Best Customer Onboarding Software in 2024

customer onboarding software

How do you make sure you get this process right? Apart from having the right people and the right motivation, it would be remiss not to use the tools you already have or invest in some new ones, such as customer onboarding software so that everything required is being done to ensure your clients expectations are being met or, ideally, exceeded.

A successful onboarding process is unique to each company. The results of delivering unsuccessful onboardings are, however, universally felt. Failed onboardings, or those that don’t deliver the minimal value expected by customers, will result in increased customer churn, reduced net revenue retention, and ultimately a reduction in the lifetime value of your customers.

This can ultimately put you out of business, so getting the onboarding process right is (should be) a core priority for any SaaS business.

As with all software niches these days, there is no shortage of onboarding platforms on the market. Below, we will dig into some top solutions for 2023.

What Should You Look for in Customer Onboarding Software?

Even though customer onboarding systems are relatively young, their usage and popularity have increased rapidly over the past year. There is also a good deal of well-built software on the market right now.

To choose the ones that your business can benefit from the most, you first need to evaluate your business’s top priorities. Suppose you are in the SaaS industry and are noticing that some of your product or service features are not used enough or at all. In that case, you should select software that offers tools for creating compelling audiovisual run-throughs to revive interest. Now, let’s see some key features that you should look at in client onboarding software.

Go for user-friendly software with automated plans

Customer onboarding software are usually no-code solutions and their tools can be used by anyone from your team. You don’t have to spend hours coding, as no-code solutions give you a chance to create the flow within minutes. They should already contain templates and drag-and-drop builders for walkthroughs, guides, and other onboarding content.

Custom-tailored client experience matters

One of the top advantages of automated onboarding over manual onboarding is the fact that all the processes are streamlined, quickened, and can be personalized along the way. Customer success onboarding tools help you customize the onboarding experience for each client so that it caters to their unique needs. Some clients prefer interactive instructions, while others like character-based ones. By segmenting the users, you can create a personalized onboarding experience for each customer, make them feel comfortable within your platform, and encourage engagement. 

Extensive analytics and reporting

By collecting and evaluating data on customer engagement, conversion metrics, and time-tracking, you can assess the efficiency of the onboarding process and identify weak points within it. Still, pick the customer onboarding software platform that allows you to gather relevant data from your customers without being too intrusive or containing lengthy forms.

Easy Integration with other platforms and channels

To ensure seamless data flow and exchange and avoid errors, make sure to select software that integrates with CRM (customer relationship management) systems, the help desk, and project management tools. Also, the software should have integrated communication tools or be able to integrate with communication software so that you can easily stay on the same page with your team.

Gathering feedback

The best way to know what customers think about your product or service is to ask them directly. This is why you should choose online customer onboarding software that comes with feedback tools or can integrate with the given software (like Jotform) that helps you gather the data and understand the client’s needs and issues better.

Before we present you with the SaaS customer onboarding software comparison, let us just point out a few of the top benefits of using an adequate onboarding platform:

  • It can save money and time by automating and facilitating the onboarding process and improving organizational efficiency.
  • It can increase retention, user activation, and both feature and product adoption (like WalkMe does) by improving customer experience.
  • It can lower the churn rate by boosting customer satisfaction and increasing customer loyalty.

Top Customer Onboarding Software to Use in 2023

Whether you are looking for solid and cheap solutions for customer onboarding or a more costly one that comes with advanced features and is categorized as all-in-one automated customer onboarding software, you’ll find both examples on the given list.

Rocketlane

Rocketlane is a cloud-based project management platform that combines project tracking, collaboration, and communication with both clients and team members. It is used to shorten time-to-value and improve project predictability by allowing you to show the customers transparently each project’s milestones and blockers. It offers free trials.

GuideCX

Both Rocketlane and GuideCX offer the same features – templates, tasks, and collaborations. However, it is noted that Rocketlane has a bit more complicated interface, so you’ll need to decide whether you prefer a straightforward interface or whether you believe that your tech-savvy team members will enjoy exploring more progressive features. Unlike ClickUp (which comes next), it includes and puts focus on everyone involved in external projects.

ClickUp

ClickUp is a customer onboarding app created to organize, plan, and collaborate within the team using goals, tasks, whiteboards, and other tools. It creates checklists, welcome guides, and other resources for clients, keeps the team in sync with management features, and brings different teams together with the special ClickUp client success template.

Akita

Akita is one of the customer success onboarding software tools designed for startup SaaS companies. It comes with a powerful segmentation tool that groups customers by engagement, behavior, lifecycle stage, and many more. It integrates with dozens of SaaS tools like CRM, help desk, billing, and chat products, providing the team with a unified view of the customer data. What sets Akita apart from other customer onboarding solutions is its ability to absorb data from any data source a customer has – even data from a customer’s API. To prevent churn, Akita comes with a customizable scoring system (health score) and automated alerts when the account might need some extra care. Unlike most other customer success software, Akita offers visualized metrics data. It comes with a free triatrial, as well.

Akita segment showing onboarding accounts
Akita segment showing onboarding accounts

ChurnZero

ChurnZero is another customer success onboarding software that offers customer behavior tracking, unlimited customer segmentation, and automated alerts. Like Akita, it is an excellent tool for customer retention improvement as it allows companies to stay engaged with clients, address their needs, and modify customer success strategies on the go. By tracking customer details like NPS (Net Promoter Score), activities, and next renewal date, ChurnZero provides insight into product usage and overall satisfaction with it, and could effectively reduce churn rates. 

Conclusion

In SaaS, effective client onboarding is a key to business sustainability and success. There is an array of high-edge client onboarding software nowadays, but the key is to find and use the one that can answer your unique business’ needs and help you set your customer onboarding to success. Give Akita a try if you are looking for a customer onboarding software where you can centralise all your customer data, get actionable insights, have personalized interactions, and fully optimize all your onboarding workflows to cultivate enduring and strong relationships with your customers

Frequently Asked Questions

Can customer onboarding software improve customer retention?

Yes! By streamlining the onboarding process, you offer your customers a seamless experience from the very beginning. After educating users about the product and its features, continue offering useful tips and make sure to address friction. This is how you’ll create a strong bond with clients and improve customer loyalty and retention.

How can customer onboarding software prevent a high churn rate?

By creating customized onboarding to shorten time-to-value and an in-app help center for customer support and education, ensuring customers have a smooth transition from trial periods to subscription plans, and providing simple instructions and visual content like how-to videos or infographics.

Does customer onboarding software work for SaaS?

Of course! Since onboarding is one of the essential customer touchpoints in SaaS, as it provides them with useful tools to use the software and stick around it for longer, it is crucial to invest in customer onboarding software if you are in the SaaS industry.

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