How better User Onboarding helps Customer Support Teams

Last month, I've downloaded this game that looked amazing.

Everything was enjoyable until I had a specific issue, for some reason I couldn't do what was asked of me.

I looked up the forums of the game, contacted the developers through email, nothing.

For 2 days, I was stuck at the same spot, and it was after they replied to me with "Oh you just need to do this by clicking K" that I could keep on playing.

But guess what?

I replied with "You probably should've included that in the tutorial!".

And I know for a fact this applies to any web product or app we use; if you want to keep users you should be as helpful and as quick as you can!

Efficient customer service is the key to customer retention, but sometimes, even the best customer support teams might have trouble ensuring customer satisfaction. With better user onboarding and education in the first place, customer support teams could have it more manageable and honestly, save so much time.

What is user onboarding?

User onboarding is the process of guiding users through service to make them proficient users. As they get better at using your product, users will find more value in it. Educating your users will help you to avoid churning and eventually lead to more profit.

It is similar to giving a person directions of place. You have to be as precise and quick as possible. A better user onboarding ensures that your users can find their intended location with your guide and visit that place on their own later, which means that they will find the value in your product.

5 Ways a Better User Onboarding Helps Customer Support

However, a better user onboarding process doesn't only help users but also the customer support teams.

Let's see how exactly that works:

1- With a better user onboarding process, you don't make your customers wait

No one likes to wait, and no one wants to stay on the phone. 

During phone calls, waiting for even one minute is so much of a hassle that according to research, %60 of the customers hang up after 60 seconds of staying in the line. 

When it comes to user onboarding, you have to be quick. The technology age comes with lots of alternative services, and if you don't offer users what they ask for as quickly as possible, they would likely switch to another service. 

User onboarding is crucial to avoid high churn rates.

With in-app user onboarding tools, the number of customers in need of making calls would decrease, so support agents responsible for the calls could work more efficiently without the stress.

With a better user onboarding process, you can decrease customer support calls by more than half. 

Yes, more than half. 

In 2019, Cuepath started working with UserGuiding, a user onboarding software that allows you to onboard users without any coding, and in 6 months, they reduced customer support calls by %72. 

This outcome gave customer support teams time to take a breather and focus on the %28 that they still need to assist.

Don't forget that a reduced backlog means more quality support for those who need it.

And quality support means happier customers and less overwhelmed customer support teams.

Win-win.

2- With better user onboarding, you can personalize your users' experience

Everyone is different.

And everyone wants to be treated like they're your #1 customer.

It means that you are not dealing with one type of user. All customers have preferences when it comes to contacting others. Nowadays, multiple channels for customer support are not a plus but a must to keep customers happy.

However, it would help if you remembered that the one-fits-all user experience has a low conversion rate.

For example, your customer might rather have answers from a chatbot than talk to a customer support agent on the phone. If your user demographic is elderly, they might struggle with technology and need a different user onboarding strategy that's senior-friendly. 

Onboarding mobile and desktop users also require different approaches. With a better user onboarding process, you can ensure that your users get all the questions they have answered without tiring out your customer support teams.

If you offer your users what they need, your retention rate will increase and gain more profit.

3- With better user onboarding, you can answer the questions users haven't asked yet

If a user uses your product with little efficiency, they are most likely to switch to another product.

It is simple, if a user expected something more from your product than they received, it wouldn't be worth their time and money. However, good user onboarding shows users that they can find the value they expect from the product. For example, there could be features that users don't know about or simple shortcuts that can make their experience more accessible. 

Also, when you onboard people from different ages and backgrounds, you need a clear and understandable user onboarding process to educate them on how to use your product and eventually receive the value they expect. 

Walkthroughs or checklists are great to educate your users and track their progress. According to the data you acquired, you can constantly improve your user onboarding experience.

4- With a better user onboarding process, you can increase engagement with your product

If you are offering a platform or a service, your success depends on your customers' interaction with your product. To ensure that your customers don't get bored after one click and churn, you should activate and educate them.

A good user onboarding answers the users' questions and helps them use the product to its fullest. One of your user onboarding goals should be guiding users to find value in your product.

So they can engage with your product more and keep buying from you.

Don't forget that happy customers turn into loyal customers and loyal customers are great for network growth.

5- With a better user onboarding process, you can save time and money

A good user onboarding should focus on making users well-informed as quickly as possible.

As I mentioned earlier in this article, users won't wait. However, time is not only crucial for users; it's also vital for customer support agents.

Between tons of phone calls and emails, the quality of customer service could decrease with how overwhelmed the customer support teams get. Because of that, their physical condition would affect the overall performance of the product and company. With a proper user onboarding process, you can resolve customers' issues faster.

A better user onboarding process would make you save time and help reduce cost per minute. 

In addition, sometimes, the support agent could be new or lack the skills to communicate with users efficiently.

People are not perfect, after all. However, unhelpful support agents would cause customer churn since they would not offer the experience customers expect. Customers would prefer a different brand with a more capable support team.

When you use customer onboarding, customers can find answers on their own, and if they still can't find it, they can reach support teams through multiple channels. Your company also can reduce costs by having a non-tiered customer support system where there are different kinds of support offered by customer support representatives with varying levels of training.

Conclusion

I won't redownload that game I've mentioned, but I might play another one that's similar in the future.

Like me, many users drop products quickly when they don't get what they expect and search for another. 

User onboarding is crucial to ensure retention but also help customer support teams. With better user onboarding, you can increase conversion rates and lower the burden on customer support agents. As a result, stress-free customer support teams would work more efficiently and reduce the company's costs.

To ensure customer satisfaction, customer support teams should focus on better customer onboarding. As a result, you can save money, time, and effort while working efficiently.

And the most important thing is that the customers will be happy. 

After all, a satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all.