Earn loyal customers with an automated onboarding process

Implement an onboarding automation campaign to create an exceptional customer experience

Get a demo

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Earn loyal customers with an automated onboarding process

Implement an onboarding automation campaign to create an exceptional customer experience

Get a demo

What is customer onboarding automation?

The topic of customer onboarding has been picking up steam in the business world over the past few years… and with good reason. Typically, onboarding is associated with bringing on a new employee to a company. Why not use the same idea for your customers?

Once a customer has purchased, it’s up to the business to respond in a timely and thoughtful manner. This begins with product delivery and ends with a repeat or lifelong customer. Business growth expert and author Lincoln Murphy underscores this process, postulating “The early days of your relationship with your customer are critical; whatever analogy you want to use (planting seeds, laying a foundation, etc.), just know that whatever happens in the first stage of engagement (a period of time that’s unique to your situation) really does impact the long-term growth of your customer as a customer.”

Whether a company is selling individual products or offers a subscription type service, having a strong base of repeat customers is the foundation of any successful business. Through automation you will find comfort in knowing that each customer onboarding experience guarantees the same quality and promptness.

A designed representation of lead scoring where a contact receives points for engaging with a business.

What is customer onboarding automation?

Image of a Task tree with Task Outcomes such as Lead is Not Qualified, Lead Didn't Answer and Lead is Interested.

Why do you need an automated onboarding process?

Customer acquisition and subsequent onboarding are two of the biggest hurdles small businesses face. Often too much importance is placed on customer acquisition, letting customer onboarding fall by the wayside. This is a punishing mistake. A customer’s immediate post-purchase experience with your company sets the tone of your relationship. This is your chance to wow them and get them to brag to all their friends about you. Lose them here and you’ve lost them for good. That’s why customer onboarding is a critical window of opportunity that calls for prompt and concise follow-up and guidance.

Boost customer retention

It costs about five times as much to acquire a new customer than it does to keep an existing one. By ensuring that your customers are well on the road to their desired outcome from the get-go, you’ll gain loyal patrons in turn boosting retention skyhigh.

Boost your ROI

Investing in the initial success it takes for your customers to meet their ultimate goals pays off in droves. A streamlined customer onboarding experience not only brings customers back for repeat business, it consequently generates referrals from those who’ve been blown away by their experience with you.

Picture of a woman sitting behind a computer with the computer showing contact records within a CRM database.

Boost customer retention

Boost your ROI

Where does Ontraport fit in with onboarding automation?

Though the customer onboarding experience may vary greatly from business to business, Ontraport’s powerful platform allows you to tailor your automation to meet the demands of any onboarding process, regardless of how simple or expansive. Whether onboarding for your product/service is done with extensive training, a simple email, or a series of one-on-one phone calls with the customer, each of these can be “systemized” with automation to save you time and retain customers at astounding rates.

An automated onboarding process takes the brunt, if not all, of the manual work out of a tedious, costly chore. Rather than inundating yourself with customers and risk someone slipping through the cracks or receiving a less than remarkable experience due to resource constraints, Ontraport guarantees the same experience for everyone.

“If you hold a customer’s hand for 90 days, they’ll be loyal for life.”

- John Jantsch, author of Duct Tape Marketing

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Examples of onboarding automation using Ontraport

Targeted emails

Not everyone who buys your product or service does so for the same reason, and they don’t all have the same background. Onboarding in Ontraport makes it possible for you to automate the onboarding experience on a per customer basis according to customers’ particular needs, wants, inquiries or problems. When customers buy from you, they’ll receive a welcome email that directs them to an Ontraport Smart Form inquiring about their particular reason for purchasing. Once they’ve selected one of the designated options on the Smart Form, they’re automatically subscribed to one of the several targeted Onboarding Sequences you’ve created to match the needs of your customers. See the other examples for ways you can build your Onboarding Sequences.

Product tutorial

If you’re selling a product or service that requires some light to medium instruction, direct your new customers to a dedicated product tutorial page post-purchase via a series of automated onboarding emails. Immediately after a customer buys from you, Ontraport auto-adds them to an onboarding funnel in which they’ll receive a welcome email to acquaint them with your business. This email is followed by three or more emails over the span of at least a week that cover the basics of your product/service and link to your product tutorial page that you’ve created using our Ontraport Pages feature.

Once customers have learned what they need to get started, they’re automatically subscribed to your daily or monthly newsletter so they’ll continue to hear from you over time.

A designed image of a man sitting behind a laptop

Training site

Ontraport gives businesses with even the most complex products a perfect way of educating and delighting its customers with onboarding automation. Ontraport users are able to launch full-fledged membership sites in WordPress dedicated to new customer onboarding and training. On this membership site you’re able to host a series of sequential lessons and courses aimed at bringing your new customers up to speed and using your product/service to its full potential. When customers buy from you, they’ll be automatically added to an onboarding funnel on which they’ll immediately receive a welcome email that delivers to them their log-in credentials to your training site. From there they’re able to log in at their leisure and master your training.

One-on-one automated onboarding process

With Ontraport you’re able to automate your one-on-one onboarding process while retaining the essential human element. This is made possible with automated task prompts and calendar integration with web tools such as Zapier and Calendly. When customers buy from you, they’ll receive a welcome email that links them to you or your dedicated onboarding staff member’s online calendar. Once the onboarding appointment is booked, your team member is prompted with an automated task email or SMS to call the customer for one-on-one onboarding at the designated time, after which the customer receives a follow-up email summing up what they learned and explaining where they can go for more information.

