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Congratulations! You just landed your company a new customer. You're both excited about working together, but you still have to onboard the customer before the real partnership can begin.
Unfortunately, more than 90% of customers think companies they buy from could do a better job at onboarding new customers. To avoid being one of those companies, it's important that you find the right balance between going above and beyond expected customer service without wasting time, energy, and resources.
Wondering why quality onboarding matters and how to create a solid onboarding process? Here are our thoughts on the topic.
Why Onboarding Matters
You may think that onboarding is simply a task to check off your to-do list when starting a partnership with a new company, but statistics show that the experiences you deliver matter. In fact, 84% of customers say that the experiences a company provides are as important as the products and services it sells. And the Harvard Business Review reports that customers who had optimal past experiences with a company will spend 140% more than a customer with a less-than-ideal past experience.
For many customers, onboarding is one of the first impressions they have of your company. If your onboarding isn't up to par, customers may be dissatisfied. And if they can't understand how to use your product, they may return it or cease being a customer. Consider these facts from a customer onboarding study: 55% of people say they've returned a product, and eight in ten people will delete an app if they can't understand how to use it.
The good news is you can have a robust onboarding process that lets customers know you value their experiences.
Creating a Solid Onboarding Process
Now that we've determined why onboarding is so important to not only your business but your customers, too, it's time to look at the elements of a solid onboarding process.
24/7 Multi-Channel Support
It is critical for a successful business to build brand loyalty in order to keep satisfied customers. To do so, create personalized customer journeys by providing customized support teams across all customer service channels. Think call center, email, chat, digital, and technical.
Since customers can shop anywhere, anytime, it's important to provide customer service 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Effective Customer Query Management
Make sure that when a customer reaches out with a query, your support team responds quickly and accurately. That's how you build lasting relationships and improve upsell.
While you can use chatbots for some straightforward issues, you should also have live humans involved in the customer service process. After all, chatbots can only do so much.
Targeted Onboarding Content
It's important that you recognize that not all customers are alike, and their onboarding needs may differ. For example, you may have a software product that serves consumers and businesses alike. And you may serve everyone from the small office home office sector all the way up to large enterprises.
To meet the needs of every new customer, categorize your customers into groups. Then, create onboarding content directed toward that specific audience. You should also manage relationships with these different groups using the support channels they prefer.
Outsourced Customer Service
Companies are constantly striving to grow, but growth isn't always easy if you're not built to expand.
Outsourcing customer service can be a great way to fill in any gaps you have within your company and ensure new customers receive the high-touch service they deserve during the onboarding phase. Through outsourcing, you can deliver top-notch customer service 24/7 — in multiple languages across multiple channels — and let your internal team members focus on what they do best.
Improve Onboarding, Achieve Higher Customer Satisfaction
As you can see, implementing intentional, high-quality onboarding is crucial to winning customers and keeping them loyal to your brand. A successful onboarding process means you'll have better customer satisfaction, higher retention rates, increased sales, and the opportunity to grow.
At Helpware, we offer outsourced solutions and act as an extension to your team to maximize growth opportunities. Contact us to see how we can help you streamline your onboarding process and deliver more value to your customers.
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