Customer health has always been at the heart of Customer Success. But in most SaaS organisations, the way we measure it hasn’t kept up with how customers actually evolve.

We started with health scores — simple, single-number snapshots that promised clarity but often delivered false confidence. Then we learned that what really matters isn’t the score itself but the system behind it — a structure of signals, alerts, and playbooks that help teams act in real time.

That evolution took us from monitoring customers to actually managing them. Still, even the best health systems face a new challenge: scale.

When you’re tracking thousands of customers across dozens of products, regions, and behaviours, no human can realistically spot every trend or risk early enough. That’s where AI health scoring comes in — not as a replacement for human judgment, but as an accelerator of it.

AI gives us the ability to move from static, manual interpretation to predictive, data-driven action. Instead of waiting for a red score or a missed milestone, we can now see subtle behavioural shifts — declining engagement, tone changes in communication, or anomalies in product usage — that reveal what’s coming next.

Most SaaS companies track customer health using a simple score — green, yellow, red.

It feels neat and manageable. But here’s the reality:

• A customer can be “green” today and churn tomorrow.
• Scores often lag behind reality.
• They rarely capture the complexity of relationships, adoption, and business context.

Health isn’t static. It’s dynamic, evolving every day. And health scores have limits. 

That’s why we need to move beyond a health score into a health system.

What’s Wrong with Health Scores?

If you're in Customer Success, you've likely seen this before: A customer with a “green” health score churns without warning. Or worse — your team scrambles to rescue an account, but the health score never reflected the risk.

Why? Because traditional health models are broken.

They’re often static, backward-looking, and overly simplified. A single score can’t capture the complexity of real customer relationships, especially in high-growth SaaS environments where product usage, stakeholder dynamics, and business shifts change rapidly. I've observed this at HubSpot, Cisco and now at ServiceNow.

With the advent of AI, it’s time for a better way.

The Problem with Traditional Health Scores

Most health scores today rely on a formula of 3–5 inputs:

Consider it a buzzword or not, ROI is still important. 

Executives care about it. They want to know that company investments are worth it. 

When it comes to building or growing a new department such as Customer Success, especially if you don't have experience in it, ROI is equally important. 

It's normal to ask if it's worth it and to wonder how to measure the success of the investment. 

I've always advised channel partners to ensure that they have a way to measure Customer Success and how their CSMs are doing from the very start. You don't want to start a new division or a new initiative and have your boss drop it a few months down the line because you forgot to measure its success. 

With Customer Success still being a relatively new and sexy job, how to measure it is not as clear cut as it is in Sales for example.

Customer Success is also a lot more about relationships than it is about numbers. but even though it can be subjective, there are still certain activities and outcomes you can track. 

I recently spotted two infographics about metrics to measure Customer Success ROI that I want to go over today. 

8 Ways to Measure Customer Success ROI

Customer Success is a relatively new field, both from an organisational perspective as in a department and also from a career perspective for individuals. 

I've been working in Customer Success for quite a few years. Even my early days working in PR agencies and taking care of PR clients should be considered working in Customer Success although I held a different title. 

I've also never held a Customer Success Manager (CSM) title but I've done a similar enough role at scale working through partners to drive success for joint customers. 

CSM is an exciting role, one that's gaining more and more popularity. As some would say, it's a sexy role. 

If you find yourself just starting with such a role or are interested in pursuing a career as a CSM, this post is for you.

I've primarily learned everything I know about Customer Success on the job itself but I want to give you some useful tips on how to be really at it.