Think about whenever you've tried to build a relationship based on trust. The "getting-to-know-you" period can be notoriously fragile in any relationship—from a first date to a first call. There is always a chance of being turned down, and inadequate communication at such a critical point can be fatal. Adopting a straightforward and personalized approach will usually stand you in good stead. Client onboarding is a process that some would initially consider "non-automatable." Most people believe that only humans can get the best results when onboarding a client. And that's partially true. But we still use actual humans, like you, to power our automated workflows.

The Challenge of Remote Work to Customer Success

Recent global events may have accelerated remote work, but it's here to stay. Globalization and international clients are other reasons that you need more flexibility. Now, more and more customers are used to digital onboarding and expect it to be easy to follow, with a minimum of touchpoints. This doesn't mean we can say goodbye to the human element. The likelihood of retaining customers, and earning their loyalty, increases when the onboarding process is fast, frictionless, and—let's not forget—personalized.

Client Onboarding in Today's Virtual Reality

Client onboarding can be a stable point of focus in conquering Customer Success challenges on both ends of this spectrum. It's important to remember that onboarding is also a part of getting new clients, maybe even more so when times are uncertain and trust is key. For instance, by some measures, up to two-thirds of customers report that the promise of onboarding support factors into their decision to try a product or service.

The Knack for Remote Client Onboarding…and How to Get It

No matter how complex an onboarding process is, it should appear effortless for your client. Following best practices, their concerns should be anticipated early on so that nothing too surprising arises as they get acquainted with the onboarding process. A successful onboarding journey will make your client feel personally welcome and empowered sooner. With remote onboarding, customers expect it to be easy and take little time. This makes it harder for them to be patient.

Making Wrk Work for You

Every business's client onboarding process will look different and ideally be personalized to match each client's needs. That said, here are a few fundamental steps in the client onboarding process, that can be delivered in parallel with Wrk's Hybrid Automation Platform:

• A no-brainer, but heed that "personalized" modifier. Research suggests that 33% of customers will end a relationship with a business if it's not personalized enough. Nobody wants to feel like they're going through the (robot-powered) motions when being welcomed to a new product or service. Even when onboarding many clients, a business should never lose sight of the individual.

• People love to watch videos! I may or may not be watching a video as I type this. (I'm not.) The video tutorial has become an essential part of client onboarding experiences. Through step-by-step training videos, new customers get up to speed and onboard quickly. Video tutorials may be a preferred way for some clients to learn more about a product or service during the onboarding process. Moreover, Post Funnel even found that 30% of user drop-off was due to the customer not understanding the product.

• Would the remote client onboarding experience be complete without a webinar? Where video tutorials might teach how-to fundamentals, webinars offer more in-depth focus, for instance, on specific use cases for a product or service. Webinars can also be the place to promote cross-sell opportunities, an important feature of any onboarding process that hopes to get a jump-start on customer loyalty.

The Benefits of Client Onboarding Remotely

Times have changed, but client onboarding remains worth the investment. The odds of retention grow considerably when a customer journey starts off on the right foot. As retention grows, so does your business.

You stand to see further material gains by adapting to remote client onboarding. With automated tools such as Wrk, operational costs will be lower, freeing up your Customer Success team to focus on other objectives that need deeper attention. In addition, remote client onboarding's efficiency and seamlessness will enhance your customers' satisfaction levels. Converting to remote onboarding can also help identify and solve persistent stumbling blocks in your organization.

For Customer Success teams, now is the chance to transform an old onboarding process to a new way of doing things. And with the help of automation platforms like Wrk, going remote doesn't have to mean a loss of human touch.

Learn more about how Wrk's Hybrid Automation can benefit Customer Success teams today, check out our Customer Success White Paper!