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9 July 2024 15 min read


25 CUSTOMER SUCCESS MANAGER JOB INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Customer success careers

GRACE GUPTA

Read More

 1.  1. How do you maintain relationships with X partners? What’s the process?
 2.  2. Can you walk us through the onboarding process? What does it look like,
     and what’s your role?
 3.  3. How do you identify opportunities for expansion?
 4.  4. Can you describe the strategic initiatives you’ve led around education,
     growth, and churn? How did you implement and refine these initiatives?
 5.  5. What are the trademarks of a healthy customer at your company?
 6.  6. Your resume mentions reducing churn from 5% down to 2% in your current
     role. How did you do this? What tactics and strategies did you use?
 7.  7. Your resume also mentions you achieved a 30% increase in MRR in your
     previous role. What changes did you implement?
 8.  8. Do you have experience managing direct reports?
 9.  9. Can you describe a tricky client complaint you’ve encountered that
     didn’t end well?
 10. 10. How involved are you with customer feedback? Can you share an instance
     where you’ve closed a customer feedback loop?
 11. 11. Hypothetically, if you get this job, what would you aim to achieve in
     your first 30 days?
 12. 12. What tools have you used for customer success in the past?
 13. 13. How would you describe your leadership style?
 14. 14. What are your top three strengths and why?
 15. 15. What are your three biggest weaknesses and why?
 16. 16. What kind of people do you find challenging to work with?
 17. 17. What do you hope to achieve in your next company or role?
 18. 18. Can you describe the day-to-day responsibilities of your current role?
 19. 19. How many client inquiries do you handle daily?
 20. 20. Follow up: What is the nature of these inquiries?
 21. 21. What are your typical KPIs for turnaround time on client inquiries?
 22. 22. What’s the trickiest ticket or complaint you’ve dealt with, and how did
     you overcome it?
 23. 23. What does your immediate team look like in terms of size and roles?
 24. 24. Are you involved in collecting and acting on customer feedback?
 25. 25. Can you describe a time when you used data points to tell a story to
     your customer about a potential upsell or expansion opportunity?
 26. It's time to become the CS superhero you were born to be. 🦸

If you're preparing for a Customer Success Manager (CSM) interview – whether
you're an applicant or a hiring manager – this comprehensive guide will provide
valuable insights into the key questions you might encounter or should ask.

This article covers 25 essential Customer Success Manager interview questions,
each accompanied by:

 1. The aim of the interview question
 2. Key skills being assessed
 3. An example answer

These questions aim to cover the various facets of customer success, including
relationship management, onboarding processes, strategic initiatives,
problem-solving, leadership, and personal development. 

Whether you're a candidate preparing for an interview or a first-time hiring
manager crafting your interview strategy, this list of questions and answers
will help steer your interview and act as your ultimate preparation tool to bag
the job (or the CSM) of your dreams.

Let's dive into these questions and uncover what it takes to excel in customer
success:

 * Partner relationship management
 * Customer onboarding process
 * Identifying expansion opportunities
 * Strategic education initiatives implementation
 * Healthy customer indicators
 * Churn reduction strategies
 * MRR increase tactics
 * Experience with direct reports
 * Handling difficult client complaints
 * Customer feedback loop
 * First 30 days plan
 * CS tools experience
 * Leadership style
 * Top strengths
 * Areas for improvement
 * Challenging workplace dynamics
 * Career goals and expectations
 * Current role overview
 * Client inquiry volume
 * Nature of client inquiries
 * Inquiry turnaround time
 * Issue resolution examples
 * Team structure
 * Customer feedback management


1. HOW DO YOU MAINTAIN RELATIONSHIPS WITH X PARTNERS? WHAT’S THE PROCESS?

Aim: To understand your approach to partner management. 

Key skills assessed: Relationship management, communication, and organization.

Example answer: This is without a doubt my favorite part of the role, as it
allows me to shine at what I do best: regularly communicating with our
customers. I love my clients, so ensuring their success is paramount to me. 

This line of communication involves scheduling check-ins, crafting personalized
emails, and delivering QBRs. I was lucky enough to inherit a well-oiled process
from my line manager, our Head of Customer Success, but I’ve put my own spin on
certain things, ensuring clear expectations are set. 

Every morning, I track performance metrics and address any concerns proactively.
For example, last quarter, I managed a key partnership that had a new person of
contact (client side). I took the opportunity to listen to their concerns, and
their hopes for our product, and implemented a quarterly review process to help
ensure they’re happy with the direction of our product and their company’s
vision. This has helped us identify and resolve issues before they escalated
during what could have been a tumultuous period for the partnership.

