Customer Success Benchmark 2026
Benchmarking how leading B2B SaaS companies build and scale Customer Success.
We interview Customer Success leaders to understand what creates measurable customer value, what prevents CSMs from operating strategically, and what starts breaking as CS organizations scale.
30-minute research conversation · Invitation-based · No sales
Real Leaders
Executive Conversations
Strategic Value
Customer Outcomes & ROI
Scaling CS
Systems, Teams & Operations
Research Insights
Patterns Across B2B SaaS
What makes Customer Success strategically valuable — and what breaks at scale.
Customer Success Benchmark was created to understand how B2B SaaS companies turn Customer Success into measurable customer and business value — and what prevents teams from delivering that value consistently as they scale.
Through executive interviews, the research documents how leading teams create measurable customer outcomes, build strategically capable CS organizations, and scale without degrading quality.
Research begins with leaders in B2B HR software and contributes to a broader view of modern Customer Success organizations.
Research themes
- 01Customer value & ROI
- 02Strategic account management
- 03Business acumen
- 04Executive engagement
- 05Retention & expansion
- 06CSM productivity & capacity
- 07CS operating models
- 08Organizational design & scaling
- 09AI & automation
- 10Product adoption & customer education
Problems and patterns the research explores
What conversations investigate around strategic value and scale.
- 01
What separates your strongest CSMs from the rest?
- 02
What prevents CSMs from understanding the customer's business deeply enough?
- 03
How do teams identify, quantify, and communicate customer ROI?
- 04
What makes executive-level customer conversations effective?
- 05
What prevents CSMs from spending more time on strategic work?
- 06
How consistent is strategic account management across the team?
- 07
What becomes harder as the CS organization grows?
- 08
How do companies scale CS without losing quality or customer intimacy?
- 09
Where does knowledge become trapped in top-performing CSMs?
- 10
How do segmentation and coverage models change as companies scale?
- 11
Where is AI genuinely removing operational CS work?
- 12
Which CS challenges remain stubbornly difficult despite better tooling and automation?
How the benchmark is developed
A disciplined process from executive conversation to published insight.
- 01
Executive Interview
Structured conversations with leaders across selected B2B SaaS companies.
- 02
Analysis
Challenges, language, operating patterns, and triggers are categorized.
- 03
Pattern Identification
Findings compared across size, product complexity, and organizational maturity.
- 04
Benchmark Report
The strongest recurring insights synthesized into a practical report.
Contribute your experience. Receive the findings first.
A short conversation that shapes independent research — and gives you an early view of how peers operate.
- Early access to the benchmark report
- A concise summary of emerging industry themes
- A private summary of your conversation
- The interview recording, when permitted
- Optional edited excerpts for internal or LinkedIn use
- A role in shaping more useful industry research
You control attribution
Participants control whether name, company, role, or quotes may be attributed. Insights are anonymized unless permission is granted.
Who the research is for
Experienced Customer Success leaders accountable for strategic customer outcomes and scaling CS organizations.
Roles we are interviewing
- Chief Customer Officers
- VPs of Customer Success
- Heads of Customer Success
- Directors of Customer Success
- CS Operations leaders
- CS Enablement leaders
Initial company profile
- B2B software companies
- Approximately 50–2,000 employees
- A defined Customer Success function
- Pressure to deliver measurable customer outcomes
- Growing customer volume, complexity, or organizational scale
Customer Education and Implementation leaders are also welcome to participate.
The founding cohort focuses on HR, payroll, workforce management, talent, and employee-experience software.
Founding interview cohort now being assembled
Current stage: Assembling founding cohort
- Interviews completed
- 7
- Companies represented
- 5
- Countries represented
- 3
A focused 30-minute research interview
- 1
Select a suitable time
- 2
Join a focused video conversation
- 3
Discuss practices, challenges, and priorities
- 4
Review quotes or attribution before publication
- 5
Receive early access to the findings
What to expect
- Approximately 30 minutes
- Conducted by video call
- No sales presentation
- Recording only with permission
Attribution is controlled by the participant. Nothing is published without your review.
About the researcher
Aladin El-Khalil
Founder, Customer Success Benchmark
Aladin El-Khalil is a technology leader, educator, and SaaS builder with experience shipping products, leading technical teams, and educating hundreds of students.
He founded the Customer Success Benchmark to understand how B2B SaaS companies turn Customer Success into measurable customer and business value — and what prevents teams from delivering that value consistently as they scale.
Connect on LinkedInQuestions about participating
- Chief Customer Officers, VPs, Heads, and Directors of Customer Success, plus CS Operations and Enablement leaders at B2B SaaS companies. Customer Education and Implementation leaders are also welcome. The founding cohort focuses on HR, payroll, workforce, talent, and employee-experience software.
- What creates measurable customer value, what prevents CSMs from operating strategically, and what starts breaking as CS organizations scale.
- No. There is no product being sold. This is an independent research conversation on how Customer Success is evolving across B2B SaaS.
- Only with your explicit permission. If you prefer not to be recorded, we take written notes.
- Only with your permission. Insights are anonymized unless you choose to be attributed.
- Once enough interviews are complete. We share timing with participants as the research progresses.
- Early access to the benchmark report, a summary of emerging themes, a private summary of your conversation, and — where recorded with permission — the recording and optional edited excerpts.
- No. Participation is free. The research is independent and not vendor-sponsored.
- Yes. Different perspectives — for example CS leadership, Operations, and Enablement — add useful depth.
- To identify recurring themes and operating patterns across participating companies. We do not request confidential commercial information.
Help shape the Customer Success Benchmark 2026.
Share how your team creates customer value and scales Customer Success. Receive early access to the findings.
30 minutes · Video conversation · Invitation-based · No sales