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For many Customer Success Managers (CSMs), the reality of tracking renewals is a constant battle with scattered data, endless spreadsheets, and last-minute reminders that leave little room for strategic thinking.
It’s no wonder that renewals can sometimes slip through the cracks, leading to lost revenue and churn that could have been avoided.
The challenge is that manual processes and siloed customer data make it difficult to get a clear picture of which customers are at risk or when contracts are up for renewal. And without that visibility, opportunities to secure renewals or upsell often pass by unnoticed.
CSMs find themselves spending more time firefighting than focusing on building long-term customer relationships.
That’s where renewal management software comes into play. By centralizing key information and automating routine tasks, these tools make it easier for CSMs to stay on top of renewals, predict potential churn, and create a smooth renewal process that benefits both the customer and the business.
In this blog, we’ll explore how the right renewal management software can help streamline your renewal workflows, improve customer retention, and ultimately lead to more predictable revenue. We’ll dive into key features to look for and how they can fit into your day-to-day as a CSM.
Common challenges in managing customer renewals
Managing customer renewals can be tricky when your team doesn’t have the right tools or processes in place. Even the most well-meaning CSMs can find themselves overwhelmed by juggling multiple customers, contracts, and deadlines. Let’s take a look at some of the most common challenges that CSMs face when trying to stay on top of renewals:
1. Difficulty in tracking customer engagement and renewal dates
One of the biggest hurdles for CSMs is keeping track of when each customer is up for renewal and how engaged they’ve been leading up to that point. Without a clear system, important details like renewal dates can easily slip through the cracks, leading to missed opportunities and lost revenue.
2. Lack of a centralized view of customer health metrics
Customer health metrics are essential for determining which customers are likely to renew and which might be at risk of churn. However, when this data is scattered across different systems or stored in spreadsheets, it’s hard to get a clear picture of customer health, making it difficult to take action in a timely manner.
3. Inefficient collaboration between sales, marketing, and customer success teams
Renewals often involve more than just the CSM. Effective renewal strategies require collaboration between sales, marketing, and customer success teams, but without proper coordination, efforts can become disjointed. This lack of alignment can result in missed upsell or cross-sell opportunities and poorly timed outreach.
4. Manual processes causing delayed renewals and missed opportunities
Manually managing renewals can be time-consuming, leaving little room for proactive engagement. Relying on spreadsheets, emails, and manual reminders not only increases the risk of human error but also slows down the renewal process, potentially resulting in delays or even missed renewals altogether.
5. Difficulty in personalizing communication for timely outreach
Timely, personalized communication is key to a successful renewal process. However, when customer information is spread across different systems, personalizing outreach for each customer becomes a challenge. CSMs may struggle to send the right message at the right time, leading to generic communication that doesn’t resonate with the customer.
These challenges can make renewal management a frustrating and inefficient process, but renewal management software offers a solution by streamlining these tasks, improving visibility, and enhancing collaboration across teams.
In the next section, we’ll explore how this type of software can help CSMs overcome these obstacles and build a more effective renewal strategy.
Key features of renewal management software that solve these challenges
Renewal management software offers a range of features that address common pain points, providing the structure and automation necessary to ensure no opportunity is missed. Let’s dive into some of the key features that can make a significant difference:
1. Automated renewal tracking
One of the most impactful features of renewal management software is its ability to automate the tracking of renewals. Instead of manually keeping tabs on deadlines and important milestones, CSMs can rely on automated reminders and alerts.
This ensures renewals are never forgotten, and CSMs can focus on more strategic tasks. With software like Velaris, you can automate your entire renewal pipeline using a simple drag-and-drop automation builder, making sure no renewals slip through the cracks.
2. Centralized customer health tracking
Having all customer data in one place is essential for renewal success. Renewal management software provides a unified dashboard that tracks customer health scores and offers predictive analytics to help CSMs make informed decisions.
Velaris takes this a step further by allowing you to customize health scores based on key customer interactions, helping you identify at-risk customers early and take action to prevent churn before it’s too late.
3. Cross-functional collaboration tools
Effective renewal strategies require input from multiple teams, including sales, marketing, support, and product. Renewal management software enables better cross-functional collaboration by centralizing data, making it accessible to everyone involved.
