How can an automated customer onboarding process help with growth?<\/h2>\n
Ragini Vaid<\/a>, a Product Manager at Collegedunia, notes that automated onboarding maps “customer responses in real-time to decide the next best action towards nurturing your user.”<\/p>\n This form of nurturing yields certain advantages:<\/p>\n Impala, a software platform designed to democratize social impact data and connect nonprofits with grantmakers, provides an excellent example of just how effective automating client onboarding can be.<\/p>\n Their automated onboarding process used an interactive walkthrough to showcase the product<\/a>. At the end of the walkthrough, they prompted the user to take action and create a list of suitable prospects.<\/p>\n One of their initial automation goals was to \u201cprovide greater user support and guidance,\u201d<\/em> and they did that excellently. The user activation rate for those who saw the automated walkthrough was 100% higher than the rate for those who didn\u2019t (23% versus 46%).<\/p>\n You can read more about all of Impala\u2019s automation and their results here<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n So, you’ve decided to employ automation using a customer onboarding software<\/a>, but aren’t sure where to begin?<\/p>\n What do you hope to achieve with your onboarding process<\/a>? Or, to put it differently, what will a successful onboarding look like for your customers and your business?<\/p>\n Your goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (S.M.A.R.T<\/a>.). For example, you may consider any of these to be your ideal customer onboarding goals:<\/p>\n Notice how each example defines onboarding success in easily measurable terms? That’s your goal.<\/p>\n To create an effective onboarding process, you need a deep understanding of the current customer journey<\/a>.<\/p>\n So, trace every step new customers take from the moment they purchase your product\/service or sign up through to when they become active, engaged users.<\/p>\n As you do, identify all the touchpoints where they interact with your company, product, or resources:<\/p>\n Finally, create a detailed flowchart (map) outlining these steps<\/a>. If you have different customer segments, you’ll need to do this for each segment.<\/p>\n You can ask yourself the following questions to help:<\/p>\n Once you know what you need to automate, you can identify the best customer onboarding tool<\/a> for your needs, as different tools may have varied focuses (email, knowledge base, in-app guidance, etc.). But that’s not all you need to consider when selecting automated tools.<\/p>\n Factors to consider include:<\/p>\n You may also need a combination of tools to address different needs. For example, you can use Mailchimp to automate your welcome emails<\/a>, Zapier to connect different applications, and Userpilot<\/a> for your in-app workflows and product guidance.<\/p>\n Relevant articles to check:<\/p>\n Armed with your preferred tool, it\u2019s time to craft your onboarding workflows.<\/p>\n First, map out the sequence of automated steps, including data collection, in-app messages, tutorials\/walkthroughs, emails, etc. Your final flow map should capture the entire onboarding journey.<\/p>\n Then, define what actions or events will trigger each step in the flow. These triggers will help you move customers smoothly from one step to the next.<\/p>\n For example, Ragini Vaid<\/a>, mentioned earlier, describes a 3-step layered automation workflow for what he calls \u201cDay 0 onboarding.\u201d<\/p>\n Day 0 onboarding automation flow by Ragini Vaid.<\/p>\n Can you notice how each step uses a series of if\/else (yes\/no) conditions to determine what comes next? The same principle can be applied everywhere else.<\/p>\n For instance, a project management app can check welcome survey<\/a> responses and trigger Flow 1<\/em> for project managers and Flow 2<\/em> for team members.<\/p>\n You can even use if\/else conditions to trigger progress through the onboarding flow. For example, you can prompt users to complete a key action before they’re allowed to progress.<\/p>\n At this point, your automation should be ready. Before deploying it, though, be sure to test it extensively. Test it in-house with team members cosplaying as customers to see if it runs smoothly and accurately.<\/p>\n Things to watch out for during this test include:<\/p>\n Then, launch a pilot test with a small group of customers<\/a> to identify areas for improvement. Collect customer feedback and effect any necessary changes before mass deployment.<\/p>\n Even after rolling out your automated onboarding process to your entire customer base, you’re not free yet. You need to measure its performance against the goals you defined in Step 1.<\/p>\n One way to do this is by tracking customer data, including completion rates, time to value, customer retention, support ticket volume, conversion rates, etc., during and after onboarding.<\/p>\n You can also collect user feedback<\/a> using tools like CSAT and NPS to gauge customer satisfaction.<\/p>\n As you examine the data, notice what\u2019s working well and what isn\u2019t, and optimize your processes accordingly. Keep tuning your flow as more information comes to light and your user base or product changes.