Proven Strategies To Improve Customer Onboarding In Enterprise SaaS

Customer-centricity is the skeleton of all enterprise SaaS businesses, and customer  onboarding is the heart of it. You must buckle up and incorporate strategies that help you improve your onboarding program.

It’s 2022! If you still don’t give enough attention to your customer onboarding and implementation program, I’m sorry, my friend, you are living under a rock or are late to the industry. You need to improve it ASAP.

Customer onboarding in an enterprise SaaS is like a first date. You must take care of your customer after they come on board. They expect the process to be short.

According to Wyzowl, 63 percent of customers consider the onboarding process offered by the SaaS enterprise before purchasing the product. This shows that customers feel inclined toward SaaS companies that have an efficient customer-centric system put in place.

Customer onboarding plays a significant role in customer retention, brand loyalty, and NRR. It minimizes customer churn to a great extent. Your customer retention also determines your brand expansion.

These are the primary outcomes of a good customer onboarding program, but how do we achieve them? Though many enterprise SaaS businesses have a decent onboarding system but need to yield the expected results. Let’s start with the first step.

Ideas for a Better Customer Onboarding Process

1. Start ASAP

Whether the customer pays for your product or subscribes to a free trial doesn't matter. You have to start the SaaS onboarding process for them.

It might be through a call or an automated email, but it shows that you care for your customers.

It doesn’t matter whether they are already your customers or potential customers; the effort and hard work you put in will reap benefits.

Some of the ways through which you can make the first contact with your customers are:

Easy Sign-Up Process

• It is vital since it is the first stage of contact that you create with your customer. Think before you make the form. Do not bombard them with questions.
• Asking for too much information, like their second name and the need to use your product, may bore the customer.
• If it’s a free trial, you can avoid asking for the credit card number during the sign-up. This shows that you trust your product to have value and that customers will buy after the trial period gets over.
• Keep your sign-up as simple as it can be. A social sign-up button can be handy as it is simple for the customer, and you get the needed information.

Welcome Email

Email is more personal than the sign-up process. Welcome emails have four times more open rates when compared to other emails. Create a template that expresses gratitude and excitement to have them on board. Various platforms let you generate automated emails for free.

You can share the number or email of SPOC or CSM and ask the customers to contact them if they need help. You can also attach the link to your blogs or tutorial videos that can help your customers.

And remember the thumb rule. Refrain from overwhelming them with too much information.

2. Have An Adaptive Onboarding.

Customer onboarding is a process you need to customize for every customer. You can always have an essential roadmap of the process, but you may need to give an additional overdo of it based on your customer. Highlighting the vital features according to your customer’s requirements will reinforce to the customer that your product will solve their problems.

You need to analyze what type of training would suit your customer. They may be beginners or power users. Depending upon their skill set, you need to tailor your training methods.

3. Setting Up The Product

You need an easy and understandable step-by-step guide that helps the customers set up your product.

DIY Onboarding

Many customers feel the need to explore the product themselves at first. So give them a fair chance. Many enterprise SaaS businesses build onboarding programs integrated with UI elements such as coach marks, modals, and tooltips to guide the customers through.

• Videos are considered to be the best onboarding tutorial for your customers. 72% of people showed interest in learning through a video rather than an overloaded text document.
• Still, ‘how-to’ blogs, FAQs, and search functions also support the onboarding process.
• Fill the empty states with dummy data as examples for them to fill.
• Highlight the features using a tip banner. Add explanatory messages for those features.
• Make the entire process skippable. Your customer may have already used your product and might get annoyed with onboarding repeatedly, so keep them in mind.

4. Engaging In A Walkthrough of Product Tours

Every enterprise SaaS organization must give customers a walkthrough of their product. However, is it engaging enough?

• Make it interactive by asking them to do simple tasks after showing them how to use your product. This also clarifies doubts that they may have in the initial stage.
• Teach how it can be used effectively to achieve value for your product.  
• It might be your product, and you have all the rights to show it off, but please hold. Leave the customers to experience some surprise features that get them excited.

5. Consistent Communication

This is one critical practice that should be done throughout and after the SaaS Customer onboarding. You need regular follow-ups with the customer to know their feelings about your product and how to add more value.

By sending notifications about a newly added feature or tip for more efficacy, you genuinely care for your customer. Try one-on-one meetings with your customer to discuss the next milestone. Send follow-up messages and emails to our customers about their issues.

6. Congratulate Your Customers  

Always appreciate your customer for achieving milestones or short-term goals. It keeps them motivated and inclined toward your product.

For instance, you can turn your SaaS onboarding process into a game and congratulate them whenever they cross a level. It gives them the satisfaction of accomplishing things. It shows that you care about their success.

Get Started

Providing a good onboarding service does not represent your product but rather the experience you give your customers as a brand. Better strategies for onboarding mean better retention of customers and low churn out.

So what are you waiting for? Get started with an improved onboarding program now.