Onboarding is key within any SaaS business. A way of familiarizing a new customer with a product or service that you have to offer, it’s a vital step in which you need an effective strategy in place.
It’s important to know that every encounter that a customer has with your business is an opportunity in which you can gather invaluable information from them – which you can then use to create a more effective onboarding experience.
Building a seamless experience for users from the start of the process right until they purchase, there are three main goals that you should consider within the process:
You will want to reduce churn.
You want to generate additional revenue if possible through cross-sells or upsells.
You want your customers to get the most out of your SaaS platform.
Guiding your customers through the process, the initial experience that they have will set the tone for the rest of their journey with you. A time in which you need to develop trust and a friendship with them, they need to know that you’re the first port of call for the particular products/services that you sell.
If you’re unsure as to how you should onboard users effectively, here are some top tips that you can use:
1. Lay out the onboarding program
Before you dive into your onboarding process, you need to ensure that you have developed the appropriate content for it. The first time you do this, it can be incredibly daunting. So you need to ensure that you are properly prepared. Throughout the planning process, research onboarding methods and technology that could be appropriate for your business.
Of course, the more customers that you acquire and as your business grows, you will be able to have a clearer objective in mind. As you continue to build the strategy, it’s important that you retain the following goals:
Find an efficient way of establishing a usage pattern.
To make your product indispensable for your users.
To ensure that your product/service is being used more than once within the first week of operation.
2. Make it a personalized experience
Personalization will make your customers come back. Keeping them engaged throughout the onboarding process, it will, in turn, result in increased retention and activation rates. So how do you do this?
There are several methods that you can use to personalize a users experience, including through:
Welcome emails
Re-engagement emails
A welcome page that greets the user by name (Netflix famously does this)
Personalization by analyzing their behavior – segment the users based on how they have used your platform (e.g. recommending them things that they will like)
Keep them motivated through a personalized plan
3. Create sign-up forms
Sign up forms are an effective way of drawing customers in and informing them of the latest news about your subscription service. Enticing them with a tempting offer, you’ll be able to retain their loyalty.
A form that could appear as a pop up from the moment they access your platform, it’s an opportunity to catch potential customer’s attention through captivating copy and graphics.
4. Offer 24/7 assistance
It’s particularly important that at the start of your onboarding process, you show your users that you will be with them every step of the way. Showing them how important they are to you, they can rest assured that you will be there if you have any queries throughout their user journey.
To do this, you will need to ensure that you have a dedicated team of customer service representatives that can handle any questions that they might have. Although this seems like an expensive move, in the long run, it will benefit your company and help it to grow.
5. Product tutorials
Product tutorials are a great way of streamlining your onboarding service. Showcasing your users how they can navigate your site, it will get them up to speed on the different features that you offer. There are a few things that you should consider with product tutorials, however, to make sure that they have the right effect:
Consider making them skippable: no one wants to sit through a tutorial that they either don’t want or don’t need.
Make it accessible at all times: even though they clicked out of it the first time, it doesn’t mean that they won’t need it in the future.
6. Utilize notifications
Depending on the type of subscription service you offer, notifications can have a varying impact on the experience that users have throughout the onboarding process. You don’t want to overbear them with notifications whilst they are using your platform. So you need to make sure that you are only sending notifications when it will add value – as they can be a great way of re-engaging users.
Similarly to product tutorials, you must consider the following before you start to send notifications out to your users on your SaaS platform:
How you can create an eye-catching notification that has all of the essential information but not too much: you want your notifications to positively encourage users to explore what you have to offer, but you don’t want to give too much away at the get-go – otherwise, they could lose interest.
Find a way that will allow users to choose the frequency in which they receive notifications
Billsby Subscription Billing Software
Do you have a SaaS platform that’s looking for high-quality subscription billing software? If you have dozens of recurring payments that requires management, then look no further than Billsby. We know that the subscription economy is ever-growing. That’s why we offer companies a way to efficiently and safely automate the billing process.
Helping our clients to understand the ways in which their customers utilize their service, our budget-friendly service is on hand to assist throughout the onboarding journey and throughout the business’s lifespan.
To find out more, schedule a product demo with us or sign up for free.