<\/p>\n Now, it\u2019s worth noting that onboarding is a rather large and varied process, and so is customer onboarding automation. So, let\u2019s examine what you can automate.<\/p>\n Traditionally, signing up requires users to create a unique username and password, fill out personal details, and seek out a verification link.<\/p>\n Single Sign-On streamlines that first step of the customer journey. It allows them to use existing credentials from trusted third-party providers like Google, Apple, Facebook, etc., to sign up instead.<\/p>\n Your users will appreciate not having to create yet<\/em> another account, and you will get the users into the product faster. You also get the added benefit of automated data transfer from the SSO provider.<\/p>\n Once the user has signed up, an automated welcome message helps create a warm first impression of the product experience. So, avoid leaving your welcome page blank<\/a>.<\/p>\n Consider some automation options to explore:<\/p>\n Despite sending an in-app welcome message, you may also want to greet the user via email<\/a>. This is good practice, as welcome emails increase early engagement by about 33% and are 86% more effective than standard newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n Thankfully, email automation has<\/a> come a long way. You can:<\/p>\n Once the user gets past the welcome screen, it\u2019s good practice to guide them through the necessary setup steps and key actions.<\/p>\n A personalized onboarding checklist<\/a> helps you do just that. It breaks down the onboarding process into manageable tasks and records the user’s progress as they complete each step.<\/p>\n You can even automate it further by:<\/p>\n Instead of a single, rigid onboarding path, you can create dynamic workflows that adapt based on users’ behaviors, preferences, and goals. There are several ways to do this:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n The whole purpose of customer onboarding is to create a frictionless customer experience<\/a>. So, although this isn’t strictly part of the initial “welcome” phase, automating customer support is a great idea.<\/p>\n For example, you can provide a searchable in-app resource center<\/a> that contains help articles, webinars, video tutorials, case studies, etc. You can even include the option for users to chat with an agent in this center.<\/p>\n What’s more, you can automate your resource center to show certain resources depending on a user\u2019s segment or the page they’re on.<\/p>\n By this point, you should already know what automation in your product can look like. However, if you\u2019re still unsure how to proceed, the following examples should help.<\/p>\n A user\u2019s journey on Sked Social begins with a welcome message. Here, the user is directed to connect their first social account since this is critical to the app\u2019s use.<\/p>\n Once connected, Sked Social uses an automated checklist<\/a> to power the onboarding process.<\/p>\n The checklist contains a progress bar<\/a>,<\/u><\/strong> and clicking each list item transports the user to the relevant action page with information to guide them.<\/p>\n Finally, upon completing all list items, Sked Social displays a congratulatory message to encourage and motivate the user.<\/p>\n To find out the results of this automation, read the full case study here<\/a><\/u><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Talana originally provided one-on-one training to users, but soon found that this was not scalable for a fast-growing customer base. So, they automated the customer onboarding process<\/a> instead.<\/p>\n Some automation elements they included were:<\/p>\n How did these implementations help them? Click here<\/a><\/u><\/strong> to read more.<\/p>\n Last, but not least, is GrowthMentor\u2019s example. The product was designed to connect two sets of users: growth experts (mentors) and business owners (mentees).<\/p>\n Like Talana, they noticed they spent so much time answering onboarding-related questions. So, they switched their approach, taking advantage of automated personalization to improve the process.<\/p>\n First, this meant automatically separating mentors from mentees after signup. Then, they created checklists to help mentors understand how the product worked and set up their accounts.<\/p>\n For mentees, they focused instead on introducing them to the product and guiding them to book their first session.<\/p>\n The result? Their support tickets decreased<\/a> from 25-30\/day to 1-2\/day as mentors understood the platform better. Similarly, 50% more mentees booked a session with a mentor.<\/p>\n You can read more about it here<\/a><\/u><\/strong>.<\/p>\n A common thread linking these three examples is their use of Userpilot for customer onboarding automation.<\/span><\/p>\n Userpilot<\/a><\/u><\/strong> is an easy-to-use no-code product growth tool. It can be used to drive feature adoption, collect user feedback, and streamline the onboarding process. Some key features include:<\/p>\n With Userpilot, the complexities of creating an automated customer onboarding process are much lighter. The user-friendly interface and extensive customization options make it easy to design efficient onboarding flows.<\/p>\n\n
