Checklist | Improve Your Client Onboarding Process
Onboarding a new customer is an exciting time. The customer has already decided to move forward with your product or service, and now it’s up to the CSM and onboarding team to kick things off and make the best first impression possible.
Whether your team is looking for new ways to spice up and improve your onboarding process or if you’re just starting with onboarding customers and want to get started on the right foot, here are some tips to help you out:
___ Crush your introductions.
Introducing the onboarding team to a new customer is critical for getting started on the right foot. Make sure the customer is wholly aware of every team member’s role, how they will be helping out, and who to go to with questions. Suppose a team member is part of the team for longer than just the onboarding stage (an implementation manager or business analyst, for example). In that case, this relationship can be lasting and critical for establishing a mutually beneficial partnership.
___ Don’t leave anyone behind, even if you want to move forward.
If your onboarding sessions include training of any kind, make sure all of your customer contacts are caught up and comfortable with the platform before moving forward. While the time your team spends onboarding can impact your entire customer timeline, you don’t want to rush things or push anyone too hard too fast just to meet an internal deadline.
___ Talk through the customer plan for growth to build excitement.
One of the best parts of any new customer onboarding is looking ahead to where the account can grow and evolve down the road. Getting a customer into your platform for the first time, talking through functionality and workflows, and showing features in real-time can bring up some great questions and conversations around where the account can grow down the road. Don’t be afraid to look ahead to the future, add items and features to the roadmap, and build excitement for the partnership.
___ Ask for feedback.
One of the most significant parts of any successful onboarding process is continued growth, optimization, and updates. The best way to know exactly how your team can improve your onboarding for customers is to ask them! Before onboarding starts, send out a quick survey asking what users hope to learn during onboarding. During the onboarding, make sure you record and track any off-hand feedback to take back to your internal team.
And finally, after onboarding, it’s a good idea to send out a formal survey or feedback assessment that goes into detail about the specific points of the onboarding. You can also provide an open-text field for additional thoughts and recommendations.
You can learn more about building and executing the ultimate onboarding experience for customers with these additional resources from ClientSuccess: