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How much do SaaS companies spend on CS?
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We’ve conducted an annual survey of customer success leaders for four consecutive years. One of the questions we ask is about customer success budget. We thought it would be useful to go back through all of the reports and curate a neatly organized list of statistics the survey has gleaned around the customer success budget.
It’s important to note that the survey questions about customer success budgets have changed over time. In other words, we asked more complicated and probing questions in each subsequent year to reveal better benchmarks.
2023 customer success budgets
Economic context: U.S. businesses braced for a recession that some economists had forecasted but never materialized. Venture funding slowed as did the IPO market. Many businesses engaged in the proverbial belt tightening which pressured budgets. The central bank continued its fight against price inflation and raised overnight interest rates several times.
2023 non-headcount customer success budgets as a percentage of revenue: Most non-headcount customer success budgets range from 0.08% of revenue to 0.2% of revenue. This is down modestly from the year earlier. ChurnZero recommends a non-headcount customer success budget of at least 0.5% of revenue.
2023 non-headcount customer success budget trends: Respondents were split into near-equal thirds as to whether their 2023 customer success budget had grown or shrunk compared to the previous years:
- 37% said their budget increased.
- 31% said their budget decreased.
- 31% said their budget remained the same.
2023 non-headcount customer success budgets by range: Here’s how non-headcount customer success budgets break out by dollar figure across all respondents:
- 10% have a budget of greater than $1 million.
- 10% have a budget of between $500,000-$1 million.
- 21% have a budget of between $200,000-$499,999.
- 19% have a budget of between $100,000-$199,999.
- 14% have a budget of between $50,000-$99,999.
- 26% have a budget of less than $50,000.
The complete 2023 Customer Success Leadership Study (download here) is based on a survey of 1,250 respondents, presented by ChurnZero, ESG, SaaStr, and HubSpot.
2022 customer success budgets
Economic context: The economic data was murky in 2022. The U.S. experienced two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth, however, it also posted strong employment numbers. This sparked a debate as to whether or not the economy was in recession – and spawned concern for a “wage-price spiral.” Russia invaded Ukraine which brought yet another increase in energy and food prices. Soaring inflation pressured the Federal Reserve to raise its key benchmark overnight lending rate aggressively.
2022 non-headcount customer success budgets as a percentage of revenue: Most non-headcount customer success budgets ranged from 0.02% of revenue to 0.5% of revenue.
2022 non-headcount customer success budget trends: A majority of respondents indicated their budget had grown compared to the previous year:
- 52% said their budget increased;
- 20% said their budget decreased; and
- 28% said their budget stayed the same.
2022 non-headcount customer success budgets by range: Here’s how non-headcount customer success budgets broke out by dollar figure across all respondents:
- 8% had a budget of greater than $1 million;
- 12% had a budget of between $500,000-$1 million;
- 15% had a budget of between $200,000-$499,999;
- 18% had a budget of between $100,000-$199,999;
- 19% had a budget of between $50,000-$99,999; and
- 24% had a budget of less than $50,000.
The complete 2022 Customer Success Leadership Study (blog post | webinar) is based on a survey of 1,000 respondents, presented by ChurnZero, ESG, Higher Logic Vanilla and involve.ai.
Survey data on 2021 customer success budgets
Economic context: The U.S. learned to get comfortable being uncomfortable as the pandemic endured. Businesses had settled into remote work which continued to benefit the technology sector. The year ended with an astonishing 5.7% growth in GDP – the highest growth since 1984. Unemployment was low and wages grew as businesses struggled to find labor. Supply chains were tested. Price inflation, which the Federal Reserve had been describing as “transitory”, appeared to have staying power that would require monetary policy changes.
- 75% of respondents said the customer success leader in their organization had a seat at the executive table and the ability to create a budget. 25% say they did not.
- 86% of respondents said the Coronavirus pandemic had not affected customer success budgets. 6% indicated they had gained budget authority as a result of the pandemic. 8% indicated their budget authority was withdrawn.
The complete 2021 Customer Success Leadership Study (Q&A | webinar) is based on a survey of 632 respondents, presented by ChurnZero, ESG, and Higher Logic Vanilla.
Survey data on 2020 customer success budgets
Economic context: Coronavirus gripped the U.S. economy. Many Americans saw empty grocery store shelves for the first time. Fuel prices plummeted as workers stayed home to help “flatten the curve” of viral infection. GDP shrank by 3.5%—the worst performance since WWII. However, the technology sector thrived as businesses scrambled to acquire tools to enable employees to keep working from home.
- 74% of respondents said the customer success leader in their organization had a seat at the executive table and the ability to create a budget.
- 26% said they did not.
The complete 2020 Customer Success Leadership Study is based on a survey of 586 respondents. This inaugural survey was a joint effort by ChurnZero, ESG, and Higher Logic Vanilla.
More resources on customer success budgeting
- Webinar: What’s next for CS? Essential insights from the 2023 Customer Success Leadership Study
- Webinar: Finance & CS: Charting a clear path to profitability
- Guide: How to sell customer success software to the C-suite