A well-designed Customer Success bonus structure should drive proactive behaviors, encourage customer retention, and align with business growth goals. However, many companies struggle with finding the right balance. Should bonuses be tied to Net Revenue Retention (NRR) or Gross Revenue Retention (GRR)? Should they focus solely on individual performance, or should they be teamwide? How can incentive plans avoid unintended consequences, such as CSMs deprioritizing long-term customer engagement in favor of short-term wins?
To uncover the best approaches, we asked Customer Success professionals how they structure their incentive plans. Their insights reveal key trends in compensation models, common pitfalls, and the underlying psychology that makes incentives truly effective.
Setting the right goals: what should CSM bonuses incentivize?
At the heart of every incentive plan is the question: What behaviors do we want to drive? Bonuses that focus too narrowly on one metric can lead to unintended consequences, such as CSMs prioritizing revenue over customer health or failing to engage in proactive account management.
PSPs need more than transactions—they need infrastructure that scales revenue while staying compliant. smartIBAN turns local payments into your growth engine.
Author
The right balance must ensure that CSMs are motivated to retain customers, drive expansion, and engage proactively, rather than focusing on a single short-term goal. While bonuses and incentives have been mostly associated with sales positions, a survey by the Alexander Group found that 28% of over 300 companies are integrating incentive pay into new roles beyond traditional sales positions. However, it’s important to find the right structure for CS compensation.
Setting the right goals: what should CSM bonuses incentivize?
At the heart of every incentive plan is the question: What behaviors do we want to drive? Bonuses that focus too narrowly on one metric can lead to unintended consequences, such as CSMs prioritizing revenue over customer health or failing to engage in proactive account management.
At the heart of every incentive plan is the question: What behaviors do we want to drive? Bonuses that focus too narrowly on one metric can lead to unintended consequences, such as CSMs prioritizing revenue over customer health or failing to engage in proactive account management.
At the heart of every incentive plan is the question: What behaviors do we want to drive? Bonuses that focus too narrowly on one metric can lead to unintended consequences, such as CSMs prioritizing revenue over customer health or failing to engage in proactive account management.
Setting the right goals: what should CSM bonuses incentivize?
At the heart of every incentive plan is the question: What behaviors do we want to drive? Bonuses that focus too narrowly on one metric can lead to unintended consequences, such as CSMs prioritizing revenue over customer health or failing to engage in proactive account management.
- At the heart of every incentive plan is the question
- At the heart of every incentive plan is the question
- At the heart of every incentive plan is the question
- At the heart of every incentive plan is the question
- At the heart of every incentive plan is the question
At the heart of every incentive plan is the question: What behaviors do we want to drive? Bonuses that focus too narrowly on one metric can lead to unintended consequences, such as CSMs prioritizing revenue over customer health or failing to engage in proactive account management.
- At the heart of every incentive plan is the question
- At the heart of every incentive plan is the question
- At the heart of every incentive plan is the question
- At the heart of every incentive plan is the question
- At the heart of every incentive plan is the question
At the heart of every incentive plan is the question: What behaviors do we want to drive?
PSPs need more than transactions—they need infrastructure that scales revenue while staying compliant. smartIBAN turns local payments into your growth engine.
Author
Setting the right goals: what should CSM bonuses incentivize?
At the heart of every incentive plan is the question: What behaviors do we want to drive? Bonuses that focus too narrowly on one metric can lead to unintended consequences, such as CSMs prioritizing revenue over customer health or failing to engage in proactive account management.
PSPs need more than transactions—they need infrastructure that scales revenue while staying compliant. smartIBAN turns local payments into your growth engine.
Author
The right balance must ensure that CSMs are motivated to retain customers, drive expansion, and engage proactively, rather than focusing on a single short-term goal. While bonuses and incentives have been mostly associated with sales positions, a survey by the Alexander Group found that 28% of over 300 companies are integrating incentive pay into new roles beyond traditional sales positions. However, it’s important to find the right structure for CS compensation.
Setting the right goals: what should CSM bonuses incentivize?
At the heart of every incentive plan is the question: What behaviors do we want to drive? Bonuses that focus too narrowly on one metric can lead to unintended consequences, such as CSMs prioritizing revenue over customer health or failing to engage in proactive account management.
At the heart of every incentive plan is the question: What behaviors do we want to drive? Bonuses that focus too narrowly on one metric can lead to unintended consequences, such as CSMs prioritizing revenue over customer health or failing to engage in proactive account management.
At the heart of every incentive plan is the question: What behaviors do we want to drive? Bonuses that focus too narrowly on one metric can lead to unintended consequences, such as CSMs prioritizing revenue over customer health or failing to engage in proactive account management.
Setting the right goals: what should CSM bonuses incentivize?
At the heart of every incentive plan is the question: What behaviors do we want to drive? Bonuses that focus too narrowly on one metric can lead to unintended consequences, such as CSMs prioritizing revenue over customer health or failing to engage in proactive account management.
At the heart of every incentive plan is the question: What behaviors do we want to drive? Bonuses that focus too narrowly on one metric can lead to unintended consequences, such as CSMs prioritizing revenue over customer health or failing to engage in proactive account management.
At the heart of every incentive plan is the question: What behaviors do we want to drive? Bonuses that focus too narrowly on one metric can lead to unintended consequences, such as CSMs prioritizing revenue over customer health or failing to engage in proactive account management.
PSPs need more than transactions—they need infrastructure that scales revenue while staying compliant. smartIBAN turns local payments into your growth engine.
Author