Onboarding new customers can be a complex process. You need the right approach to ensure that every new client jumping on board is ready to use your product and drive revenue. There’s little to no room for slack on anyone’s part. Standardizing the process is possible, though. That’s where customer onboarding templates enter the equation.
The right onboarding templates can do wonders. Integrating within your workflow, they maximize your abilities to offer every client the attention they need without becoming an unsustainable drain on your resources. To get there, you need to understand their power and then find the right templates to get you started.
Disclaimer: The information below is accurate as of April 17th, 2024.
How customer onboarding templates can supercharge your client onboarding process
When new customers touch base with you for the first time, they will have plenty of questions. From logistics to billing to tutorials, those questions can quickly become a drain on your resources. Templates help to provide all the information they’re looking for in a more efficient manner.
Just as importantly, finding the right templates also means you can expand that process to multiple team members. Instead of giving every team member of every new client a significant portion of your time and attention, you can templatize the entire process without losing personalization or success.
You also don’t have to do this alone. You can find free customer onboarding templates across every stage of the process.
For example, looking for a simple onboarding checklist template? This is a great place to start. How about an onboarding questionnaire or statement of work? Sure thing. Email templates are just as possible as kickoff call agendas, customer satisfaction surveys, and more… Start with these 11 customer onboarding templates to get the ball rolling.
1. Client Onboarding Checklist (Zapier)
Your onboarding flow likely follows a few very defined steps. With this customer onboarding checklist template, you can streamline that flow anytime it happens. It includes six milestones:
- Welcome
- Legal
- Finance
- Communication
- Project Management
- File Sharing
Each of them has just a few tasks to help you accomplish what you need to get done. That way, you never lose track of the logistics you need to put in place in every area of the client onboarding process.
2. New Client Onboarding Questionnaire (HubSpot)
Naturally, your overall checklist isn’t the only document that’s crucial to the initial process. This new client onboarding questionnaire helps you make sure you get all the information you need from the moment a new client is ready to start with you.
The questionnaire includes a few crucial sections, including:
- Basic client information, including a point of contact
- Marketing information to better understand the brand’s background and goals
- Project-specific information to understand why they signed up with you, and what they’re hoping to get out of the partnership
- And more
This is among the most important customer onboarding templates you can implement because it covers all of the core information you’ll need for some of the other onboarding steps below. Its design makes it easy and repeatable to use with every client you have.
3. Statement of Work Template (Rocketlane)
The statement of work (SOW) is likely one of the key deliverables you need to get out of the onboarding process. It’s a legally binding document that outlines exactly what the relationship will be and what your clients can expect out of their money and partnership.
This SOW form template makes that process simple. By quickly outlining crucial information and outlines of the project, you can keep your new client relationship on track without creating scope creep or starting to go off spec.
4. New Customer Kickoff Call Agenda (MeetingNotes.com)
At some point, to ensure that you start the new client relationship on the right foot, you’ll need a kickoff meeting. Whether that meeting happens virtually or in person, this kickoff call agenda template can maximize your chances of success.
Within the agenda, you can focus on core themes like:
- Defining success
- Moving from the sales process to implementation
- Introducing key players on both sides
- Outlining potential risks to address or avoid
It also includes a section for tangible next steps so everyone in the partnership knows where to go and what to do after the meeting.
5. Client Onboarding Email Templates (Indeed)
Beyond the meeting, you’ll want to stay in touch with plenty of follow-ups. These welcome emails are a perfect addition to your suite of customer onboarding templates because they make the process easy and straightforward.
In total, you will find 11 templates that all address slightly different scenarios. From a general welcome to your company to coupon codes, company leader introductions, and more, you’ll be sure to find (and easily implement) the templates that best match your situation, needs, and workflow.
6. SaaS Onboarding Email Templates for Apps (Messaged)
Looking for more specific emails that directly address new users for your software as a service (SaaS) solution? Enter this comprehensive library of SaaS onboarding email templates that can become an invaluable resource for your entire sales team.
You’ll find hundreds of templates that are already custom-designed, waiting only for your custom wording and branding touch. They’re direct examples of what other SaaS brands are using, enabling you to build out the welcome quickly and based on established best email practices.
7. Sales to Customer Success Handoff Template (Cognism)
In any customer onboarding process, your stakeholders aren’t just limited to one department. You need buy-in and engagement from your sales team and your customer success team to ensure successful onboarding and improved customer retention. That’s where this customer success handoff template can become invaluable.
This variety is unique among customer onboarding templates because it is more of a tutorial than a pre-built document. That requires at least some check-in with both sides of your stakeholders to get the build just right. But once you do, it can become a core part of your onboarding process to keep your workflows moving efficiently and smoothly.
8. New Customer Satisfaction Survey Template (SurveyMonkey)
As your new clients move through the onboarding journey, measuring customer experience becomes increasingly valuable. If you can figure out how satisfied your clients are with both the process and the solution, you can reduce churn and increase customer loyalty strategically. That’s what these customer satisfaction survey templates can help to accomplish.
The templates are intentionally simple, focusing only on the metrics specifically designed to measure potential customer loyalty. As a result, you will always know which new clients are happy with you and which of them may need a change in the approach of a more personalized touch.
9. Customer Success Onboarding Playbook for SaaS (UserPilot)
Optimizing your workflow starts with keeping an overview. The customer success onboarding playbook template builds that overview, keeping everyone involved in the project in the loop on exactly what steps need to be taken each time a new client joins the project.
Think of it as a process document that helps you build that timeline for new clients. You can then attach individual use cases as needed or leverage other, more specific customer onboarding templates for the parts of the process that deserve more detail.
10. Customer Onboarding Template for Process Automation (ClickUp)
Time to get more comprehensive. Project management is an integral part of the onboarding process, and this customer onboarding template is specifically designed to help with that part of the larger equation.
It’s a simple overview listing all the onboarding tasks you’ll need to accomplish. But beyond a general checklist, it also includes who is responsible and the due dates of each task, dependent on the initial kickoff. You can even make tasks dependent on each other to automate the flow and maximize efficiency.
11. Onboarding Customer Journey Map Template (Digital Adoption)
Finally, never underestimate the power of being able to map out your customer relationship with clients just jumping on board. This customer onboarding journey map template helps you do just that. It maps out all touchpoints with your audience to build stronger, longer-lasting client relationships.
Journey mapping is crucial to effective customer relationship management (CRM). Here, it helps you keep an overview of everything you do to sell, onboard, and train new customers to maximize their success chances and retention rates.
From client onboarding templates to a holistic onboarding experience with Docebo
When it comes to onboarding, effective customer education is among the most central needs for any business. These customer onboarding templates can help, but you can also go deeper with a learning management system designed to help your new customers succeed.
Build the training models your customers need to succeed. Connect them into a larger training network that’s easy to follow and build on. Then, build LMS integrations designed to bring your training into the larger onboarding process.
Ready to get started? Request your Docebo demo today. Let us show you how our platform can maximize your chances of success when preparing new customers for long-term success and retention.