Customer success is proactive, focused on helping clients achieve long-term outcomes; customer service handles immediate needs and transactions; customer support solves technical problems.
But while these roles overlap, treating them as interchangeable leads to gaps in the customer experience and missed growth opportunities.
The takeaway? B2B companies should clearly define and align these functions to drive retention, satisfaction, and sustainable revenue.
In business, the difference between terms like customer success, customer service, and customer support can often be blurry. While they are frequently used interchangeably, each represents a distinct function with its own goals, focus and strategies.
In this blog, we’ll explore the differences between these terms and explain why each is vital for delivering exceptional customer experiences.
Customer success helps your clients reach their goals using your product. It’s proactive, not reactive.
The goal is to make sure customers get so much value that they never want to leave.
The core principle
If customer support fixes what’s broken and customer service answers questions, then customer success makes sure customers thrive.
Key responsibilities of a customer success team
While the specific duties of a customer success team can vary, they generally include the following:
Client onboarding: Guiding new customers through the initial setup process and helping them understand how to navigate the product to meet their unique goals.
Customer education: Providing training and resources to ensure customers fully understand the features and functionalities of the product, empowering them to make the most of it.
Customer relationship management: Serving as the primary point of contact for clients, customer success team members work to build strong, long-term relationships that foster loyalty and turn customers into brand advocates.
Proactive support: Regularly engaging with customers to identify potential issues early and address them before they affect the customer experience.
Upsellingand cross-selling: As relationships evolve, customer success teams identify changing customer needs and suggest relevant product upgrades or additional services that enhance the customer’s experience.
Feedback gathering: Collecting customer feedback during interactions to uncover needs and areas for improvement. This information can be shared with the product team to refine offerings and improve customer satisfaction.
Customer service answers general questions and solves non-technical problems. It’s reactive and triggered when customers reach out.
The goal is to make every customer interaction positive, whether they’re buying or need help after purchase.
If it’s a general question or transaction, it’s customer service. If it’s a technical problem with the product, it’s customer support.
Key responsibilities of customer service teams
Responding to customer inquiries: Addressing customer questions or concerns related to products, services, policies, and procedures. These inquiries are handled through phone, email, chat, or social media channels.
Addressing and resolving issues and complaints: Ensuring customer concerns or complaints are addressed quickly, professionally, and efficiently, turning negative experiences into positive ones.
Escalating issues and complaints: When a situation cannot be resolved by the customer service team, it’s their responsibility to escalate the issue to a higher level (e.g., management) and ensure that it is resolved.
Collect feedback: Gathering customer feedback about their experiences to share insights with relevant stakeholders, helping improve products and services over time.
Maintaining customer records: Keeping accurate and updated records of customer interactions to ensure consistency, especially if a different customer service representative needs to assist the same client in the future.
Order management: Handling processes related to orders, such as tracking, returns, exchanges, and refunds, depending on the product or service offered, to ensure smooth and efficient transactions.
What is customer support?
Customer support fixes technical problems with your product. It’s reactive and triggered when something breaks or doesn’t work right.
The goal is to get your product working properly as fast as possible.
The key difference
Customer Service helps with questions and transactions. Customer Support fixes technical problems.
Key responsibilities of customer support teams:
Technical assistance: Providing support to customers experiencing technical issues by helping them troubleshoot problems, resolve technical difficulties, and guide them through specific processes.
Product problem solution: When customers encounter product-related issues, customer support teams step in to restore full functionality and ensure the product performs as intended.
Documenting customer issues and solutions: Keeping records of customer problems and the solutions provided allows the team to identify recurring issues and potential product improvements. It also provides a reference for follow-up interactions with customers.
Providing guidance and solutions: Offering step-by-step guidance to help customers overcome technical or product-related challenges, enabling them to use the product effectively.
Collaborating with other departments: Customer support teams frequently collaborate with customer service, customer success, and product teams to address recurring technical issues and ensure seamless product improvements.
Top metrics for measuring customer success, service and support
Establishing metrics to measure customer service, customer support, and customer success is essential. These metrics enable teams to evaluate individual and overall performance, identifying areas of strength and opportunities for improvement.
The primary goal of the metrics for each department is as follows:
Customer success metrics evaluate how effectively customers are reaching their goals using your product.
Customer service metrics measure how well your customer service team addresses inquiries and resolves issues that clients encounter with your product or service, contributing to a positive experience.
Customer support metrics focus on how efficiently your support team manages technical issues and product-related challenges.
