When it comes to SaaS products, the onboarding process is crucial. You want to make sure that new users have a positive experience with your product from the very beginning, otherwise they’re likely to churn before they even really get started. So what should the saas onboarding experience look like? Here are some tips:
What Is Customer Onboarding?
Before we answer the question, what should the saas onboarding experience look like, let’s first understand the onboarding process.
At its most basic, customer onboarding is the process through which you introduce customers to your products. This introduction, in turn, helps them become your advocates, who advocate for your solutions within their respective companies, and spread the word about the success they’ve had.
This high level of customer engagement represents a significant investment in retaining customers.
Research by consulting group, McKinsey, found that over the course of 2 years, a returning customer is 25% more valuable than a new one. To gain this type of customer loyalty, you need to provide your customers with a lot of different services.
Training your users on your software is incredibly important. Not everyone will need the same training, so it’s important to make sure you’re providing the right information to the right people.
As part of your customer onboarding process, it’s important to understand the various goals and objectives of your users. This will allow you to segment them into specific ‘personas’, each with their own unique needs. By doing this, you can then tailor the training and support accordingly – ensuring a more efficient and effective onboarding process.
Next, you need to come up with separate training programs for each type of user. You don’t want to waste anyone’s time by explaining features that they won’t use. Instead, you need to be able to show them how the product will help them as quickly as possible.
As tech guru, Patrick Durant, explains in “The Ultimate Guide To Customer Service,” today’s users prefer to go direct to sites like Youtube to find their own answers, and in as little time as possible.
Their perspective: “I don’t want to hear what you have to say, so tell me what you need and then leave.”
It’s important to reach out to people using your software early and often. If they aren’t logging into your product, find out why.
One of the best ways to get your software product used is to start with an automated email campaign. You can offer human contact, such as a quick chat over video, to help them get started.
What does the customer consider a success?
What your customers care about is reducing the time they spend on order completion, solving more issues at level 1, or generating more sales. Your product can help customers achieve these objectives more efficiently.
The faster you help customers accomplish their goals, the more satisfied they will be with your product or service.
Finally, remember that customer success is an ongoing effort. As new customers come on board, the process starts all over again.
According to CEO Barry Kelly, one way to re-engage with your customers is by inviting them back for training sessions and updates on your latest product offerings. By offering this, you can not only keep your current clients up-to-date, but you can also give them a chance to provide feedback on new products.
We’ve had a great year and have released a ton of new updates.
Why not take everyone through a half day of training and save yourself the headache of starting from scratch with new customers?
In an environment of continuous customer engagement, there should be a specific time when a customer’s on-boarding process begins and when it ends.
The length of time it takes to onboard a new customer will depend on the type of product you’re selling. For apps, this can take 90 seconds, while for enterprise software, this may take up to 90 months.
This is how much time you have to ensure customer loyalty.
She adds that without that, the chances of a potential customer renewing their contract could fall to as little as 10%.
Now, let’s look at some of the most common errors that businesses tend to commit in their new client on-boarding process.
What Should The Saas Onboarding Experience Look Like?
The saas onboarding experience should be simple and straightforward. The user should be able to sign up for an account and start using the service with minimal hassle.
The service should provide clear and concise instructions on how to use it, and make it easy for the user to find the information they need. There should be a way for the user to contact customer support if they have any questions or problems.
Why is SaaS customer onboarding important?
SaaS user onboarding is incredibly important. If your customers are not using your products, then they’re not going to stick around. That’s why it’s so important to make sure they’re getting the most out of it. A great way to do that is with a customer Onboard.
That should be all the motivation you need to ensure your customers are properly on boarded.
A good on-boarding process will:
Customer onboarding is important because it can keep customers engaged, improve trial conversions, and built-in marketing channel.
In short, get customers on board. It’ll help you in the long run.
Factors That Make The Best Onboarding Experience in SaaS Businesses
As you are setting up your customer’s on boarding process, it can be helpful to look at it from your customers’ perspective. They’ve just undergone a long, drawn-out sales cycle that might have been months or years.
Onboard your clients with helpful information and answer any questions they have about your product or service.
First impressions are important, and the customer on-boarding process is the perfect opportunity to impress new customers.
Onboarding is important because this is the first interaction a client has with your business. It’s your opportunity to make great the first impression. So, it’s critical that you give your customers an absolutely amazing first experience with your business.
Here are some factors that can set up an awesome onboarding experience for SaaS businesses.
Familiarity With your Customer
In the world of Customer Success, it’s tempting to jump right into your customer onboarding processes. After all, most CS professionals got into the field because they enjoy being hands on and working directly with clients.
Before your start pitching your product, make sure you understand the problem your potential client is trying to solve.
Before getting too deep into building a product, it’s helpful to understand the customer goals. Work closely with sales and try to get into late stage meetings with them so you can understand the discussions, products being sold, and the long-term plans of the client.
The right tools and resources can make smooth onboarding process.
On-Boarding can be a daunting task for both parties, so staying organized is key. Tools and resources are the two keys to organization.
