Client onboarding is the process of welcoming new clients and ensuring they’re fully aware of the products and services your company has to offer. Businesses with smart and streamlined onboarding processes tend to keep their new customers. Here are five different ways that a smart marketer can streamline client onboarding.
Make It About The Customer
This should go without saying, but let’s dive into this one a bit. Make your onboarding process about the customer. It’s easy to get lost in the prospect of new sales and forget that you’re actually welcoming a person into the ranks of your customer base.
Once you’ve sold your product to the customer, it’s safe to assume they have a general interest in your brand, but this is where it’s important to follow through and follow up with new clients. A product or service should solve a problem for your clients. This should be the topic of discussion, rather than the logistics of that particular product or service.
Let the customer know that your product was created especially to solve their particular issue. Explain how it will make their lives easier by providing a solution that only your company can offer.
Once you’ve put their needs first, you’ll find you have more responsive and engaged clients. Always remember that your first job is to serve the customer and that customers want to be treated with dignity and respect. They’ve come to you with a particular issue. If you want them to keep coming back, good customer service is a must.
Minimize Friction During Onboarding
You can develop the best product or service in the world, but if your signup process is complicated and difficult to navigate, you’ll find yourself running into issues with keeping new clients.
Landing pages should be simple, easy to use, and easily navigate to other areas of the site or app. Your marketing message should align with the landing pages as well so that your company’s message is advertised loud and clear.
To minimize friction, you can utilize tools such as social media signup for users. Your clients will be able to sign into your page with their Facebook, Twitter, or other social media information, eliminating that time-consuming manual signup process.
Another way to reduce friction is to have reviews and testimonials easily accessible by new clients. They’ll feel good about signing up for your product when their peers’ reviews are at their fingertips.
Offer Help, But Don’t Get In The Way
You are your client’s guide to your products or services. You should be able to explain or demonstrate key features without becoming a hindrance to the onboarding process. This can be tricky, especially if you’re passionate about the product itself.
While customers will certainly need some guidance on more complex products, you can minimize your own involvement by providing virtual tours of the product on your website. This will give clients a general idea of what the product does before they ever speak with you or your team.
Welcome emails are a great way to follow up on this process. Your welcome emails should be your first step in making new users into paying customers. Provide a clear call to action combined with a direct link to the product itself.
Use A Clear Value Proposition
Your potential customers shouldn’t have to do too much research to figure out what your product or service can offer them, or what makes it unique from the competition. Your value proposition should be short, concise, and tell your customers exactly why you’re the best choice.
Uber, for example, has a great value proposition that reads: “Uber-The Smartest Way To Get Around”. The value proposition is short, simple, and tell users exactly what they need to know: that Uber is the smartest way to get around.
There are hundreds of examples of great value propositions, but the general idea is that it captures the customers’ attention and gives them some idea of what your product is about. This is your “eye-catching” statement and should pull potential users right in and spark the curiosity to learn more.
Introductory Meetings
A good way to greet a new client into your business is to set up an introductory meeting with them. You can introduce yourself and explain the advantages of your company and the products you have to offer.
Having a good meeting requires a good meeting service. You can use conference call services or even video chat if you want a meeting that feels a little more like meeting in person. Sometimes a quick introduction is all it takes to seal the onboarding process.
Be sure after your call to provide the new client with your contact information and any relevant links to your website or products. Send a follow-up email or even a phone call if you don’t hear from them soon after your meeting.
Conclusion
Onboarding is an important step to creating loyal customers from new users. Your onboarding process should be simple and concise and allow the customer the freedom to explore your product or service themselves while making yourself available for any questions they may have.
Be sure to make your signup process simple, as this is often where customers fall through the cracks. A complex signup process only serves to frustrate new clients, and can potentially scare them off. When you’re onboarding, simplicity is the name of the game.
