Client On-Boarding is the process of familiarizing or integrating a customer with the Bank’s products and services. This process has been there for centuries, and all organizations follow certain methodologies that bring about a common goal while addressing it. Digital transformations have accelerated the pace at which client onboarding is looked at, leave alone maximise its adoption. In the current market, on-boarding transformations are continuously disrupting the life cycle of the customer journey in banks.
Client Onboarding involves 7 steps for customer success[1][2]:
This is where the client onboarding journey starts with the customer attending the sales calls and generating initial leads. In other cases, proposal sessions are planned where customers will be briefed on the offering at hand. For products, walkthrough sessions of the product are planned in most cases. Once the customer is familiar with the offerings, they will take the next step in the onboarding journey
A large number of companies rely on questionnaires to collect more information from clients. Knowing about the offering is one thing and actively engaging with the client is another. The customer provides more information in line with the offering, and this will show how best the company can engage with the client.
With this group of clients, the project will be launched and all the clients will be taken through the launch cycle. This is where most customers start indicating their choices to get enrolled in the program offerings.
Most customers signup for the offering at this stage and prove their allegiance to the project. Its best for the companies to sit with the customer to understand how to build the client onboarding journey. It is at this stage that the reminder of the onboarding journey starts to take shape.
After your kickoff meeting make sure the client gets some sort of welcome package. This is an opportunity to educate your client and reinforce their purchase decision. Make them feel special—a little effort goes a long way!
Follow-up with the client after 15 or 30 days to check how they are doing with the offering. Any changes in approach or perception of the offering in this time would get reflected in the feedback. Pursue a consistent generic approach if the client is happy with the offering and has good outlook for the same. If the client is very unhappy, then the best way to part should be on the table. Its best to cut short a bad engagement early on. However, if the team is sure of any approach which will turn things around, that approach can be followed.
Many clients struggle to get the onboarding of customers right. There are many ways in which clients are put to test during the onboarding process:
The rate at which existing clients cancel their onboarding journey or subscriptions over the lifecycle is called customer churn. This can be caused by an inefficient onboarding process or treating all customers in a rigid process. This can be addressed by keeping customer onboarding simple and flexible.
Regulations tend to influence client onboarding directly. Regulations dictate what should be there and should not be there in the onboarding journey. Frequent changes in regulations tend to change the onboarding journey often, leading to customer retention issues. Only highly efficient onboarding journeys tend to stand out in such regulated environments.
The process has multiple points of contact and many tasks to accomplish. Each task will be performed by multiple people and in different phases. Clients may not have the time to go through such laborious tasks. Therefore, it is best if the onboarding journeys take limited time to onboard.
Getting clients to use your features is a cumbersome task. When clients don’t understand the features, they won’t take the next step of using their features. It is important to build features based on clear data and insights. An effective marketing of features and training would go a long way in feature adoption.
Benefits of successful client Onboarding: When done effectively, successful client onboarding can lead to the following aspects of the customer journey:
Customers do not try to look for newer avenues in place of existing relationships. They are reliant on the relationship built between the organization and themselves and are fully satisfied with it. This leads to less client churn and more reliable relationships.
Customers are engaged in the relationship than ever. Successful client onboarding means clients are fully aware of all the aspects of the relationship and are actively engaging in many, if not all, aspects of the relationship.
Well-informed customers know what they are into. They can understand the depths of relationships and know the limits of what they require and what they get out of an engagement. Successfully onboarded clients who are well-informed can gain as they know what more to expect from these engagements.
Key to successful onboarding is whether a customer has the opportunity to stay for the long run. 80% revenues of companies are obtained from 20% of the customers. These customers are in it for the long term.
Incorporating digital transformation and automation techniques is essential for modern companies to tailor workflows according to customer journeys and implement efficient automation practices for onboarding and customer satisfaction.
Nowadays, digital only companies have grown rapidly and are demanding specific workflows for themselves. In such companies, the workflow would be modified to suit the customer journey. It starts with signup of services and various milestones would be added to different customer lists. Services and offerings will also be adjusted according to the chosen plan. The price for each customer journey would be selected according to the plan of the offering.
A variety of automation techniques have to be implemented at various stages of the client onboarding journey to delight the customers. Welcome email automation, customer service mails after 15 or 30 days, auto filling and populating forms with required information from the system, etc …are some such examples of automation practices to be followed. Other examples include following automation using AI/ML techniques.
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Sources:
[1] A guide to client onboarding: 7 steps to happier clients and less churn
[2] The Ultimate Guide to Client Onboarding
[3] Overcoming Customer Onboarding Challenges in SaaS: Your Go-To Guide