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Intranet Management

Q&A with a ThoughtFarmer Customer Success Manager

Our customers rave about our support. So what are the secrets to happy and productive customers? Our very own customer success manager shares her insights and wisdom. 

4 minute read
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Customer success means different things to different people, but to us it means ensuring that every customer has a dedicated support person to ensure their success from pre launch to post launch. 

From our satisfied customer reviews, to our high net promoter score, to our low (and sometimes negative!) churn rate, we can confidently say customer success is one area where we stand out among our competitors.

So what is our secret? And what do we do to ensure happy and productive customers? 

We sat down with Yegee, Customer Success Manager, to find out how she ensures her customers have the best possible chance for success.

What does your typical day entail? 

I usually structure my day around my meetings. I will meet with several customers per day, providing guidance to intranet administrators on topics like maximizing the impact of their company’s intranet, streamlining communications, and adding engaging social features to the intranet. 

A typical day may also involve delivering workshops for Professional Services customers who are engaged with ThoughtFarmer in a more robust onboarding package. 

There would also be several meetings scattered throughout the week between my team and internal teams to discuss joint initiatives with the Product, Sales, Support, and Marketing teams. 

Besides meetings, the rest of my day would be spent answering any outstanding questions from ThoughtFarmer customers, completing action items from the day’s meetings, contributing to internal projects, and scheduling more meetings! 

What is your favourite part of your job? 

I love hearing positive feedback from new customers when I present them with their custom theme (shout-out to Susana and Johnny for creating modern and fun themes!). 

And of course, it is also very gratifying to see a successful intranet launch after the team has worked so hard during the implementation. 

What is the most challenging part of your job? 

Probably customizing my approach to diverse use cases and organizations. A set of configurations for one customer may not work for a similar customer in the same industry—it all depends! Every customer has their own processes, culture, and objectives that guide the best configurations for them. 

What do successful ThoughtFarmer deployments have in common?

I would put it down to three key components: 

  • Ownership: The internal intranet owner is clearly defined, meaning the intranet has a specific role in the organization. 
  • Objectives: There is an internal consensus on the strategic objectives and purpose for the intranet. 
  • Enthusiasm: The intranet stakeholders have the resources and dedication to set up the platform to its full potential. They are eager to experiment with new features, and review their intranet to continuously make it more interesting and useful for staff. 

What ThoughtFarmer features are under-used?

Sharing video would be one! Videos are easy to embed on intranet pages, and a more engaging medium for comms than just text, but the typical ThoughtFarmer customer does not incorporate video heavily into their intranet content. Also the mobile app.  

Have you ever been surprised at what a ThoughtFarmer customer was able to achieve? 

Yes—all the time. One of our customers in the events industry found some very creative solutions to bend our calendars into a tool that helped their ticketing call center. Another customer created a rolling feed of staff photo submissions for holidays and events, which is a big driver of engagement on their site. 

What is the biggest mistake you see customers make with their intranet? 

Letting content get stale – intranets require regular reviews of content to make sure it stays relevant and up-to-date. Neglecting a review schedule over the years eventually leads to difficulties finding things, outdated information, and poor organization of content, all of which requires massive efforts to resolve. Another thing might be not periodically updating to the latest version of ThoughtFarmer. You’re missing out! 🙂

What is the fastest deployment that you ever saw? And what made it successful? 

One customer launched within four weeks! This is a lot faster than the typical deployment period which is closer to three months. While it’s true that they had a fairly simple intranet structure, the project team prioritized intranet setup, had a clear implementation plan, and were resourceful in terms of learning how to use the tool quickly (in short, they demonstrated the facets described above). 

What is the best piece of advice for new ThoughtFarmer customers wanting to achieve intranet success? 

  • Make it exciting and fun! 
  • Take feedback on what is important and valuable to your staff. 
  • Continuously promote the intranet.