Drive customer engagement through effective communications
My name is Lawrence Ang, and I work with the customer success team at The
Financial Times. In this article, I’ll be focusing on customer communications
and engagement. Obviously, I’m basing this very heavily on my own experiences,
but there are certainly variations for different people.
Customer Success CollectiveLawrence Ang



2. CAN YOU WALK US THROUGH THE ONBOARDING PROCESS? WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE, AND
WHAT’S YOUR ROLE?

Aim: To gauge your understanding of the onboarding process and your role in it. 

Key skills assessed: Process management, customer education, and collaboration. 

Example answer: Our onboarding process starts with a kickoff meeting to set
expectations and timelines. I start scheduling welcome emails and ensuring their
dashboard is up to date. I conduct a needs assessment, provide training
sessions, and offer ongoing support. For example, I recently onboarded an
enterprise client by creating a customized training program that reduced their
setup time by 20%.

The Customer Success Onboarding Playbook
The Customer Success Onboarding Playbook has been designed to provide you with a
step-by-step guide to the customer onboarding process, revealing industry best
practices and showing you exactly how to position your customer interactions
during this crucial time in the customer journey.
Customer Success CollectiveGrace Gupta



3. HOW DO YOU IDENTIFY OPPORTUNITIES FOR EXPANSION?

Aim: To evaluate your ability to recognize and act on growth opportunities. 

Key skills assessed: Analytical thinking, customer insight, and strategic
planning. 

Example answer: For me, expansion opportunities can be sussed out in two ways.
The first is good old-fashioned communication with clients to understand their
evolving needs. The second, and by far my most successful means, is analyzing
usage data, customer feedback, and market trends. For instance, I recently
identified an expansion opportunity by noticing increased usage of a particular
feature and after subtly weaving it into a conversation driven by value, I
proposed an upsell to our premium tier.

A step-by-step guide to expansion
Unlock the secrets to boosting customer lifetime value and discover proven
strategies for skyrocketing retention, renewals, and expansion rates.
Customer Success CollectiveNick Chang



4. CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE STRATEGIC INITIATIVES YOU’VE LED AROUND EDUCATION,
GROWTH, AND CHURN? HOW DID YOU IMPLEMENT AND REFINE THESE INITIATIVES?

Aim: To understand your experience with strategic initiatives. 

Key skills assessed: Leadership, strategic thinking, and project management. 

Example answer: At [Company Name], I spearheaded several initiatives, including
a customer education program that reduced churn by 10% over a fiscal year. I
started by identifying common knowledge gaps with our enterprise clients, then
created a series of webinars and tutorials. I also worked with our support team
to implement a feedback loop to continuously improve the content based on our
customer’s input.

The power of digital customer education
If your customers aren’t continuously uncovering new ways to get value from your
products or services, you’re missing a vital opportunity to captivate them
properly. And if they don’t know how to use your product, well, there’s only one
thing for it: they’ve got to learn how to use it.
Customer Success CollectiveGrace Gupta



5. WHAT ARE THE TRADEMARKS OF A HEALTHY CUSTOMER AT YOUR COMPANY?

Aim: To gauge your understanding of customer health indicators. 

Key skills assessed: Customer success metrics, data analysis, and customer
insight. 

Example answer: To me, a healthy customer at our company typically shows high
engagement, regular usage of our product, and a proactive approach to utilizing
new features. In our business, a healthy customer would attend our webinars,
provide feedback, and consistently renew their subscription.

Your guide to the customer health score
A customer health score is a predictive metric used by SaaS businesses to
indicate the likelihood of your customer leaving (churn), staying (retention),
or growing (renewals) in your organization.
Customer Success CollectiveGrace Gupta



6. YOUR RESUME MENTIONS REDUCING CHURN FROM 5% DOWN TO 2% IN YOUR CURRENT ROLE.
HOW DID YOU DO THIS? WHAT TACTICS AND STRATEGIES DID YOU USE?

Aim: To understand your approach to reducing churn. 

Key skills assessed: Retention strategies, customer relationship management, and
problem-solving. 

Example answer: This was a biggie. I reduced churn by implementing a proactive
customer outreach program, which included regular check-ins, personalized
success plans, and early intervention for at-risk customers. We were delighted
to find that when we identified at-risk customers using predictive analytics and
engaged them with targeted support, our clients were super positive about
renewing and keeping the relationship ongoing.

