While signing new customers is obviously key to business growth, retaining those customers is just as important.What reduces customer churn? One big factor stands out: effective onboarding. Nailing the onboarding process, especially for a product that may be constantly evolving with technology and customer needs, can sound daunting. But it can’t be ignored. Onboarding that isn’t optimized to increase retention costs you both the customers who churn, as well as the potential customers, warned away through reviews and word-of-mouth.

Reducing Churn By Effective Onboarding

Before onboarding even begins, your business must attract customers who need what you offer. No onboarding process can rescue a customer hoping to burn CDs with a Spotify account. Be sure that marketing and sales understand what your product does, and doesn’t, offer. Use customer cohorts to identify good and bad fits. Letting bad-fit customers through the door simply to raise acquisition will cost more than they spend. High churn rates and bad reviews quickly erode revenue gained in these situations.

Getting The Right Customers

People experience a range of emotions as they first hear about, research, and decide to invest in a product. Throughout this journey, it’s important to reinforce their interest, especially in those moments after the purchase.
Many digital companies accomplish this through a virtual “tour” of their features once an account is activated. These tours highlight the most exciting product offerings and help the user set up their account.
Show your customers your best side, reminding them why they signed up, and they’ll be more likely to experience early success and remain loyal to your product.

Reinforce Customer Choice By Highlighting Your Best Features

<ul><li>Don’t underestimate the power of solid welcome emails.</li><li>By shaping communication around data, you increase your chances of success.</li><li>A robust subscription billing platform can automate the welcome email process. </li><li>Take the time to make your communications and welcome email shine, and watch user activity rise.</li></ul>

Optimize Communications And Welcome Emails

There is a direct correlation between customer retention and the time between acquisition and their first “wow!” moment.A “wow!” moment is what happens when a customer sees your product delivering results. It’s an affirmation that their purchase was the right choice. If you can ensure an early “wow!” moment, and celebrate it with customers, their satisfaction smooths the onboarding process.A positive experience increases the chances that customers will enjoy using the app and perhaps even upgrade to a paid membership for more features.

Ensure And Celebrate Early Success

Educational content is a great way to retain customers.A good idea is to combine educational content with strong and responsive customer support, and users will be so informed they won’t leave for lack of understanding. It can be tempting at this phase to get pushy with upsells but don’t overdo it. Making customers aware of the advanced features found in premium accounts can be done without coming across as forceful. If customers need the features, their comfort with your product and their success thus far will be all it takes to convince them to upgrade.

Educational Content And Thoughtful Upsells

In an ideal world, personalized or concierge onboarding would be available to every customer. That’s not always possible. The next best thing, of course, is having channels that allow you to see customer pain points during the onboarding process, or even invite them to tell you themselves.Through A/B testing and tracking, you can gain a window into customer needs, locating areas of improvement in onboarding and the ongoing customer experience.You can employ forums, surveys, or an “open door email policy” to allow customers to directly suggest areas of growth.

