Every business that cares about its future cares about its customers. Onboarding cements the customer journeys, making them feel valued and respected. This process also boosts customer experience and is an integral part of business success. Keep reading to learn more about the onboarding process. That is, from onboarding definition to how you can use it to transform your business.
What is Onboarding
Onboarding is the process or action of bringing a new member into the organization. Customer onboarding seeks to familiarize a new customer with the company’s products. Some companies have a very mature onboarding process that follows a series of phases. Others follow a traditional and simplistic onboarding strategy. Either way, the process should serve its purpose. That is, it should turn new customers into brand loyalists and ambassadors.
Over the years, onboarding has moved from an in-office affair to a virtual experience. The pandemic also expedited the growth of digital onboarding solutions. And the latter has now seen a wider market adoption.
Digital onboarding of employees, for instance, has become the norm over the last 12 months. The same has been replicated in the business world to onboard customers. That said, not all industries have moved to fully remote onboarding. Some are doing semi-on-site onboarding, which features both remote and on-site processes.
For example, the digital onboarding process in banking has been adopted by FinTechs and challenger banks. Most incumbents still rely on paperwork. They may offer digital documents that customers can fill at home, but they must move to the branch to hand them in.
The Shift to Digital Onboarding
Moving digital with onboarding in the consumer industry can be a daunting experience. Some of the challenges common with this transition include security and regulation. The choice of technology, such as the digital onboarding software, is another issue. Often, the available onboarding platforms aren’t flexible enough to serve the businesses’ unique needs.
For instance, the onboarding software should allow for standardization of the onboarding processes. It should also centralize all the core functions in one single platform. This ensures easy integration across departments.
In the banking sector, digital identification is one area that’s very sensitive to the entire onboarding process. This is achieved through the digital kyc verification process. Here, banks need to ensure identification is a fully remote and online process. Also, banks need to overcome security, regulatory, and infrastructure challenges.
For any business moving to digital onboarding, it’s necessary to plan the transition in advance. Having the technology alone is not enough. You also need to have a skilled talent around and a time-tested strategy. That way, you can deploy your digital onboarding process successfully.
Understanding the Customer Onboarding Metrics
Now that your digital onboarding program is up and running, what follows is to keep track of its performance. To grow your business with digital customer onboarding, you’ll need to pay attention to the following:
- Customer churn rate. This is the rate at which customers stop using the products or services. The goal of onboarding is to keep customers in the loop and lower the churn rate. By keeping track of the churn rate, you can make some adjustments to your onboarding process.
- Customer retention metrics: Track the retention rates within time periods. If you lose customers after days of onboarding, you may choose to tweak the welcome emails a bit.
- Customer Lifetime Value (LTV): This is the estimated profit you can make from a new customer. The longer the customer stays and the more they spend, the higher the LTV.
The other metrics to consider are free trial conversions and Net Promoter Score (NPS). That said, attracting new customers is great. But retaining them is even better. Research shows that attracting and selling to new customers is 5 to 25 times more expensive than selling to existing customers.
Leveraging Digital Customer Onboarding
Digital onboarding comes with several advantages, such as reduced operating costs. Customers also enjoy fast, convenient, and personalized services. Below are the other benefits of digital customer onboarding.
- It keeps customers coming back for more. Happy customers are loyal and more likely to return for repeat business.
- It boosts word-of-mouth marketing: Your customers will become brand ambassadors. They will recommend your personalized products and services to their network.
- It shortens the time to value. Digital onboarding saves time and increases revenue generated.
Get started with Digital Onboarding
The main goal of digital onboarding is to nurture your customers. The other one is to get them acquainted and comfortable with your products and services. Going digital by using onboarding software makes the whole process easy.
To ensure success, always define expectations with your customers and set milestones. Customize the experience and leverage data to foster long-term relationships. Similarly, track the onboarding metrics throughout the customer journey. Ensuring constant communication with your customers will also boost the customer experience.