Customer Success Compensation Report

Customer Success compensation should be fair and transparent. That’s why we asked hundreds of folks in the Customer Success industry what they were earning, and what companies were doing to keep them around. Does your compensation stack up? Only one way to find out:

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Companies say they value Customer Success, but do they actually put their money where their mouth is? We’d like to know that, too. So we asked you, the CS community, to help shed some light on this topic and figure out whether or not people in our industry are being compensated properly for their efforts.

Who we polled

We worked with Thrive Network to poll hundreds of Customer Success professionals from multiple industries, covering different age groups, genders, roles, and levels of experience.

Topic 1: Customer Success Manager salaries

Total
(n=189)
14.8115%
22.22%
34.39%
21.16%
6.897%
Men
(n=64)
15.6316%
20.31%
26.56%
26.56%
9.38%
Women
(n=125)
14.40%
23.20%
38.40%
18.40%
5.6%
$10,000–$50,000
$50,000–$74,999
$75,000–$99,000
$100,000–$149,000
$150,000–$199,000
$200,000 or more
View Details

A roughly equal percentage of surveyed men and women earn the same salaries up until the $50,000 to $74,999 salary band.
Pay levels start to diverge past the $75,000 line, however. Around 37% of men surveyed earn greater than $100,000 compared to only 24% of women in the same role. These results are especially concerning when you consider the gender distribution of roles.

See salary breakdowns for all CS roles
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Topic 2: Bad-fit Customers

C-suite/VP
(n=29)
62.07%
31.03%
6.907%
Head
(n=26)
50.00%
50.00%
Director
(n=78)
60.26%
354.62%
5.13%
Manager/
Team Lead
(n=87)
59.7760%
40.23%
Technical
Account
Manager
(n=97)
56.70%
432.27%
1.03%
Implementation/
Onboarding
Manager
(n=11)
63.64%
36.36%
Account Manager
(n=13)
776.92%
15.38%
87.69%
Customer
Success
Manager
(n=190)
65.579%
33.568%
1.53%
Female
Male
Trans, non-binary, prefer not to say
View Details

One of our key discoveries is that there are far more women among the Customer Success professionals than men. According to our survey data, women outnumbered men in nearly every single role in Customer Success, from junior positions to executive level.
In the Customer Success Manager role, for instance, only 33.68% are men while 65.79% are women out of nearly two hundred respondents. And yet, according to the previous slide, women are being paid less.

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Topic 3: Owning Upsells

<1 year (n=75)
1–2 years (n=78)
2–4 years (n=113)
4–6 years (n=35)
6–10 years (n=7)
10+ years (n=6)
24%
25%
36%
11%
View Details

Of those surveyed that have received a raise in the past 12 months, most (49%) are able to secure a raise within 2 years of working in their organization. 15% of respondents who received a raise had to wait more than 4 years in their current organization before receiving any salary updates, with some even having to wait more than 10 years.
Bear in mind that these figures include both those who asked for a raise, and those who didn’t, but were given one anyway.

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Topic 4: Clawbacks

Satisfied
(n=213)
109.86%
343.80%
543.99%
Unsure
(n=199)
11.06%
19.10%
41.21%
298.64%
Not Satisfied
(n=153)
30.07%
332.68%
26.14%
11.11%
Currently Looking
Plan to look in the next year
Open to conversations
Not planning anytime soon
View Details

We always say that we’re going to leave if the pay isn’t good, but how many of us are actually doing something about it?
As it turns out, quite a few of us. Over 60% of respondents who are unsatisfied with their pay are either actively looking for new roles or plan to look in the next year. Only 11% of people in this group are willing to stay.
When the situations are reversed and people are satisfied with their pay, only 12% are actively job hunting while 54% aren’t looking at all.

Read More!
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What do YOU think?

How does your pay compare to others? Are you one of the throng, or are you an edge case? Do you feel like your role is properly represented? Let us know by filling out the same survey. We’ll use the same answers to update this page on a regular basis.

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