Getting Feedback

There’s no question that first impressions are important, especially in business. How much more important, then, is the&nbsp; impression a customer gets once they’ve made their first payment and activated your product?Very, apparently.A study by Price Intelligently found that a 1% increase in acquisition translates to a 3% improvement in your bottom line. The same increase in retention translates to an improvement of 7%.That’s more than twice as much percentage points!While signing new customers is obviously key to business growth, retaining those customers is just as (if not more) important.What keeps customers around? One big factor stands out: effective onboarding. Entrepreneur and four-time company founder David Skok named “failure to successfully onboard the customer” as one of <a href="https://www.forentrepreneurs.com/top-two-reasons-for-churn/" rel="noopener" dir="ltr">the top two causes of SaaS customer churn</a>.Nailing the onboarding process, especially for a product that may be constantly evolving with technology and customer needs, can sound daunting. But it can’t be ignored. Onboarding that isn’t optimized to increase retention costs you both the customers who churn, as well as the potential customers warned away through reviews and word-of-mouth.Here’s how to avoid that problem.<h2>1. Make sure you’re getting the right customers</h2>Before onboarding even begins, your business must attract customers who need what you offer. No onboarding process can rescue a customer hoping to burn CDs with a Spotify account.Don’t put yourself in that position. Be sure that marketing and sales understand what your product does, and doesn’t, offer. Use <a href="https://blog.fusebill.com/4-reasons-to-monitor-sales-by-activation-cohort-to-control-churn-in-subscriptions" rel=" noopener" dir="ltr">customer cohorts</a> to identify good and bad fits. Letting bad-fit customers through the door simply to raise acquisition will cost more than they spend. High <a href="https://blog.fusebill.com/influence-customers-improve-churn-rate" rel=" noopener" dir="ltr">churn rates</a> and bad reviews quickly erode revenue gained in these situations.Once you’ve got the right customers, optimizing your customer onboarding process becomes all about communication. Center your customers in your efforts, and you’ll find that they’re eager to enjoy your product, share it with their colleagues, and even help make it better.Let’s discuss how.<h2>2. Reinforce customer choice by highlighting your best features</h2>People experience a range of emotions as they first hear about, research, and decide to invest in your product. Throughout this journey, it’s important to reinforce their interest, especially in those moments after the purchase.Many digital companies accomplish this through a virtual “tour” of their features once an account is activated. These tours highlight the most exciting product offerings, and often help the user set up their account.G Suite, the Google business platform that offers advanced features for a fee, takes new users on a virtual tour of Gmail and then leaves this toolbar at the bottom of their inbox until account setup is complete (or a user chooses to click the “x” that removes the bar).<img src="https://blog.fusebill.com/hs-fs/hubfs/BLOG/optimize%20onboarding.jpg?width=701&amp;name=optimize%20onboarding.jpg" alt="optimize onboarding" width="670" srcset="https://blog.fusebill.com/hs-fs/hubfs/BLOG/optimize%20onboarding.jpg?width=351&amp;name=optimize%20onboarding.jpg 351w, https://blog.fusebill.com/hs-fs/hubfs/BLOG/optimize%20onboarding.jpg?width=701&amp;name=optimize%20onboarding.jpg 701w, https://blog.fusebill.com/hs-fs/hubfs/BLOG/optimize%20onboarding.jpg?width=1052&amp;name=optimize%20onboarding.jpg 1052w, https://blog.fusebill.com/hs-fs/hubfs/BLOG/optimize%20onboarding.jpg?width=1402&amp;name=optimize%20onboarding.jpg 1402w, https://blog.fusebill.com/hs-fs/hubfs/BLOG/optimize%20onboarding.jpg?width=1753&amp;name=optimize%20onboarding.jpg 1753w, https://blog.fusebill.com/hs-fs/hubfs/BLOG/optimize%20onboarding.jpg?width=2103&amp;name=optimize%20onboarding.jpg 2103w" height="109">Note that the tour of Gmail is still available if needed. This is especially helpful for users who may not have time/interest in a “tour” immediately at activation and need to come back later.This progress tracking also helps new users see that they haven’t yet unlocked all of the product’s capabilities. It ensures product stickiness by encouraging customers to stick around, try things out, and grow attached.Show your customers your best side, reminding them why they signed up, and they’ll be more likely to experience early success and remain loyal to your product.<img src="https://blog.fusebill.com/hubfs/FuseBill%20July-%202018/Complete-Guide-Subscription-Billing.jpg" alt="Download the Complete Guide to Subscription Billing" width="150" height="224"><h2>3. Optimize communications and welcome emails</h2>Another way to highlight your value for customers is to remind them with each communication. Put your best features on the tops of landing pages, welcome emails, and throughout the setup process so that users remember why they signed up.Don’t underestimate the power of solid welcome emails. Magoosh, an online test prep service, ran an A/B test where they sent welcome emails to only half of their new free account users. Guess which half was <a href="https://www.intercom.com/blog/magoosh-customer-onboarding-experiment/" rel="nofollow noopener" dir="ltr">17% more likely</a> to upgrade to paid accounts in two weeks?You guessed it: the ones who received the email.A/B testing is something MailChimp encourages for your welcome email subject lines, as well. By shaping communication around data, you increase your chances of success.Lincoln Murphy of marketing, sales, and customer success site Sixteen Ventures agrees.