4 Tips to Simplify User Onboarding in 2019

A sound user-onboarding journey plays a key role in delivering value to your customers and ultimately promotes customer acquisition and retention. It involves step-by-step tutorials, guidance and support, and milestone celebrations as customers achieve success when buying from your business.

Have you considered how much of your marketing spend accounts for new customer drop-offs? Smart onboarding can convert visitors into loyal customers. However, a significant number of businesses fail to achieve this. Recent research reveals the struggle they face:

The onboarding process your business follows determines the state of your customer relationships. It impacts loyalty, referrals, customer lifetime value and satisfaction. Here are some simple tips for creating an onboarding program that drives people to become committed promoters:

1. Follow a customer-centric design approach

A simple sign-up or subscription does not indicate a successful conversion. What your customers perceive as success may be different from what your business defines it as. As internet users actively manage multiple subscriptions online, businesses need to view customer success as the desired outcome they seek from using your product, service or platform. Focus on developing a relationship with the user rather than on sales or conversions.

Set milestones during the process marking their level of access and proficiency. At this stage, it’s important to respect your users’ time and equip them with the knowledge and tools required to use your product.

Avoid immediately asking users to review their onboarding experience. Keep feedback for when they have completed their first successful use of your product.

2. Minimise data collection

New customer drop-offs are directly related to the level of fatigue that user onboarding journeys induce. Try reducing the quantity of data you collect from your customers and instead apply usage pattern data to construct and track specific marketing campaigns.

Metrics that are heavy on customer interactions such as Net Promoter Score (NPS) can be monitored during periodic product reviews and specific information can be requested. Keep customer engagement high, maintain a robust, well-moderated communication channel mix to generate sufficient usage pattern data and you’ll be able to retain compliant customer intelligence.

Requesting for large volumes of customer data doesn’t contribute to smooth onboarding. People want to know if the product can meet their needs, and don’t want to fill out lengthy forms. Businesses should also consider regulations on data privacy and protection. Regulations such as the GDPR and CBPR make the collected data an operational burden and a business risk. So the rise in popularity of data minimisation as a business practice comes as no surprise.

Sphere Identity is a digital identity platform that eliminates the sequence of steps in the onboarding journey and transmits the required customer information simply by the click of a button. Businesses get the data they need, while the user enjoys a simple, seamless onboarding experience.

3. Manage progress and expectations

Break up the user journey into simple, easily-manageable steps. Use cues in the interface to set expectations and mark their progress. This approach lets new users see a clear path and it keeps them from discontinuing.

Support and resource centres must be made accessible and users should be equipped to acquire the information they need quickly.

Many users may not complete the entire onboarding journey all at once, so they should be able to pick up from where they left off. Create a system of reminders to bring them back on track to show them that they’re never too far off.

4. Make continuous improvements

The onboarding process is not one to set and forget. It must continuously evolve as products, customers and times change. Test, measure and evaluate everything you do. New users must be at the centre of this iterative process. You may be thinking conversion and retention, but remember, relationship is what it’s all about.

Make the best first impression, deliver value quickly and you’ll be turning new sign-ups into lasting customer relationships.

Sphere Identity streamlines the customer onboarding process in a safe and compliant way while also giving individuals their privacy back.

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