Reference
SaaS Customer Success Glossary
Industry terms used across Balboa discovery engagements, the Compass Workshop, and Pendo Predict work. A reference for team members, client stakeholders, and anyone preparing for a discovery call.
Revenue and Retention Metrics
ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue)
The annualized value of a company's recurring subscription contracts.
Gross Retention Rate (GRR)
The percentage of ARR retained from existing customers, excluding expansion.
Net Retention Rate (NRR)
ARR retention including expansion, minus churn and downsell.
Churn
The loss of a customer or a portion of their contract value.
Downsell
When a customer renews at a lower ARR than the prior term.
Upsell
When an existing customer expands their contract by adding seats, modules, or tiers.
Cross-sell
When an existing customer purchases a different product from the same vendor.
Expansion Revenue
Combined revenue from upsell and cross-sell activity.
Average Contract Value (ACV)
The average annualized value of a customer contract.
Customer Success Structure
CSM (Customer Success Manager)
The primary relationship owner for a customer post-sale.
Named CSM Coverage
A model where specific CSMs are assigned to specific accounts.
Pooled CS Coverage
A shared team handles lower-ARR accounts without dedicated assignment.
QBR (Quarterly Business Review)
A structured meeting covering usage, goals, renewals, and expansion.
Executive Sponsor
A senior stakeholder with decision-making authority over the vendor relationship.
Renewal Motion
The process and activities involved in securing a contract renewal.
Churn Post-Mortem
A structured review after a customer cancels to understand root cause.
Customer Health and Predictive Analytics
Customer Health Score
A composite score reflecting likelihood of renewal, expansion, or churn.
Leading Indicator
A signal that precedes a customer outcome by weeks or months.
Lagging Indicator
A signal that confirms an outcome after it has already occurred.
Pendo Predict
Pendo's ML feature that predicts customer outcomes from usage data.
Feature Adoption
The degree to which customers use specific features or workflows.
Telemetry Data
Behavioral data collected automatically from a software product.
Instrumentation
Tagging product features in Pendo to capture user interactions.
NPS (Net Promoter Score)
A customer sentiment metric based on likelihood to recommend.
Proxy Signal
A data signal used to infer something that cannot be measured directly.
Data and Systems
CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
Software for managing customer records, contacts, and sales activity.
Data Warehouse
A centralized repository aggregating data from multiple systems.
CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score)
A point-in-time sentiment metric collected after a specific interaction.
In-App Guide
Content delivered within a software product to drive adoption.
Segmentation
Grouping customers by shared characteristics for targeted interventions.
Playbook
A documented set of actions in response to a specific customer signal.
Engagement and Implementation
Compass Workshop
Balboa's signature discovery and strategy offering for Pendo.
Pendo Use Case Accelerator
Balboa's five-phase delivery model for Pendo implementations.
COE (Center of Excellence)
An internal governance structure for standardizing tool management.
Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT)
Balboa's engagement model: build, operate alongside the client, then transfer ownership.