Liferay experts highlight the common traits of the best B2B onboarding experiences.

Customer onboarding is a key factor for driving satisfaction, loyalty, and retention. However, over 90% of customers feel that companies ‘could do better’ when it comes to onboarding new users, showing that optimizing this process still presents a challenge, especially in B2B.

"Many companies struggle with onboarding customers because processes are difficult to follow or require too much manual intervention,” said Marco Leo, VP of Product Delivery at Liferay. “A well-designed digital onboarding process can help customers understand and start using a product or service quickly so that they can get to value faster.” Liferay develops a cloud-powered digital experience platform (DXP) used by organizations worldwide to build customer portals, websites, and integration platforms.

The average onboarding process for a new corporate client can take up to 100 days, so companies have a long way to go to effectively streamline this part of the customer journey. Liferay experts, who have been supporting organizations using digital solutions to manage customer experience for over 15 years, recently shared five common traits of successful B2B customer onboarding experiences:

• 1. Customers Can Get Started Easily

• 2. The Onboarding Experience Is Personalized

• 3. Users Are Encouraged to Complete the Onboarding Process
  • Sending automatic welcome and follow-up emails to keep communication flowing and to celebrate each completed step.
  • Using auto-triggered notifications to remind users of the next steps they need to take.
  • Including visual step-by-step guides to help users see onboarding as a map with a final destination.
  • Adding game-like elements to celebrate achievements and encourage users to get to the end of the process.
    
    
• 4. Documentation Is Offered throughout the Whole Process

• 5. Support Is Available Right from the Start

Since onboarding remains a challenge in B2B, companies who get it right stand to gain a competitive advantage by getting their customers to value faster. "You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Customer onboarding is a critical process that enables newly-acquired customers to understand the value of a product or service quickly. This can help organizations improve their customer retention rates and positively influence customer lifetime value over time," commented Marco Leo.