Mastering Onboarding
๐The Ultimate Launchpad for Success! ๐
Onboarding sessions serve are launch points for the client. These are times to take care of the biggest causes of launch failures, when they can get immediate support in the room.
Onboarding sessions aren't just a time to get new users into their platform. They're often the first major interaction a user has had with the product, and they are the make-or-break point for future success, particularly if your product requires an onboarding before launch.
So, what should go into an onboarding? How should we run them? And, at the end of the day, what should folks get out them them?
โฒ๏ธ Pre-Session Prep
Ensure smooth sailing by checking off your list - connected services, participant details, and emergency contacts. Be prepared, and you'll breeze through! Before you meet the bulk of the people, you and your implementation team should meet to ensure the following:
Have you set up any connected services that could impact onboarding?This means adding sites to Allow Lists. Ensure domains for the new product are added to your email filters. If you require any APIs or linked services, they need to be connected and tested prior. Also, ensure both IT services are available during the call.
Have you gathered all of the right people? If you're onboarding 25 people, make sure all 25 people will be at the meeting. Make sure their names and titles are correct. Check your email list for misspelled emails! (There's always one...) Make sure you have everyone's pronouns and languages are confirmed. If the team is too big to get all of this in advance, have a plan to get this the day of.
Do you have a plan for preservation? Will you be recording the meeting? Is there an attendance form that is needed? Will you be using your Zoom report to track engagement? Does the company have an exit survey they need folks to do?
In the event of an emergency, do you have your list of contacts? There are two teams: your product and their company. Your product has people support (usually the presenter) and technical support (usually your customer support team). Their company will also have people support and technical support. Ensure you have those contacts!
๐ฉ๐คOn the Day Of
Your session will generally be short. Ideally, they should run ~30 minutes of true content.
Remember: The average attention span of an adult is equal to their age in minutes. If the average age of the group is 35, you have 35 minutes of attention. Use it wisely! A slide deck can help you stay on track.
๐Set Up and Plans (2-3 minutes)
On your title slide, include a way for folks to access the deck. Shortened links using Bitly or custom QR codes make it easy for folks to get to your deck quickly.
Add a slide to cover your goals for the day. One for each general section is customary. Use "I" statements to help the learners frame their goals for the day.
By the end of the session, I will be able to:
Access (the product).
Common Task #1
Common Task #2
Common Task #3
Ask for help from my implementation specialist
A slide with the goals and schedule in one place makes it easy for people to understand the plan for the day.
For every 45 minutes of content, it's customary to have a 15 minute break for questions and stretching. Plan these into longer session to avoid burnout.
In Person POV: When presenting in person, if there is information like the location of a bathroom, water, or cellphone areas, include this in a separate slide.
๐ Meet the presenter/attendees (2-3 min)
Your presenter is often the implementation specialist or customer success representative for the account. This is a contract-long partner, and will likely be their first point of contact when they have issues. It's important that this person does some brief introductions, to include:
Preferred Name and Pronouns
Preferred Methods of Contact
Scheduling Formats
Availability and Response Rates
All of this can be provided in a single slide.
โ
Systems checks and credentials (3-5 min)
Every onboarding needs to take a few minutes to ensure that users can access the product or platform.
Do they have their user names and passwords?
Is everything downloaded? If not, do they have time to do that now?
Do they have any physical products in hand?
A single slide with instructions and 2-3 FAQs can help speed this along.
If you notice that a person is missing from the implementation list, work with your people contacts to get them added.
If you notice a technical issue within your product, loop in your IT support.
If you notice a technical issue on their side, loop in their IT support.
๐ Elevator Pitch of Your Product (2-3 min)
We all love our products, and we want the world to love them like we do.
But, I need to you save the "sale" for later. This is time for the quick pitch. Remember - at implementation, they have already bought your product. They don't need your whole product life story. They need the quick:
WHO are you (the product)?
WHAT does your product do?
WHEN is your product most useful?
WHY do people prefer your product?
Seriously - time yourself. This needs to fit in 2 minutes TOPS. People often lose the most time in this session and it is the thing that causes people to check out. Give them the TLDR version of your company vision and move on. This is 2-3 slides tops, and you should be flying through them.
๐ซ Walkthrough for 3 Most Common Tasks (7-10 min/ea)
People come to sessions for this information, so the sooner you get there, the better it will be.
Think about your customer journey within your product. Think about every action they COULD take. Which three are the most common? Those are the ones you will focus on.
In K12 EdTech, this could be setting up a class, sending a resource to students, and grading.
With a finance app, this could be checking daily stock trends, finding the newest articles, and engaging in the community chat.
For a trucking app, this could be checking your latest assignments, logging data such as fuel, time, and weights, and leaving feedback on pick ups and drop offs.
Either way, these will be very unique to your app. Each step should get at least a slide. Include where to find the info in your app, how to get there, how to interact optimally, and basic troubleshooting.
I find it helpful to model these steps with the user and work through scenarios that they present. This does mean you need a high level of familiarity with the customer's use case. However, when you speak about specific use cases, customers tend to buy in more.
๐ญ Q&A Session (Remaining time)
The rest of your session should be open for folks to ask questions. I love to use this as an AMA session for folks.
You wanna know about an advanced feature? Let's do it!
You're stuck somewhere? Let's go back.
You can't get logged in? Fear not! It's just you, me, and that Forgot Password button. I'll make it happen!
This is a time to connect with your audience and make them feel comfortable to come back. But, if you're in a busy group (like working with teachers or doctors or high level Execs), always feel free to give them this time back. They will thank you later!
๐The Aftermath
It's not over when the Zoom room closes! Send a team email, share goodies like slide decks and recordings, and follow up after a week. Onboarding success extends beyond the session! Here's my favorite follow ups.
#1 Send a Follow Up to Everyone
Send an email to the team. Usually email it to your implementation folks, like your account contacts, and CC anyone in your support org. Then, BCC everyone who was at the training. Thank them for coming and let the lead know how great the group was. They want to know that their team learned a lot.
#2 Send Goodies
In that email, include some follow up treats. My favorites:
The link to the slide deck
Your scheduling link
A copy of the video and audio recordings (if recorded)
Any printable Getting Started materials that you didn't give out in the session
#3 Wait a week, then...
Send a quick follow up to the implementation team only. Nothing too crazy - just a "checking in" message to see if any issues have popped up. Thank them again for the experience, then continue monitoring progress.