Companies rightly place importance on acquiring new customers. But when that focus is exclusively on the first sale, companies can miss the far more profitable opportunities that should follow from supportive customer onboarding.
Customer onboarding is the valuable first impression that introduces the company and sets customers’ expectation for continuing the relationship.
Here’s the opportunity: onboarding can be used to develop customer intelligence.
That intelligence can be exploited to support and grow those new customers.
That is valuable for both customer and company: unburdening customers and speeding them to their next purchase—and those that follow.
However, a disappointing onboarding experience can push new customers out, drive revenue down, and send replacement costs up.
Transition from Perpetual—and Expensive—Customer Acquisition
Companies that focus exclusively on the first sale pay a high price: customer acquisition is more expensive phase by 5-25x.
When companies deprioritize customer onboarding, they introduce risk. New customers’ attachment is to the product or service. If there are substitutes or competition, new customers can easily defect.
That defection only compounds already high acquisition costs with replacement costs, and sacrifices revenue.
Companies that fail to efficiently onboard and then engage current customers put themselves in perpetual, revenue-crushing customer acquisition mode.
Conversely, existing customers are every company’s greatest source of reliable revenue at lower cost.
When existing customers subscribe or routinely purchase, companies recoup their initial acquisition investment because existing customers respond quickly, more often, and spend more on average, profits increase.
Customer onboarding, when exploited to collect intelligence and guide new customers to the next, more profitable, legs of their journeys, can produce accelerated revenue, lower costs, wider margins sooner.
The Case for Effective Customer Onboarding
I had a client with substantial undiagnosed early customer attrition. New customers were over-burdened and under-served in their early, very critical, interactions. The onboarding void prevented them from timely software installation, and so the attrition rate was extremely high.
Attrition drivers came from across the organization. Among them: expectations were not correctly set, cost projections weren’t accurate, and installation was needlessly complex and time-consuming.
I rationalized and smoothed the process from end-to-end. The solution included
consolidating the previous spoon-fed instructions, digitizing steps, and reserving the team for valuable high-touch interactions and relationship building.
I also created opportunities to collect focused information from those new customers. Without burdening new customers or slowing the process, the client gained information needed to quickly engage customers post-onboarding.
The customer onboarding solution reduced early customer attrition.
It supported those new customers to the next phase of their journeys, and their next
purchases—which boosted revenue.
More than Clearing the Onramps
Customer acquisition is the most expensive phase, so companies often focus on getting to the first contract or sale. But that first purchase isn’t the end of the customer journey: it’s a milestone.
Certainly, acquiring new customers is important. While onboarding is vital for starting those profitable relationships, it can more. Those first customer interactions can
generate intelligence about interests and needs and efficiently guide customers
to their next purchase. And the next.
That’s not a chore. That’s the opportunity: engaged customers, profitable relationships, accelerated revenue, lower costs, wider margins.
The result for my clients from effective customer onboarding is accelerated revenue and wider margins.
You can learn more here, or contact me. We’ll schedule a quick call to see if I can help.
About Marina Erulkar
I create comprehensive growth strategies for mid-sized companies. My clients gain greater revenue and lower costs. I frequently uncover unseen revenue sources.
I begin with a proprietary assessment that combines quantitative, qualitative, and process. The resulting recommendations are quantified and prioritized so you will gain the greatest revenue sooner with the least, if any, investment. Clear plans ensure that teams can quickly execute.
Engagements are typically completed in under three months.
The result for my clients is greater, reliable top- and bottom-line revenue. And a growing business.
To see if I can help you grow revenue and reduce costs:
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