“First and foremost, the welcome email must be built off of best practices,” <a href="https://sixteenventures.com/saas-customer-onboarding-email" rel="noopener" dir="ltr">he explains</a> in an article on the topic. He then delves into the well-defined process, CTA, and app links that should be included in the ideal SaaS welcome email.A robust <a href="https://www.fusebill.com/" rel=" noopener" dir="ltr">subscription billing</a> platform can automate the welcome email process. Take the time to make your communications and welcome email shine, and watch user activity rise.<h2>4. Ensure and celebrate early success</h2>There is a direct correlation between customer retention and the time between acquisition and their first “wow!” moment.A “wow!” moment is what happens when a customer sees your product delivering results. It’s an affirmation that their purchase was the right choice. If you can ensure an early “wow!” moment, and celebrate it with customers, their satisfaction smooths the onboarding process.Stock investment app Robinhood offers a free stock to new users who sign up. This ensures that new users experience success (owning stock) immediately upon activation. What’s more, this offering is available in the free version of Robinhood.This positive experience increases the chances that customers will enjoy using the app and perhaps even upgrade to a paid membership for more features as they continue to invest.While offering free stock may not be something your business can offer, consider what you can provide. Even a special celebratory email once a user has first successfully used the product can go a long way.Share in customer success, and they’ll keep coming back for more.<h2>5. Educational content and thoughtful upsells</h2>Your customers have been through an initial tour, guided through account setup, received a welcome email, and experienced their first success. They’re hopefully fairly convinced of your product’s value, ease of use, and effectiveness. What happens next?For many users, this is the point where exploration of advanced features begins. Once a new customer has mastered the basics and seen results, there is a natural inclination to see just how far they can take their success.This is where educational content comes into play.Slack has an entire YouTube playlist dedicated to videos on how to get started with their platform, with additional playlists for advanced features and applications once a team has gotten the hang of things. Combine educational content with strong and responsive customer support, and users will be so informed they won’t leave for lack of understanding.It can be tempting at this phase to get pushy with upsells, but don’t overdo it. Making customers aware of the advanced features found in premium accounts can be done without coming across as forceful. If customers need the features, their comfort with your product and their success thus far will be all it takes to convince them to upgrade.<h2>6. Getting feedback</h2>We’ve focused a lot on how you communicate with the customer upon activation, but are you making room for them to respond?In an ideal world, personalized or concierge onboarding would be available to every customer. That’s not always possible. The next best thing, of course, is having channels that allow you to see customer pain points during the onboarding process, or even invite them to tell you themselves.Through A/B testing and tracking, you can gain a window into customer needs, locating areas of improvement in onboarding and the ongoing customer experience.You can also employ forums, surveys, or even an “open door email policy” to allow customers to directly suggest areas of growth.After learning that Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos actually reads (or has close team members read) customer queries, <a href="https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-good-examples-of-companies-working-on-customer-suggestions-feedback-in-a-small-period-of-time" rel="nofollow noopener" dir="ltr">one Quora user reported</a> that his suggestion to improve the design of an Amazon shopping app resulted in a fix in just three days.Very impressive!This kind of responsiveness builds trust and connection with customers. By encouraging feedback and building upon it, you not only solve customer issues, but build a better product for new customers coming in.Make this a part of your onboarding and continued customer experience, and your users are likely to stick around for the business that listens to their needs.By identifying your best-fit customers and enhancing your communications with them, you can optimize the customer onboarding process and reduce early churn. Use a combination of tools and practices that works best for your business and watch retention levels, and revenue, grow.