Decoding churn: Find out what your customer is really thinking
In this article, I’m going to walk you through how to decode customer churn.
Before I delve into the crux of the matter, allow me a moment to set the stage
for our topic. Then, I’ll give a quick background, so you understand where my
experience comes from.
Customer Success CollectiveSylvia Yin



7. YOUR RESUME ALSO MENTIONS YOU ACHIEVED A 30% INCREASE IN MRR IN YOUR PREVIOUS
ROLE. WHAT CHANGES DID YOU IMPLEMENT?

Aim: To evaluate your impact on revenue growth. 

Key skills assessed: Sales strategies, customer insight, and analytical
thinking. 

Example answer: To increase MRR by 30%, I spent a lot of time channeling my
efforts into targeted upselling and cross-selling initiatives. As a small
company, I was fortunate enough to work closely with our sales team to identify
opportunities, create tailored proposals for clients, and implement a rewards
program for referrals. It wasn’t straightforward, and a few learning curves were
thrown at us along the way, but ultimately, this approach resulted in a
significant boost in our MRR.


8. DO YOU HAVE EXPERIENCE MANAGING DIRECT REPORTS?

Aim: To assess your leadership and management experience. 

Key skills assessed: Leadership, team management, and mentorship. 

Example answer: I’ve previously been a team lead and managed a small team of
three junior Customer Success Managers. I conducted regular one-to-ones,
provided ongoing training, helped hone their strategy, and set clear performance
goals. For example, I mentored a first-time CSM team member, who then
successfully took on a lead role within six months.

How to lead a customer success team through a management transition
While starting a new role is exciting and poses a fresh bank of possibilities,
it’s not always an enviable position when you step into someone else’s shoes.
This is especially true when you’ve got to build new relationships with your
predecessor’s team.
Customer Success CollectiveGrace Gupta



9. CAN YOU DESCRIBE A TRICKY CLIENT COMPLAINT YOU’VE ENCOUNTERED THAT DIDN’T END
WELL?

Aim: To understand how you handle challenging situations. 

Key skills assessed: Conflict resolution, problem-solving, resilience. 

Example answer: Absolutely. It happens from time to time, but one particularly
tricky situation involved a client who was unhappy with a feature limitation.
Despite our efforts to provide workarounds and our endless back-and-forths with
product and future update promises, unfortunately, the client decided to leave.

This was a tough one, as I’d been the one who onboarded that client but
unfortunately couldn’t save the relationship. It did sting, but I learned the
importance of managing expectations and communicating transparently about
product limitations early on.

Customer experience in crisis: Resilience and reputation
Managing customer experience is an integral part of maintaining and enhancing
brand reputation. This article looks at reputation management.
Customer Success CollectiveTisa Sinclair



10. HOW INVOLVED ARE YOU WITH CUSTOMER FEEDBACK? CAN YOU SHARE AN INSTANCE WHERE
YOU’VE CLOSED A CUSTOMER FEEDBACK LOOP?

Aim: To evaluate your involvement in the feedback process. 

Key skills assessed: Customer feedback management, communication, continuous
improvement. 

Example answer: Feedback is our bread and butter at [Company Name]. With my
team, I actively gather and act on customer feedback by conducting surveys,
holding feedback sessions, and maintaining an open communication channel. For
instance, a client suggested a new feature we developed and released within a
year. I then followed up with the client to ensure their satisfaction with the
new feature.

Your guide on customer feedback
Customer feedback is one of the most essential parts of a customer success
strategy, letting you understand and improve the customer experience.
Customer Success CollectiveGrace Gupta



11. HYPOTHETICALLY, IF YOU GET THIS JOB, WHAT WOULD YOU AIM TO ACHIEVE IN YOUR
FIRST 30 DAYS?

Aim: To understand your approach to a new role. 

Key skills assessed: Goal setting, planning, and prioritization. 

Example answer: I love this question! So, in the first 30 days, I’d aim to
understand the company’s goals, meet key stakeholders, and assess the current
customer success processes. I would also identify quick wins to build momentum
and establish a 90-day plan focusing on customer retention and satisfaction
improvements. This plan would include specific, measurable goals and initiatives
to drive impact quickly while laying the groundwork for long-term success.

For example, I might aim to implement a new customer health scoring system,
streamline the onboarding process, or launch a voice of the customer program.
The exact goals would depend on the specific needs and priorities I identify
during this initial period.

