4 Mistakes Companies Make with Customer Onboarding
While many companies know the importance of the customer onboarding process, few know how to properly do it in order to keep clients happy with their service. That’s why knowing what not to do when bringing customers on is also just as important as knowing how to do it. When you want to make sure you keep that customer retention, you should consider what to avoid in order to increase customer trust and the chance they’ll stay with your company.
Here are four things not to do when you are onboarding your new customers.
1. You don’t address pain points
When coming to you, it’s likely that your customer has a number of problems they he or she is hoping your will solve. By not individually going over these and seeing what unique struggles their business or your client might be going through, you’re already making it difficult to connect and build trust. This is why an initial call in the beginning can be beneficial for everyone—it can help you identify exactly what you can fix.
2. You don’t get your team involved
Your team should actively be looking for ways that they can help you reach and assist clients. This might be joining you on the kick-off call or individually speaking with your customers so they can find new ways to solve any problems. Make sure to check in with your managers and team members that are directly in touch with clients so you can make informed decisions on how to approach any conflict of interest that might come up.
3. You don’t follow up
When you have a client who seems to be happy with your work and hasn’t said anything negative, it’s easy to assume that all is well. This might not totally be the case and can actually end up causing issues later on when your customer comes to you wanting to cancel. To avoid this, you’ll want to follow up in a number of ways including sending an occasional email to check in, scheduling a call every few months or weeks depending on what is needed, and connecting with team members to talk about the client.
4. You don’t ask for feedback
Whether your onboarding process goes well or not, you’re going to want to sit down with your client and ask where you can improve. Tell them that you are looking for some honest feedback and that their information can help you to be better moving forward as a company. You might also ask them to fill out a survey that can help them name problems that they might not feel comfortable doing over the phone or in person. This might even help you to keep clients that were thinking about leaving.
Summary
Onboarding can define whether or not your business is likely to form a positive relationship with your customer. This is why you want to make sure the process runs as smoothly and as well as possible. Knowing how to avoid these mistakes, you are setting yourself up for positive relationships with customers that will last.
