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The first interaction of a customer sets the tone for the entire relationship. It can determine if they become a freemium member, loyal customer or move on to your competitors. The goal of a good onboarding process is that people derive value as soon and as early as possible. In this blog post, we will cover all aspects of onboarding new customers – from what it is and why it matters. We will also cover 5 best practices for creating an effective onboarding workflow.
What is Customer Onboarding?
Customer onboarding is the process where new customers get comfortable using your products and services. This can be done via offering product trials or via a product demonstration. This process has two key milestones: when people sign up to use your product or service and when people get a positive result with your business offering. This process involves a series of steps designed to educate, support, and engage customers. It helps them understand the value of what they have purchased and how to use it effectively.
Why is Customer Onboarding Important?
Customers want to know that doing business with your product is indeed the right choice. This is where a seamless customer onboarding process comes to the picture. As per Wyzowl, 55% of people have returned a product because they could not figure out how to use it.
The customer onboarding process is meant to create a long-term positive connection with buyers. The right customer onboarding journey will:
- Be simple and seamless: People want minimal cognitive effort when being a first time user. Reduce their learning curve right during the sign up process and you will have lesser churn.
- Offer value immediately: A good onboarding journey will offer product value immediately. The process will tell customers why they need to sign up along with its benefits. A positive first experience can lead to customer retention- which is the key factor for scaling a business.
- Offer community support and engagement: A standardized onboarding strategy can help people see the product value and encourage them to use it actively. This can be done via community building, offering new launches to test and getting continual feedback.
- Open a two way communication: People should be able to reach out to the customer support without any hassle. They might seek out product demonstration, lodge a grievance or share issues. A good customer support team should intervene at the earliest and close the feedback loop.
Almost every product will benefit from a simple onboarding process. This will solidify a customer’s relationship with the brand.
Who owns the onboarding process?
In a smaller organisation, the departmentalization can be smaller. Hence smaller teams tend to adopt roles side by side. In larger companies, they can require larger teams especially when there is a global presence. Larger teams (customer success teams) require training such that they are devoted to the onboarding process.
What does an onboarding specialist do?
An onboarding specialist will ensure that customers are welcomed into the brand with a long-term retention in mind. They can be responsible for curating and generating relevant content for the target audience. They can also prepare training sessions for potential customers.
They provide experience in a way that keeps customers engaged by answering their queries and doubts. They collect data from various sources to identify pain points, what causes churn and curates roadmaps to retain loyal customers. They also serve as a bridge between management, marketing and customers. This entire process encompasses managing client relationships.
5 Best Practices for Effective Customer Onboarding
It is a well known fact that obtaining new customers can cost upto 5 to 25 times over retaining an existing user base. However, this should not discourage marketers from creating a well-equipped onboarding process. Here are the 5 steps for an effective customer onboarding process.
1. Identify onboarding program goals:
Design a personalized onboarding strategy by identifying your program goals.
- Set clear objectives, like reducing churn rate or improving product adoption. This gives the customer success team a roadmap with benchmark factors.
- Clearly communicate your product’s unique value and provide tutorials or templates when needed.
2. Empower internal teams for problem solving:
Offer constant support to customer service and product teams.
- Collaborate to create improved product versions. Empower teams for complex problem-solving with a human touch.
- Use chatbots for common queries, but rely on employees for manual intervention.
- Identify user pain points, address usage issues, and capture needs and preferences. You can do this when you capture customer feedback at touchpoints.
3. A review system for continual improvement:
Review systems identify improvement areas by seeking user feedback. Improve customer experiences by making users feel heard and valued. Measure process effectiveness with metrics like time spent onboarding, completion rates, filled or abandoned surveys etc. Better reviews lead to loyal, long-term paying customers.
4. Putting automation to work:
Use technology to ensure a successful customer journey during onboarding.
- Automate the sales process to avoid manual errors and enhance the experience.
- Send follow-up and welcome emails to guide new leads through the product journey.
- Implement pop-up notes in the software for navigation. Use AI to help the service team assess obstacles in real time and improve the onboarding experience.
