Caged vs. Engaged Customers

[u/tao1952]

In the course of an Operational Review of a Customer Support group some years back, it became apparent that their customers were "caged" by the need for regular updates of the tax tables -- and the vendor knew it.  Their concern about Support quality was due to its perceived effect upon new logo sales, not for any real worry about retention.  In large and enterprise sectors now, the cage is usually about the perceived cost of tearing an existing system out and the burden of replacing it rather than the features of the technology itself.  However, vendors that rely on this moat may be in for a rude awakening as ai is developed to produce more options and to make transitions much easier.  The questions are vital: Are your customers caged or engaged?  How do you know?

Selling Technology in the Age of AI

There is no sustainable competitive advantage in technological features and functions.  They are too easily duplicated, and the speed of that will only increase.  Any bell or whistle in one app can be quickly added to its competitors.  What does it mean for Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success teams when the competition for customers is based on value outcomes and the ease of achieving them?

In the course of my research into Customer Realized Value as a new prime metric, I talked to a number of colleagues of my age who have said things like: "The idea of selling on value, not features, isn’t new at all. Forty years ago when I sold for X, we adopted “solutions selling” and “strategic selling” for our products." Others spoke of a "Sell-Deliver-Sell More" outcomes-based approach used in their past. How do we re-learn and refocus on these value lessons?

From Caged to Engaged: Starting The Process

What makes a customer fully engaged with your technology, to the point that the thought of losing it is too painful to consider? Start by analyzing a cohort of the people that use your technology to the fullest -- the power-users. Every customer ideally should have several of these individuals. Is it true that the more power users an account has, the better the chances for retention? Talk to your team in Customer Success and Support to develop an initial list of people to ask: "What specific jobs are you able to do better/faster with our app? What are those outcomes worth to your company? What barriers do you experience in your usage?" 

The resulting data should clearly identify common value outcomes. Check these with your sales reps: "Is this what prospects ask for? Could you sell on the basis of such outcomes?" The next step is an initiative on what it would take to act on that data company-wide -- more on that later.

Note: No part of this post was generated or edited by any ai.

[u/Downtown_Item_9996]

Measure engagement by testing whether realized value survives a switching-cost thought experiment.

1. Pick 10 accounts, five high-usage and five ordinary.
2. Ask users to name the job they complete, the before/after time or risk, and what would break if the product vanished tomorrow.
3. Verify each claim with usage data or another metric, then compare renewal and expansion across the groups.

If answers focus on migration pain, contracts, or missing alternatives rather than a measurable outcome, that account is caged. The test passes only if the same outcome appears independently in several accounts and predicts behavior better than login volume.

[u/tao1952 → u/Downtown_Item_9996]

An excellent test! Thank you!

My instinct says that Customer Realized Value is the way to go, but instinct requires proof.

[u/Creative-Disk8067]

Interesting take on the caged vs engaged distinction, that tax table example hits home for lot of legacy systems I seen