By Jan Young
You’re probably as tired of this 2023 economic downturn and tech layoffs as I am. We’re all facing the challenge to scale and do "more with less." In these times, the onboarding stage in your customer journey is more crucial than ever before. It can make or break your relationship with customers. It determines the success of your customers’ business objectives and your future renewals. With the risk of customer disengagement and lost opportunities, optimizing the onboarding experience is essential for unlocking significant efficiencies and scaling potential.
In December, I led a workshop with a team to help them scale and build efficiencies in their CS Program, and since then, I’ve simplified it into “5 Easy Steps to Scale Your Onboarding” for a workshop at the Propel23 conference on April 19th. The conference is free, and in 45 minutes, you will have the process in-hand to apply to your own onboarding program. This article will give you an exclusive preview.
Great! So what are these 5 steps? D-I-M-A-P
Document
Identify
Matrix
Assign
Plan
D - Document
First: Start with a customer-centric journey. If your current journey resembles a set of internal playbooks, then document that first. Don’t think about what you want it to look like in the future yet. Only list out what actually takes place and indicate what your customer does or receives in that step of the journey.
You may be tempted to only do the onboarding stage of the customer journey. That would be a mistake. What your customer experiences before onboarding prepares them for what they do during onboarding (or not). Similarly, what your customer does in the onboarding stage with you prepares them for what they do next– adoption, expansion, renewals… or not.
You may be tempted to write up all of the things that you think should happen. Don’t go there. Just start with what happens now, what your customer actually experiences. In the future, you can ask yourself and your team: “What is my customer’s Jobs To Be Done? Why did they purchase my product? What do they need to do in the onboarding stage to enable their success?”
I - Identify
Now, identify ways to scale your onboarding program. Sounds easy enough, right?
Look at the journey. Which steps are currently manual versus automated for you? For your customer? Where do your customers trip up and languish? Where does your internal team trip up and languish? Mark those on the journey.
Make a list of all the steps that are not automated. Do NOT judge. This is often where the voice says:
That CAN’T be automated
Our customers would NEVER accept this if it were automated
We will NEVER have the resources to build out this self-serve feature
Ignore that voice! Make the list.
If this is your first time making this list, go with your gut. If you have a list, there are ways to add more customer insights to your list:
Analyze customer and internal tickets
Collect and tag customer feedback in a central location to track and analyze
Survey your customers at key moments in the journey with customer effort score or CSat surveys
Track and measure how long it takes customer and Internal stakeholders to accomplish activities and steps in the journey
M - Matrix
Next, take each of the items in your list, and put them into an Easy/Hard - High/Low Impact matrix. When you think about Impact, think about customer impact and company impact.
Note: A lot of people skip this step. That’s a mistake.
If you don’t take a moment to evaluate the impact or the level of difficulty, you can find yourself working on items on the left side of this chart wondering later why you’re not seeing results.
A - Assign
Take the projects in the Easy - High Impact quadrant and put them into a new list. Before you assign people and points, add some simple checkbox criteria such as whether each step is saving time or generating revenue for your customer and your company (this can be expressed by Y/N or $), whether it’s a required step for the customer’s success, and note if this project has more impact for the customer or the company. (This will help you prioritize later.)
Assign People. Depending on the initiatives, people can volunteer or they are assigned to the projects. Either way, add in a RACI chart here.
Assign Points. This is a great place to use Agile Methodology and assign points to the projects. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good in this process. Estimate. You can adjust and iterate later.
Now take the projects in the Hard-High Impact quadrant and go through the same steps.
You may notice here that I have not mentioned the Low Impact quadrants. Anything in the Easy-Low Impact quadrant is “nice to have”, but not worth your time when you have limited resources (which is almost always). If the status changes to High Impact, great. Add it on to the list. But if it’s something you just really like, recognize it for the low impact project that it is. As for the Hard-Low Impact projects, go ahead and glance at them for the Aha moment, and then move on.
P - Plan
Now you’re ready to prioritize and build your roadmap.
Note:
Which projects have the most impact on your customer’s and your company’s business objectives?
Do these projects use the same resources? Would it require someone to work 20 hour days, or will they be unavailable at certain times?
Do these projects have dependencies?
How many points did you assign? Are they Easy-High or Hard-High Impact projects?
With these notes in mind, assign and bucket the projects into your business quarters. Add up the points for each quarter. Do you have 50 points in Q2 and 200 points in Q3? Is that doable? Should projects be moved around? Did you put two projects into a quarter that can’t be done at the same time?
Now you have a plan. This plan will serve you as you iterate and update. This plan will also serve as a means to set expectations internally and with your customers.
As these new scaled, automated, or self-serve onboarding processes go live, you’ll want to prepare your team and your customers ahead of time. By updating this roadmap, you’ll be able to prepare in advance to ensure success. Don’t forget to measure your benchmark and your improvement rates so you can continue to iterate!
By investing in a seamless and engaging onboarding process, you can benefit both your company and your customers. Don't let the current economic climate hold you back from providing exceptional onboarding experiences that create long-lasting customer relationships.
Come join me at the Propel23 conference on Wednesday, April 19. It’s free. You’ll get all the worksheets so you don’t have to recreate the wheel. I'll walk you through this process in a 45 minute workshop and answer your questions. See you there!
The Success League is a customer success consulting firm that offers consulting, coaching, as well a CS Leadership Certification training program. Please visit TheSuccessLeague.io for more info.
Jan Young - Jan is passionate about lifelong learning, demystifying technology, optimizing teams, processes, and systems, and building effective relationships and communities. Her experience has included working in Enterprise companies and Startups of various stages, and she has advised several founders and startups. She serves on the board of Gain, Grow, Retain as co-lead of the Voice of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion council, and is a Founding Community Lead for CS Insider for which she writes and curates a series called “Inclusive Innovation”, and was recognized as a 2021 Top 100 Customer Success Strategist for her work in the community. She holds a BA from UC Berkeley, and an MBA from Columbia University. In her free time, she enjoys wine tasting, hikes, and Pickleball.