Customer Onboarding Guide: Steps, Best Practices & Checklist

Your customer onboarding process can be the difference between success and failure for your business.

An effective onboarding process results in customers who understand and value your product or service—which can lead to better customer satisfaction and engagement. On the other hand, a poor user onboarding process can lead to low adoption and high customer churn.

In this guide, we'll walk through why the onboarding process is so important, best practices for each step, tools to make the process easier, and customer success metrics to track.

What is customer onboarding?

Customer onboarding is the process of introducing a new customer to your product or service. It's a systematic approach that helps customers understand:

• How your product or service works
• How to make it work for their use case
• How to get maximum value from using it

The process usually involves sharing educational materials, scheduling check-in calls and assigning a success manager. In other words, client onboarding is everything that happens between signing the contract and achieving the objectives you agreed upon with the client.

It’s an ongoing process that helps you build customer relationships and should continue throughout the customer lifecycle.

Why is customer onboarding so important?

A robust customer onboarding process is a critical part of customer retention. When onboarding new customers, failing to successfully complete the process often means they don't understand the true value of the product or service you offer.

If they don't experience the benefits of what you offer, they probably won't stick around for long. This leads to a high churn rate.

Additionally, effective onboarding encourages customer engagement and establishes a connection with new customers. It's helpful for building relationships and creating a positive customer experience.

For most companies, onboarding tasks and goals include:

• Building trust
• Getting customers familiar with your product or service
• Making customers' lives easier
• Helping customers become successful

When done well, your onboarding strategy should translate to a much higher customer lifetime value (LTV), a lower churn rate, and a loyal fan base that actively evangelizes your brand to others.

After all, it costs significantly more to acquire new customers than retain existing ones.

What makes a good customer onboarding process?

Follow these customer onboarding steps regardless of the size of your customer success team.

Customer signup

The onboarding process starts when the customer signs up for your product or service, not after. "Client onboarding is a phase of a customer lifecycle," says Chadhlia Mazouz, CSM at Livestorm. "As soon as a prospect becomes a paying customer, the client onboarding process begins."

You want to create a positive first impression that sets the tone for the rest of the relationship. Your signup flow should be as streamlined and easy to use as possible.

The easier the signup process, the higher your conversion rate tends to be. The more friction a potential customer experiences during signup, the greater the odds of them abandoning the decision altogether.

Best practices:

• Keep the signup part of the onboarding process as short as possible. Only ask for the information that's necessary to get your customer up and running with your product. You can always collect more information at a later point in the onboarding.
• Validate fields as they're being filled in by the user. This reduces the likelihood of failed signup attempts or confusion when filling in information. Plus, nothing is more frustrating than getting to the end of a page, only to discover that you've filled out fields incorrectly and have to go back and change them.
• Allow users to sign up using third-party platforms, like Google or Apple. This will save them time and effort and allow them to log into your product using an application or platform they already trust.

Onboarding welcome email

Once a customer has signed up for your product or service, they should receive a welcome email from your business. This email is important for two reasons:

• It’s a way to begin building a customer relationship as you welcome them to your product or service.
• It establishes your credibility as a company and builds trust right from the get-go.

A strong welcome email helps set the tone for the relationship and gets them excited to begin using your product or service.

Best practices:

• Thank them for signing up. They've spent time researching your product and signing up for it, so let them know that you don't take that for granted.
• Include links to helpful resources. This helps familiarize them with the basics of your product and gives them an idea of what to expect when they log in for the first time.
• Direct them right back to your product or service. The sooner they start using it, the sooner they'll see the value.

Initial connection to your app or website

The first login to your app or website can be a make-or-break moment in the client onboarding process.

If a new user feels overwhelmed or has no idea where to go first, it increases the odds of them never coming back again.

The first-time user experience is crucial to the success of your onboarding process, as well as your product or service itself.

