Ten months after its launch, Churn360, the newest addition to the Kovai.co portfolio, conducted an event to give back to Chennai’s startup and SaaS community. Teaming up with NASSCOM, Churn360 aimed to raise awareness about “actionable strategies that SaaS companies can adopt to enhance customer success.” The “Customer Success Through Technology and Strategy” event took place at a star hotel on June 9. It featured six distinguished speakers and was attended by over 80 customer success professionals and SaaS founders .
On Thursday, June 8, a team of six individuals from the Churn360 team travelled to Chennai. The team consisted of product consultant, Rakul Vijayaboopathi, senior sales development representative, Jairam Nagaraj, customer success manager, Apurva Thrilok, customer success specialist Rajasri Nagarajan, Product Marketer Vishaal Paraman, and director Suprej Venkat. Apurva said,
We initiated the event planning three weeks in advance. As a result, there was significant anticipation surrounding the panelists, and we brainstormed various methods to engage with the audience.
The team arrived at the venue a few hours earlier to assist the NASSCOM team. “We ensured that the banners and standees were appropriately positioned, and each of us was seated at a different table, enabling us to interact with the attending startup founders during the breaks,” Apurva explained.
The roster of speakers included A. Rathnakumar, Global Director of Account Management at Chargebee; Shyam Prabhal, AVP—Account Management at Kissflow; Ashok Balasubramanian, CEO of OpenWeaver; Gopal Sripada, Head of Marketing at Zoho Corp; and Chandra Mouleswaran S, SVP of Customer Success at GAVS Technologies. Rathnakumar delivered the keynote address, emphasizing the Importance of Customer Success. Following this, Shyam and Churn360 director Suprej Venkat conducted a fireside chat on the “Role of AI in Customer Success.” The event culminated with a panel discussion.
The team mentioned that the event not only opened up an entirely new market for them to explore but also provided valuable insights into the features and capabilities that the market seeks in a customer success product.
The audience primarily consisted of SaaS start-up companies. While they recognized the importance of customer success, they were unaware of the extent to which it contributes to business growth, Suprej stated.
The sessions delivered key takeaways, such as the advantages of investing in customer success due to its impact on customer retention. Vishaal Paraman, Product Marketer explained, “We discussed how retaining a customer can be seven times less expensive than acquiring a new one. They typically perceive the cost savings of customer retention solely in terms of reduced marketing expenditures for acquiring new customers. However, we informed them that it encompasses much more, including opportunities for upselling and cross-selling, savings in resources for content migration and onboarding, among other factors.”
The speakers also highlighted the importance of extending customers’ average lifetime value. Suprej explained, “In the SaaS industry, companies truly profit from a customer only if their tenure exceeds a certain period, which varies depending on the value of the product. Only when the average lifetime value of a customer exceeds the costs associated with customer acquisition can companies generate a profit.”
In addition to the financial benefits, the speakers shed light on the impact of customer success in brand building. Rajasri Nagarajan, customer success specialist, stated, “Customer success revolves around ensuring that customers achieve success in utilizing and deriving value from the product. The platform provides support and guidance until customers reach this point, making them feel prioritized and recognizing the value of the product and services, which, in turn, leads to longer customer retention.”
While the event itself received overwhelmingly positive feedback from attendees, the Churn360 team acknowledged that planning their first event was a valuable learning experience.
Working with the NASSCOM team provided us with significant insights into speaker selection, event marketing, and issuing invitations, Vishaal remarked. Furthermore, organizing our inaugural event in close proximity to our headquarters instilled confidence in us, and we are now prepared to host similar events in our potential markets, such as the USA and Europe, he added.
