Everyone wants simple products that will solve complex problems. And, that is where SaaS businesses work their way in terms of product creation.
Close to 62 % of customers, in a survey, said they would stop using a product if they did not understand how to use it or see any value. Most people stop using a product simply because they do not know how to use it.
Customer churn is inevitable. People leave due to natural reasons or things beyond control, even. But, if they leave when product is not used enough to decide, it means lack of customer education. And great customer onboarding is essential for SaaS companies. Here are five techniques, you can use to kickstart your successful customer onboarding.
1. Product Information
Your product may have amazing features fitting perfectly into customer needs. But they need to know that. Mention all your features in a planned manner. Aligning sales expectations with the onboarding process is important. If there is a disconnect in product information at the time of onboarding or sale, there will be confusion for the buyer.
2. Time Optimization
You need to reduce the ‘time to value.’ When a customer purchases something, they expect some connection or information quickly. Past 24 hours, the connection and motivation to know more will reduce even for the customer. Build a great welcome schedule to establish a level of trust. Automating various processes can also be important. Scheduling welcome mails, onboarding campaigns, and other automatic points of contact can be great to get the customer onboard.
3. Take feedback
Even while onboarding the customer, you can take feedback. You need to know their views on how the product has helped them achieve their goals. Analysing user behaviour, interacting with them, finding surveys, and maybe some tools like heatmaps or session replay tools is very important. Identifying users who signed up for a feature is necessary to see if they are using that feature or not.
4. Value moment
Getting to the ‘aha moment’ is important. When users get there as quickly as possible, they get faster to the moment. Some SaaS products take a longer time to onboard a customer and for some it is a quicker experience. If the time to value is long, you need to show micro-value to the customer. Aligning the customer education plans with content like downloads, videos can be a great way to get information out.
5. Goal Setting
Setting the right goals with the customer onboarding can be important. If things are going out of context, understanding the product can be confusing. This is why customer success managers work towards certain goals, action plans- because they know how to make the onboarding process successful
Every task assigned to the customer must have value, be driven towards the product explanation and offer a comprehensive understanding of specifications of the service or company. Proper goal setting will also help customer identify more with the product experience and lead to loyalty and ultimately customer retention.
Niyathi Rao is a content creating specialist at Smartkarrot Inc., a customer success platform. She worked for Univariety and OpenText previously. She majorly writes for SaaS tech products. She is a bibliophile and listens to podcasts and music when she isn’t doing any of these.