Many customer success software also feature robust collaboration systems for better coordination. Take a look at the top 10 customer success software tools if you want to learn more.
4. Automated email sequences and communication
Timely, personalized communication is crucial when engaging customers for renewal. Renewal management software allows you to automate email sequences, ensuring that customers receive the right information at the right time.
For example, Velaris offers trigger and time-based automated emails, reducing the manual workload and allowing CSMs to focus on building meaningful relationships rather than sending out reminders.
These features not only streamline the renewal process but also allow CSMs to work more efficiently and effectively, leading to better customer retention. Customer Success Operations teams can help in creating streamlined processes, making it easier for CSMs to have a foundation to work on.
In the next section, we’ll explore some best practices for managing renewals, helping you maximize the benefits of your renewal management software and improve your overall customer success strategy.
Best practices for renewal management
Successfully managing renewals is not just about keeping track of dates – it’s about creating an ongoing strategy that ensures your customers are happy and engaged throughout their journey. Here are some key strategies to help you optimize your renewal process:
Personalized customer outreach
One-size-fits-all communication rarely works when it comes to renewals. Customers are more likely to renew when they feel valued and understood, so tailoring your outreach to their specific needs is essential.
By segmenting customers based on factors like renewal timelines, usage patterns, and engagement levels, you can craft more personalized messages that resonate.
Monitoring renewal pipeline progress
Keeping a close eye on the progress of each renewal is crucial for CSMs. Without a clear view of where customers are in the renewal pipeline, it's easy for important details to fall through the cracks.
With renewal management software, you can maintain full visibility over every stage of the process, from initial outreach to contract signing.
Incentivizing customer renewals
Sometimes, a little extra incentive can go a long way in securing a renewal. Offering tailored incentives like discounts, service upgrades, or exclusive benefits can help encourage customers to renew their contracts.
By implementing these best practices, you can take control of your renewal process and create a smoother, more efficient workflow. But it doesn’t stop there. The role of AI in renewal management is growing, offering even more ways to streamline and optimize your approach.
In the next section, we’ll explore how AI-driven features in renewal management software can further enhance your renewal strategy.
The impact of AI on renewal management
AI has become a powerful tool in renewal management, helping Customer Success Managers gain deeper insights into customer behavior and predict outcomes more accurately. Here’s how:
Using AI to anticipate renewal outcomes
AI-driven predictive analytics can help CSMs anticipate which customers are likely to renew and which might be at risk of churn. By analyzing patterns in customer behavior, product usage, and communication history, AI provides actionable insights that allow CSMs to take proactive steps to secure renewals.
Velaris, for example, uses AI to analyze customer data and flag potential risks in renewal, ensuring CSMs stay ahead of customer needs and can act before it’s too late.
Understanding customer sentiment before renewal conversations
Knowing how customers feel about your service is crucial when approaching renewal conversations. AI-powered sentiment analysis can scan emails, messages, and survey responses to gauge customer sentiment before you engage with them.
This helps CSMs tailor their approach and respond to concerns more effectively. Velaris offers built-in AI that flags customer sentiment across various communication channels, giving CSMs the insights they need to have more informed and thoughtful renewal conversations.
Incorporating AI into your renewal management strategy can not only help you work more efficiently but also allow you to make data-driven decisions that lead to better outcomes.
The ability to predict customer behavior and understand their sentiments before critical renewal discussions can significantly improve your chances of success.
Conclusion
Renewal management software offers CSMs the tools they need to streamline their workflows, improve customer engagement, and ultimately boost retention rates.
By automating key tasks, providing visibility into customer health, and enabling personalized outreach, these tools make it easier to manage renewals without getting bogged down in manual processes.
When choosing renewal management software, it’s important to focus on the features that will make the most impact on your process – whether that’s automating renewal reminders, tracking customer health, or improving cross-team collaboration. Velaris integrates all of these advanced features, helping CSMs automate, standardize, and optimize their renewal workflows.
If you’re looking to take control of your renewals and improve customer retention, book a demo today and see how Velaris can support your team.
