Are you up to date on onboarding best practices? Getting new customers is one of the best feelings in the world, but if you don’t onboard them properly, you aren’t setting them up for success. This could mean a poor customer experience, as well as customers who leave you as soon as they sign up — neither of which are ideal when you’re trying to run a business.

An onboarded customer can be defined in two ways:

  1. A customer who has just signed up for your product or service.
  2. A customer who has achieved their first “win” with your product.

In both cases, it’s imperative to take the right steps to keep the relationship going strong. And while for our purposes here we’re just going to focus on the first type of onboarded customer, following through on the tips below will help ensure that happy customers stay happy and that you’re always delivering on your value proposition.

Sustainable, successful customer relationships start at onboarding. Here are six tips for doing it right.

1. Establish How Your Customer Will Define Success

You need to have a good understanding of what a new customer is trying to achieve by partnering with you. While your product or service may be geared toward offering a specific benefit to users, each customer you have will have unique metrics that will determine whether you’re providing them value and meeting their expectations.

To kick-off the onboarding process, have a discussion with your customer about what they’re aiming to achieve. Not only will you ensure they utilize their purchase effectively to get there, but you also might find that there’s an opportunity to tweak the product or service to their needs and offer an enhanced experience.

2. Cater the Customer Experience To Their Needs

Going off the same point as above, it’s important to remember that not every customer is the same. If you want to turn a new customer into a brand loyalist, you’re going to have to establish what their specific preferences, needs, and expectations are and then deliver them. Everything from how you communicate with a customer to the design of their interface can and should be optimized, so learn as much as you can so that you’re offering an experience they won’t get anywhere else.

3. Keep Your Team Up to Date

Onboarding doesn’t just happen between you and the customer. When you bring on a new account, you need to make sure that your entire team is abreast of the necessary information, with a full understanding of their role in providing an exceptional user experience. A CRM is a great way to keep everyone in the know without needing to schedule repeat meetings. In addition to keeping everyone on the same page, if your customer has to reach out to any department for any reason, the person they talk to can easily pull up their record for background knowledge and to provide a quick and reliable response.

4. Track Performance Data

Your customer is almost certainly going to be tracking their performance, but you can help amplify their positive outcomes by keeping an eye on the data yourself. This shows that you care and that you’re taking the necessary steps to ensure success. It also means that if something isn’t going quite right, your customer will be aware of the issue as soon as possible and will be able to put a fix into place.

5. Build Trust

Trust is integral during the onboarding process and beyond. After all, if your customers can’t trust you, why are they going to stick with you? While your relationships with customers might start in the realm of sales, as soon as someone signs up, they become your partner, not your prospect. Keep your promises, be available, and try to exceed your customer’s expectations whenever you can. All will help establish and bolster the trust between you and your customer.

6. Be a Good Communicator

The same energy that you brought to making the sale should continue while you’re onboarding. You don’t want a new customer to wonder where you’ve gone or whether they’re no longer a priority. Do what you can to keep communication at a peak, including scheduling regular check-ins where you can discuss progress and any needs that your customer might have. Similarly, stay involved once onboarding is done. Don’t quit the follow-up meetings just because your customer is off and running, and continue to track metrics and keep your team abreast of any major updates. Also, schedule automated outreach by sending your customer personalized email campaigns. You can include informative content that can help them understand your brand and product more and continue to build advocacy and engagement.

The result of all of this hard work? Happier customers and more mutually-beneficial relationships. Remember: you only succeed if your customers succeed. It pays to invest in your onboarding process and go above and beyond for every customer who makes a purchase.

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by Benchmark Team