5. Capture customer satisfaction metrics sooner:
Stay in touch with customers frequently to remain top of mind. Collect customer feedback at crucial moments. Use qualitative and quantitative data to understand how users feel with the product or services.
Examples of Customer Onboarding Process
1. Seamless sign up process:
The sign up page and process can determine the first step of a positive onboarding interaction. Keep the process simple, devoid of cognitive pressure. Offer a quick recap of the benefits they will get during the signup process. This will reinforce the decision to test the waters.
- Make it easy for people to sign up using their pre-existing account via Gmail, social media accounts or other integrations.
- If you want your customers to fill up forms, keep it minimal. Collect detailed data gradually to avoid an increase in drop-off rate.
Example: Canva offers a seamless sign up process
Canva is a versatile application that enables anyone to create photos, websites, and creatives with an exhaustive template list. The sign up process is seamless and enables users to log back in via laptop or on their mobile devices. They often share emails on product tutorials and how to navigate through the website to make your own creatives.
2. Welcome email and acknowledgement:
Create an automated email that says a simple “thank you” or a “welcome”. Acknowledge new users in the ecosystem with an email. The email must contain resources to help them navigate around the product. Related articles and FAQ can be of great help initially. Enable people to reach out to you via the call-to-action buttons or schedule a call with the team.
3. Product walkthrough videos and workshops:
A product walkthrough guides customers through the setup process and key tasks within your product. The most effective way for customers to learn is by using the product themselves. Allow customers to skip all or parts of the walkthrough if they’re already familiar with the product. Additionally, ensure they can easily access the walkthrough later if they choose to skip it initially or need a refresher. Make it simple for customers to find extra support during the walkthrough- provide contact details or offer live chat assistance.
Example: Slack offers walkthroughs and tutorials on product usage
Slack ensures that they reduce the learning curve by sharing immediate product tutorials. This is helpful for professionals who have just started using Slack or have switched on from a competitor product.
4. Follow up emails:
The goal of a follow-up email is to keep customers engaged beyond their first login. After the welcome email, send follow-up emails with tips and prompts to encourage further use of your product.
Share valuable tips and resources, like links to your help centre or product updates. This motivates them to log back in. Keep your emails short and frequent to maintain engagement.
Focus on one feature to avoid overwhelming them.
Include social proof, such as customer testimonials or case studies. This reinforces the value of your product and reminds customers why they signed up.
Example: Duolingo keeps users engaged with notifications
Duolingo, an app that teaches language keeps its user base engaged with pop up notifications and in-app quests. This approach successfully nudges users to get back in the ecosystem for a quick lesson.
5. Customer feedback on usage:
Assess if people are satisfied using the product or services. Deploy customer satisfaction metrics like net promoter score, or a simple satisfaction rating score. Example, “Share your experience with the product/ or our services so far,” and include a 5-point rating scale. Add an open-ended question section so the users can explain the reason behind the rating. Using tools from Merren to curate instant TNPS surveys and product usage surveys.
Example: Uber consistently seeks rider reviews after every journey
Uber conducts in-app surveys frequently to assess rider satisfaction. Uber also shares email reminders seeking feedback.
6. Churn re-engagement:
In churn re-engagement, software companies often use a win-back campaign via a detailed email. People may stop using a particular product due to any reason: moving on to competitors, using new devices, sparse use or forgetting about it in general.
This strategy is aimed to win back a churned or an inactive customer by addressing potential pain points or showcasing new features and benefits of the product. Here the SaaS company reaches out to users who may have uninstalled the product to encourage them to return.
Example: Re-activation campaign by Boomerang
Boomerang is an email extension software that enables users to schedule tasks, emails and can pause inbox activities. Their email campaign is a classic example of churn re-engagement with maximum details of their product improvements including new value added services. The re-activation email campaign also offers tips, tricks on how to use their product as a usage reminder.
Conclusion
A paying customer will propel businesses to release more features, upgrades and improve their offerings constantly. To retain a paying customer, one needs a solid onboarding process and customer retention strategy. This can also be achieved by taking their opinions and feedback occasionally in the user journey. Capturing customer data during their association with the company can give you crucial details about their usage patterns, and friction points. Ready to take the next step into your customer onboarding experience? Sign up for a 14 day free trial here.