You’ve got a new customer who believes in you and buys your product. What’s the first thing you want to do for them?

Show them they’ve made the right choice.

That’s what customer onboarding is all about: providing new customers with a way to get comfortable with you and your product from the very first interaction you have with them.

It’s a complex project for sure. But implementing an automated lead nurturing campaign to help new customers get acquainted with you can relieve some of the pressure. Once you help them make a seamless start, they’ll likely reward you with brand loyalty.

Why Customer Onboarding Is So Important

Research shows that 63% of customers consider a company's onboarding program when making a purchasing decision. When communicating with companies for customer service:

• 62% of customers want to use email
• 48% find the phone more convenient
• 42% prefer live chat
• 36% like filling out "Contact Us" forms

What’s more, highly-engaged customers buy 90% more frequently and spend 60% more per transaction.

According to HubSpot, an effective onboarding experience is designed to make a new customer’s life easy. It should:

• Guide people toward understanding your product and finding value from it.
• Fulfill marketing promises with readily accessible resources.
• Offer helpful support such as step-by-step tutorials and information such as how your product is made, your brand story, and more.
• Help build positive feelings and trust in your business.
• Become a normal part of your customer experience program so you can stay connected and celebrate their successes using your product or service.

Your business will also benefit from great new customer onboarding. You can:

• Start an ongoing relationship with them.
• Improve customer lifetime value (LTV).
• Reduce churn rate.
• Support happy customers who will also be happy to be your biggest fans.

Automation Helps Create Business Momentum and Growth

If you want to scale your business at a quicker pace, use a lead nurturing campaign to facilitate new customer onboarding. This way, you can automate a few of the steps and free more resources for a higher level of customer support.

You can set up your new customer onboarding process with HubSpot workflows and easily automate repetitive tasks like introduction and nurturing emails. You can also personalize your onboarding process, providing custom resources that match a customer’s needs. This way, your new customers get the resources they need without having to wait for a customer support specialist to be available. Here’s how to use a HubSpot workflow to onboard new customers.

6 Steps for Automated New Customer Onboarding

1. Decide what to automate based on the customer's needs.

Determine how much of your process can benefit from automation. Identify repetitive tasks that can be automated first. Then decide whether you can automate the entire process or just certain customer segments.

HubSpot tip: If customers consistently leave certain tasks uncompleted, then it’s a clue that human help is required for a customer to understand it.

Example: Some companies use automation to send emails to new customers with resources to either get started immediately or how to schedule onboarding help. Typically, people will need to respond to email replies and support customers who need human help.

2. Evaluate your onboarding process step-by-step.

What do your new customers need to navigate your onboarding process? Which customer segments would benefit from self-service onboarding? Who needs a hybrid solution?

Figure out what automated resources your customers will need and when they may need them. Then align those steps and build a seamless customer onboarding experience.

3. Collaborate with all of the necessary departments in your company.

While you’re creating the ideal onboarding process, ask for feedback from stakeholders in your company such as product design, service execution, marketing, sales, customer success teams, and others. The information you receive should help you picture what your customers need for a helpful onboarding experience.

Together, you and your collaborators should also determine the tools needed to facilitate your onboarding process. Different teams will likely need different tools to build an integrated infrastructure for success.

4. Prioritize the customer experience.

Think about how automation can improve or enhance the process for the customer. How fast can they complete the initial steps? How easy and seamless can it be? Will your customers realize the value?

5. Work toward seamless interaction.

No process is frictionless. But work to reduce any sticking points that your customers may face during the process. Be flexible in offering customers support when they need it. Respond to automated feedback quickly, in a way that assures the customer you’re there for them. Determine when and how interaction with human helpers should occur. Introduce customers to network help like community forums and online assistance through your automated onboarding process.

6. Listen to customer feedback.

HubSpot says, "Automation can anticipate needs and provide resources at critical points of the customer journey. Automation can also respond to customers as soon as they reach out for assistance."

Over time, it’s your customers who will help refine your onboarding experience. Their opinions count. Solicit their yeas and nays to help refine the process. Your goal is to offer a remarkable customer experience that provides best-in-class service.

11outof11 Knows Email Marketing Campaigns

When you’re ready to implement a lead-nurturing onboarding campaign for your new customers, connect with 11outof11. Request a complimentary call with an 11outof11 expert. Contact Us To Learn More.