How to onboard newly-hired Customer Success Managers
As a customer success leader, I can’t emphasize enough the importance of having
a solid onboarding process for new Customer Success Managers (CSMs). Just like
we strive to deliver an amazing experience for our customers, setting up our
employees for success from day one should be a top priority.
Customer Success CollectiveJess Galenski



12. WHAT TOOLS HAVE YOU USED FOR CUSTOMER SUCCESS IN THE PAST?

Aim: To assess your familiarity with CS tools. 

Key skills assessed: Technical proficiency and tool utilization. 

Example answer: Oh boy, I’ve used them all – from starting in Excel/Google
Sheets to the big CS platforms. I’ve used Salesforce for CRM, Userpilot,
Catalyst, and Gainsight for CS management, then Intercom and Zendesk for support
ticketing. I’ve found these tools are pretty second to none when helping
streamline processes, track customer interactions, and provide valuable insights
into customer health.


13. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR LEADERSHIP STYLE?

Aim: To understand your approach to leadership.

Key skills assessed: Leadership, communication and team management. 

Example answer: I’d have to say my leadership style strives to be collaborative
and supportive. I firmly believe in empowering my team by providing clear goals,
regular feedback, and opportunities for professional development. We’ve all had
bad managers, and I hold them in my mind when managing my team as to how not to
be. I foster an environment where team members feel valued and motivated to
perform at their best. To me, that’s the only way to lead.

8 winning tips for stellar customer success leadership
There’s a colossal difference between leaders and managers. While managers are
there to enforce processes, ensure compliance, and make sure people are hitting
their KPIs, leaders work for their team
Customer Success CollectiveRichard Convery



14. WHAT ARE YOUR TOP THREE STRENGTHS AND WHY?

Aim: To identify your core competencies. 

Key skills assessed: Self-awareness, strengths identification and
communication. 

Example answer: My top three strengths are communication, problem-solving, and
empathy. I communicate effectively with customers and colleagues, find creative
solutions to challenges, and understand and address customer needs with empathy.


15. WHAT ARE YOUR THREE BIGGEST WEAKNESSES AND WHY?

Aim: To gauge your self-awareness and willingness to improve. 

Key skills assessed: Self-awareness, growth mindset and honesty. 

Example answer: I’d have to say my weaknesses include being overly
detail-oriented, sometimes taking on too much at once, and a tendency to avoid
delegation – especially if it’s a project you’ve created or a client you’ve
onboarded from the get-go. I’m working on balancing attention to detail with
big-picture thinking, managing my workload better, and trusting my team to
handle tasks independently.


16. WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE DO YOU FIND CHALLENGING TO WORK WITH?

Aim: To understand your interpersonal preferences. 

Key skills assessed: Interpersonal skills, team dynamics, and self-awareness. 

Example answer: I find it challenging to work with people who are consistently
negative or uncooperative. I’ve worked with at least three people like this over
the past few years, and it just doesn’t gel with me. Our role as CSM, being
customer-facing, means we’re this happy, positive, empathetic person. But when
you’ve got a colleague who’s being unnecessarily critical and negative, it can
be a real issue. I value a positive, collaborative work environment and believe
in addressing issues constructively and professionally.

How you’re demotivating your team and how to stop
Few things are as costly and disruptive as managers who kill motivation. It’s
said that “people don’t leave jobs; they leave managers” and the stats back this
up: 70% of an employee’s motivation is influenced by their manager, according to
Gallup.
Customer Success CollectiveChloie Brandrick



17. WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACHIEVE IN YOUR NEXT COMPANY OR ROLE?

Aim: To understand your career goals and alignment with the company. 

Key skills assessed: Career aspirations, company fit, and motivation. 

Example answer: I’m looking for a role where I can continue to grow
professionally, contribute to meaningful projects, and work with a passionate
and driven team. I want to make a significant impact on customer success and
help drive the company’s growth.


18. CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE DAY-TO-DAY RESPONSIBILITIES OF YOUR CURRENT ROLE?

Aim: To get an overview of your current responsibilities. 

Key skills assessed: Role understanding, task management, daily operations.

Example answer: In my current role, I manage [#] customer accounts, conduct
regular check-ins, handle escalations, and work on strategic initiatives. My day
typically involves meetings with customers, collaborating with product, sales,
and support, analyzing customer data, and ensuring our customers achieve their
goals.


19. HOW MANY CLIENT INQUIRIES DO YOU HANDLE DAILY?

Aim: To understand your workload and how you manage it. 

Key skills assessed: Workload management, customer interaction, and
organizational skills. 

Example answer: I currently manage around [#] client inquiries daily. These
range from simple questions to more complex issues. I prioritize them based on
urgency and impact, ensuring timely and effective responses.