Having the right resources, tools, and people on hand can make customer on-boarding a smooth process.
These roles could include your Product or Strategy team, or it could even include your Customer Service or customer success teams.
Understanding What Success Means
It’s difficult to develop an on-boarding experience that your customers find valuable if you don’t understand what ‘value’ means to them and, just as importantly, to your business.
Tracking the metrics that you and your team deem important allows you to visualize where you’re succeeding and where you’re failing. This enables you to better meet your customers’ needs and guarantee their satisfaction.
When you begin working with a new client, you should sit down and discuss with them what goals they have in place for their business. By showing your dedication to helping them meet those goals, you can ensure that they are always happy with the quality of your work.
While there are a lot of strategies out there for successful customer on-boarding, each team and each customer is unique.
Your ability to adjust to your customers’ needs is key to success.
Some customers may want high touch, while others may prefer a low touch approach to customer service.
No matter how you deal with your customers, it’s important that your CS team have the tools they need to succeed. That way, you can ensure your team has the tools they need, no matter the customers’ needs.
Why Onboarding is Important in SaaS Business?
The largest market for cloud-based business applications is customer relationship management (CRM), accounting for 31.6% of the global market. This is followed by human capital management (HCM), which accounts for 14.7% of the market.
~ Apps are taking over the world.
The importance of good CRM for Saas companies cannot be overstated. Here, I will outline 4 key benefits.
1. Instill Confidence
Even a split-second of delay can dramatically increase the rate at which people leave a website.
Would you rather wait longer to reach your outcome than you have to?
Your customers want to be heard.
What they really want is to win, and there is no denying winning is a desire.
And in everything from video games to software, an inability to achieve success (such as in the case of an on-demand service) can annoy customers enough to cause them to go elsewhere.
If you want your users to stick around, it’s important to give them the confidence they need to use your software or application. This means providing clear instructions and goals, as well as a sense of achievement when they complete tasks. By doing so, you’ll keep them engaged and coming back for more.
2. Faster Product adoption
Aside from financial goals, another important goal of most software products is to solve pain points or problems for the user.
If your product meets the wants and needs of your customers, and they are able to use it to get those benefits, they will rely on it more and more. Eventually, it may become part of their daily routine.
3 Relieve customer support
When you provide your customers with an effective, seamless, and easy-to-follow on-boarding experience, your customer support team will thank you.
As customers become more and more familiar with your product or service, they will require less support from you. This saves you time, money, and resources.
4. Lower customer churn
If you have a strong onboarding process, you’re likely to see lower churn rates as a result. This is an added bonus that you didn’t have to actively pursue.
“Many industries, such as software, grow at 20% a year. However, if a company only manages to grow at 20%, it has a 92% chance it will disappear within three years.”~ McKinsey
“The software industry is one of the few industries where 20% growth can be a death sentence.”
Wow, that’s really scary!
Now that we’ve covered why it’s so important for your startup to onboard your customers, let’s dive into how you can make the most of your efforts.
Customer Onboarding Best Practices
Follow these customer on-boarding best practices for a rock solid customer experience.
Get to Know Your Customer
Understanding your buyers’ personas can help you better understand their unique needs and challenges. This knowledge can also help you better help them.
Knowing this information can help you tailor your customer’s goals and experience.
Set Clear Expectations
Your sales cycle should clearly lay out the qualifications for purchasing your product or service. By setting these expectations, you will eliminate any confusion or disappointment after a customer makes a purchase.
As you continue to explain the value that your product or service offers, you should also prepare your customers for any potential pitfalls or difficulties. By doing this, you help set realistic expectations about what they can hope to achieve by using it.
By preparing them in advance, they’ll be able to better handle any obstacles that come up.
3 Show value
Before your customer can fully buy into what you’re selling, you have to show them how it will directly address their specific needs. Give specific examples of exactly how it will solve their problems.
You should consider including some sort of personalized training or documentation for this client, such as a special kick-off phone call.
4. Keep in touch with your prospects.
By supplementing your in-product guides and walkthroughs with emails, you can ensure that all of your customers are receiving the same information.
Once your product is so valuable that customers can’t imagine living without it, they will naturally check in on their own for updates or news.
5 Creating Customer-Centered Goals
Your customers’ goals will be unique to them. Let them define their own definition of success and work with them to create milestones that are specific and attainable.
6 Impress Your Customers
Your goal is to always deliver the same stellar service to your customers that made them sign up initially. Always aim to impress them and leave them with a positive impression.
7 Gauge Your Success
Onboarding is essential for both your customers and your business. By gathering customer feedback, you can identify any potential friction points and work to improve them. Additionally, tracking key metrics will help you determine what aspects of the onboarding process are working well and where there is room for improvement.
Conclusion
What should the saas onboarding experience look like? The SaaS Onboarding Experience should be straightforward and simple. Users should have the ability to sign up and start using the service with minimal hassle.
If you want to ensure that new users have a positive experience with your SaaS product, then you need to make sure that the onboarding process is top notch. By following the tips above, you can create an onboarding experience that is personalised and engaging, setting your new users up for success from the very beginning.
