sales support, 75% of software companies still see declining net revenue retention. Why? Weak follow-up after onboarding and a lack of ongoing training leave customers feeling lost, leading them to churn.
🛑 Complex Onboarding – If getting started with your product feels overwhelming, customers might never fully engage. Confusing setup steps, limited hand-holding, and poorly staffed onboarding teams create frustration, slow adoption, and eventual abandonment.
❌ Lack of Customer Engagement – Customers don’t just want a product—they want a clear path to success. Without a roadmap, proactive check-ins, and personalized support, engagement suffers, and customers start looking for alternatives.
⏳ Resource Constraints – Martech tools require expertise in content, data, and analytics to drive results. But many teams don’t have the bandwidth or skill set to maximize their platforms—leaving valuable features underutilized.
Fixing these challenges isn’t just about keeping customers happy—it’s about driving long-term retention, increasing expansion opportunities, and making your product indispensable. 🚀
Customer success platforms bring together onboarding, analytics, and customer engagement in one seamless system, helping businesses drive retention and growth. Tools like ChurnZero and Totango automate onboarding, guiding new users step by step to accelerate time to value. Gainsight and Custify analyze usage trends and support tickets, providing customer health scores that flag churn risks and upsell opportunities early. Personalized success plans from platforms like Gainsight and Velaris combine AI insights with human touchpoints, ensuring both customers and internal teams stay on track. Planhat enhances integration capabilities, streamlining data flow between sales and CS for better cross-team collaboration. Meanwhile, Kapture CX and Gainsight PX offer advanced analytics and reporting, tracking activation rates, identifying churn signals, and pinpointing the most impactful customer interactions. By centralizing these essential functions, customer success platforms empower businesses to create proactive, data-driven engagement strategies that keep customers satisfied and loyal. 🚀
How Marketing Tech Companies Drive Growth with Customer Success
Wiley, a global leader in research and education, faced a major challenge: slow, expensive, and difficult-to-scale communication methods that were holding back their marketing and support teams. They needed a solution that could unify their operations, streamline engagement, and deliver faster, smarter customer interactions.
The Strategy That Changed Everything
To solve this, Wiley implemented Agentforce (part of Salesforce’s ecosystem), integrating AI-driven workflows and a centralized database to bring marketing and support into one seamless system. Their approach focused on four key areas:
- Automating AI workflows to handle common customer inquiries.
- Unifying customer data across marketing and support for a 360-degree view.
- Automating audience segmentation for more precise, targeted campaigns.
- Training teams to maximize the power of their new centralized system.
The impact was immediate and significant:
- Reduced support costs with AI-driven self-service, cutting down on manual effort.
- Faster response times, giving service reps quick access to customer data.
- 213% ROI by eliminating inefficiencies and boosting productivity.
- Deeper customer insights, allowing marketing teams to refine campaigns and respond swiftly to trends.
Another great example is Spryker, a leading B2B commerce platform that faced challenges in standardizing customer interactions and reducing the workload on its Customer Success Managers (CSMs). By implementing EverAfter's customer interface, Spryker developed a self-service portal that maintained a personal touch, allowing customers to access resources 24/7. This strategic move resulted in a 30% reduction in time-to-value, streamlined onboarding processes, and improved transparency in customer data. Additionally, the CS team saved 5–7 working hours per week, freeing them up to focus on more strategic initiatives.
By leveraging AI-powered automation and centralized data, Wiley transformed customer engagement, proving that a strong customer success strategy isn’t just about acquiring customers—it’s about keeping them long-term.Best Practices for Implementing a Scalable Customer Success StrategyTo replicate Wiley’s success, marketing tech companies need to focus on structured, high-impact customer success strategies.1. Build a Strong Customer Success Workflow
- Map the customer journey by defining clear onboarding, expansion, and renewal stages.
- Standardize communication across email, chat, and phone for a seamless experience.
- Automate routine check-ins using tools like Gainsight to monitor customer health.
- Manage workloads effectively—CSMs should handle no more than 40 accounts to provide focused support.
2. Define and Track Success Metrics
- Monitor adoption rates to catch engagement dips before they become churn risks.
- Analyze retention and expansion trends to identify upsell opportunities.
- Use customer health scores that combine product usage, feedback, and support history to detect early risks.
3. Create a Customer Journey That Drives Retention
- Identify critical touchpoints where customers need additional guidance.
- Segment by business goals, as enterprise users and SMBs require different strategies.
- Encourage ongoing feedback through multiple channels to ensure continuous improvement.
4. Align Teams Through Training and Technology
- Foster collaboration between product, marketing, and CS teams to ensure consistency.
- Provide ongoing education to keep teams updated on new features and best practices.
- Assign clear ownership of onboarding, renewals, and expansion efforts.
5. Leverage the Right Martech Stack for Growth
- Use a CRM that syncs seamlessly with analytics, support, and marketing automation.
- Track product usage in real-time to understand customer behavior.
- Scale intelligently with AI and automation to handle routine customer interactions.
Measuring Impact: What Really Moves the Needle?To ensure that customer success efforts are driving results, track key performance indicators:
- Customer perception metrics such as NPS scores, surveys, and qualitative feedback.
- Operational efficiency indicators like time to resolution and time to first value.
- Business impact measures including churn rate, retention, and customer lifetime value.
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For the most accurate insights, establish a centralized reporting framework that integrates product usage, campaign interactions, and customer success data. The goal is to make engagement measurable, actionable, and scalable.Final Thoughts: The Future of Customer Success in MartechSuccess in marketing technology isn’t just about building powerful tools—it’s about ensuring customers extract long-term value from them. Companies that shift from a “marketing tech” mindset to a “customer tech” strategy will be the ones that thrive.
- Prioritizing customer success drives retention, expansion, and revenue growth.
- Seamless alignment between marketing, sales, and CS teams leads to better customer experiences.
- Embedding customer success into every stage of the customer journey ensures long-term engagement.
In the fiercely competitive marketing technology landscape, standing out requires more than just innovative products—it demands exceptional customer success strategies. EverAfter's customer success platform exemplifies this by unifying onboarding, analytics, and daily engagement into a seamless experience. By automating onboarding workflows, providing personalized success plans, and offering robust analytics, EverAfter empowers martech companies to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.
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