How to automate your customer onboarding in 3 easy steps

Once upon a time, Mark welcomed you at the bank. He took in your deposits, cashed in your cheques, and sometimes even told you a remotely funny dad joke. Mark liked his coffee a little light had a massive sweet tooth and was your local bank teller.

Unless you’re a GenZ and can’t fathom life before ATMs, you might have encountered a Mark. But dear reader, Mark is, in fact, no more because an ATM sits in his place.

But this is not a sad story.

Mark has different roles today and still likes his coffee a little light. However, his role in 1990 has changed massively to what it is today in 2023, owing to automation.

How can automation help customer-facing roles?

The rise of ATMs is a classic example of the subtle rise of automation that has impacted everyone’s lives.

Like an ATM interaction, most interactions between companies and customers are repetitive actions that can be automated.

If we think about it, the customer's first interaction, aka the onboarding process, is a crucial stage where all the right information needs to be collected to help guide the customer based on their needs on how the product can help them. Why not leave it to automation which is more accurate in nature?

But you may ask, what if my customer needs more direction? What if you want to provide a white-glove treatment for your customers during onboarding?

“Customer onboarding doesn’t work!” you scream.

Let’s imagine automation as a DJ console. You can tweak the multiple factors affecting your customer lifecycle and the levels of automation you’d like your customers to have that would help to successfully onboard them.

In this blog, let us explore,

• Different elements of customer onboarding that can be automated, and
• The ways in which your customer onboarding can be automated.

But do not automate your customer onboarding because a blog said so!

Instead,

What is customer onboarding automation?

Think of customer onboarding automation as the superhero sidekick of your business. They swoop in, save the, and ensure your customers feel like they're getting the VIP. With automation, your customers get a seamless onboarding experience, and you get to focus on growing your business.

Research shows that companies with a strong customer onboarding process retain customers in the long term. By adopting automation, businesses can provide better customer onboarding experiences for time to important aspects of their business.

Why is automating your customer onboarding important?

In today's fast-paced business world, customer experience is everything. And that includes the customer onboarding experience which lies at the beginning of the customer journey. A good customer onboarding experience can make all the difference in retaining customers and reducing customer churn rates. As businesses grow and acquire more customers, it becomes increasingly difficult to provide a consistent, efficient, cost-effective onboarding experience manually.

That's where automating customer onboarding comes in. By automating the onboarding process, businesses can provide a faster, more efficient, and more consistent customer experience. Automating customer onboarding can also provide valuable data and insights into the onboarding process. This can be used to improve the experience and reduce churn rates.

In 2023, with customer expectations higher than ever, automating customer onboarding is becoming an increasingly important strategy for businesses of all sizes. By embracing automation, businesses can improve the customer experience, reduce churn rates, and ultimately, drive growth and success.

3 ways to automate customer onboarding

B2B customer onboarding involves multiple steps, such as collecting customer information, setting up accounts, providing training and support, and ensuring customer satisfaction. Here are some parts of B2B customer onboarding that can be automated,

1. Automate collecting customer information during onboarding

Automating the process of collecting customer information during B2B SaaS onboarding can save time and streamline the overall experience for both the customer and the company.

One way to automate this process is by creating an online form that customers can fill out to create an account. This form can be customized to collect the specific information that the company needs, such as the customer's name, email address, job title, company size, and industry.

To keep the customer engaged, companies can consider adding some quirky and laid-back elements, such as playful questions or humorous graphics. For example, Duolingo, a language learning app, shows colorful illustrations to collect customer information and helps ingrain the product in their daily schedule.

By automating collection of customer information, companies can create a more positive and engaging customer onboarding experience. This helps set the tone for a successful customer relationship and leads to happy customers.

2. Automate account setup during onboarding

Automating the account setup process during B2B SaaS onboarding can save time and improve the overall customer experience. This can be as simple as sending your customer a personlaized email that states the next steps.

Slack, a team collaboration software company, sends a playful and engaging email to new customers when they sign up for an account. Downloading the Slack app helps with product adoptability and also makes it easy for customers to communicate.

The subject line reads, "Get more done with Slack". The email itself is visually appealing and includes a colorful design with images and icons. The email starts with a brief introduction to the benefits of having the Slack app, followed by a clear call-to-action to download the app. It also includes a link to a helpful tutorial video that explains how to get started with the app, as well as links to the company's Help Center and Twitter account.

Account set up is an easy process and automating this part can help stay warm with your customers. These engaged customers also help with product adoption.

3. Automate training and support

Providing training and customer support is a crucial part of B2B SaaS onboarding. This helps customers learn how to use the product or service effectively and efficiently. Automating the process of training and support can save time and resources for both the customer and the company.

One of the best ways to understand automation is by taking a deep dive into what Monday.com, a project management platform does.

Monday.com's user guide is called "The Monday.com Guide" and features a playful tone throughout. For example, the guide includes sections like "The Basics - Monday.com 101" and "Power-Ups - Level Up Your Workflow." They also use a lot of images and diagrams to help users visualize the concepts being discussed.

They also use videos similar to what can be created with Trainn to explain product features through easily digestible bytes. They offer a wide range of tutorial videos that cover various topics, such as getting started with the platform, customizing workflows, and integrating with other tools. These videos are short and to-the-point, with a quirky and fun tone that makes the learning process more enjoyable. These can be accumulated into a knowledge base.

Monday.com has a knowledge base of videos in regional languages as well.

Another way companies can offer personalized support is through channels like live chat, email, or phone. When providing this support, it's important to maintain a friendly and approachable tone, and to respond to customer inquiries as quickly as possible.

The most commonly used means of automating support during onboarding is through the use of chatbots or virtual assistants. These automated tools can answer frequently asked questions and guide customers through common tasks, providing fast and efficient support.

Toplyne has the most creative chat bot, sorry DrakeBot, we have seen so far, breaking the ice and setting the tone for future communications.

At the end of the day a happy customer who's questions are answered and needs are met is what every business aims for.

Customers are often skeptical of new products. Especially if they have just made the payment they immediately want to see the worth for their buck. This is why the onboarding process is crucial as it helps reassure the customer that, (a) you are right there to help them achieve their goals, and (b) your product can make their life easier.

Automating this step gives the companies an advantage of covering a wide section of the customer base for basic questions and only focusing much deeply when the need arises through a high touch approach.

Using marketing automation tools to send personalized welcome messages to new customers, automating the process of providing training resources to new customers such as tutorials, webinars, video content, and other resources that can be accessed at any time, in-app guides, notifications and reminders are just a few ways in which companies can ease the pressure of automation and focus on scaling.

When onboarding is taken care of keeping the future customer touch points and customer lifecycle in mind, it helps with customer retention and customer churn.

Would you like to automate your customer onboarding process with the help of intuitive product videos? Let’s get on a call and see how Trainn can help you.