Getting new customers to sign up for your software-as-a-service offering isn’t always simple. But once you manage to acquire new users/customers, you might find yourself at a loss for how to get them started with your service. This process, known as onboarding, is crucial to ensuring the customer relationship is positive and continual instead of dissipating after a short time. SaaS is a deeply competitive field with numerous offerings. So, failure to get onboarding right can lead customers to your competitors. By setting up a strong onboarding process for new customers and working with them to establish rapport, you can keep them happy long-term. Here are five benefits of proper onboarding customers for your SaaS product.
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Builds Trust
Proper onboarding helps you build trust with your customers. If they feel like they’re being sold to or pressured into something, they’ll likely leave. In order to keep them around long-term, focus on providing value and educating them about what your product can do for them. Trust is critical to retaining customers. Many companies lose customers due to a lack of trust. According to recent studies, users stop using SaaS products if they feel deceived or as if someone is taking advantage of them. Proper onboarding fixes that concern and helps customers feel less pressured, more engaged, and like the company cares about them rather than being focused on making money.
Understand Customer Needs
Proper onboarding helps you understand who your customers are and what they need. When they acquire a new SaaS product, they’re more than likely looking to use it for a specific purpose. They probably don’t need to know about all the cool features, bells, and whistles the software can provide. Instead, focus on their individual needs. Use your onboarding process to understand what your customers want and how they plan on using the software. You can then build on this knowledge to create more effective marketing campaigns, product updates, and in-app messages that are relevant to them. That way, you’re providing stellar customer service, working one-on-one with customers, and helping them come to love the product instead of inundating them with a bunch of information they likely won’t use.
Easy Adoption
The onboarding process is also fantastic for giving you an opportunity to set up your product so it’s easy for them to adopt. You can show them how to use the product, walk them through some basic features that will make their lives easier, and get them started using it in no time at all. You’ll also be able to identify any issues with the onboarding process along with bugs or other problems that might require fixing. When customers choose to adopt your program, they show their satisfaction with your product which can translate to higher customer retention rates, word-of-mouth advertising, and an improved reputation for your business and SaaS service. That’s what makes enterprise customer onboarding procedures so vital to the success of both your product and their business in the long term.
Higher Rate of Return
Onboarding is also a continual process. When new customers come in, they need to be treated with the same care and concern as older customers. This means that you need to continually improve the onboarding process and make sure that it will always meet customer needs. You can also use the onboarding process to identify issues with your product or service and ultimately increase your rate of return. As far as metrics go, you want to aim high. A high rate of return is a good indicator that your SaaS service is providing value to customers while helping you understand how well your sales and marketing strategies are working overall.
Reducing Customer Churn
Proper onboarding reduces customer churn in a pretty big way. If customers are having problems with something, address it right away. That way, you can easily avoid customer churn or the loss of customers. Saying goodbye to a customer doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re dissatisfied with your product though. It can be an opportunity to solicit feedback from them to find out how you can expand your offering and improve it for the future. Ultimately, setting up a quality onboarding process and making it a positive, useful experience for your customers will meaningfully enhance their experience with your SaaS product/subscription.
