Boosting Customer Experience With Effective Onboarding
Getting a customer to buy your product or service is only enough to get them through the front door. In reality, the quality and longevity of your relationship with them depend on fostering a positive customer experience throughout the duration of your collaboration. Research shows that the main reason behind customer attrition is a poorly executed onboarding process that sets wrong expectations and causes disappointment. In this article, we will discuss what customer onboarding is, why you need it, as well as the steps that make it up.
What Is Customer Onboarding, And Why Is It Necessary?
Let's begin by defining what this term refers to. At its core, customer onboarding describes the process of getting your customers familiar with your product or service. Although the first goal is to show your audience how to effectively use it so that they can quickly and efficiently accomplish their goals, onboarding also aims at creating advocates for your company. In other words, satisfied clients who will broadcast the efficiency of your company to other potential leads.
But there are many more short-term and long-term benefits that make customer training onboarding an indispensable part of the customer lifecycle. Apart from making life easy for your customers, it also builds a trusting relationship between your business and its customers, increasing their retention and loyalty to your brand. In addition to that, it improves trial conversions, ensuring that the free trials you provide actually bring value back to your company. Most importantly, keeping customers engaged reduces the cost of seeking and landing new leads while keeping the flow of revenue high.
6 Steps To Create Your Customer Onboarding Process
In this section, we describe the steps you can take to establish a positive experience that will turn potential leads into loyal customers.
1. New Customer Sign-Up
Often, companies tend to think that customer onboarding begins after the purchase of the product. However, the sign-up process that precedes the purchase can significantly affect bounce rates and conversions. For example, if you're noticing that many users are giving up halfway through signing up, this signifies that you're asking for too much information. Therefore, make sure to streamline this process, ask for the minimum amount of data, or even allow users to sign up through platforms they already use.
2. Welcome Email
Once the sign-up has been completed, a welcome email should be waiting for customers in their inbox. This first communication step will be the client's introduction to your company, which is why it needs to be carefully curated. Make sure you show your appreciation that they trusted you, and let them know about any information that they would find useful, such as a resource library. But most importantly, end your email with an action button that leads them back to your product and encourages them to immediately start using it.
3. First Log-In
Although your customer may have a general idea of how your product looks, the first time they log in, after having created an account and taken care of all details, is when they really form their first impressions. Entering a solution that you've never used before can be intimidating, which is why this first interaction needs to be accompanied by a step-by-step tutorial. This way, customers will start getting the hang of your product and quickly realize how it can bring value to their business.
4. Walkthroughs And Training
After the introductory setup wizard, customers will need some help discovering all the features and capabilities of your product that you can't see at first glance. And what better way to achieve that than interactive training sessions for key tasks your clients will need to complete? When creating these walkthroughs, don't forget to make all steps skippable and allow users to pause the training and come back later. You can also incorporate additional features, such as live chat support. This way, customers will feel that your company is always there to help them whenever they encounter issues.
5. Creating A Knowledge Base
Customer onboarding is not a one-time event that spans the first week of use. For it to support the creation of a long-lasting relationship with your customers and provide an amazing experience, it needs to focus on ongoing education and accompany them for as long as they use the product. For this reason, a knowledge base is a perfect place to accumulate valuable information for your customers to turn to whenever they need some guidance regarding your product. To achieve maximum results, add frequently asked questions, mini tutorials, and training sessions, and maybe even a chatbot that will help users quickly find answers to their questions.
6. Checking In Regularly
The final step that concludes the customer onboarding process is remaining in frequent communication with them. For customers to remain engaged, they need to feel that you are invested in their progress and are always available to help them when they get stuck or have questions. Remember that your follow-up emails shouldn't be too frequent and too long. Maintain a regular but not overwhelming schedule and include tips, pointers, and useful links that will help your customers use your product even more effectively.
Conclusion
Although your customer onboarding process starts as soon as a new client signs up for your product, its effects linger for a long time. It affects customer satisfaction levels and can make the difference between a disgruntled customer and an advocate of your business. For this reason, it's important to know how you can nail onboarding to reap all its benefits. Hopefully, the information we shared in this article will help you create a better experience for your customers that will support them in making the most of your services.
