4 Best Customer Onboarding Practices and Trends 2022

The customer onboarding process is crucial to creating a positive impression of your business. It allows you to cultivate trust and build rapport with new customers.

Besides, it is also pivotal in determining the quality and longevity of your relationship with them.

Just a 5 percent increase in customer retention can boost your company's profit by 25 percent.

Why? Because loyal customers are likely to repeat their purchases.

So, do it right, and earn a loyal customer base. Else, you risk losing valuable customers.

But how to create the perfect customer onboarding experience?

In this post, we will share the top four actionable practices and trends of customer onboarding for 2022.

#1: Offer a Hassle-Free Log-In

The sign-up process is the first step your customers have to go through to use the platform. Make this process as straightforward as possible.

Asking for too much information at this point may lead to a poor experience. The customers may get frustrated filling out the information and leave the sign-up process incomplete.

Worse still, they may give a negative brand review or recommendation.

A study affirms that 76% of people are more likely to recommend a firm that offers simple experiences.

Hence, aim to make their journey simple.

Here are a couple of tactics that you should keep in mind while working on your company's sign-up page. Ask yourself:

• Does your page make it easier for customers to sign up?

• Are you collecting only the essential information to personalize users' experiences?

• If the answer to these questions is a resounding yes, you’re on the right track!

• You can always collect more information about the customers in the later stages.

Here's a great example of Netflix's sign-up process. Initially, all they ask for is the email Ids of prospects.

Here’s another example that depicts a smooth sign-up process. Notice how well Trello manages and simplifies the journey of their customers.

This practice will improve the onboarding experience, thereby boosting customer retention.

But your responsibility doesn't end here.

Make sure that your customers don't feel lost after signing up. Immediately after the sign-up process, share a setup wizard or a video tutorial that guides them on getting started.

Around 65% of customers admit to liking videos that help them know more about a product or service. That is why product walkthrough video tutorials are trending in industries nowadays.

Take inspiration from Xero and make it convenient for your customers to get started without hassles.

#2: Send a Welcome Email

A welcome email expressing gratitude goes a long way in enhancing UX.

It speaks volumes of how much you value your users.

Did you know?

Around 30% of firms that pay attention to digital experiences see improvements in their customers’ lifetime value.

Besides, a welcome email sets expectations for the customers' onboarding process.

Here are some tips that will help you create the best welcome emails.

• Keep the content crisp, actionable, and easy to understand.

• Attach links to helpful articles, product tour videos, and links to the FAQs page.

• Consider including the further steps or include a call to action (CTA) along with the welcome note.

• Share the email ID of your support team for future communications.

• Integrating automation tools has become the latest trend as they make the entire customer journey seamless. So, use AI-powered writing tools and automate the entire process of sending welcome emails.

Here is a screenshot of the welcome email from Luminary. Observe how they make their customers feel welcome to their community. They go a step ahead and share a ‘Start Listening’ CTA to inform the customer of what they need to do next.

To provide a personal touch to the entire communication, arrange a call with a senior professional in your team.

#3: Offer Knowledge Base

Nowadays, customers want to resolve issues on their own.

This sense of self-reliance has made self-service one of the top customer onboarding trends for 2022.

To empower your customers and let them explore the solutions to their issues, invest in a knowledge base platform.

A well-organized knowledge base offers detailed, insightful, and informative data.

With an online knowledge base, your customers can:

• Get straightforward answers to common questions about your services.

• Save their time and effort understanding your processes.

• Stay updated about new features and products.

• A knowledge base reduces friction between you and customers by offering insightful information about your products or services.

• Leverage the power of tools like Document360 for complete knowledge management. Notice how the tool scales customer support.

#4: Follow Up After Completion

The ultimate goal of any onboarding process is to engage, educate, and retain customers.

Sending follow-up emails is a great way to ensure that your customers are happy with the onboarding process and product offerings.

Follow-ups allow customers to share their experiences and ask queries that they might have.

When done regularly, such follow-up practices can build trust among your customers and nurture a healthy relationship.

Avoid sending heavy promotional content in follow-up emails. Keep your emails engaging and relevant to your customers' needs and interests.

Here are some tips that will help make your follow-up conversations more effective.

• Maintain an updated database of your customers.

• Send updates about the company or products they are using.

• Share discounts and offers that might interest them.

• Offer valuable resources and tips to enhance their journey.

• Consider asking for honest feedback on whether they are happy with your services.

• Keep a tab on the frequency of the communication. Don't overwhelm the new users with too many emails.

These follow-up steps can help you measure the success of your customer onboarding process.

Final Words

Customer onboarding is a vital phase. It creates a bond between you and your customers. The ongoing trends and best practices shared in this article will help you determine and gauge what works for your business.

Whether you are a small or large-scale business, these tips can help you gain loyal customers for life. So, go ahead and establish a long-term relationship with your customers by optimizing your onboarding experience!

Author

Hiral Rana is a Digital Marketing Consultant with over 10 years of experience. She's passionate about all things Digital & Social Media and has conducted training programs at institutes like GLS University and L.J. Institute of Media & Communications. Hiral also shares her insights and knowledge with the audience of publications like AdWeek, Entrepreneur Magazine, Social Media Today, and Social Media Examiner to name a few. You can follow her on Twitter @IamHiralRana.