Onboarding that isn’t optimized to increase retention costs you both the customers who churn, as well as the potential customers warned away through reviews and word-of-mouth.

Stashed ideas

There’s no question that first impressions are important, especially in business. How much more important, then, is the  impression a customer gets once they’ve made their first payment and activated your product?

A study by Price Intelligently found that a 1% increase in acquisition translates to a 3% improvement in your bottom line. The same increase in retention translates to an improvement of 7%.

That’s more than twice as much percentage points!

While signing new customers is obviously key to business growth, retaining those customers is just as (if not more) important.

What keeps customers around? One big factor stands out: effective onboarding. Entrepreneur and four-time company founder David Skok named “failure to successfully onboard the customer” as one of <a href="https://www.forentrepreneurs.com/top-two-reasons-for-churn/">the top two causes of SaaS customer churn </a>.

Nailing the onboarding process, especially for a product that may be constantly evolving with technology and customer needs, can sound daunting. But it can’t be ignored. Onboarding that isn’t optimized to increase retention costs you both the customers who churn, as well as the potential customers warned away through reviews and word-of-mouth.

Here’s how to avoid that problem.

1. Make sure you’re getting the right customers

Before onboarding even begins, your business must attract customers who need what you offer. No onboarding process can rescue a customer hoping to burn CDs with a Spotify account.

Don’t put yourself in that position. Be sure that marketing and sales understand what your product does, and doesn’t, offer. Use <a href="https://blog.fusebill.com/4-reasons-to-monitor-sales-by-activation-cohort-to-control-churn-in-subscriptions">customer cohorts </a>to identify good and bad fits. Letting bad-fit customers through the door simply to raise acquisition will cost more than they spend. High <a href="https://blog.fusebill.com/influence-customers-improve-churn-rate">churn rates </a>and bad reviews quickly erode revenue gained in these situations.

Once you’ve got the right customers, optimizing your customer onboarding process becomes all about communication. Center your customers in your efforts, and you’ll find that they’re eager to enjoy your product, share it with their colleagues, and even help make it better.

2. Reinforce customer choice by highlighting your best features

People experience a range of emotions as they first hear about, research, and decide to invest in your product. Throughout this journey, it’s important to reinforce their interest, especially in those moments after the purchase.

Many digital companies accomplish this through a virtual “tour” of their features once an account is activated. These tours highlight the most exciting product offerings, and often help the user set up their account.

G Suite, the Google business platform that offers advanced features for a fee, takes new users on a virtual tour of Gmail and then leaves this toolbar at the bottom of their inbox until account setup is complete (or a user chooses to click the “x” that removes the bar).

Note that the tour of Gmail is still available if needed. This is especially helpful for users who may not have time/interest in a “tour” immediately at activation and need to come back later.

This progress tracking also helps new users see that they haven’t yet unlocked all of the product’s capabilities. It ensures product stickiness by encouraging customers to stick around, try things out, and grow attached.

Show your customers your best side, reminding them why they signed up, and they’ll be more likely to experience early success and remain loyal to your product.

3. Optimize communications and welcome emails

Another way to highlight your value for customers is to remind them with each communication. Put your best features on the tops of landing pages, welcome emails, and throughout the setup process so that users remember why they signed up.

Don’t underestimate the power of solid welcome emails. Magoosh, an online test prep service, ran an A/B test where they sent welcome emails to only half of their new free account users. Guess which half was <a href="https://www.intercom.com/blog/magoosh-customer-onboarding-experiment/">17% more likely </a>to upgrade to paid accounts in two weeks?

You guessed it: the ones who received the email.

A/B testing is something MailChimp encourages for your welcome email subject lines, as well. By shaping communication around data, you increase your chances of success.

Lincoln Murphy of marketing, sales, and customer success site Sixteen Ventures agrees.

“First and foremost, the welcome email must be built off of best practices,” <a href="https://sixteenventures.com/saas-customer-onboarding-email">he explains </a>in an article on the topic. He then delves into the well-defined process, CTA, and app links that should be included in the ideal SaaS welcome email.

A robust <a href="https://www.fusebill.com/">subscription billing </a>platform can automate the welcome email process. Take the time to make your communications and welcome email shine, and watch user activity rise.

There is a direct correlation between customer retention and the time between acquisition and their first “wow!” moment.

