Customer Success Survey Report 2025 by ZapScale

Introduction

The Customer Success Survey 2025 was conducted to understand the trends, challenges and strategic priorities shaping the future of Customer Success. With businesses focusing more on customer retention and expansion as core drivers of revenue growth, understanding the evolving role of customer success teams has never been more critical.

The objective of this report is to provide valuable insights for SaaS businesses by highlighting key areas such as team structure, collaboration, budget allocation, best practices and the adoption of emerging technologies like Gen-AI. The report also examines the challenges of 2024 and how CS professionals plan to address them in 2025, offering a roadmap to plan their CS strategy for the future.

This report provides a reference point for CS professionals, helping them improve strategies, focus on effective programs, and achieve measurable results in a constantly evolving business landscape.

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Key Findings

Don’t have the time to read the full report? Here are the key findings from the Customer Success Survey Report 2025.

1. “Lack of budget”, “Dissatisfaction with the product” and “Bad-fit customers” were the top 3 reasons for churn in 2025.
2. A majority (43%) of respondents identify Net Revenue Retention as the North Star Metric for measuring success, followed by Gross Revenue Retention at 22%.
3. In 2025, 43% of respondents expect their customer success budget to remain unchanged compared to 2024
4. "Usage and adoption”, “Delivering customer value”, and “Managing churn rate” emerged as the top three customer success challenges in 2024.
5. Customer success professionals are prioritizing investments in self-service resources, success plans, and customer onboarding programs for 2025.
6. More than 85% respondents are planning to invest in Generative AI in 2025.

Survey Highlights

1. Over 1,000 responses were collected globally.
2. Industries Represented: MarTech, FinTech, Healthcare, Sales Tech, E-commerce and more.
3. Respondents hailed from organizations ranging from start-ups (1–50 employees) to large enterprises (1,000+ employees).
4. The survey captured input from CS teams of varying sizes, from small teams of 1–3 people to large teams with 30+ members.

The survey was conducted online over a period of six weeks, leveraging targeted outreach to Customer Success communities, professional networks, and industry forums. The data was then analyzed to identify trends, patterns, and priorities that define the CS landscape as it evolves into 2025. This report also integrates quotes from renowned Customer Success leaders and experts to enrich the findings with valuable industry perspectives and thought leadership.