Best practices:

• Create a clear path from when they first arrive at your website or app. Provide clear directions for what they should do next in order to start using your product or service. Show them what buttons to click and what action to take next.
• Help them get a quick win that will give them a taste of what your product can do. This can be something as simple as creating their first project or inviting someone to collaborate with them.
• Provide templates with pre-filled information. This will help them see different uses for your product and help them hit the ground running.

Product onboarding

After the initial connection to your app or website, you need to continue to educate new customers about how they can most effectively use your product or service.

Don't expect them to be able to figure out how to use the various features without any guidance.

Rather, provide them with resources that will guide them on how to use the most important elements of your product.

Best practices:

• Send follow-up emails after the welcome email. Include helpful tips and resources that will familiarize the user with your product. It's better to send shorter emails that focus on one action item rather than long emailss that try to cover too much information.
• Create clear and easy-to-follow product walkthroughs. They walk customers through each step of various processes and allow them to get familiar with how your product works. Consider offering both screen recordings and written documents with screenshots.
• Offer live training sessions. This is the most time-intensive, but it gives your customers the most in-depth understanding of how to use your product. It also allows you to provide personalized onboarding, as you can answer questions in real-time and help resolve challenges.

B2B SaaS onboarding

B2B SaaS onboarding often involves unique steps that aren't present with B2C products or services.

For example, customers may want to integrate your product with the applications they're already using. Or they may want to import data or integrate specific plugins into your platform.

It's crucial that you're aware of these needs and speak directly to them during the onboarding process. If the customer can't easily integrate your product with the rest of their technology stack, they won't get much value out of it.

Best practices:

• Automate wherever possible. Integrating your product into their existing systems or migrating data from one source to another can be difficult. By providing tools that automate these processes for them, you remove friction and make it much easier for them to start using and benefiting from your product.
• Provide support along the way. There will be times when a customer just can't get something to work. Make it easy for them to get help. Offer both self-serve resources and live customer support so that they can address problems as quickly as possible.
• Don't make steps mandatory. Not every customer needs to use specific integrations or import data.

Regular customer check-ins

It's important to have regular check-ins throughout the customer journey, even after the initial onboarding process.

This helps ensure that customers continue to benefit from your product and allows you to address any challenges they may be facing.

Offering an in-person checkup call gives customers a human touchpoint, which can go a long way in making them feel valued.

Best practices:

• Check-in regularly (but not too often). It's usually best to do so at least once every three months. This cadence helps you to discover any potential problems early on before they become more serious issues.
• Make check-ins interactive. When you send out surveys or forms with each checkup email, customers can tell you any specific issues they're facing, and you can address them. This also helps you get valuable feedback on how customers are using your product and what they want to get out of it.
• Celebrate when customers hit particular milestones. If a customer reaches a certain goal when using your product, celebrate it with them. This can be as simple as a short email or in-app notification. They'll appreciate knowing that you've noticed their success and that they're not just another number.

The perfect customer onboarding checklist

Use our checklist as a quick reference for building a successful customer onboarding strategy.

• Make the signup process as simple as possible.
• Validate signup fields.
• Allow signups with third-party platforms.
• Send an initial welcome email with helpful links and resources.
• Create a clear path forward when they first use your product or service.
• Help them get a quick win the first time they use your product or service.
• Provide templates with pre-filled information.
• Send follow up onboarding emails with valuable tips and information.
• Create clear, easy-to-use walkthroughs and documentation.
• Consider offering live training sessions.
• Automate as many tasks and processes as possible in the onboarding journey.
• Provide robust support to help with any problems new customers encounter.
• Conduct regular, interactive check-ins with clients.
• Celebrate when customers hit milestones.

Customer onboarding examples

Your customer training strategy and onboarding process depend entirely on what product or service you offer as well as the size and needs of your client base. But here are a couple of client onboarding examples to give you ideas.

HubSpot: Uses surveys to personalize user onboarding

Users who opt for HubSpot's paid plans receive a personalized onboarding sequence. Whereas users who opt for the free plan receive generic welcome emails.

