“Steps of a Successful Client Onboarding”
Client onboarding is not only the first step to welcome a client into your business, but also the first step to building a relationship that lasts.
“Customer onboarding is the nurturing process that gets new users and customers acquainted and comfortable with your product.” …Hubspot
We can also describe it as the journey each customer needs to go through from the moment he/she becomes a customer until he/she is fully proficient with the service/product that has been acquired.
Why is Onboarding New Clients Important?
» Because customer onboarding is the process that can help your company stand out from its competition. And it’s the first opportunity that you have to engage your customer.
Fact: 86% of people say they’d be more likely to stay loyal to a business that invests in onboarding content that welcomes and educates them after they’ve bought
A good client onboarding process sets the tone for the rest of your partnership and helps create expectations about what your customer service will be.
If the process is done right from the minute a user signs up for your product or a deal is closed, there is a much higher chance that the customer will stick around, increasing their customer lifetime value (LTV).
Here you have some statistics that about how customers value the onboarding process.
If you’re improperly onboarding new customers, it’s been proven that 3/4 of your new clients will be lost within a week. This can lead to unsuccessful customer engagement rates that will only affect your company’s bottom line.
» The highest portion of a company’s revenue comes from existing customers, not new ones.
Holding onto those long-term clients is one of the most important parts of running a successful business.
How to Onboard Clients the Right Way
Each organization may have its very own process to onboard new customers.
However, you can follow the process we describe below and make the adjustments you think are needed. The onboarding process will depend on the type of product or service you sell.
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Best Practices to follow when Onboarding New Customers
So how do you properly onboard your clients, ensure they stick around after a free trial, and set expectations in a way that will ensure a healthy working relationship?
You must implement proper onboarding as a part of the sales process.
Generally speaking, there are 5 steps to follow to create a successful client onboarding:
1- Ask yourself the right questions when developing the customer onboarding strategy that works for your audience. Do some benchmarking. What’s the competition doing? What about companies that are recognized for having successful onboarding processes in place?
2- Know your client’s KPIs, goals and pain points. This will help you define success and it will help your client understand the value that your product brings to their business.
3- Work to build a true client relationship, not just a business transaction. When you think long term, your customer starts to trust you more, and will likely consider you for a longer contract. Even if that means not making as much as you thought on day one.
4- Be transparent, and use your knowledge base as an asset to share with everyone involved how to get the most out of your solution or service.
5- Use client feedback to improve and refine your onboarding. This can be particularly relevant for Saas companies that are still tailoring their product and want to ensure customer goals are being met.
Each of these steps is crucial in ensuring that your new client feels valued. It sets the tone for a successful partnership that will last.
Even though each company’s steps might look different depending on their target audience, this is an excellent start.
Tools to automate your Client Onboarding
What is a client onboarding software?
According to G2, Client onboarding software is a type of software that helps you to manage post-sales activities related to the delivery of the product or service sold by the company. These are tools that will help you to put in place and track the onboarding process you designed.
3 Solutions for Onboarding New Clients digitally
Virtus Flow: It’s a No-Code Workflow Automation solution which provides the platform to automate not only the customer onboarding process but any business process; including tasks, approvals, document delivery, forms, etc. You can quickly start and track activities, notifications, to-dos, documents, and more.
It also provides a digital form creator, which allows users to create interactive forms (see below) to gather data, digitize questionnaires, as well as to automatically distribute and store data. You will be able to manage all onboarding activities and collaborate with clients from the app main dashboard (shown above).
» Pro: This solution allows you to automate not only the customer onboarding but also any other business process and integrate them with the onboarding process.
GuideCX: Helps you to build project templates, including milestones and tasks. You can easily customize the template for each new type of onboarding.Use it to manage tasks, reminders, and updates.
» This is a tool only for Customer Onboarding automation and Project Management.
Rocketlane: It’s a collaborative customer onboarding platform. From kickoff to value delivery, it helps you to collaborate with customers and provide visibility into goals, plans, and statuses.
» This is a tool only for customer onboarding and collaboration.
Summary: Customers give high importance to the onboarding process. Failing to provide with what your client expects can affect the business relationship short term and long term.
In order to do an effective onboarding design and put in practice a frictionless digital experience. Make sure to provide all the information and support your client needs until is fully proficient with your product.
Do not forget to do periodical follow ups and share with them the easiest way to access you if they need help.
Onboard Clients in a frictionless way, provide a digital experience ! - SEE HOW!
