You've just acquired a new client, and your customer success team is ready to introduce them to your product. This is the perfect time to introduce a client onboarding questionnaire or intake form. This document asks businesses about their project goals, needs, communication preferences, and more.
However, filling out questionnaires is no one's favorite activity, so creating a questionnaire that customers will actually want to complete can be a challenge. This guide will help make the process easier, so read on to learn more.
Did you know that a well-designed client onboarding questionnaire enhances engagement? By discovering your client's needs, you can establish a relationship with them and prove that you value their business.
A thoughtful questionnaire also enriches the overall customer onboarding experience. By collecting relevant information, your CS team can speed up onboarding and teach the customer how to use your product quickly.
The first step in creating an onboarding questionnaire is identifying key questions. These questions will depend on your product, target audience, onboarding workflow, and the individual client.
Here are some examples:
Asking short and simple questions will make it easier for new customers to fill out your document. You might also want to consider asking open-ended questions to collect more detailed responses.
User-friendly design can help encourage new customers to fill out your questionnaires. For instance, incorporate visual elements like infographics and images that explain complex concepts or outline important onboarding steps.
Organizing questions logically is also a good idea. Start by asking for basic information, such as customer contact details, before moving on to questions that require more detailed responses. Always use clear language and clarify any complicated business terms you use.
You can customize your surveys based on the customer's industry and business type. For instance, you can ask a small company if this is its first time using a product like yours. This can help your CS team to simplify training documentation.
Also, personalize questionnaires using information provided by your previous clients. Say you sell SaaS software and know many of your customers integrate your tool with other apps. You can anticipate this need and ask new clients whether they need help with integration as part of your onboarding questionnaire.
The latest technology streamlines the onboarding questionnaire process. For example, online forms like SurveyMonkey and Jotform allow clients to submit information over the internet quickly.
Alternatively, invest in a customer onboarding portal. Not only does this allow you to create forms and send them to clients, but it handles every aspect of the onboarding process.
Customers are worried about how companies handle their data, and rightly so. With data breaches rising, new clients might be reluctant to enter information on your questionnaire. Protect customer information by only sharing data with authorized users in your company and by incorporating data encryption.
Track the success of your questionnaires with key performance indicators (KPIs). For example, measure how long it takes clients to fill out your documents and the percentage of people who complete them.
Reflect on what the data tells you about the user experience. Was your questionnaire too long? Was it too complicated? Make further improvements to your questionnaire process by asking clients for feedback.
Client onboarding questionnaires provide CS teams with the information they need to do their jobs. For the best results, create a simple design, personalize your forms, and use technology to automate documents. You should also focus on data security and track engagement with KPIs and feedback. Ultimately, design each questionnaire with the specific customer who will complete it in mind.
Onboarding tools can help you design the best customer onboarding experience at every step of the process. OnRamp is onboarding project management software that automates client questionnaires and intake forms. Get a demo now!