It’s Mental: The 90/10 Rule of Customer Success

As a whitewater kayaker, there’s a saying that 90% of kayaking is mental—and the other 10% is in your head. That’s a joke, of course, but it reflects a deeper truth. There’s an emotional side of white water kayaking that few coaches address. Being a skillful kayaker is not just about paddle strokes, boat angle, and accurate water reading; it’s about overcoming fear, stress, and the challenge of pushing yourself into the unknown in a dynamic environment.

The same holds true for Customer Success and Onboarding. In the world of business-to-business (B2B) technology, we often focus on the technical aspects of onboarding and adoption while missing out on the mindset. The reality is that only 10% of the formula for successful customers is about the technology. The other 90%? It’s mental.

The hidden obstacle: Behavior change

In B2B tech, we often assume that customer success is about getting the product to work, technical integrations, data migrations, training sessions, and go-live milestones. But without changes in human behavior, helping people evolve the way they work, you won’t see the customer retention and expansion your company is relying on.

The biggest reason 70% of digital transformations fail isn’t that the product is broken. It’s because companies fail to address the psychological and emotional side of adoption. When you think about it, the technology element follows rules, can be configured and doesn’t resist change; it’s straightforward. People, on the other hand, are unpredictable. They have habits, preferences, and emotions that are often subconscious; and they resist change.

Change is hard

The CEO at a B2B technology company recently shared their frustration with me. They offer a sophisticated solution for videographers and film producers, designed to streamline workflows. Yet, customers don’t adopt it.

The issue isn’t the product—it’s the stickiness of the status quo. The end users prefer the comfort zone of their coveted spreadsheets and notebooks, and there’s just too much friction to change the way they work, leading to stalled adoption and retention. According to author and neuroscience expert Britt Andreatta, people resist change because of uncertainty. They ask themselves consciously or subconsciously “Will this make my job harder?” “Do I have time to learn a new system?” “What if I mess up?”

The ADKAR framework: A roadmap for adoption

Onboarding and implementations often fail because the people using your solution, your customers’ employees, don’t understand the importance of getting on board or how to successfully make the change. It’s important to acknowledge these fears and concerns up front. Address them in customer communications, training, and onboarding sessions. Showing empathy and addressing the why, what, and how of the change reassures users that their efforts eventually lead to a better situation for them.

According to the change management experts, Prosci, organizational change requires individual change. Their proven change management framework that drives successful adoption is ADKAR, which stands for:

• Awareness: Recognizing the need for change

• Desire: Wanting to participate in the change

• Knowledge: Understanding how to change

• Ability: Developing the necessary skills and behaviors

• Reinforcement: Ensuring long-term success

Let’s look at how ADKAR can transform customer onboarding. I recently worked with a company that provides practice management software for dental practices. The challenge? Dental teams were resisting the new system. They were comfortable with their old systems and tools, often living in spreadsheets, and saw the change as a disruption rather than an improvement.

To drive acceptance and adoption, we designed a simple structured, five-email communication sequence to be sent from the head doctor to their team at key milestones along the onboarding journey.

1. Awareness: The dentist sends an email introducing the new solution and its why (the problem it solves)

2. Desire: The next email highlights the benefits for the team: saving time, reducing errors, and streamlining patient management

3. Knowledge:  A follow-up email shares training resources to help people feel confident using the platform

4. Ability:  The fourth email shares details about upcoming hands-on training and live Q&A sessions to practice in a safe environment

5. Reinforcement: Leadership provides ongoing support, office incentives, and check-ins to ensure continued usage
   

The result? Adoption is increasing because teams feel included in the change process rather than having the new software forced on them.

Relationships matter

If you want your customers to adopt, renew, and thrive, you need to prioritize the human element of customer success. The best technology in the world won’t drive value if users aren’t motivated to embrace it. What does this mean for you? Treat onboarding as a behavioral transformation, not just a technical setup. Design scalable success programs that guide users through the change curve by investing in communications, education, and reinforcement strategies that help customers feel confident, capable, and committed. Since adoption isn’t a one-time event, continue reinforcing the new behaviors and celebrate successes with your customers. For more insights on driving adoption, check out the podcast ”Just One Customer Success Thing” with Dean Colgate and Sue Nabeth Moore, where they discuss change management strategies that work.

And if you need help turning customer onboarding, enablement, and success into a powerful adoption engine, let’s talk. Because at the end of the day, the 90/10 rule applies to Customer Success too. Winning isn’t just about the technology, it’s about mastering the mental game of change.

DONNA WEBER is the world’s leading expert in customer onboarding. For more than two decades, she has helped high-growth startups and established enterprises turn new and existing customers into loyal champions. Her award-winning book is Onboarding Matters: How Successful Companies Transform New Customers Into Loyal Champions. Learn more at donnaweber.com.