Onboard Sequence

Is your Onboarding Sequence effective?

Let's see some tips for building a good Onboarding sequence in a B2C e-commerce.

The Onboarding Sequence

At the time of the first purchase, the transformation into a Customer occurs and the consequent entry into the Repurchase Wheel.

For this special moment, every business should plan fundamental communications, those that make up the Onboarding Sequence.

Do not confuse it with the classic Welcome Sequence where we welcome leads and introduce ourselves to strangers.
Here we address customers on their first purchase: they know who we are and have already trusted us.
Before the sale, we created expectations and now it becomes essential to meet (or better, exceed) them if we want to see more rotations in our Repurchase Wheel.

Another common mistake is to send the same post-purchase communications that we have planned for purchases following the first one. The Onboard phase is an important opportunity to strengthen the relationship we have started to build and to improve the repurchase rate, let's not waste it.

 

Target:
Customers at their first purchase (entry into the Wheel).

Objectives:
Customer Success and building a relationship

Metrics:
OR% & CTR%;
number of positive reviews;
Repurchase Rate%.

Premise for an effective Onboard Sequence

If after the first purchase the customer is not satisfied, all strategies we can devise to increase their value over time will be in vain and the customer will be lost forever.

In order to put customer satisfaction first, we must ensure that they smoothly achieve the results and objectives for which they purchased our product.

We can talk about Customer Success, a proactive approach that helps us achieve this goal.

We don't wait for a complaint (or even worse, the silent disappointment of a customer who doesn't show up anymore) but we anticipate possible issues, preventing annoyances and providing a pleasant and smooth purchasing and usage experience.

Customer Success is a business philosophy and can also have a dedicated team. However, valuable support can be provided by implementing a simple Onboarding Sequence.

This is a fundamental element to start building the emotional connection that underpins a long-term relationship.

When making an online purchase, it can be helpful to keep expectations high during the time between payment and order receipt. The goal should be to create a connection with the brand, convey the company's philosophy, and guide the consumer towards other channels to maintain contact.

How to Build an Onboarding Sequence

I don't want to propose a one-size-fits-all solution (because it doesn't exist): the onboarding sequence needs to be defined at a strategic level, after analyses that closely involve customers and their frictions.

Instead, in this article I prefer to suggest blocks that we can choose, select, and experiment with, depending on the specifics of our business.

The following blocks may vary in order and all or some may be present.

Block 1 - Welcome aboard

The first post-purchase email has the highest open rate among customers.

Remember that a "cold" email like the classic transactional order confirmation leaves nothing to the customer (besides a 12-digit confirmation code).

A personalized email, signed by a team member welcoming the new buyer, linking the FAQs and offering to answer any further questions can be a great start.

 

Block 2 - Progressive update

These are emails that bridge the gap between purchase and product receipt.

There's nothing worse than not having definite news about the order status.

We can spice up these emails with some storytelling: telling the story of the product, the production processes, and customization.

This is particularly effective when shipping times are not extremely fast and the product has a craftsmanship or traditional savoir-faire component.

This allows you to build a bond with the customer and increase the desire to finally have the item in hand.

 

Block 3 - Let's Connect

This moment can also be used to guide the user towards other channels owned by the company.

However, be careful: to be successful it is essential to provide a valid reason to the user.

Don't just throw links to all your social media pages out there.

Instead, you could invite them to join the Facebook Group reserved for the customer community, where there are exclusive contents and "veteran" customers show how to make the best use of the product, also providing advice and "horizontal" assistance.

If you don't have a Community yet (bad idea: remember that posts in Communities help create and strengthen the Advocacy Base) and you simply refer to your social media pages, explain: what will be the added value that the user can find in this touchpoint?

 

Block 4 - User Guides

To ensure that the user gets the most out of the product they have purchased, we can schedule emails to share with them:

• Usage tips (directly in email)
• Specific guides, also downloadable (perhaps in exchange for new information to be requested using progressive profiling)
• Video tutorials for specific tasks
• References to the FAQs on usage, cleaning and maintenance methods

In the end, success for the user and their satisfaction depend precisely on this.

Gathering new information in forms (e.g. the goal for which the user wants to use the product) also allows us to be more specific by personalizing these communications to guide them to success.

Block 5 - Collecting Feedback

Once the onboarding process is completed, we can dedicate one or more emails to ask if everything went well (to be sent 20-30 days after the purchase).

This will help us find out if the customer is satisfied and strengthen the relationship.

My advice is to use a double CTA: "Yes" or "No".

This way we will have the opportunity to anticipate negative reviews and spread positive ones.

In fact, we can redirect users who believe that everything went well to our page for the collection of reviews (thus ensuring a new touchpoint generated by satisfied users that will strengthen our Advocacy Base).

Customers who click "No", instead, will be redirected to a page for internal feedback management.

This allows us to anticipate a negative review (which could cause damage in the Sea of Micro-Moments), providing us with the tools to remedy, contacting the customer and offering a solution or support.

Listening to users is essential to prevent abandonment and build the right foundation for new turns of the Reacquisition Wheel.

 

BONUS: Segmentation in the Onboard Sequence

Now, we have understood what are the blocks that we can insert in an Onboarding Sequence, but let's not limit ourselves to building the same one for all our customers.

If we have built our Funnel well and have managed to collect segmenting information, let's use it!

Here are some possible segmentation elements:

• Purchased product: different products may correspond to different goals, so the Onboarding Sequence can be tailored. Some specific parts (such as usage guides) can also be used in subsequent purchases after the first one, to ensure success at each turn of the Repurchase Wheel.
• Job to be done: could the same product have different uses? If we have discovered our customer's goal (for example with a quiz in a MOFU), we use this information to provide a relevant and personalized onboarding experience.
• Job title (B2B): different roles likely correspond to different jobs to be done.
• Sesso e età (B2C): demographic information can also be imported to provide a relevant and tailored experience (think of a fashion e-commerce).

 

Let's build a complete Sand-Mill, together

Would you like to receive an analysis of your automatic sequences?

Schedule a free consultation of 30 minutes with me.

I will help you understand the frictions in your customers' journey and what are the key moments where automated and personalized communication can make a difference.

You can seize this opportunity by scheduling a free call here.