The Ultimate Guide to Customer Onboarding

As a tech-savvy individual, I pride myself on keeping up with the latest tools for school, work, and design. However, my enthusiasm quickly turns to frustration when the onboarding processes fall short.

I eagerly try new applications, only to be met with convoluted setups and vague instructions. And despite my best efforts, I often find myself confused and wasting time, ultimately abandoning these tools altogether.

This is not an uncommon occurrence.

As a business owner, I know that the top two reasons that customers churn are 1) they don’t understand your product and 2) they don’t obtain any value from it. Customer onboarding can solve both of these issues. The good thing is that your customers already like you, and they already believe in your product — that’s why they bought it. It’s your job to keep it that way.

You want to create a seamless customer experience from the very first touchpoint through the post-purchase stage. In this guide, I will teach you everything you need to know about customer onboarding, including how to implement it as a normal part of your customer service.

Why is customer onboarding so important?

The onboarding process has lasting benefits for your customers and your business. Onboarding makes customers’ lives easy.

The information they need to use your products is readily accessible. It allows them to move seamlessly through the process and build trust in your business.

How you onboard your new customers sets the tone for your ongoing relationship with them. It also increases customer lifetime value (LTV), reduces churn, and turns new users into raving fans.

If that isn’t enough for you to see value in the process, here are a few facts that prove the importance of onboarding:

• Most revenue comes from existing customers.
• Happy customers can become your top referral sources.
• Customer retention can lower acquisition costs and increase revenue.

In other words, user onboarding is imperative to customer retention and, in turn, your business growth.

Free Customer Onboarding Templates

Eight templates to lead your new customers through their first several months with your product or service

• Customer Intake Form Template
• Customizable Welcome Packet
• Onboarding Timeline Template
• And More!

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The Role of the Onboarding Specialist

An onboarding specialist is responsible for ensuring that customers are welcomed efficiently and effectively to a business.

The onboarding specialist aims to provide an experience that keeps customers engaged and answers any of their questions along the way.

Over time, an onboarding specialist develops a deep understanding of customers, what causes churn, and what helps them to stay engaged as loyal customers.

While an onboarding specialist is there for the customer, they also serve as a bridge between management, sales, marketing, and customers.

Creating a Customer Onboarding Strategy

You wouldn’t build a campaign without first creating a strategy. Otherwise, you run the risk of disjointed and ineffective marketing.

The same is true for your customer onboarding program. You need a goal and a plan for how you’ll get there before you create anything that your customers will see.

Of course, you’ll refine this as you learn more about your customers, but you have to start with an objective in mind. As you build out your onboarding strategy, keep your objective specific to your product and customer base.

Make sure you cover these three key retention goals:

• Get users to use your product more than once within the first week.
• Establish a pattern of usage.
• Make your product indispensable.

Some of the information that you gather about your customers during the marketing and sales processes will carry over into the initial stages of onboarding.

In my experience, marrying the three will give you the best chance at providing an excellent customer onboarding experience.

Remember that while you have hundreds or more touchpoints with various prospects, each of your customers only has one impression of you. The more you can treat your customer interactions as a holistic experience, the better.

Featured Resource: Customer Onboarding Templates

Download these free templates to successfully plan and implement customer onboarding best practices.

The Customer Onboarding Process

The point of onboarding is to help new users get acquainted with all the features of your product. The flow of your onboarding process will depend on each user’s specific needs.

You can’t force a new user to watch your welcome video, for example, but they should be able to access it when they’re ready.

Your objective is to empower your customers by providing them with all the resources to onboard autonomously. That means your process requires certain features to guide customers from setup to realizing their first win.

Here are the steps and resources that you should have ready for your customers.

1. Welcome Email

Your first correspondence (also known as a welcome email) with your new customer needs to be a positive one. Congratulate them on their new purchase.

Thank them for choosing you over the other options, and let them know how excited you are to have them on board.

I really liked this email I received from Wiza explaining other ways I could use their platform. I find that a good welcome email prevents feeling overwhelmed once I know a clear first step I can take.