Customer Success Metrics
Metric
What it measures
Why it matters
Customer Retention Rate
% of customers who renew
Shows if customers find ongoing value
Customer Health Score
Product usage + satisfaction + engagement
Predicts who might churn before they do
Churn Rate
% who cancel each month
Direct revenue impact
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
Total revenue per customer over time
Measures long-term profitability
Expansion Revenue
Revenue from upsells/cross-sells
Shows growth from existing customers
Key insight: If retention is below 85%, your customer success team needs more resources or better processes.
Customer Service Metrics
Metric
What it measures
Why it matters
Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)
How happy customers are after an interaction
Shows quality of service
First Response Time
Time until first reply to customer inquiry
Fast response = happy customers
Resolution Time
Time to fully solve an issue
Long waits frustrate customers
First Contact Resolution (FCR)
% of issues solved in first interaction
Reduces customer effort
Ticket Volume
Number of inquiries received
Fewer tickets = fewer problems
Key insight: If first response time exceeds 4 hours, customers start getting frustrated.
Customer Support Metrics
Metric
What it measures
Why it matters
Support Ticket Volume
Number of technical issues reported
Spike = product issue needs attention
Average Resolution Time
Time to fix a technical problem
Downtime costs money
Escalation Rate
% of tickets requiring senior help
High rate = training gaps
Ticket Backlog
Number of unresolved tickets
Backlog = understaffed team
Reopened Tickets
% of tickets reopened after “solved”
High rate = incomplete fixes
Key insight: If more than 20% of tickets are escalated, your Level 1 support needs better training or documentation.
By tracking these metrics for each department, you can effectively monitor and enhance customer experiences across all areas.
Customer success vs customer service vs customer support
When comparing customer success, customer service, and customer support, there are key differences in their focus, goals, and the stage of the customer journey they address.
Customer success
Customer service
Customer support
Primary focus
Pro-active, long-term relationship management
Reactive, addressing general inquiries and concerns
Solving technical problems and troubleshooting
Goal
Ensures customers achieve their desired outcomes and fully utilize the product or service
Provides assistance with product/service-related queries to ensure a positive experience
Helps customers use the product effectively by resolving technical issues
Stage of customer journey
Throughout the customer journey
Can occur at any stage, typically after purchase
Primarily when technical issues or product-related problems arise
In summary, customer success is centered around prevention and driving long-term growth and satisfaction, whereas customer service and support focus on resolving immediate issues.
The importance of a holistic approach
When comparing customer success vs customer service vs customer support, it’s essential to adopt a holistic approach and view these teams as interconnected parts of a larger whole.
This alignment allows the company to deliver a seamless and cohesive customer experience. By working together towards a common goal of maximizing customer satisfaction and value, these departments can prevent communication gaps, enhance collaboration, and ensure customers receive the support and guidance they need.
Ultimately, this unified approach fosters long-term loyalty and promotes a positive experience throughout the entire customer journey.
Manage your customer data effortlessly with Nutshell
Utilizing a CRM for managing customer success, customer service, and customer support offers significant advantages by centralizing customer data and providing teams with a comprehensive view of each customer’s journey.
With a CRM like Nutshell, companies can track interactions across different departments, ensuring that everyone has access to real-time information and can deliver a personalized experience at every touchpoint. This not only boosts efficiency but also enhances customer satisfaction by fostering better collaboration and consistency.
FAQs
1. Do small businesses need all three teams (customer success, service, and support)?
Not necessarily. Many small businesses start with one person handling multiple roles. However, if you have a sales team involved in closing deals, you should invest in customer success to ensure those customers achieve value. As you grow, separate the functions based on customer volume and complexity.
2. Which should you hire first: customer success or customer support?
Hire customer support first if you’re experiencing technical issues or product bugs that need immediate resolution. Hire customer success first if your customers need help achieving their goals and maximizing product value. For most B2B companies, customer success comes first since it directly impacts retention and revenue growth.
3. What skills are needed for customer success vs customer service roles?
Customer success requires strategic thinking, relationship-building, business acumen, and proactive problem-solving. Customer service needs strong communication, empathy, patience, and reactive problem-solving skills. Customer success professionals focus on long-term outcomes, while customer service reps excel at immediate issue resolution and creating positive interactions.
4. Who handles customer onboarding: customer success or customer support?
Customer success owns onboarding. They guide new customers through setup, training, and initial product adoption to ensure they achieve early wins. Customer support steps in when technical issues arise during onboarding. The customer success team maintains the relationship and ensures customers reach their desired outcomes throughout the onboarding journey.
5. How do customer success and customer service teams work together?
Customer success and service teams share customer data, insights, and feedback through a centralized CRM like Nutshell. Support escalates complex issues and identifies at-risk accounts to customer success. Customer success provides context about customer goals and health scores to support. Regular communication and shared metrics ensure both teams deliver seamless experiences.
