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

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

<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

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

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

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

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Onboarding Matters

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.