Here’s a template you can use for your welcome email.

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Featured Resource: Customer Welcome Email Templates

Use these 50 Customer Service Email Templates to welcome, onboard, and communicate with your customers.

2. Greeting Message

Different from a welcome email, a greeting message is an in-app welcome that greets users on their first login and encourages them to take the first step in setting up their account.

It’s best practice to ask the user to do only one thing (i.e., change their password or turn on email notifications) and should include a video to guide them.

This email I received from Hive is a great example of a greeting message in-app — simple with a clear CTA.

3. Product Setup

Create a guided tutorial or setup wizard to take your customers through the setup process, step by step.

Guided setup is most commonly needed when there are multiple steps or when steps need to be taken in a particular order.

Make this tutorial short and optional.

4. Empty States

When a customer first enters their portal, there will be features without any data. Fill these empty states with educational and actionable content to explain what the feature is, demonstrate its value, and encourage them to start using it.

An example might be an in-app scheduler with the copy “Schedule meetings with your team in seconds.” Or an autoresponder feature that reads, “Build email sequences to send to your audience with the click of a button.”

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5. Feature Callouts

Use a tip banner that guides users around the product and calls out any important features that they should know about.

The banners serve as an introduction, not a substitute for an actual tutorial.

6. Interactive Trainings

The most important part of the onboarding experience is teaching your customers how to use and get value from your product.

The best way for customers to learn is to let them use the product themselves and learn by doing.

An interactive tutorial will be similar to your feature callouts, except they will appear as the user completes one task to show them how to accomplish the next one.

Make sure to create contextual tips that teach a user how to complete a task.

7. Knowledge Base

A knowledge base or resource section is an ideal solution for frequently asked questions and allows users to solve their problems quickly and autonomously.

Pro tip: A chatbot is another great option since it provides a personalized touch and helps users solve their problems without them having to search your website for an answer.

8. Routine Check-Ins

Although check-ins are more like a best practice than a step, they should be a feature of your onboarding process.

Your new customers should feel like you care about their progress. Constantly check in to see where they’re getting stuck and how you can help them get more value from your product.

9. Mini Celebrations

Remember all those customer-centric milestones that you created?

You want to celebrate those with your new customers and get them excited about being one step closer to their goals.

You can do this with an in-app notification, a congratulatory email, or a quick call. The more they feel that you’re invested in their success, the more invested they will be in your solution.

See the example below from Deel. Receiving an email like this gave me the excitement of a little win, while also encouraging me to explore their other products.

10. Using a Learning Management System

Learning Management System (LMS) are software tools used to train, onboard, and guide both your customers or even employees through different lessons, tools and work processes. you can onboard with an LMS that lets customers onboard via online courses at their own pace.

Customer Onboarding Process Flowchart

Putting it all together, your customer onboarding process should look like the following flowchart.

Feeling stuck? Use a template to create an onboarding process from the ground up.

Customer Onboarding Template

Download your free customer onboarding templates here.

Creating a customer onboarding process from scratch is a time-consuming task. It can also be hard to know where to begin.

Luckily, you can use a template to get on the right track. The HubSpot customer onboarding template includes:

• An internal onboarding checklist. Make sure everything’s ready to go internally by automating onboarding tasks and checking off individual tasks that must be completed for each customer.
• A welcome packet template. This welcome packet template includes everything you need to set up your customer for success, including a team introduction, a customer intake form, a timeline for the first few months, and a resource sheet with links to help documentation. This is especially important if you plan to execute an email onboarding sequence.
• A first onboarding call agenda. The first onboarding call is a make-or-break moment, setting the tone for your relationship with your customer. You’ll share this agenda with your customers to make sure everyone is on the same page.
• A training resources template. You don’t want your customer to leave the call and not know what to do next. By providing training resources, you’ll ensure they have everything they need to get the most out of the product.
• Handoff templates. Use these templates to hand off your customer to their long-term contact at your company.

