By Kunal Rao, Chief Customer Officer, Applitools
At Applitools, we are evolving Customer Success to focus on measurable outcomes, stronger customer alignment, and shared accountability.
Onboarding is where that approach takes shape, translating strategy into a clear and structured path from initial adoption to measurable value.
It is not just about getting started. It establishes the conditions for long-term success.
Aligning Early on What Success Looks Like
Every successful partnership starts with clarity.
Early in our relationship, we work with you to define what success means in measurable terms. This includes identifying your most important use cases, the outcomes you want to achieve, and the milestones that indicate progress.
For many teams, this becomes a clear North Star. It is a shared definition of what success looks like and what we are working toward together.
These priorities are captured in a Joint Success Plan, a shared framework that outlines goals, stakeholders, timelines, and measurable outcomes. This ensures there is always a clear view of what we are working toward and how progress will be tracked.
Aligning the Right People and Cadence
Clear goals are only effective when the right stakeholders are aligned around them.
From the outset, we establish a consistent engagement cadence with your team. This keeps progress visible, supports timely decisions, and maintains momentum.
These conversations go beyond implementation status. They focus on how your testing strategy is evolving, where additional support may be needed, and how to continue progressing toward your defined outcomes.
The goal is to move from reactive problem-solving to proactive collaboration.
Defining Metrics That Demonstrate Progress
Clear goals need equally clear measures of success.
Early in onboarding, we work with you to define the metrics that matter most to your organization. These are tied directly to your business objectives and provide a consistent way to evaluate progress.
Common examples include:
- Time to value—measured by how quickly key workflows are fully implemented
- Defect escape rate—tracking the reduction of visual issues reaching production
- Maintenance efficiency—reflecting time saved through automated test maintenance
These metrics provide a shared and objective view of progress. They also help demonstrate the impact of your testing strategy across both engineering and leadership teams.
Executing the Plan Together
Execution is where onboarding either succeeds or stalls.
Rather than relying on a hand-off model, we work with you directly as a partner to implement the plan. This includes prioritizing your highest-value workflows, providing guidance based on proven implementations, and helping your team move forward with confidence.
We also monitor adoption patterns to identify potential gaps early and provide support before they become blockers.
This also allows your team to spend less time maintaining tests and more time focused on higher-value development.
Validating Progress and Preparing to Scale
Onboarding is not complete when the initial implementation is done. It is complete when value is clearly demonstrated.
As we reach that point, we step back to review progress against the goals defined at the outset. This includes evaluating key metrics, identifying any remaining risks, and confirming alignment on next steps.
We formalize this through an Executive Business Review (EBR). This brings alignment at the leadership level on progress, outcomes, and priorities moving forward.
This ensures both teams have a shared understanding of what has been achieved and what comes next.
From there, the focus shifts from initial adoption to broader scale across additional teams, applications, and use cases.
Our Commitment
This approach reflects a broader commitment we are making at Applitools.
We are focused on helping every customer achieve measurable value from our platform, consistently and predictably.
That means aligning early on clear outcomes, maintaining visibility into progress, and working as a proactive partner throughout the engagement, aligned to your goals and priorities.
We will continue refining this approach based on what we learn from every customer, including feedback, adoption patterns, and ongoing collaboration.
Our role is straightforward. We help your team realize the full value of your investment and ensure that progress is clear at every step.
What This Means for You
If you are an Applitools customer, you can expect a more structured and proactive onboarding experience.
You will define a clear North Star, track progress through measurable outcomes, and align regularly through structured reviews such as Executive Business Reviews.
You will have clear goals, defined milestones, and a shared plan that connects your testing strategy to business impact.
Most importantly, you will have a partner focused not just on implementation, but on aligning to your goals and delivering measurable outcomes.
Chief Customer Officer, Applitools
Kunal Rao is a seasoned customer success and go-to-market executive with more than 20 years of global experience building, scaling, and transforming post-sales organizations at technology companies. Read more.