20. FOLLOW UP: WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THESE INQUIRIES?

Aim: To get insight into the type of issues you handle. 

Key skills assessed: Issue resolution, product knowledge and customer
interaction.

Example answer: Inquiries typically include things like technical support,
product usage questions, any billing issues, and new feature requests. I often
help customers troubleshoot issues, provide best practice advice, and escalate
bugs to our development team.

What are the go-to KPIs and metrics used in customer success?
Picture this: you have an in-demand product, a seemingly solid customer base,
and money pouring in. Surely you’ve made it, right? But the thing is, none of
these things matter without setting the right measures in place to monitor the
good and the bad.
Customer Success CollectiveGrace Gupta



21. WHAT ARE YOUR TYPICAL KPIS FOR TURNAROUND TIME ON CLIENT INQUIRIES?

Aim: To assess your efficiency and effectiveness in handling inquiries.

Key skills assessed: Efficiency, customer service, time management. 

Example answer: Our typical turnaround time for client inquiries is within 24
hours. For high-priority issues, we aim to respond within two hours. These KPIs
ensure we maintain high customer satisfaction and promptly address their needs.


22. WHAT’S THE TRICKIEST TICKET OR COMPLAINT YOU’VE DEALT WITH, AND HOW DID YOU
OVERCOME IT?

Aim: To evaluate your problem-solving and conflict-resolution skills. 

Key skills assessed: Conflict resolution, problem-solving, communication. 

Example answer: Hmm… the trickiest complaint involved a major outage affecting
one of our largest clients. I coordinated with the technical team to resolve the
issue quickly, kept the client informed with regular updates, and provided a
detailed post-mortem report. We also offered them a complimentary month of
service to mitigate the impact.


23. WHAT DOES YOUR IMMEDIATE TEAM LOOK LIKE IN TERMS OF SIZE AND ROLES?

Aim: To get an overview of your team structure and ensure you know how the
dynamics work. 

Key skills assessed: Team management, collaboration, organizational structure. 

Example answer: We’re small but mighty! My immediate team consists of three
Customer Success Managers, one Customer Success Lead, two Customer Support
Managers, one Head of Customer Success, and one Director of Customer Success.
Each member plays a vital role in ensuring customer satisfaction and success by
focusing on their specialized areas.

Using customer feedback and win-loss interviews to improve your product
Customer feedback and win-loss interviews are among the most effective ways to
gain a firm understanding of how your product has been received, and how you can
make changes, where needed.
Customer Success CollectiveCustomer Success Collective



24. ARE YOU INVOLVED IN COLLECTING AND ACTING ON CUSTOMER FEEDBACK?

Aim: To understand your involvement in the feedback loop. 

Key skills assessed: Feedback management, continuous improvement, customer
focus. 

Example answer: Yes, I’m heavily involved in this – it’s one of the most vital
parts of my job. At [Company Name], we use surveys, feedback forms, and direct
communication to gather those golden nuggets, AKA customer insights. Actually,
we recently implemented a brand-new feature based on one customer's feedback.
After much back and forth with our product team, our VP of Customer Success saw
the value in this feature and escalated it with the CEO, which had a huge impact
on getting this update over the line. In the end, everyone could see this would
significantly improve user satisfaction – and it did!”


25. CAN YOU DESCRIBE A TIME WHEN YOU USED DATA POINTS TO TELL A STORY TO YOUR
CUSTOMER ABOUT A POTENTIAL UPSELL OR EXPANSION OPPORTUNITY?

Aim: To evaluate your ability to use data for strategic decisions. 

Key skills assessed: Analytical thinking, data interpretation, and
communication.

Example answer: For sure! So, I once used usage data to identify that a client
frequently utilized a specific feature that was limited in their current plan. I
presented this data to them, highlighting the benefits they could gain from
upgrading to a higher plan, which ultimately led to a successful upsell and
increased satisfaction.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


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Written by:

GRACE GUPTA

Grace is our Copywriter here at CSC and loves getting her teeth stuck into
anything content-related. The en dash is the queen of punctuation and this is a
hill she's willing to die on.

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9 min read
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STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESSFUL LEADERSHIP: THE NEW MANAGER’S CHEATSHEET

The first foray into leadership is always a pivotal moment in anyone’s career, a
culmination of years of hard work and dedication. However, like most of life’s
new milestones, all too quickly, it becomes the beginning of a brand-new journey
– often within a very short timeframe....

7 min read
Customer Success Collective
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25 Customer Success Manager job interview questions


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