When using these templates or creating a customer onboarding process from scratch, it’s important to follow best practices. Let’s take a look below.

Customer Onboarding Best Practices

Customer onboarding best practices will help you create a solid onboarding experience.

The following tips require information from every point of contact with your customers. Keep track of your interactions in a CRM or data management platform.

1. Understand your customer.

You should know your buyer persona in and out, which will naturally translate to knowing your customer.

I like to make it a point to understand each unique obstacle and challenge that my customer faces, as well as their ideal solutions. This information will help you tailor their onboarding experience and goals.

2. Set clear expectations.

Before purchasing your product, your customer should know what to expect. Your sales process should lay out the qualifying factors for using the product.

This practice should carry into the onboarding process as you reiterate the value that your product provides to your customers and prepare them for potential setbacks or sticky points.

That way, when they hit a snag, they’ll be better prepared for it and not give up so quickly.

3. Show value.

Before your new customer can get excited about your product, you need to re-emphasize the value it will provide for their unique case.

Give them specific examples of how your product will address their pain points. You should include a personalized touch here. A kickoff call, specialized training, or documentation would be valuable.

4. Stay in constant communication.

After your initial welcome message, continue using email throughout the onboarding process to complement any in-app tutorials and guides.

At this point, email is probably your customer’s most used form of communication. Once your product becomes indispensable, you can count on them signing in on their own to view in-app notifications.

5. Create customer-centric goals.

Your customer’s goals and metrics will be unique to their situation. Allow them to define success, then help them create measurable milestones to get there with benchmarks to hit along the way.

6. Seek to impress.

Your goal with every interaction is to create the same positive experience that made your customers sign up for your product in the first place. Aim to deliver a stellar performance that your customers will rave about and share with others.

7. Measure your success.

Onboarding benefits your customers and your business. Gather customer feedback, identify friction points, and track key metrics so you know what’s working and where to improve.

Free Customer Onboarding Templates

Eight templates to lead your new customers through their first several months with your product or service

• Customer Intake Form Template
• Customizable Welcome Packet
• Onboarding Timeline Template
• And More!

Get Your Free Templates Learn more Get Your Free Templates

Download Free

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You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

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Useful Customer Onboarding Tips

In addition to best practices, there are a few things that will make your onboarding practice a positive experience for your customers.

• Make it a personalized experience. Each customer has a unique set of concerns. The more you can tailor your solution to their needs, the easier it will be to achieve wins — and loyal customers.
• Break everything down. Disseminate information slowly and selectively. Only ask a new user to accomplish one task at a time and provide clear instructions on how to do it.
• Be with your customers every step of the way. Be available to your customers if they get stuck or have trouble. If you can, dedicate several customer service or success representatives to new customers. It will make their onboarding experience better and allow you to see where your process falls short.
• Celebrate the small wins. Acknowledge every milestone along the path to customer-defined success to encourage a continued relationship.

Customer onboarding strategy and processes can be managed in the form of an onboarding playbook.

Customer Onboarding Playbook

To keep customer onboarding consistent, companies may create a customer onboarding playbook.

A customer onboarding playbook is a comprehensive guide that outlines the steps companies must take when onboarding new customers. The playbook defines — based on data — the necessary customer journey to retain and nurture customers.

The playbook outlines every element, such as:

• Initial contact.
• Product demonstration.
• Onboarding process.
• Follow-up support.

The playbook serves as a “how-to” for building relationships with customers and providing the most effective onboarding experience possible.

It ensures that all employees are following the same process when it comes to interacting with customers.

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Customer Onboarding Examples

By now, it’s clear that your customer onboarding process can take almost any direction.

Here are a few customer onboarding examples I admire that you should use for inspiration.

1. Slack

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Slack ensures new users know exactly what to do to get started with the tool. They also provide live, animated links that teach you how to complete each task.

2. Duolingo

Duolingo provides an animated walk-through of their tool. They also provide a step-by-step onboarding process so new users don’t get overwhelmed with a long to-do list.

