The 3 most important activities when onboarding new customers

When a new customer gets handed off from sales, what does their experience look like? Are these your customer's typical next steps?

1. The customer signs your contract, then they wait for someone to follow-up. 
2. The customer receives your welcome email, then they wait for the kick-off meeting to receive next steps.
3. The customer attends your kick-off meeting, then they wait for someone to send them their homework assignments or task lists.

If that's your customer onboarding process, then you're losing momentum, because you're constantly forcing customers to wait on you. So here's how to fix that using an automated and orchestrated approach.

Hand-off immediately from sales

After the customer signs your contract, instead of making them wait for a follow-up, redirect them immediately to the start of your onboarding.

That way, your customer does not have to wait for anyone to follow-up.

Personalize the hand-off with a video

Let’s just be honest. Most people aren’t going to read a long welcome email with detailed instructions. So make instructions easily digestible by using a short video that includes:

• A welcome from the sales person that the customer has been interacting with,
• An introduction of the account executive that the customer will be working with,
• And, what to expect during the kick-off meeting and who should attend

That way, you make a smooth, personalized handoff that puts faces to names and you've set customer expectations on what will happen next.

Schedule the follow-up meeting immediately

Embed a scheduling app, like Calendly, underneath your welcome video, so that customers can schedule the kick-off meeting immediately.

And, if the customer forgets to book, have the system automatically follow-up on your behalf. That way, you’re not wasting time chasing appointments.

Start basic customer intake

If you need to collect basic customer data (ex: company info, primary contact, billing contact, etc.), don't wait until the kick-off meeting to ask these questions.

Embed a basic intake form right after the customer schedules the kick-off meeting.

So now, these administrative details can be collected before your kick-off meeting, making the kick-off more productive.

And, when you're thoughtful like this at the beginning of your customer relationship, your customers will notice.

Next Steps

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Here are 3 most important activities during customer onboarding that needs to be highly orchestrated and personalized.