Order fulfillment

For a business selling physical products, onboarding can be handled in Ontraport via automated product fulfillment. When customers make a purchase, they’ll immediately receive a thank you/welcome email acquainting them with your company. Meanwhile, their order is automatically added to a fulfillment list along with all necessary customer shipping information and sent to whomever handles the shipping of your physical goods - whether that is someone at your company or an outside fulfillment house. In your product package you can include instructions, a personalized message and/or a small gift to make customers feel extra special.

Welcome call with upsell

The human element can do wonders for onboarding. A welcome call not only makes new customers feel appreciated, it gives them the opportunity to ask any burning questions about your product or service before diving in. On top of that it gives you, the vendor, the opportunity to upsell any other products the customers may want to supplement their initial purchase. When customers buy from you, you or a designated team member will receive an automated task notification to call and welcome them. During the course of this call you’re able to gauge the customers’ needs and goals and upsell them. If the customers agree to the upsell, the rep can fill out an Ontraport form with the customers’ info to complete the additional purchase.

Save time and earn raving customers with onboarding automation.

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“I simply cannot believe how powerful Ontraport is … The ability to know each and every touchpoint that prospects have with my business is so important. We never read an email from a client or prospect without knowing their entire relationship with our business. We would be lost without Ontraport.”

— Matthew J. Watts, FreedomPreneur Business Academy

Save time and earn raving customers with onboarding automation.

Get a demo

— Matthew J. Watts, FreedomPreneur Business Academy

Frequently Asked Questions

What is marketing automation and why is it so important?

Marketing automation is technology that manages repetitive marketing tasks and complex campaigns so you don’t have to. This software allows you to automate your communication with leads and customers throughout the customer lifecycle, from their first touchpoint to post-purchase.

When paired with a CRM that collects data about your leads and customers, your marketing automation software can use that data to deliver engaging, effective experiences across multiple channels. Whether you use email marketing, SMS messages or a combination of the two, marketing automation will give you the power to turn more leads into customers — without managing the whole process manually.

What is a digital marketing funnel?

Digital marketing funnels are like road maps that your prospects follow until they eventually convert into loyal customers. You can create all kinds of funnels depending on your business and strategy, however most center around the five customer lifecycle stages: Attract, Convert, Fulfill, Delight and Refer.

With marketing automation, your leads and customers will move from one stage to the next based on their interactions with your business. For example, your marketing platform can bump a contact to their next lifecycle stage automatically after they reach milestones like signing up for your newsletter or making a first purchase. The best part is, it all runs on autopilot after you set it up, which gives you the power to scale faster.

Is Ontraport a good choice for B2B marketing automation?

Yes — Ontraport is a great fit for attracting new prospects, nurturing leads, generating sales and more for your B2B business. We offer reliable tracking and attribution, highly personalized communication channels, and ready-to-launch marketing funnels that you can kick off in minutes. Plus, since Ontraport lets you gather and store more data than most marketing automation solutions, you’ll be able to reach more potential customers and get better results from your marketing efforts.

Why should I automate my onboarding process with Ontraport?

Ontraport has all the customer onboarding software features you’ll need to deliver consistent experiences and help new customers reach their goals.

You’ll be able to engage across channels at just the right times, no matter what your ideal onboarding process looks like. Whether you need to send a string of targeted educational emails, schedule onboarding calls or even send an SMS to welcome new customers, you can do it all automatically in Ontraport.

Once you have your onboarding funnel set up, you can use our prebuilt Smiley Survey and Testimonial Generator system to survey customers about their experience and pinpoint the biggest strengths and weaknesses of your onboarding system. All the automation and design is done for you, so you’ll only need to fill in a few blanks to launch your survey system in minutes. Then you can approach new customers in just the right way, learn what they thought about your product and onboarding process, and respond in a way that strengthens relationships for the long haul.

Any tips on how to enhance onboarding experiences for my customers?

The most important part of onboarding is making sure you’re providing new customers with everything they need to make the most of your product or service. This might include follow-up emails with a quick check-in, common FAQs and resources, or an easy way for customers to reach out with questions.

Your customer onboarding lifecycle will vary based on your industry and business. For example, a pet photographer’s clients would likely need an introductory call to go over specific photo requests, how to prepare for their shoot and when to expect the final product. A massage therapist might offer some simple guidance for at-home stretches and preventative care before appointments.

How do I know if Ontraport is the best marketing automation software for me?

When you’re shopping for a marketing platform for your business, you’ll want to take your entire business into account — not just the marketing side of things. Whether you choose Ontraport or not, we recommend making sure your automation platform includes the following features, at the very least:

A website or landing page builder to share your business with the world online
A system for capturing leads and sending marketing emails
A contact management system (CRM) to keep track of clients and prospects
A payment processing tool to collect orders and charge credit cards/li>

Of course, you’ll probably need more sophisticated tools as your business continues to grow. With Ontraport, you’ll have everything you need now and in the future — all under one roof.

Take a look at our buyer’s guide for a complete checklist of all the CRM, marketing automation and sales features to keep in mind throughout your software search. It’ll help you find the perfect platform for your business (even if you don’t choose Ontraport).

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