How to ensure a new customer quickly and effectively becomes familiar with a new platform, website, or app.
This can be achieved through a well-structured customer onboarding process.
Let’s take a closer look at what this process actually involves.
What is the purpose of customer onboarding?
The purpose of an onboarding process is to introduce new customers to the service or product your company offers.
This process should clearly communicate what each customer can expect from the company while helping them get started effectively so they understand how to use what they have purchased and have a positive experience from the beginning.
In other words, the goal is for the customer to become familiar with the product or service and experience success immediately after using it.
This helps reduce churn and ensures a long-term relationship with customers. Read more about relational marketing in my post here.
Examples of customer onboarding
Customer onboarding can take many different forms depending on the product or service in question.
Often, onboarding includes the following elements:
- Welcome emails and introduction emails for new products.
- Guides (e.g., for new platforms, apps, etc.).
- Step-by-step product instructions.
- Webinars and learning modules.
- Customer support and FAQ.
Make your onboarding process relevant
When structuring an onboarding process, it is important to keep the target audience in mind.
Depending on the segment, it might be a good idea to use, for example, gamification, detailed how-to videos, or customer support available 24/7 through an AI chatbot.
Here, we often talk about three different types of customer onboarding: high-touch, low-touch, and tech-touch.
Let’s take a look at what each of these types entails.
High-touch onboarding
High-touch onboarding refers to a human-centered process where the customer experiences one-on-one customer support guiding them through the features they need to know about a product or service.
This type of onboarding is relevant when dealing with a technically advanced service or product that requires customized setup.
Low-touch onboarding
Low-touch onboarding refers to the process where the customer uses the tools and content the company has made available, such as webinars, emails, etc.
There is usually an option for the customer to contact support for further questions, but the process is largely self-service.
Tech-touch onboarding
For self-sufficient customers, tech-touch onboarding is used, where the customer relies on the company’s automated self-service resources like video tutorials and how-to guides.
For this type of onboarding, it is typically unnecessary to involve additional support as the products or services are often intuitive.
An integrated process
An onboarding process does not start and end with just a welcome email.
It is a process that can beneficially be structured into phases depending on how far the customer has come in getting to know the product or service.
- Welcome phase: The customer receives a welcome email and is introduced to the most important features.
- Activation phase: The customer is encouraged to take the first steps (create a profile, add data, use a feature).
- Retention phase: The customer receives follow-up content, user tips, and possible upgrade offers to maintain engagement.
Read more about the best email platforms here.
Keep your onboarding process updated
The onboarding process should be updated and fine-tuned over time based on customer feedback.
Perhaps the process has not worked as intended, or it needs updating due to new features your company offers.
Keeping this process up to date pays off, as it greatly influences the customer experience as well as consumer engagement and future loyalty.
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