- Remember every "best practice" you learned in 2023? Delete it.
- Those sacred metrics you've been tracking? Obsolete.
- Your carefully crafted CS playbook? Time to burn it.
In 2025, Customer Success gets reconstructed from the ground up.
Welcome to the era of unconventional growth, where AI is redefining everything we know about business growth and Customer Success.
The Perfect Storm Is Here
The last five years? They weren't just change – they were a prelude.
We watched:
- "Growth at all costs" crash and burn post-COVID
- "Customer-led growth" emerge as a desperate lifeline
- GenAI arrive with promises that seemed too good to be true
Early 2024, we all asked: "Is AI just another tech bubble?"
(you might remember this edition I wrote last year).
A year later, it's safe to say that AI is the catalyst for the biggest transformation B2B has seen since the birth of SaaS.
But are Customer Success teams ready for this change?
Here's what keeps me up at night:
57% of companies still haven't defined Customer Outcomes. Half of us don't even know why our customers buy from our businesses!
Let that sink in.
We're sending thousands of emails, jumping on endless calls, hosting QBRs... but for what? If we can't articulate value, what are we even doing?
It's not good enough.
In an era where AI can:
- make hyper-tailored recommendations to improve strategies
- take action and execute on behalf of the customer
- predict customer needs before they arise
Most of us are still struggling with the basics. And if we don't fix this very quickly, we will be seriously disrupted by those who do.
The New Rules of Growth
While everything around us is changing, two CS principles remain sacred:
- Delivering outsized value to our customers, so we become indispensable
- Creating experiences that make customers say "Holy sh*t, I've never been treated this well"
Everything else? It's up for reinvention.
And there's something that nobody in Customer Success seems to be talking about... AI is about to blow up the SaaS pricing model as we know it.
Think about it. When your product has AI agents handling unlimited tasks, what exactly are you charging for? Seats?
Please. That's so 2023.
The shift to usage-based pricing isn't just emerging at the "fringes" with AI native companies like Mid-Journey – it's everywhere. Canva, HubSpot, Grammarly, everyone is starting to bake usage-base pricing into their offering.
And it's going to turn CS on its head.
- Renewal cycles? No more locking customers for 12 months.
- Seats? For whom? It's all about increasing valuable usage patterns.
- Bundles that go unused? Pay for usage and value, and not features.
This isn't just a pricing change. It's a fundamental shift in how we:
- Onboard and train (agents, not people).
- Define customer health (hint: it's not about login rates anymore)
- Measure success (usage patterns > feature adoption)
- Measure value and adapt strategy (real-time> quarterly reviews)
- Segment our customer base (humans where humans do it better)
- Structure CS teams (goodbye traditional tiers, hello value specialists)
- Time our interventions (strategic touchpoints > check-ins)
The companies that adapt first will have a massive advantage. The rest? They'll be playing catch-up in a game where the rules have already changed.
Your Guide to the Unknown
That's why the "This is Growth!" newsletter is becoming "Unconventional Growth."
Not because it's catchy.
Because conventional wisdom is dead.
This year, we're on one mission: Unite GTM and Product to deliver growth that makes your competitors lose sleep.
Starting with a 3-part conversation with Elias Torres (CTO founder of Drift and Agency), we're ripping apart everything you think you know about CS. In this three-part series, we'll show you:
- Why traditional CS playbooks are dying
- How AI is rewriting the rules of customer engagement
- What "customer obsession" really means in 2025
The Choice Is Yours
The companies that will thrive in this new era aren't the ones with the biggest teams or the most sophisticated tech stacks.
They're the ones brave enough to:
- Question everything they know about customer success
- Put customer outcomes at the heart of every decision
- Experiment relentlessly with AI
- Embrace the uncomfortable
One of my favourite parts of this series was when Elias said: There's no way to think about ROI for this tech yet, this is for the forward-thinking companies and innovators.
Why I love it?
Because it means you need to have vision, courage and conviction to succeed in this new world. You need to be a bold leader.
The future of customer success isn't written yet. Let's write it together.
Your Next Steps:
- Listen to the first episode of the Redefining Success with Elias Torres
- Mark your calendar for the second episode coming out next Thursday
- Start questioning every "best practice" you've ever learned
Are you ready to get unconventional?
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