2025 CS Index Report:
5 Trends Powering Europe’s Customer Success Evolution

The business dashboard highlights key trends in customer health metrics, such as churn score and engaged customers. A smiling woman in a green blazer and glasses stands on the right. The portfolio summary below, influenced by the CS Index Report, includes company and revenue data from Europe.

European companies are putting Customer Success at the centre of growth. The 2025 CS Index shows organisations increasing CS investment, embracing Digital CS, and moving from early AI experiments to meaningful impact.

Bar chart showing percentages of Customer Success journey stages delivered digitally in North America and Europe, including onboarding, training, feature adoption, renewals, executive engagement, advocacy, and expansion campaigns for 2025.

1. Europe Is Setting the Pace in Digital Customer Success

European CS teams continue to lead in digitising key customer lifecycle moments compared with their counterparts in North America—from onboarding (56%) to training (58%) to NPS and advocacy (72%)—reflecting a move towards scalable, high-quality customer experiences delivered consistently across segments.

Bar chart titled "Using AI In CS" from the CS Index Report compares North America and Europe: 55% in North America and 48% in Europe use AI; legend highlights regions by color, with additional segments for those not using or planning to explore.

2. AI Adoption Starts With CSM Workflows

Almost half (48%) of European CS teams use AI today, mainly for email drafting (67%) and call summarisation (88%). The next step is predictive intelligence, as more teams explore churn and risk modelling once skills and systems mature.

Bar chart comparing the percentage use of various digital customer service tools in North America and Europe, based on the CS Index Report. North America generally shows higher Customer Success tool usage across categories.

3. Education-First, Self-Service CS

European companies rely more on structured learning—learning management systems, knowledge centres, and self-service content—than other regions, reflecting a strategic focus on helping customers onboard and adopt without constant human support.

Bar chart showing who Customer Success Heads report to by region, based on the CS Index Report. In North America, most report to CEO (27%) or CCO (28%), while in Europe it’s CEO (37%) or Head of Sales (24%). Other categories include COO/President and Head of GTM.

4. CS Often Reports Directly to the CEO

More CS leaders in Europe report directly to the CEO—often due to flatter organisational structures or earlier-stage customer functions without a dedicated CCO. This creates visibility today, and an opportunity to formalise customer leadership and deepen cross-functional alignment.

Bar chart titled "CS Retention Metrics" from the CS Index Report 2025 compares North America and Europe for churn rate, gross dollar retention, net retention, and expansion ARR; North America generally outpaces Europe Customer Success.

5. Revenue Metrics Are Still Maturing

European CS teams use GRR far less than those in North America. In many cases, this reflects a greater emphasis on onboarding, adoption, or advocacy, especially in earlier-stage programmes.

Additional Takeaways

  • European companies invest a higher share of company revenue (10% median) into CS than any other region.

  • CSMs manage smaller books of business (median 10 enterprise accounts) compared to North America (15).

  • Europe is less likely to have dedicated CS Ops support (45% vs 53% NA), creating an opportunity for operational investment to accelerate automation, segmentation, and scale.

What You Can Do Next

Prioritise Commercial Clarity by Owning the Number

If you’re not yet measuring Gross Revenue Retention, retention %, or expansion opportunity, start there. Even directional data gives you a baseline to improve—and owning these numbers ensures CS retains its seat at the table. Stronger metrics also build alignment with Sales, Finance, and the rest of the executive team.

Build Repeatable Scale Through Digital CS + Ops

Whether you’re high-touch or digital-led, sustainable growth requires scalable infrastructure. That means investing in CS Ops (if you haven’t already), standardising how work gets done, and creating systems that reduce manual effort without sacrificing the customer experience. By identifying where digital can absorb repeatable work, you free your team to focus on higher-impact moments while ensuring every customer gets a consistent experience as you grow.

Move AI From Experiment to Strategy

If you’re using AI to automate tasks like email drafting or call summaries, you’re off to a solid start. But the bigger opportunity is understanding how AI can drive real outcomes, like spotting churn risk, identifying expansion, or prioritising accounts. That starts with education: upskilling your team on what’s possible, exploring real CS use cases, and mapping where AI fits into your existing workflows.

Want to Dig Deeper?

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A laptop screen displays a CS Metrics dashboard from the latest CS Index Report. It features a bar graph titled "Organizations With Established CS Function," revealing 94% have this function, while 6% do not. Key trends in Europe are highlighted alongside menu options and a download button.