75 — Customer Success Metrics
Status: CANONICAL · Commercial OS
Owner: Founder (CS) → CS #1
Last verified: 2026-07-21
Definitions defer to 72 Revenue Metrics where shared; activation definition lives in 45 §3.
Purpose
The CS measurement system: adoption, outcome, and continuity metrics per account and portfolio-wide — the numbers that predict renewal a year before the renewal date.
Target audience: CS operator; founder; board (retention view).
1. The Three-Layer Account Scorecard (mirrors the health framework 44 §2)
Layer 1 — Adoption (is the product lived-in?):
| Metric | Definition | Healthy |
|---|---|---|
| Seat activation | Per [45 §3]: ≥5 approved actions + ≥4 workbench-first mornings/wk | ≥ 70% of seats by day 30 |
| ATA/seat/wk | North star, account-level ([72 §1]) | ≥ 5 floor · ≥ 8 mature |
| Workbench-first mornings | % of seat-days opening the bench before other tools | ≥ 60% |
| Intervention acceptance | Twin interventions acted on (accepted/edited) ÷ surfaced | ≥ 40% (below = noise-tuning play 45 wk2) |
| TruthLayer throughput | Memory proposals reviewed/wk (approve or reject — reviewing is the health signal) | ≥ 5/account/wk |
Layer 2 — Outcomes (is it paying?):
| Metric | Definition | Healthy |
|---|---|---|
| Baseline completeness | Committed outcomes with instrumented baselines ([28 §4]) | 100% (structural — no baseline, no account) |
| Realized-vs-promised | Attained ÷ committed outcome values at review | ≥ 0.8 |
| Documented catches | Signals confirmed real + acted, with evidence chains | ≥ 1/account/quarter |
| Time reclaimed | Morning-minutes + prep-hours delta vs. baseline (sampled) | ≥ 60% of gathering time by day 90 |
Layer 3 — Continuity & Relationship (will it compound?):
| Metric | Definition | Healthy |
|---|---|---|
| Spine knowledge volume | Approved memory entries + entity coverage growth | Growing monthly |
| Expansion triggers logged | Forwarded-morning / QBR-guest / handover-proof events ([46 §2]) | ≥ 1/account/quarter (leading NRR) |
| Sponsor engagement | P2 attendance at day-30/90/QBR cadence | 100% of scheduled |
| Review cadence health | Reviews held on schedule | 100%; 2 deferrals = play trigger ([44 §4]) |
2. Portfolio Metrics (roll-ups the board sees)
Activation rate across live onboardings · portfolio ATA/seat/wk trend · GRR ≥ 92% / NRR ≥ 120% (definitions [72 §2]; design-partner cohort separate) · renewal classification coverage: 100% G/Y/R by T−120 ([47 §5]) · catches portfolio-wide (the proof engine feeding 64) · time-to-value: kickoff → first approved action ≤ 48h median ([45 KPIs]).
3. The Leading-Indicator Chain (what predicts what — manage upstream)
Day-2 first-morning quality → day-30 activation → day-60 ATA level →
day-90 realized-value ≥ 0.8 → expansion triggers → T−120 Green → renewal + NRR
Rule: intervene at the leftmost broken link ([44 play library]); a renewal saved at T−60 was actually saved at day 2. CS reviews report against this chain, not against a single health score — we sell against opaque scores; we don't manage by one (09 Card 4).
4. Measurement Integrity
Outcomes counted from user-visible artifacts, never telemetry alone ([28 §4] anti-gaming) · time samples collected the same way at baseline and at review (like-for-like) · catches require the customer's confirmation that the signal was real · realized-vs-promised reported honestly at ≥ 0.8 target — an inflated 1.2 today is a churned account next year.
KPIs (of the CS function): portfolio activation ≥ 70% · realized-vs-promised ≥ 0.8 portfolio median · GRR/NRR at targets · review-cadence completion 100% · churn post-mortem completion 100% ([47 §5]) · case-study pipeline conversion ≥ 30% of day-90 reviews ([64 KPIs]).
Related: 72 Revenue · 44 CS Playbook · 45 Onboarding · 47 Renewal · 28 Outcomes