Your CSM Customer Onboarding Checklist
The customer onboarding checklist every CSM needs. 25 milestones across kickoff, training, adoption, and value review — with templates for each step.
TL;DR
- A CSM onboarding checklist starts with an internal handoff call with sales to transfer all the "tribal knowledge" about the new customer.
- Gather the right playbooks, get the first customer call on the calendar early, and build out the customer lifecycle with the customer's input.
- Put metrics—such as time to implementation, adoption rate, product usage, and sentiment—in place to track from day one of onboarding.
Traditionally, the customer handoff process from sales to customer service for onboarding can be chaotic and more than a little confusing. Onboarding is, after all, the first real experience a customer has working directly with your team, using the platform to its full extent, and understanding how the working relationship will look between your two teams.
Your team wants onboarding to go as smoothly as possible, no matter the customer in question. While there may be no such thing as a ‘one size fits all’ customer, processes, playbooks, and repeatable workflows make it easy to give each customer the same level of attention and support during onboarding.
Here is a comprehensive onboarding checklist to keep in mind as you bring new customers up to speed on your platform:
___ Schedule an internal handoff call with your sales team. Your sales team has spent considerable time and effort getting to know this new customer, understanding their needs and goals, and aligning your solutions with their desired outcomes. A clean handoff between sales and customer success means a complete transition of all this ‘tribal knowledge’ from sales to your team, so nothing slips between the cracks.
___ Gather your playbooks and processes for the onboarding kick-off. Your team should already have robust onboarding playbooks and processes in place. Based on the outcomes from your sales handoff, pick and choose the right playbooks that will work with your customer’s unique support needs.
___ Get your first call with the customer on the calendar. Don’t wait too long to get your first customer call on the calendar. Even if you’re just introducing the team, reviewing the timeline, and doing a quick Q&A, don’t wait. It may be helpful to schedule a more informal discussion for your first call and then dive into the implementation process after that.
___ Work with the customer to build out your customer lifecycle. Your customer lifecycle will track the customer journey from onboarding and implementation to adoption to growth to retention and renewal. The customer should also have a hand in this planning, so as you are working through your onboarding plan, make sure you are also looking ahead to growth down the road.
___ Put metrics in place that you can start tracking on day one. In the world of customer success, it’s never too early to start putting numbers behind your decisions and strategy. Get started on the right foot by putting metrics in place you can start tracking on day one of onboarding. Time to implementation, adoption rate, product usage rate, and sentiment are all metrics your team should start measuring as soon as day one to ensure you’re trending in the right direction.
How is your team onboarding new customers?
Frequently Asked Questions
What should be on a CSM customer onboarding checklist?
What metrics should you track from day one of onboarding?
See how ClientSuccess scales the playbook you've built.
Walk through it with a CS-led demo and see how it'd fit your team.