3. Dropbox

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Dropbox has a progress bar within the app that details steps to take to familiarize yourself with the tool, including uploading a file or folder, sharing a file or folder, and connecting your devices. The progress bar closes with each step you take, and the goal is to close it entirely (or get to 100% in Dropbox’s case).

4. Pinterest

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Pinterest suggests a series of categories to help users cater to their interests. Once a user selects five options, the platform uses this information to create a feed that simplifies discovering and saving pins.

5. Etsy

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Etsy allows its shop owners to know exactly where they are in the setup process. The indicator at the top of the page informs them of their current step and the following steps needed for completion.

6. Canva

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Canva provides a tour around its system. In four quick steps, it highlights the most necessary parts of the design process to help users get from start to finish.

7. JustFab

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JustFab gives customers a quick survey to cater the shopping experience to their likes and dislikes. Once they create a profile, the company uses this information to present a curated list of styles.

These examples might make it seem like customer onboarding can only be done by prominent brands with a wealth of resources. Luckily, you can begin onboarding customers with a similar level of professionalism using the following free and paid tools.

Benefits of Perfecting Your Customer Onboarding

Customer onboarding is the initial phase where new customers get acquainted with your product or service. This phase is crucial because it sets the tone for the entire customer relationship.

A well-designed onboarding process ensures that your customers feel valued, supported, and confident in their decision to choose your product. It also provides them with the necessary tools and knowledge to use the product effectively, leading to a more satisfying user experience.

For example, Jeff Zhou, the CEO and founder of Fig Loans, gamified the tool’s onboarding process to boost customer enthusiasm and facilitate better learning. His team introduced a rewards system where customers earn points for completing specific onboarding tasks, such as watching educational videos, setting up direct debits, or exploring our financial tools.

This gamification improved the onboarding experience while also increasing completion rates by 50%, he said. Customers valued the interactive and gratifying experience, which strengthened their connection to the platform.

I talked to some business professionals about their customer onboarding process, and they shared with me the benefits of creating the best onboarding process possible.

1. Increased Customer Retention

A positive onboarding experience helps to build a strong foundation for a long-term business relationship between you and your customers.

Effective onboarding educates customers on your product’s value, ensuring they see its benefits quickly, which reduces the likelihood of them abandoning it. This long-term engagement translates into higher retention rates, which are crucial for sustained business growth.

Shawn Plummer, the CEO of The Annuity Expert, knows this, and that’s why the company revamped its onboarding process to include personalized welcome messages and step-by-step guides.

“[After doing this], our customer retention rate increased by 20% within six months,” says Shawn. Customers frequently mentioned how the welcome messages made them feel immediately at ease, encouraging them to engage more deeply with their offerings.

2. Improved Customer Satisfaction

A smooth onboarding process ensures that customers feel welcomed and understood. It addresses their needs and concerns right from the start, leading to higher levels of satisfaction.

“Positive onboarding reduces the learning curve and accelerates time-to-value; customers can achieve their objectives more quickly by receiving explicit, step-by-step instruction and resources,” says Logan Mallory, the VP of Marketing at Motivosity.

Motivosity created a series of ‘Quick Win’ tutorials to showcase essential features and benefits. “Customers who engaged with these tutorials reported a 40% faster time-to-value, increasing their overall satisfaction and likelihood to recommend our product,” she said.

As Logan said, satisfied customers are more likely to become advocates for your brand, providing positive reviews and referrals. This not only boosts your brand’s reputation but also attracts new customers.

3. Higher Product Adoption Rates

Remember when I said that I found it so challenging to use certain software platforms that I abandoned them altogether? I didn’t understand how they worked because their onboarding processes were not sufficient enough.

Effective onboarding introduces customers to your product's features and functionalities, ensuring they understand how to use it fully. This comprehensive introduction leads to higher adoption rates, as customers are more likely to use the product to its fullest potential.

Higher adoption rates mean customers derive more value from your product, which increases the likelihood of them remaining loyal and upgrading to premium features or plans.