[Case Study]: Impala increased user activation by 100%<\/h3>\n
![\"impala](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/impala-onboarding-1_8116d8623ae60ae231876cadc7a41944_800.jpg)
<\/picture><\/div>\n![\"impala](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/impala-onboarding-2_8116d8623ae60ae231876cadc7a41944_800.jpg)
<\/picture><\/div>\n![\"impala](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/impala-onboarding-3_8116d8623ae60ae231876cadc7a41944_800.jpg)
<\/picture><\/div>\n![\"impala](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/impala-onboarding-4_8116d8623ae60ae231876cadc7a41944_800.jpg)
<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>\nHow to automate customer onboarding<\/h2>\n
![\"customer](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/automate-customer-onboarding_49c46f3e826e0221fdf6a8a1c9c0191c_800.jpg)
<\/picture>Step 1: Define your customer onboarding automation goals<\/h3>\n
\n
Step 2: Map the existing customer journey and key touchpoints<\/h3>\n
\n
![\"user-journey-map-template-how-to-create-user-journey-map\"](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/user-journey-map-template-how-to-create-user-journey-map-1600_435405745fef330964b7922d5e08e03f_800.png)
<\/picture><\/figure>\nStep 3: Identify areas where you can automate the client onboarding process<\/h3>\n
\n
Step 4: Choose the right customer onboarding automation tool<\/h3>\n
\n
\n
Step 5: Create automated workflows<\/h3>\n
![\"Day](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/day-0-onboarding_21fec42fb488e3d9b77a848f6471a55c_800.jpg)
<\/picture><\/figure>\nStep 6: Test the automated customer onboarding flows<\/h3>\n
\n
Step 7: Measure the performance and improve<\/h3>\n
![\"You](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/chrome-capture-2025-3-11_16a4cb0aa8983ea8f0a11fa26f1eb3e5_800.png)
<\/picture>![\"nps-follow-up-questions\"](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/nps-follow-up-questions_d47dedd8228ae401497fd26dc4cba5c6.gif)
<\/picture>6 Onboarding processes to automate<\/h2>\n
1. Use SSO to automate the signup process<\/h3>\n
![\"monday.com](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/monday-sso_36f4c3799600f90e0f424a5757b106f2_800.jpg)
<\/picture>2. Welcome users in-app with an automated welcome message<\/h3>\n
\n
![\"Userpilot's](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/userpilot-welcome-message_c799667c998c6844f2b43c26a216b3e4_800.png)
<\/picture>3. Create automated welcome emails<\/h3>\n
\n
![\"Qualtrics](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/qualtrics-saas-onboarding-emails_e29f527a78e0340728d2d94d3e0558d1_800.png)
<\/picture>4. Automate the client onboarding process with a personalized checklist<\/h3>\n
![\"userpilot](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/userpilot-onboarding-checklist_fe6f2733a25810e01037839475f002f2_800.jpg)
<\/picture>\n
5. Automate the customer journey with different workflows<\/h3>\n
\n
![\"attention](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/attention-insights-flow-example_a7d9c0b6422ece1823319957da804890.gif)
<\/picture>\n
![](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Attention-Insight-Improved-User-Activation-by-47-with-Userpilots-Interactive-Walkthroughs.png\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n6. Automate customer support with self-service options<\/h3>\n
![\"userpilot](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/userpilot-resource-center_ca0cba8835587ffefff4eb78550eb793_800.jpg)
<\/picture>3 Examples of customer onboarding automation<\/h2>\n
1. Sked Social uses an onboarding checklist to automate the client onboarding experience<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"sked](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sked-social-checklist_20a75149c49c33fd3c8556c7d9297a16_800.jpg)
<\/picture><\/figure>\n![\"sked](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sked-social-congratulations_cdcccf7ba2b2600a64afc111c0bdd919_800.jpg)
<\/picture><\/figure>\n2. Talana uses a combination of different automation workflows<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n
![\"talana](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/talana-onboarding-checklist_8444735a08fae1cde13a8dcd94ec3a27_800.jpg)
<\/picture><\/figure>\n\n
![\"talana](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/talana-onboarding-tooltip_7623af8b40296c724e8e2bb1e89f011a_800.jpg)
<\/picture><\/figure>\n\n
![\"talana](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/talana-resource-center_89bd2506d71189954beb12d9d29ac31e_800.png)
<\/picture><\/figure>\n3. GrowthMentor achieved automation with personalized segmentation<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"growthmentor's](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/growthmentor-checklist_c83540b7c6f6893d5941c0ea8e2da886_800.jpg)
<\/picture><\/figure>\n![\"growthmentor](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/growthmentor-mentees-modal_0640710f676d3ba47f522c59eae10a40_800.jpg)
<\/picture><\/figure>\nHow Userpilot can help you set up customer onboarding automation<\/h2>\n
\n