Every SaaS product solves a different problem and has a different core value. But they have on thing in common, they need their users to experience the “Aha! moment”, with their product. And that is why customer onboarding is so important.
We can mention 3 common value spaces created with customer onboarding.
1- Onboarding increases lead/customer conversion
Most new users make purchase-related decisions during the first few minutes of engagement with your product. Delivering right message on early stages of onboarding can increase the number of leads converted to paid users.
We (users) place a higher value on those things we participate (in some way) in creating. Asking users to put some effort in early on can be an incredibly powerful way to show them value upfront. See this post on the IKEA Effect.
To build retention, nothing is more important than proving to your users that your product matters from their very first open. Well designed product walkthroughs and activity-based in-app messages help driving your leads to your product’s core value fast and boosts your conversion rate.
2- Onboarding maximizes the efficiency of customer success teams
Customer Success teams can measure their impact based on customers’ usage activity and feature adoption. A major responsibility of most Customer Success teams is to guide customers through implementation and onboarding, and over time CSMs should aim to expose new features or products that will deepen the value customers receive.
Since it’s common for Customer Success teams to undertake an initiative to increase usage of a particular feature or product through additional training and education, teams should track whether usage increases as a result.
3- Onboarding boosts product engagement and customer satisfaction
HARSH TRUTH: Your customers are not having fun on your product (if it’s not Spotify). They just want to accomplish a certain task and then leave. So, most of the time your goal is not to make it more fun, but less painful.
With a smooth product tour, you can make your product discoverable, ensuring your consumers are always happy. Also, continuous onboarding helps you make sure new features are adopted smoothly.
