So, you have created a kickass software service and your customers agree to that by signing up for it. So far so good. Your software has made a good pre-sale impression on your customers. High-five!
But what happens after they sign up for your software?
Are you making an effort to impress your customers during their post-sale experience?
The good part is that your customers are already happy with you. That’s why they signed up for your software in the first place. Now, all you have to do is make a small gesture to win their hearts, so they become completely loyal to you.
As we said earlier, your customers already believe in your software. You just have to make sure it stays that way. All you have to do is hold their hand for a little while during the initial setup of your software, and that’s it.
Yup, we are talking about free product on-boarding and training sessions to help your new customers understand your software.
On-boarding sessions are a process to make your new users comfortable with your software, so they can learn the best ways to benefit from it.
The importance of customer on-boarding and training sessions
Customer on-boarding and training sessions are the best way to convert your new users into loyal customers. And these are not mere words. Let’s look at some proven stats to see exactly how important these sessions are for your SaaS-based business.
- 40 to 60% new users will leave you after the free trial of your software just because they won’t be able to understand it on their own.
- 75% of your new customers will be gone within the first week of using your software without any training.
- Lack of customer training is a major reason for customer churn.
So, we can all settle on the fact that customer on-boarding spells customer retention, which is a big factor behind your business growth.
How to create a solid customer on-boarding program
The first step to creating a game plan for your customer on-boarding and product training program is to identify its objective. It’s not about retaining your customers or making them pay for your software service. No, it is actually about showing them the value of your product.
Once you know “what” you want to give your customers out of this program, you will figure out the “how” part without any sweat.
Now, how can you show your new users the value of your software? By showing them what your software can do for them and how it can solve their pain-points.
From a decent welcome email to celebrating their success of getting the hang of your software, it is a series of things.
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Say hello with a welcome email
Don’t be shy, greet all your new users with a welcome email. Keep it short, simple, and to-the-point. Thank them for choosing your software service among all the other options.
You can also give them a little taste of how exciting the experience is going to be. Drop some hints of your upcoming interactions with them, so they can know what to expect from you.
Finish your welcome email off by saying that you are available to help and support your users anytime they want (or mention the hours if it’s not anytime). Add a call to action (CTA) saying “contact us”, “book a demo”, or “schedule a call” and say your goodbyes.
If a user clicks on the CTA to schedule a demo, get someone from your customer support team to answer their call for help. Set up a quick session over Zoom or any other platform where your guy can share his screen with the customer and walk him through the software setup process. On-boarding done right!
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Share a product setup tutorial
If your software’s initial setup consists of a number of steps, cover them all in a video tutorial and pop it in your new users’ emails. This product setup tutorial will help anyone struggling with getting the basics of your software in place.
It will be best if you get one of your existing customers to record the video for you. The user will relate more to the video when told by a fellow customer rather than someone from the team of service providers.
On a side note, try to add banners to call out all the features of your software, so the users can easily follow the steps explained in your tutorial. These banners will briefly introduce every feature to the user who is seeing them for the very first time.
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Keep them posted with your knowledge base
Maintain a knowledge base of articles to provide specific instructions about important features of your software. Share the link of your resource section with your new customers via email. Let them know that you’ve got them covered with all the solutions to their on-boarding hitches.
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Check in with them on quick calls
Routine check-ins should be a major part of your customer on-boarding program. Make sure you call every new user once in a while to see how they are doing with your software.
If you feel like your customers are not comfortable with you calling them over and over, you can create a personalized email campaign and send it to all new users. The ones facing issues will reply, and from there, you can ask them to hop on a quick call and start a conversation.
Help your new customers get onboard with your product
Developing an awesome software service is great. But, you need to go an extra mile to make sure that your service reaches its full potential in the hands of its users.
Expecting your customers to get a hang of the software on their own is not going to cut it. So, say yes to their calls for help and build the best on-boarding experience for them.
If you need, do some research on the SaaS-based companies who have designed the greatest customer on-boarding and product training programs. Slack has done some great work to make sure every new user gets their communication software right, so you can check them out.
Just keep your customers at the centre of your on-boarding and training program and you’ll figure it all out. We hope that you impress your customers just as much with your efforts as you do with your software. Good luck!