Here's how HubSpot's onboarding process works:

Step one: Users receive a welcome email with a link to a survey

After signing up for HubSpot, users receive a welcome email with a link to a survey. The survey asks questions about their business goals and how they plan to use HubSpot.

Step two: Based on the survey results, users are segmented into different groups

Based on the survey results, users are segmented into different groups and receive targeted content, including email courses, blog posts, and webinars.

Step three: Users are given an in-app onboarding sequence

Once users create their account, they're given a tooltip tour highlighting the essential features and explaining how to use them with a short copy, emojis, and GIFs.

Step four: Users are given incentives to share feedback

HubSpot's CRM team encourages customers to stay active in the app by indicating the value they'll gain, in turn sharing feedback like insights on the most productive team member or visualizing progress over time.

Livestorm: Onboards clients with interactive live training

At Livestorm, we use our own platform to help onboard new clients because we know how important it is to keep clients engaged with the process. Livestorm helps us host interactive training sessions and automates vital communication like email invitations and reminders.

Step one: Kick-off call with the client

The kick-off call involves a handover from the account executive team (responsible for arranging terms in the contract, upselling, and billing) to the customer success team (responsible for relationship building).

Step two: Scoping method for bigger clients

When there are bigger teams with multiple stakeholders, we use a 'scoping' method which is an in-depth meeting to understand the client’s internal processes, how they want to use Livestorm, and their timeline.

Step three: Hosting live training for the client

Usually, we host at least one training session when prospects become customers, and the recording is made available as on-demand content.

Step four: Check-in before first use

The CSM hosts a 30 min call to check in with the client before they host their first event or meeting. They’ll guide the client through the setup process and answer any questions they might have about the platform settings.

Step five: Rehearsal call with all potential speakers

When customers invite speakers who will use Livestorm for the first time or are uncomfortable with hosting an event in front of a large audience, our CSM team offers to do a rehearsal call.

Step six: Shadowing the first event

Our CSM team shadows the client's first event and is available on standby to ensure everything goes smoothly. The team collects feedback after the event to identify areas of improvement in the process.

What are the best customer onboarding software and tools?

Thhe right onboarding software platforms can simplify the onboarding process and improve adoption. Here are 10 tools to consider using in your onboarding program:

1. Livestorm - Serves as an all-in-one video engagement platform for customer onboarding, training sessions, online meetings, live and on-demand webinars, and more. Learn more about how to optimize your onboarding with webinars and videos.
2. Proof - Helps increase the conversion rate during the signup process by showing real people who have recently signed up for your product or service.
3. AuthO - Provides single sign-on authentication and authorization for new customers, simplifying the signup process.
4. Zendesk - Offers a wide range of customer support and feedback tools, including an onboarding option.
5. Intercom - Allows you to use in-app messages and targeted push notifications to provide information and assistance when customers need it most.
6. Userpilot - Helps SaaS companies create highly customized onboarding experiences based on user behavior.
7. Loom - Lets you easily record and share videos like product demos.
8. Appcues - Helps you build in-app walkthroughs and onboarding campaigns that guide new users regarding what steps to take next.
9. Pendo - Tracks user behavior patterns and use the data to inform onboarding efforts.
10. Mixpanel - Enables you to identify how different user segments perform various onboarding actions.

What customer onboarding metrics should you track?

To achieve onboarding success, closely monitor important customer success metrics. This way, you'll keep clear from most customer success problems.

Churn rate

Churn rate is the percentage of users who stop using your product or service within a certain time frame.

This is one of the most important metrics to track since it provides insight into whether or not your onboarding process is actually working.

A high churn rate suggests that there's either a problem with your product or a problem with your onboarding process.

Either way, you've got a serious issue that you need to fix quickly.

Customer lifetime value

LTV is the total amount of money that a customer will spend with your brand over their entire relationship.

Tracking LTV helps you evaluate the effectiveness of your onboarding efforts. A higher LTV indicates that customers understand and value your product.

