Successfully onboarding new users to a product is fundamental to starting and growing a product based business. Onboarding can be defined in a few different ways, but at its core it is about getting users to a point where they are successful with and see value from using a product. It involves the full user experience at any touchpoint with a company and it’s product or service. From the point at which a user decides to give it a go, until some slightly fuzzy point in time when they use the product in a way similar to the majority of existing users. Getting user to that point successfully ties into both business and product strategy as well as the day to day operations of supporting users and fixing product issues.
High Growth SaaS B2B
Onboarding is particularly critical for high growth SaaS companies where reaching a low level of churn is necessary to achieving a high growth rate. I’m particularly interested in onboarding for B2B products, where products are typically paid for on a monthly basis and where the value of the product is determined based on what value it contributes to the running of a business. These teams run through a few different phases as they typically develop from very hands-on concierge onboarding with each individual user, to a more automated solution that lets the team scale and move into a full customer success offering. Meaning a mix of mostly automated onboarding with reactive support services and higher touch or even proactive one-to-one work to educate and develop individual high potential or high risk customers.
Successful onboarding touches on both of these factors, getting many users through the acquisition funnel to first use, in a way that uses a team’s limited resources in the most efficient manner resulting in fully onboarding the users who will most likely be successful and stay with a service for a long time. Creating that foundation is very important, not just for the obvious reason of getting anyone who comes to the door to a point where they are using the product, but also in the sense of making sure teams focus their efforts on the highest value, and highest potential customers in terms of high revenue growth and low churn down the line.
Building stuff - product strategy, design and user experience 