Prospects demand to be personally catered to in business today. This service can't stop once you have made the initial win; it must continue throughout onboarding, as well.
Personalize the Customer Onboarding Experience
When a customer decides to invest in a product or brand, they may still harbor skepticism about it. Conversion does not mean acceptance, and it definitely does not assume loyalty. Consider your onboarding experience the beginning of acquisitions for the next sale to the same customer.
Why should you prioritize selling again to the same customer? Loyalty sales cost 90% less than acquiring a new customer. The customers who purchase from you more than once are the most important people to your business. Listen to them during every phase of your interactions with them.
Group and Automate Customer Onboarding
Some people like to read the owner's manual, and some do not. Fortunately, these types fall into categories that you can identify and group. Customer onboarding is not a one size fits all solution, but you can automate and group certain parts of the process based on buyer profiles.
This means you need to create buyer profiles if you have not already. These profiles should include behavioral patterns for your customers after the initial conversion. Find a quality CRM that recognizes the importance of tracking behavior after initial conversion. You can find trends for these customers in the same way that you mark patterns in your prospects.
From here, group and automate the parts of the process that overlap. For instance, you may be able to create a common FAQ for customers who ask the same introductory questions, saving your customer service reps valuable time on the phone.
Invest in the Right Technology
Create separate onboarding pathways based on the buyer profiles you research. If a contingent of your audience is younger and appreciates how-to videos, introductions for each product iteration may be an appropriate investment. Be sure to uniquely identify item numbers and other characteristics of brand items to personalize the experience.
Perhaps you find that a segment of your audience prefers the DIY approach with a helping hand available for those initial snags. Online chat exponentially outpaces phones as a speedy method for answering questions. One customer service agent can handle many chats at once; this is not true of phone lines. Invest in the technology that more adequately empowers your staff to provide personalized service without creating a time sink.
There's a whole post on the Ytel blog with tips and suggestions on the best ways to onboard your remote employees successfully. Read more on that here.
Create an Onboarding Culture
All of your staff should be trained in the basics of onboarding. As one of the most important aspects of the customer process, onboarding is a skill that everyone should understudy - much like on-site security. If your mainstay customer service reps are out sick or overworked, you can easily move other staff members in as backup.
If you find that your staff is moving into onboarding full time, take it as a good sign. Once you have reduced the amount of time you spend onboarding, invested in the right technology, and properly segmented your audience, the only solution left is to expand business!