Retention rate

Similar to churn rate, retention rate is the percentage of customers that are still using your product or service after a certain period of time.

Tracking retention rates over time can help you identify areas where your onboarding process needs to be improved.

For example, if a significant amount of churn happens within the first two weeks of signing up, that should be a key area of focus.

Net promoter score

Net promoter score (NPS) is an overall rating that considers how likely your customers are to recommend you.

It's essential to get this customer feedback and monitor the results since customer referrals can be a significant revenue driver.

A low NPS can be the result of a number of things, one of which is your onboarding process. If customers don't have success with your product, they probably won't recommend it to others.

Free trial to paying customer conversion rate

If you offer a free trial period for your product, it's essential to track the percentage of users that end up converting from a free trial to a paid subscription.

This can help you determine how effective your onboarding process is at encouraging conversions, and make necessary changes if the conversion rate isn't high enough.

Benefits of having a customer onboarding workflow

"When you have a defined workflow, it becomes much easier for the client to understand what's going on," explains Chadhlia. "They know what to expect and when to expect it." When you refine your client onboarding workflow, you’ll experience a few important benefits.

It’s easier to set expectations

"You want to set and manage expectations from the get-go so clients know what they're signing up for," says Chadhlia. If they know exactly what to expect from you (and vice versa) it’s much easier to keep your onboarding on schedule. Plus, your client is less likely to feel lost or end up churning, especially if you assign them a dedicated CSM to guide them through the process.

You’ll save time and resources

"When you're handling multiple clients, it can be difficult to remember where everyone is in their journey," explains Chadhlia. It’s easier to manage multiple clients at once if you set up email triggers and automated email sequences with personalized content.

To do this, you need a good customer relationship management (CRM) tool, like HubSpot or Marketo, that integrates with your video conferencing platform so you can send automatic email reminders about onboarding meetings.

You can gather feedback as you go

"You need to constantly gather feedback to see what's working and what's not," says Chadhlia. Without feedback, you won’t know if the client is happy or if they’re getting value from your product. But with it, you can improve your onboarding process and create a community of advocates for your brand.

You could send a survey, but you’ll spend the rest of your career chasing responses. Instead, try using engagement features during your virtual training sessions and check-in meetings. For example, Livestorm has built-in polls and emoji reactions to help you gauge real-time feedback in a quick, creative way.

The two main challenges of onboarding new clients

Although the onboarding process will vary for every business depending on their industry, offering, and clientele, there are two primary onboarding challenges that every business faces.

1. Chasing busy clients

Large companies with lots of decision-makers may become difficult to contact if something unexpected happens, like if a stakeholder leaves the organization without a replacement or if there’s a lapse in communication between teams.

Automating parts of your onboarding process can help you keep in touch with busy clients and strike the balance between consistency and pushiness. For example, if you use online meeting software like Livestorm, you can integrate with call-scheduling platforms like Calendly to set up calls. You can also set email cadences for automatic reminders, so no meetings get missed.

2. Closing a steep learning curve

Your clients start from zero when it comes to understanding your product or service and how to use it effectively. That's where you come in. "They need to see the immediate value of what you're offering them," says Chadhlia. "Your job is to make it as easy as possible for the client to understand your product.”

The best way to do that is to use a video engagement platform that allows you to share your screen to walk your client through your product. You can use Livestorm to host interactive training sessions or deminars that can be automatically recorded and repurposed as on-demand content.

Livestorm for customer onboarding success

You've probably heard the oft-cited statistic that it costs around five times as much to acquire a new customer as it does to retain an existing one.

This highlights just how important the customer onboarding process is. Better onboarding results in higher retention rates, lower churn rates, increased LTV, and ultimately, more revenue.

So while creating a robust onboarding process might not be as exciting as rolling out a sleek new marketing campaign, it's just as, if not more important.

It's easy to set up training sessions, product demo videos, and customer webinars with Livestorm. Sign up for a free Livestorm account and start designing a more successful onboarding process today.