Dive Deeper and Improve Your Score
Learning Objectives
Learning Objectives:
- List the three kinds of Customer Success Score signals, or metrics.
- Explain how to calculate your Technical Health score.
- Describe how to collaborate with your Customer Success Manager to improve your score.
As of October 14, 2025, Data Cloud has been rebranded to Data 360. During this transition, you may see references to Data Cloud in our application and documentation. While the name is new, the functionality and content remains unchanged.
Customer Success Score Signals
The Customer Success Score incorporates four types of signals.
1. Ratio Signals: These signals are calculated as a simple percentage, with clearly defined numerators and denominators. For example, Sales or Service Cloud License Activation is calculated by dividing the number of activated licenses by the total number of purchased licenses. A 67% activation rate translates to a signal score of 67. Similarly, Data 360 consumption is calculated by dividing the credits used in the past 12 months by the total credits provisioned over the same period.
2. Growth Signals: These signals reflect year-over-year changes. The denominator represents historical data, either the average of the previous 12 months or the count from 12 months prior. For example, in Field Service, Work Order Growth if there were 693 workorders in the last month, and the monthly average over the last 12 months was 564, would be a signal score of 61 (693 / 564 = 1.22, multiplied by a baseline of 50). If the Workorders for the last month was 499, the signal score would be 44 (499 / 564 = 0.88, multiplied by a baseline of 50).
3. Indicator Signals: These signals are based on binary or ternary indicators of specific actions or achievements, or the recency of engagement. For example, actively using the Service Cloud Swarming feature earns a score of 100. For recurring actions like Proactive Monitoring Plan Threshold Reviews, the scoring is:
- No reviews within the year: 0
- One review: 50
- Two or more reviews: 100
4. Technical Health score calculation: Technical Health measures the health of your Salesforce implementation and helps you identify risks and optimize for sustained performance. We will measure Technical Health of the implementation based on four pillars of Efficiency, Customization, Observability and Operational Excellence. Within each subcategory we apply different scoring models to best measure and track your performance in each. Efficiency looks at Error metrics, which produce a score based on the things like 'days without errors', and Performance metrics where it may look at the average performance over the month. Customization looks at binary, or recency measures to product signals. Observability looks just at binary measures. Operational Excellence looks at binary measures, and continuous config measures to create signal scores.
Improve Your Customer Success Score
Understanding the structure of signal scores is key to improving them. The goal isn’t necessarily a perfect overall score of 100, but rather a strategic focus on the signals that matter most to your business. Prioritize signals that can be improved quickly and have the greatest impact, while deemphasizing less critical ones.
Use Recommendations
For Signature Success Plan customers, your Customer Success Score dashboard, in the Help Portal, provides tailored recommendations based on your signal scores and trends. These suggestions, generated by machine learning algorithms and refined by Salesforce expertise, span Product Adoption, Customer Expertise, and Technical Health. Recommendations are context-sensitive, changing based on the category or subcategory you're viewing, and are also accessible in the Actions hub. Engaging with recommended content, trails, and expert coaching can improve your signal scores and overall score.
You can track recommendations within the Customer Success Score by marking them as In Progress, Complete, or Archived. You can also designate recommendations as Favorites for easy access.
For Premier Success Plan customers, the recommendations will be added as part of the Success Review engagement, with the Success Guide.
Signature Success Plan Customers: Collaborate with Your Customer Success Manager
As you learned, the Customer Success Score empowers you to assess the health of your Salesforce implementation and identify areas for improvement. As a Signature Success Plan customer, your customer success manager (CSM) is a valuable partner in this process. They provide guidance, help your business grow, understand your unique goals, boost your signal scores, and ensure you stay on track.
Your CSM plays a critical role in tailoring recommendations, regularly reviewing your scores, and facilitating continuous improvement. They can use additional resources, such as expert coaching and other entitlements from your Signature Success Plan, as needed. With their in-depth knowledge of your business, industry, and the Salesforce ecosystem, your CSM is well-positioned to help you achieve and exceed your objectives.
Prioritize Signal Score Improvement
To improve your signal scores, develop a strategic plan. Evaluate each recommendation within the context of your business, considering both short-term and long-term impacts, and the effort required for implementation.
Some initiatives can be easy to implement but have minimal impact on your Salesforce health. For example, completing a specific training course might improve your Customer Expertise score but has a limited overall effect. Conversely, initiatives that strengthen your technical foundation and improve Technical Health scores might require significant resources and development effort but ultimately yield a greater return.
A balanced approach is key. Prioritize quick wins while also planning for more complex improvements. Coordinate with developers to assess the scope of larger initiatives and incorporate them into your medium-term roadmap.
Foster Success
Now that you have a solid understanding of the Customer Success Score, its signals, and their contribution to category scores, you’re well-equipped to improve your organization's Salesforce performance. Be sure to use recommendations, collaborate with your CSM, and develop a strategic plan for maximum impact.
Remember that your plan or roadmap might need to adapt to changing business goals or organizational structures. Regularly review your Customer Success Score and improvement strategy to ensure your plan aligns with evolving needs.
Finally, focus on gradual improvement. The objective isn't to achieve a perfect score across all signals and categories, but rather to prioritize the areas most critical to your business. The Customer Success Score is a powerful tool for gaining viable insights and driving success with your Salesforce implementation.