Customer Success Management: The next evolution in customer management practice?

Customer Success Management (CSM) has transcended from a buzzword into the latest permutation in customer management practice and accordingly deserves rigorous academic analysis. The current article aims to accelerate such analysis through three steps. First, the article examines the broader customer management literature and situates CSM in a larger tradition following Customer Relationship Management, Customer Experience design and management, and Customer Engagement. Second, the article examines the initial articulations of CSM in the literature. Third, the article draws upon goal management, stakeholder management, and learning management in hopes to provoke original research questions and management experimentation. Altogether we provide evidence that CSM forefronts the customer as the primary actor supported by the seller, rather than the seller acting upon the customer, and discuss implications for organizational design and customer facing operations. •Customer Success Management is a new customer management practice•Customer Success Management is part of an evolution in customer management practices following CRM, Customer Engagement, and Customer Experience.•Customer Success Management often manifests as a new functional unit or job role in the firm•Customer Success Management proactively prioritizes customers' experience and engagement toward maximum value-in-use•Customer Success Management draws upon goal management, stakeholder management, and learning management research streams.