Technology powered by artificial intelligence (AI) is all the buzz in every industry this year. In 2025, we expect automation to go from being a nice-to-have to a must-have for software as a service (SaaS) businesses.
As businesses struggle with resource constraints like limited staff and budgets, causing customer satisfaction and retention to drop, automation tools have become more important than ever. Automation tools allow companies to close leads, onboard customers and manage accounts without any manual (human) intervention, saving a lot of time, effort, and resources.
Yet, choosing the right AI-powered tools and keeping up with the competition is no easy feat. Many customer success leaders are hesitant to adopt automation, fearing they may lose the critical human touch that made them what they are in customer’s eyes.
But, what if you could have both? What if customer onboarding automation tools could optimize onboarding while helping you preserve your personalized approach and strong relationships at scale?
In this article, learn more about what customer onboarding automation really does for businesses like yours and how to implement it effectively as you grow.
Traditionally, customer onboarding involves manual processes like inputting data into spreadsheets and sending notifications through email that introduce the customer to a product or service. Automation moves away from these cumbersome methods, leveraging technology and digital tools to automate repetitive tasks like data entry, form filling, and document processing.
Teams no longer need to send emails individually or schedule calls and log events in a calendar manually. Automation tools can handle these tasks to save time and reduce the chance of human error.
Here are a few areas of customer onboarding where automation is making a big impact:
But how do you automate customer onboarding? You need software to integrate automation into your current systems. Tools like OnRamp provide a client portal that allows customers to access their information and complete onboarding tasks like filling out forms or completing training sessions that are tied to automated tools.
More customers means more work to onboard and secure long-term relationships that, ultimately, reduce churn and increase retention. While relying on your employees to handle all these interactions can be more cost-efficient when your business is small, it may quickly become the bottleneck to growth when your customer base expands.
Many companies face a series of challenges when manually onboarding, such as:
According to a study, 84% of customer service experts report that automation simplifies the ticket response process. Adding automation reduces human errors and leads to increased accuracy. The automated onboarding process becomes simpler and customers receive value quicker, enticing them to stay with your service longer.
Overall, customers are more satisfied with personalized services. And with OnRamp's automated workflows, teams can customize onboardings with conditional logic and adjust task flows based on customer behavior in just a few simple steps.
While your team's exact onboarding process will depend on the industry and service you provide, most customer service teams require a few core features within an onboarding tool.
Here is a detailed breakdown of the features you should look for in your automated onboarding software:
Before moving forward with automated software, create a plan for aligning the software with your company's goals.
These seven steps will help you create a seamless automated onboarding experience:
To consistently revise your process, develop automated feedback loops by setting up customer input forms at various onboarding stages.
Automated data onboarding uses technology to collect, track, and organize customer data during the onboarding process without manual effort. Not only is the process more efficient for your team but it reduces errors to keep the data more accurate for future use.
Companies in the SaaS industry can use data automation tools to collect information on customers' preferences. For example, CRM software might use automated onboarding to ask new customers to upload their logo, company information, and team member details in a streamlined, step-by-step process.
Other companies that collect sensitive information, like those in the Fintech industry, can collect and verify bank account details, income verification, and identification documents without draining employee resources. Companies can use digital lenders to automate a request and validation system for loan applications instead of sending emails back and forth for weeks.
An automated data-collecting process simplifies the initial steps of customer onboarding to ensure accurate information throughout the customer journey. Your company will save time while simultaneously tailoring each customer's onboarding experience.
Successfully adding an automated client onboarding tool requires more than just implementing the software. You need thoughtful strategies that enhance the entire customer journey.
Here are some best practices that will give you a head start on your competitors:
Look to bigger companies like Olgivy Advertising and Acquisition.com to get real examples of how to automate the customer onboarding experience. They use personalized welcome messages, automatic schedulers, and automated follow-ups to build better relationships with potential customers.
Learning how to automate the onboarding process brings a series of challenges that could set your team back weeks or months if you don't prepare correctly.
Below are some of the most common challenges companies face when implementing a new onboarding tool and the solutions to keep the process efficient.
Creating an effortless customer journey, where there are few obstacles for onboarding, relies heavily on integrating your automation tool with all your other internal tools. Software like CRMs, billing systems, and communication platforms can create data silos. They can cause team misalignments and issues that result in inconsistent customer messaging.
A tool like OnRamp includes integrations with the most popular platforms to enable a smooth data flow between all systems. All your customer data is easily accessible in one centralized location.
Automation will lose the personal touch of human interaction because it tries to create standardized processes at scale. Customers will recognize they are interacting with a machine rather than a person who understands their unique needs.
To maintain a personalized approach, add dynamic content in emails or follow-up messages that fill in the customer's name or personal information. You could also use automatic segmentation to create relevant marketing materials that feel more personal to the customer.
Another common issue when integrating an automatic onboarding system is scaling operations while maintaining a high-quality level. As customers grow, making every onboarding experience consistent and effective is difficult. This is where automatic workflows become necessary.
Workflows let you outline each customer journey step in an onboarding tool and automate most of the process. Team members can regularly review and optimize the workflows as the company grows to keep the level of customer service high.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are the most significant forces shaping the future of onboarding automation. These innovative tools make the process faster, smarter, and more personalized for all businesses, and they are added to most new tools like OnRamp.
Predictive onboarding is one of the benefits of AI technology. It analyzes customer behavior to anticipate needs and tailor the onboarding journey. If a customer frequently accesses certain features, the system will offer specific tutorials that are relevant to those features.
Another trend emerging in onboarding automation is self-service onboarding. In this model, customers can manage their onboarding experience at their own pace. All information is accessible when needed, and there is no need for direct support.
OnRamp makes automating customer onboarding simple and efficient with its dynamic, no-code project workflows. Anyone on the team can easily build and customize workflows using a comprehensive task library. All decisions and actions that would typically be manual become automated based on specific customer triggers.
OnRamp also allows you to construct any workflow into reusable playbooks so you can call on them again and again for consistency while scaling. For example, you can create a playbook that automatically guides new customers through account setup, product training, and initial feedback collection. If you need to adapt the process for a specific customer segment, you can make modifications with just a few clicks.
When you automate customer onboarding in key areas, such as data collection, workflows, and initial setup, you create a consistent customer journey that increases customer satisfaction and improves efficiency. This process is only possible by exploring customer onboarding tools with AI and key features relevant to your company's goals.
Assess your current onboarding setup and consider how automation can be a key strategy for scaling your business and delivering a seamless, high-quality experience to every new customer.