Would we not all agree that getting the right “flow” makes for a happier and more successful customer onboarding experience?
Well, in this article we will be looking at the concept of Product Flows, a few superb examples along with some of the benefits created from using them in Customer Onboarding. By using these flows we can improve product understanding, increase conversions, and drive customer satisfaction. Let’s see how.
Article Highlights:
- Challenges in Customer Onboarding
- How can Product Flows solve Onboarding issues?
- Examples of Product Flows
- Benefits of Product Flows
- How to be prepared for Product Flows
Challenges in Customer Onboarding
Customer onboarding sets the “tone” for the entire relationship with your product and company, placing its sights on a continued harmonic customer journey that reduces churn. Shoddy onboarding can lead to disappointed customers who, let’s face it, will take their business elsewhere. So let’s highlight a few onboarding challenges we sometimes face…..
Tedious or Lengthy Onboarding
Time is of the essence and customers want to see a speedy onboarding phase, like a well-oiled machine! If the onboarding process takes too long and users are not receiving the support they require, their engagement will most likely decrease or go kaput altogether.
Poor Navigation
If customers do not understand and are not taught how to navigate around your product’s features, this can result in said features becoming underused. If a customer doesn’t experience the value of your product they will become disengaged and find another solution.
What is the goal?
With the customer’s “goals” being at the heart of the process, it is incredibly important to establish a good relationship and understanding of the purpose and specific requirements behind these goals. If these goals are unclear it becomes challenging to guide customers in the right direction or personalize their experience. The whole idea of onboarding is that you want customers to see that your product makes their life easier!
How can Product Flows solve onboarding issues?
As we have discussed above, there are numerous challenges your team can face during customer onboarding. Now let’s focus on some solutions!
If onboarding and retention are critical to your NRR, then so are Product Flows. They are designed to guide users to a better form of understanding, resulting in further engagement and the grasp of the product value. Different features create the opportunity to connect the dots and point out the specifics. Key points of some of these encouraging features include:
- Hot spots/tooltips and modals to onboard, engage and retarget your customers immediately.
- Auto or “In-app” messages based on certain triggers or conditions the user meets. Meaning only the users you choose will see your flow.
- Rich content, like links and features highlights that will aid a user in their onboarding journey.
- Connect them to a knowledge base, allowing customers to store and organize all their articles and videos
- An omnichannel approach to customer onboarding, By combining your flows with behavioral emails, you will entice the user and provide a more personal experience. (We’ll dive into some great examples of this from companies such as LinkedIn and Duolingo shortly),
- Highlight all the benefits of your product, explain why this will benefit them, and finally, show your customers how to “integrate” their software stack
- Linking product flows within a product, so customers can be retargeted or reengaged
Examples of Product Flows
Successful products focus on the flow that’s most exotic and intriguing to their customers, allowing them to understand why they should sign up in the first place.. and how it works of course. As discussed above such examples include :
Duolingo
Offering a learning goal whilst competing for fun, Duolingo is the perfect example of an onboarding experience that begins with the product and ends with a signup form. This app allows users to engage gradually before committing to the registration. With a fun, easy to use interface, an odd but intriguing green bird to follow you on your language learning journey, a “mission before sign up approach” and a progress bar to create constant positive reinforcement….customers get the sense of achieving value in the product without a long registration process.
Duolingo homepage, an easy-to-navigate onboarding system creating fun in a new language!
LinkedIn is a professional social network with a consistent user onboarding flow. This onboarding system rapidly allows you to understand what the product includes, using a simple guide to set up your profile, along with a personalized message to sweep you off your feet from the get-go. This style of onboarding flow drives the user towards the value of the product as well as a worthwhile experience. A simple profile can be set up within minutes by asking security questions, and interests and finding connections via email.
A fast, fun, and creative way of showing and sharing photos with family and friends (not to mention aesthetically pleasing to the eyes), Instagram has it all. Being the most popular photo-sharing application, it’s not surprising that it provides an easy-to-navigate onboarding experience. A simple way of breaking down how Instagram describes the product is – Take a photo, choose a filter to give it that wow factor, then post it. It couldn’t be simpler.
Benefits of Product Flows
Product flows give you insights into your product’s strengths and weaknesses, providing a roadmap for better engagement and product development. By grasping how and what features your customers use can save you precious time and money.. In summary here are some key benefits of Product Flows:
Faster Customer Onboarding
Product Flows lead the pathway to customers seeing the instant value and potential in your product, converting these customers from free to paying clients!
Increased Retention and Engagement
By including interactive activities for the user, they feel more at ease with the product, which in turn rewards them for making steps in the right direction. For example, Instagram, as we mentioned above, has a story feature or filter, which we learn how to use very easily from the tooltips menu.
Proactive Customer Support
With more proactive, less reactive support, this means more engagement for your customer. Less time is wasted on answering customer support tickets as correct tools are put in place so the problems do not arise in the first place!
Prevent Churn
With the right processes in place, ideally, you are only onboarding target users and therefore Product Success leads to Customer success….and voila – none to very little churn!
Create Product Champions and Power Users
The ability to drive customer satisfaction. The happier your customers and the more value they get from your product, the more they will want to promote you and other users.
How to be prepared for Product Flows
There are numerous methods you can use to prepare yourself for an effective Product Flow. Below are some tips and recommendations:
- Planning and organizing independent flows based on the initial onboarding goals. For example, is the aim to add new users, try new features, or sign up for a paid plan? Well, the answer is simple…each differing Product Flow can help create a specified goal. What could be simpler?
- Remember the phrase “a picture speaks louder than words”? By choosing visual content such as images and videos, you can engage and intrigue your audience in a more successful manner, providing better content.
- Don’t use overcomplicated jargon in your written word. Be clear and concise, without confusing your audience. The customer needs well-mapped-out instructions to complete their necessary actions.
- Why not try testing out different content with different user groups. This can help you create many different types of onboarding flows and offer variety.
To conclude, we hope this article has given some insight into Product Flows, their magic, and most importantly, how to provide your customer with happiness and satisfaction during the onboarding process. By educating your customers on how to achieve their product goals, you have the ability to create that “wow factor” that every user is seeking!
Until next time, enjoy the journey.