A “wow!” moment is what happens when a customer sees your product delivering results. It’s an affirmation that their purchase was the right choice. If you can ensure an early “wow!” moment, and celebrate it with customers, their satisfaction smooths the onboarding process.

Stock investment app Robinhood offers a free stock to new users who sign up. This ensures that new users experience success (owning stock) immediately upon activation. What’s more, this offering is available in the free version of Robinhood.

This positive experience increases the chances that customers will enjoy using the app and perhaps even upgrade to a paid membership for more features as they continue to invest.

While offering free stock may not be something your business can offer, consider what you can provide. Even a special celebratory email once a user has first successfully used the product can go a long way.

Share in customer success, and they’ll keep coming back for more.

5. Educational content and thoughtful upsells

Your customers have been through an initial tour, guided through account setup, received a welcome email, and experienced their first success. They’re hopefully fairly convinced of your product’s value, ease of use, and effectiveness. What happens next?

For many users, this is the point where exploration of advanced features begins. Once a new customer has mastered the basics and seen results, there is a natural inclination to see just how far they can take their success.

This is where educational content comes into play.

Slack has an entire YouTube playlist dedicated to videos on how to get started with their platform, with additional playlists for advanced features and applications once a team has gotten the hang of things. Combine educational content with strong and responsive customer support, and users will be so informed they won’t leave for lack of understanding.

It can be tempting at this phase to get pushy with upsells, but don’t overdo it. Making customers aware of the advanced features found in premium accounts can be done without coming across as forceful. If customers need the features, their comfort with your product and their success thus far will be all it takes to convince them to upgrade.

We’ve focused a lot on how you communicate with the customer upon activation, but are you making room for them to respond?

In an ideal world, personalized or concierge onboarding would be available to every customer. That’s not always possible. The next best thing, of course, is having channels that allow you to see customer pain points during the onboarding process, or even invite them to tell you themselves.

Through A/B testing and tracking, you can gain a window into customer needs, locating areas of improvement in onboarding and the ongoing customer experience.

You can also employ forums, surveys, or even an “open door email policy” to allow customers to directly suggest areas of growth.

After learning that Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos actually reads (or has close team members read) customer queries, <a href="https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-good-examples-of-companies-working-on-customer-suggestions-feedback-in-a-small-period-of-time">one Quora user reported </a>that his suggestion to improve the design of an Amazon shopping app resulted in a fix in just three days.

This kind of responsiveness builds trust and connection with customers. By encouraging feedback and building upon it, you not only solve customer issues, but build a better product for new customers coming in.

Make this a part of your onboarding and continued customer experience, and your users are likely to stick around for the business that listens to their needs.

By identifying your best-fit customers and enhancing your communications with them, you can optimize the customer onboarding process and reduce early churn. Use a combination of tools and practices that works best for your business and watch retention levels, and revenue, grow.

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career

How to Optimize your Onboarding Process to Reduce Early Churn

Reducing Churn By Effective Onboarding

Getting The Right Customers

Reinforce Customer Choice By Highlighting Your Best Features

Optimize Communications And Welcome Emails

Ensure And Celebrate Early Success

Educational Content And Thoughtful Upsells

Getting Feedback

IDEAS ABOUT

MORE LIKE THIS

How to create an effective SaaS onboarding checklist | The Jotform Blog

6 Proven Strategies to Reduce Churn

5 Customer Education Ideas to Reduce SaaS Churn

It's time to

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A PRO!

Bite-sized knowledgeto upgradeyour career

How to Optimize your Onboarding Process to Reduce Early Churn

Reducing Churn By Effective Onboarding

Getting The Right Customers

Reinforce Customer Choice By Highlighting Your Best Features

Optimize Communications And Welcome Emails

Ensure And Celebrate Early Success

Educational Content And Thoughtful Upsells

Getting Feedback

IDEAS ABOUT

MORE LIKE THIS

How to create an effective SaaS onboarding checklist | The Jotform Blog

6 Proven Strategies to Reduce Churn

5 Customer Education Ideas to Reduce SaaS Churn

It's time to

READ

LIKE

A PRO!

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career