After you’ve closed on a deal with a new client, company leaders will have to work with their various teams in order to onboard this new client. Onboarding means something different for each type of business, but in general, it means welcoming this client to the company. This is not necessarily the type of onboarding you see companies doing with new employees or third-party contractors. While it could be similar, onboarding can be as basic as giving a client a log-in to your website, and as complex as giving them access to software. No matter what it means for your company and your clients, it’s important to establish best practices for onboarding new clients.
Why are Best Practices for Onboarding New Clients Important?
Best practices for onboarding new clients is crucial to the success of your business for one main reason:
Customer turnover rates.
In the first few weeks of welcoming in a new client, the chances of them dropping off the face of the planet are higher than ever. And, if the onboarding process doesn’t go smoothly, this will be more likely to happen. So, whatever onboarding may mean logistically for your company, what it really means for all companies is an opportunity to improve customer retention rates. Your client has to know that he or she has made the right decision. And, usually, they’ll discover this from the moment you onboard them.
1) Know Their Expectations and Goals
Before you can successfully onboard a new client, you need to know what their expectations and goals are — not what your goals are for them (though it never hurts to guide them in the right direction) — their personal goals. To avoid this new client from backing out, during onboarding, you should keep reiterating those expectations and goals. This demonstrates that you have their best interest in mind right from the get-go. You can do this by re-stating those objectives in your contract with them. Or, in the first e-mail you send them after closing the deal.
2) Make Everything Personal
Not only should their expectations and goals be personal, but so should the entire process of working with them. Mission Suite can help you personalize each and every email you send out. It does this easily by use of automation, allowing you to personalize without requiring you to manually write the client’s name in each email. Even if this client recognizes what marketing automation can do, seeing their name in the subject line or in the email’s introduction can really make a difference long term. Every time you talk to this client throughout the onboarding process (and after), whether it be through an email, a phone call, a video chat, or a reply on a social media post, you should always refer to this person by their name. It helps them to feel welcome, appreciated, and individualized.
3) Keep the Steps and Emails to a Minimum
Speaking of emails, you should do your best to keep those to a minimum, in addition to your overall onboarding steps. If the customer sees that their waking up to an influx of annoying emails from you everyday after signing up, they may be turned away — even if those emails are valuable. One of the best practices for onboarding new clients is to reduce the amount of spam you send them while keeping the steps to signing up, signing a contract, and making purchases, as simple as possible.
4) Always Have Security as a Top Priority
This new client will likely need to give you quite a bit of information in order for them to be onboarded. However, these days, most people aren’t too keen on provided their sensitive information. That is, unless they can be sure that their information is going to be kept secure. Another one of the best practices for onboarding new clients means making their security (and your company’s) a top priority. Demonstrate this by implementing things like two-step verification or updated privacy policy agreements that are transparent, clear, and concise. Also, make sure your company is taking cybersecurity and compliance practices seriously.
5) Don’t Forget to Ask for Feedback
Want to know whether or not the onboarding process was efficient enough for your new clients? Then, ask! After your new client is completely onboard, send them a link to an optional, fast survey to get their opinion. While it’s true that most people tend to ignore surveys, if you provide yours with an incentive of some sort, you’ll definitely get more people to answer.
Mission Suite helps our clients easily implement the best practices for onboarding their new clients. To learn more, request a demo today!