What is customer onboarding?<\/h2>\n
Customer onboarding is a proactive process that guides new users to explore your product or service, so they quickly get up to speed with the value it will provide them. This customer education journey<\/a> begins immediately after customers buy or register for your offering, up until they perceive they are using the product or service successfully. The process should be fast, efficient, and frictionless, yet in some industries, McKinsey reports that onboarding corporate clients takes up to 100 days<\/a>.<\/p>\n Andrew Allfrey<\/a>, Founder of Huzzah, a post-purchase agency, explains the importance of customer onboarding,<\/p>\n \u201cWhen a customer chooses your brand, they are not just buying a product but also an experience. The onboarding process is crucial, as it sets the tone for the rest of the customer journey. From providing clear product instructions and demonstrating usage scenarios to anticipating common queries with FAQs\u2014these details matter.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Precursive\u2019s Customer Onboarding Benchmark report highlights that 74%<\/a> of enterprise organizations have a dedicated customer onboarding team, and 82% rate their onboarding approach as a key driver of value. In contrast, only 13% of early-stage organizations have an onboarding solution and rely on spreadsheets to manage the new customer experience.<\/p>\n But developing a comprehensive customer onboarding strategy is beneficial for any size or type of business for the following reasons:<\/p>\n Management consultant Phil Woodbridge<\/a> describes the primacy effect<\/a>, a cognitive bias where an individual tends to give more weight to their initial impression rather than information received later.<\/p>\n “First impressions count significantly for a business when onboarding a new customer because they shape the customer’s initial perception and opinion about the company. Human beings are wired to make quick judgments based on limited information, and these judgments tend to be relatively sticky even in the face of contradictory evidence later on.\u201d<\/p>\n Invest in your customer strategy from the start to increase the probability of your new customers providing positive third-party reviews and word-of-mouth marketing on your behalf. People are inclined to believe content shared by \u201cnormal people\u201d rather than brands, so it\u2019s never too early to begin building your loyal fanbase.<\/p>\n Working closely with new customers as they explore your product or service for the first time enables you to walk in their shoes and learn more about their pain points. For example, if software customers find a menu navigation clunky or expect a feature to work differently, you can inform your product team to influence future development.<\/p>\n Early customer conversations provide opportunities to promote other products, services, or upgrades in your range. A software company’s customer success<\/a> team might discover that advanced reporting is important to their new user. They can offer a limited trial of an advanced plan with this additional functionality and the potential to upgrade down the line.<\/p>\n Follow these customer onboarding tips for a smooth transition:<\/p>\n Set SMART goals for your customer onboarding process, which should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. For example, your goal might be to improve customer engagement<\/a>\u00a0by X% before the end of the year, measured by customer activity on your platform.<\/p>\n Determine what level of program you’re willing to offer your customers, which may depend on the package they’ve chosen. Some popular options are:<\/p>\n A timeline sets the flow of your onboarding program, including when users will receive emails or calls from your team. Consider developing different timelines for each segment of customers, for example, low-touch vs. high-touch.<\/p>\n Customizing the onboarding process ensures customers feel that your company knows them on a deeper level. This customer-oriented approach<\/a> means gathering information from leads before purchasing and tailoring content, product demos, or instructional videos to this data.<\/p>\n Surveys provide details about how customers engage with your product or service and if they’re experiencing any issues that may require further customer support. Send out surveys at different stages of the onboarding journey to better understand their needs.<\/p>\n Gathering customer data helps you understand how your customers are engaging with your product or service. A customer behavior analysis<\/a> may include the time spent on each page, emails opened, and click-throughs, which you can track using a customer relationship management platform such as monday sales CRM.<\/p>\n Establishing a baseline metric against which to measure success will guide your approach. You can regularly follow up to measure customer engagement, usage patterns, and support requests. This data can determine if your onboarding strategy is successful or needs improvement.<\/p>\nWhy is a customer onboarding strategy important?<\/h2>\n
1. It creates a positive first impression<\/h3>\n
2. It develops brand ambassadors<\/h3>\n
3. It enables you to gather product feedback and pain points<\/h3>\n
4, It provides upselling opportunities<\/h3>\n
7 best practices for customer onboarding<\/h2>\n
1. Create customer onboarding strategy goals<\/h3>\n
2. Build your customer onboarding program<\/h3>\n
\n
3. Develop an onboarding timeline<\/h3>\n
4. Personalize the customer experience<\/h3>\n
5. Send out regular surveys<\/h3>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/monday.jpg\")
<\/p>\n6. Collect customer behavior data<\/h3>\n
7. Measure onboarding success<\/h3>\n