Designing the right customer engagement model has been one of the most impactful undertakings in my customer success career. 

It’s not just about when we meet with customers or what we say, it’s about building a structured, intentional approach that drives real outcomes and deepens trust over time.

Along the way, I’ve encountered plenty of challenges: inconsistent execution, unclear ownership, and missed opportunities to demonstrate value. 

But through trial, iteration, and collaboration, we developed a model that helped us move from reactive to strategic, and strengthened our partnerships in the process.

In this article, I’ll walk through the five key components of that model, the plays that helped us stay aligned, uncover value, and ultimately drive better outcomes for our customers at every stage of the journey.

Why engagement models matter

When we think about how and when we engage with our customers, it really boils down to what we’re trying to accomplish. 

Customers come to us because they have a problem. When they purchase our solution, what we’re really doing is helping them solve that problem – aligning with their goals, enabling them, supporting successful deployment, and most importantly, staying with them throughout their entire journey.

Customer success, at its core, is about being a proactive advocate. We aim to be their partner in everything they do, helping them maximize the value of their purchase, navigate innovation, and prepare for the next steps in their journey.

A major theme in all of this is value. How do we ensure customers actually see the value of what they’ve invested in? It’s easy to talk about what we want to do, but the real question is: how do we make that happen?

Building a structured approach

To connect all these dots, we need a clear, prescriptive engagement model. Let me ask, do you have one in place at your company? A mapped-out approach that says: do this at this time, with this person, this often?

A couple of years ago, we didn’t. What we had instead was more of a loose suggestion: “Here’s what we want you to try with customers, let us know how it goes.” And as you can imagine, when things are left open-ended like that, they often don’t get done consistently, and they don’t deliver the outcomes we need.

So we created a model we call Success Connect. It’s structured around five core components:

  1. Pulse check
  2. Success planning session
  3. Executive Business Reviews (EBRs)
  4. Innovation or roadmap discussion
  5. Value unlock session

Each of these plays a specific role in driving meaningful engagement.

Success Connect model