Free Customer Onboarding Templates

Eight templates to lead your new customers through their first several months with your product or service

• Customer Intake Form Template
• Customizable Welcome Packet
• Onboarding Timeline Template
• And More!

Get Your Free Templates Learn more Get Your Free Templates

Download Free

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You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

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4. Reduced Customer Support Costs

When properly onboarded, customers are less likely to encounter issues or have questions requiring support. The training and resources you provide them during onboarding empower them to resolve minor issues on their own.

Alfred Christ, a digital marketer at Robotime, said that integrating an efficient onboarding process built efficiency into their customer support since well-informed customers typically have fewer questions asking for help.

“For example, once we implemented a variety of onboarding emails that included tips, video tutorials, and FAQs, we found there was a significant drop in the number of support tickets related to the assembly of products,” he said. “This increased the productivity of our support team and improved the overall customer experience—a win-win.”

Reducing support requests lowers customer service costs and allows your support team to focus on more complex issues.

5. Stronger Brand Loyalty

A well-executed onboarding process helps you create a positive first impression and establishes trust with your customers. When customers feel supported and valued from the beginning, they can develop a strong emotional connection with your brand, leading them to continue using your product and actively promote it to others.

Axel Lavergne, the founder of Reviewflowz, knows all about this.

“One of our clients, a SaaS company, had a significant churn rate due to a complicated setup process. We helped them streamline their onboarding with interactive video tutorials and automated follow-up check-ins that addressed typical concerns and questions. The result was a 50% drop in churn and happier customers who became advocates for their product,” Reviewflowz says.

6. Increased Revenue

Perfecting your customer onboarding can directly impact your bottom line. Retained and satisfied customers are more likely to make repeat purchases, upgrade their plans, and take advantage of additional services you offer.

This is not limited to B2B companies; B2C and DTC companies can also increase their revenue and profitability by integrating stellar customer onboarding processes, as Sergey Taver knows well.

As the marketing manager of Precision Watches, a DTC brand, Sergey and the team implemented a proactive service check-in, contacting clients a month after they purchased. This included a personalized email and a quick survey to gauge satisfaction and address any concerns.

“One customer, who had a minor issue with their watch clasp, appreciated the timely intervention and became a loyal repeat customer. This strategy led to a 30% increase in repeat purchases and an influx of referrals. It demonstrated our commitment to customer satisfaction beyond the initial sale,” Sergey says.

7. Improved Customer Insights

The onboarding process is an opportunity to gather valuable data about your customers’ needs, preferences, and behavior. By analyzing this data, you can gain insights into how customers are interacting with your product and identify areas for improvement.

This feedback loop allows you to continuously refine and optimize your onboarding process, making it more effective over time and ensuring that it meets the evolving needs of your customers.

If you need a free tool to help you perfect your customer onboarding process, check out HubSpot’s Customer Service Software.

Customer Onboarding Software

Whether you have tens, hundreds, or thousands of customers, it is hard to keep up with each person along the buyer journey.

Customer onboarding software does the work for you.

These tools optimize the experience for customers and offer various tactics — including email, live chat, and tutorials — to guide users through the onboarding process.

Not only does this software carry the brunt of the labor, but it also helps increase customer retention and conversion rates for your business.

1. HubSpot

HubSpot includes free email tools, contact management tools, and live chat, ensuring that each of your customers is treated like an individual and not just another entry in an unmanageable database.

HubSpot’s marketing, sales, service, and operations software are integrated into a single platform, making it easy for you to successfully onboard and serve your customers.

The best part is that you can start onboarding your customers for free, then upgrade as you grow.

If you upgrade to a Marketing Hub Professional subscription, for instance, you can begin to automate onboarding tasks as you acquire more customers.

Pricing: A free plan is available. The starter customer platform costs $15/month per seat. Professional bundles start at $1,170 a month, while enterprise plans start at $4,300 a month, billed annually.

