For B2B telecom, IT, and cloud providers, onboarding new clients involves a lot of moving parts. Without an organized approach, it's easy for important details to slip through the cracks – resulting in unhappy customers and potential compliance issues.
So, what’s the simplest way to make sure your onboarding goes smoothly? A comprehensive client onboarding checklist outlining each step of the process. With a new client checklist, your onboarding teams can deliver consistent experiences, avoid frustration, and get new customers up and running on your platforms and services.
Read on to see everything you need to build a client onboarding checklist that sets your new customers up for success.
What Is Client Onboarding?
Client onboarding is the process of getting a new customer set up to use your product or service. For B2B telecom, IT, and cloud providers, this process involves exchanging essential information, establishing workflows, setting up collaboration tools, and outlining the next steps to ensure your clients have everything they need to succeed from the start of your business relationship.
While the onboarding process won’t look the same for every business, the goal is always to provide a seamless experience that demonstrates why the client chose to work with you. Some common client onboarding models B2B tech companies use include:
- Low-touch onboarding, which is a self-service model with minimal human involvement where you provide resources like knowledge bases and support via email or phone.
- Medium-touch onboarding, which blends self-service with some human touchpoints like training webinars and one-on-one customer support.
- High-touch onboarding, which offers a white-glove, customized setup for large enterprise clients and typically involves extensive training and hand-holding.
For most B2B technology providers, medium- and high-touch onboarding is ideal as it allows for the right mix of automation and human interaction to ensure new clients are successfully onboarded.
Why Do You Need an Onboarding Checklist for New Clients?
The first 90 days after converting a new client are crucial. With 74% of consumers saying they'll switch to another solution if the onboarding process is too complicated,1 making a great first impression should be your top priority. Unfortunately, it’s easy to miss important details – especially if you have multiple team members working on onboarding new customers.
Creating a client onboarding checklist can help you:
- Stay consistent. Avoid missteps by following the same process every time.
- Boost efficiency. Simplify the onboarding process so your teams don’t have to waste time figuring out next steps.
- Encourage teamwork. Make sure the whole team knows their role in onboarding new clients.
- Reduce risk. Help your employees follow proper protocols to avoid legal or compliance issues.
- Improve retention. Increase the likelihood your clients will continue working with you by providing the best possible onboarding experience.
9 Steps To Include in Your New Client Checklist
When creating your client onboarding checklist, focus on the activities that will set your client up for a successful partnership. While each customer's needs will differ, your new client checklist should cover important tasks like administrative prep, legalities, technical setup, training, and project planning.
Ready to build an onboarding checklist for new clients? Here are some steps to consider including:
1. Assign Key Contacts
Right away, designate team members as the main contact points for sales and customer service. This gives the client go-to people to reach out to with questions or needs. Be sure to share contact details like email and phone number.
2. Review and Finalize Contract
Carefully validate all contract details and ensure the client fully understands the terms before signing. Keep records of signed agreements accessible to relevant team members to protect yourself from future legal or compliance issues.
3. Send Welcome Email
Kick things off on a warm, professional note by having your client's main point of contact send an introductory welcome message. The email should include details like what to expect during the onboarding process and any forms or questionnaires the client needs to complete.
4. Schedule Kickoff Call
Set up an onboarding call with the client and key team members to establish rapport, align on goals, discuss processes, and answer remaining questions. Make sure to send an agenda ahead of time so your client knows what to expect during the meeting.
5. Document Questions and Concerns
Note any issues or apprehensions the client brings up during the kickoff call so you can address concerns directly and resolve problems before they impact your business relationship.
6. Outline Workflows and Resources
Clarify what tools, systems, and resources the client will need to access and set up new users with logins and credentials. Walk through workflows for providing feedback, addressing issues, communicating progress, and other administrative tasks to keep everyone on the same page.
7. Define Training Needs
Determine what training the client needs on your product or service and outline a plan for delivering it through tutorials, webinars, manuals, demos, or other training materials.
8. Map Out Project Timelines
Work with the client to map out project timelines, milestones, roles, and responsibilities. Establish regular check-ins to review your customer's progress and make course corrections if needed.
9. Track Progress and Success Metrics
Monitoring onboarding tasks and deadlines is essential for setting new clients up successfully. Agree on key metrics, create a system for tracking ROI and progress toward goals, and build reports to share with your customer.
Ready To Put Your Client Onboarding Checklist Into Action?
Following a structured client onboarding checklist can help your B2B technology business deliver stellar customer experiences – but bringing in those new clients in the first place takes skillful inbound marketing.
That’s where Mojenta comes in. Our data-driven approach helps B2B telecom, IT, and cloud providers attract right-fit customers and partners into your pipeline through holistic inbound marketing, content marketing, email automation, and more.
Want to drive leads faster (and put your new client onboarding checklist to good use)? Book a consult with our marketing experts today.
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