The Problem With “Best Practices” in Customer Success
“Best practices” sound reassuring.
They suggest that someone has already figured things out - that if you follow the right steps, success will follow predictably. In a function as complex as Customer Success, that promise is tempting.
But in practice, best practices often create more confusion than clarity.
Not because they’re wrong, but because they’re incomplete.
Best Practices Are Usually Context-Blind
Most best practices are derived from patterns that worked somewhere, under specific conditions, at a particular point in time.
What they often leave out:
- Organizational constraints
- Customer maturity
- Risk tolerance
- Regulatory or operational complexity
- Internal politics and incentives
When those factors differ, and they often do, applying a “best practice” wholesale can quietly undermine outcomes.
Best Practices Optimize for Transferability, Not Fit
For a practice to be labeled “best,” it usually needs to be:
- Easy to explain
- Easy to replicate
- Easy to scale
That makes it portable, but not necessarily appropriate.
In real Customer Success work, what matters most is fit:
- Fit to the customer’s goals
- Fit to the organization’s reality
- Fit to the moment
What works well in one environment may introduce risk in another.
Best Practices Can Suppress Judgment
One of the more subtle problems with best practices is how they affect decision-making.
When CS professionals are encouraged to “just follow best practices,” it can:
- Reduce confidence in individual judgment
- Discourage questioning or adaptation
- Create fear of deviation
- Shift accountability from thinking to compliance
Over time, teams become better at executing instructions - and worse at navigating ambiguity.
Complex Environments Punish Rigid Execution
Customer Success increasingly operates in environments that are:
- Enterprise-scale
- Highly regulated
- Multi-stakeholder
- Rapidly changing
In these settings, rigid adherence to best practices can:
- Slow decision-making
- Miss early risk signals
- Frustrate executive stakeholders
- Create false confidence
Complexity doesn’t reward rule-following.
It rewards discernment.
What Works Better Than Best Practices
In practice, strong Customer Success relies on:
- Clear foundational principles
- Shared language around outcomes and risk
- Contextual decision-making
- Permission to adapt intentionally
Frameworks can be helpful, but only when they support thinking instead of replacing it.
Good CS professionals don’t ask:
“What’s the best practice here?”
They ask:
“What makes sense given this context?”
Reframing “Best” as “Appropriate”
A more useful framing is to think in terms of appropriate practices.
That means:
- Evaluating tradeoffs
- Considering downstream impact
- Adjusting approach as conditions change
- Explaining the why, not just the what
This approach creates better outcomes, and stronger credibility.
Why This Matters for the Future of CS
As Customer Success matures, expectations are rising.
CS teams are expected to:
- Act as strategic partners
- Represent value clearly
- Navigate risk responsibly
- Influence decisions without authority
Those expectations can’t be met by relying on generic guidance alone.
They require professionals who can think, adapt, and communicate judgment with confidence.
A Final Thought
Best practices can be useful starting points.
But they are not substitutes for understanding, judgment, or responsibility.
Customer Success works best when professionals are trusted to think - and equipped to do so well.
That’s what The CS Compass is designed to support.
This article is part of the Foundations of Customer Success series on The CS Compass.