2. Arrows

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Arrows is a customer onboarding platform built specifically for HubSpot, so you can stop onboarding customers with spreadsheets and project management tools.

Arrows allows you to attach collaborative client onboarding checklists to HubSpot deals and tickets, so your customers can take action on their tasks and your CRM stays up to date as they do.

Because Arrows has a deep HubSpot integration, it feels like a native extension of your team’s CRM processes. It fully utilizes HubSpot features like the CRM card, workflow actions, real-time data syncing, timeline events, and more.

More importantly, Arrows is designed to help your customers complete their tasks. It allows you to embed forms, meeting links, videos, and more directly on the task page so your customers can keep moving.

Pricing: A free plan is available if you connect your HubSpot account. Paid plans start at $300 per month.

3. Userlane

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Userlane is a digital adoption platform that gives you the ability to create an automated onboarding tour across your software.

Bubbles and notes will pop up as your customer moves through your platform. You can create a personalized tour for each customer type depending on their goals.

The tool allows you to create unlimited “userlanes,” or tutorial paths, as well as unlimited plays. Userlane tracks your customers’ interactions to deliver metrics on your onboarding’s effectiveness.

With Userlane, you’ll still need a CRM and marketing automation platform to send onboarding materials to your new customers and provide a more personal touch.

Pricing: Pricing is available upon request.

4. GuideCX

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GuideCX is a client onboarding system that allows you to create assignments and tasks that teach your client how to use your product.

Similar to a project management platform, GuideCX works on a “Project” basis. Each project provides steps and tasks to complete as onboarding progresses.

Your customers don’t have to log in to track their progress. They simply have to follow the link sent to their email.

The tool provides a basic automated email feature that will send onboarding messages for you. For stronger customer management power, you’ll want to pair GuideCX with a CRM.

Pricing: Pricing is available upon request.

5. Userpilot

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Userpilot is a robust user onboarding tool that combines an easy-to-use in-app onboarding guide builder with advanced product analytics and in-app surveys. It doesn’t require any code to build the onboarding flows or tag feature you want to track.

Userpilot is one of the few solutions on the market that allows you to trigger in-app experiences in real-time based on user behavior. It also allows you to collect user feedback with in-app surveys and NPS. Userpilot also offers the most advanced user analytics from similar engagement tools: with paths, trends, and funnels.

Pricing: Starts at $249/month

6. Apty

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Apty is a digital adoption platform that allows you to create a tutorial path across your software. The tool’s on-screen guidance feature is paired with onboarding checklists and customized content to deliver a seamless onboarding experience.

Another useful feature is its in-app help widget, which allows users to quickly retrieve help documentation without needing to access a separate knowledge base.

Apty is most effective when paired with an email marketing tool and a CRM.

Pricing: Pricing available upon request.

After you’ve adopted a customer onboarding tool, it’s time to track critical metrics to understand the success of your program.

Customer Onboarding Metrics

Onboarding isn’t just for your customers. It’s for the good of your business, too. That means measuring your effectiveness is an important part of your process.

Below is a customer onboarding checklist you can save to refer to again and again as you create your onboarding program. Right-click to save the image.

Customer Onboarding Helps You Grow Better

Customer onboarding doesn’t begin when someone purchases your product. It starts the very first time that a prospect comes in contact with your brand.

I’ve learned that every encounter is an opportunity to gather the information that will help you create an effective onboarding experience. So, it’s important to build a seamless experience between every touchpoint.

Take the time to align with your marketing, sales, and service teams, always keeping the customer at the center of your efforts.

Net Promoter, Net Promoter System, Net Promoter Score, NPS and the NPS-related emoticons are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Fred Reichheld and Satmetrix Systems, Inc.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in June 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Free Customer Onboarding Templates

Eight templates to lead your new customers through their first several months with your product or service

• Customer Intake Form Template
• Customizable Welcome Packet
• Onboarding Timeline Template
• And More!

Get Your Free Templates Learn more Get Your Free Templates

Download Free

All fields are required.

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Download Now