Let's talk about how to create an onboarding campaign.

This is the seventh and final step in my marketing funnel series.

And if you haven't yet watched the previous videos,

you can find them linked up down in the episode description box.

But the reason why this last step is so important is

it has a direct impact on things like customer ratings and reviews.

Word of mouth referrals, repeat purchases in the future

and it can also reduce the rate of returns and refunds.

And the way that we address these things is by helping to onboard customers.

In other words, helping them make the most of the product

they have purchased or the service they have signed up for.

And so this last step actually takes place after a sale has been made.

Now, the mistake that many businesses make is they just blindly assume

that customers are going to use their product

or their service after they have made a purchase.

But a shockingly high number of customers don't actually end up following through

on what they have bought, whether it's a physical product

that just ends up buried in a closet somewhere, or whether it's an online

subscription service that they maybe log into once or twice and then no longer use.

And of course, in the case of a subscription service,

if a customer is not using it, they're eventually going to cancel

and that's going to cost the business money.

But even in the case of a one time purchase, this can have a real impact

on the bottom line because it can affect things again, like product ratings,

refund requests and even word of mouth referrals.

So let's explore how to create

a great onboarding campaign to get your customers up and running.

Step number 1.

Is identify the aha moment of your product or service.

This is the moment when a customer experiences

the core benefit or the core value of your product for the very first time.

So not just being made aware of what that benefit will be, but

actually personally experiencing it for themselves

and seeing just how unique and just how valuable your product really is.

So for example, when it comes to a service like Google, the aha moment might be

the very first time it delivers a quick answer to a simple search query.

When it comes to a service like Dropbox, it might be the very first time

they sync a file from one device to another.

And for something like Alexa, the voice assistant by Amazon,

it might be the first time they give it a command

to play a favorite song and it works flawlessly.

Every product or service is different, but it's very important that you identify

the aha moment for your specific solution.

So one great way to do this is by talking with customers either in person

or in online discussion forums,

or even by looking at customer testimonials and case studies

and by looking to see what it is

that they talk about when it comes to your product.

What is the experience that they often describe as really being the key thing

that made them feel like this product was the right product for them?

You want to look across all these different kinds of conversations

and sources and you want to look for the commonalities.

What are the common themes?

What are the kinds of experiences that customers talk about most

in terms of a positive reflection of your product or your service?

And you want to dig deep into this data and ultimately identify one clear aha

moment, this experience that customers have that

give them the sense that this is the right product for them.

And the point at which they're very content

and satisfied with what they have purchased.

And once you identify this aha moment, it's time to continue on to step number 2.

Spot roadblocks and opportunities.

The idea here is to recognize challenges that might prevent new customers

from experiencing the aha moment of your product or service

and at the same time to look for situations or contexts

that actually make it easier for them to experience that aha moment.

And the goal here is to ultimately come up with a strategy to make it easier

for new customers to experience the core value of your solution.

After all, that is the entire point of an effective onboarding campaign.

Now, when it comes to spotting roadblocks or identifying opportunities, it's

best not to just guess or to speculate about what might be causing these things,

but rather

to talk to people on the front lines, whether it's your customer support team,

whether it's other people that have direct contact with your customers.

You can even talk directly with customers,

both happy customers and unhappy customers.

And the idea here is to identify the differences between

those that are satisfied with your product and those that are not satisfied.

So, for example, when you talk to unhappy customers, you want to identify

the things that caused them to be unhappy or the things that prevented them

from being able to experience the aha moment of your product or service.

And likewise, when you talk with happy customers

or when you talk to your support team about happy customers,

you want to look for the differences. What made the difference?

What allowed them to experience the core value of your product or service?

So for example, let's say that you're selling

a cloud software solution that is fairly complex

and there's a lot of moving parts, or it can be challenging to use.

Well, you might recognize as you start to talk with customers

that the people that are most happy had some relationship with

another business or with a person on their team

that had formerly used your product or service.

In other words, somebody helped them get up and running with the product.

Meanwhile, perhaps unhappy customers didn't have that opportunity.

They didn't have somebody who was familiar with the solution.

They were

struggling to figure it out themselves and ultimately they were unsuccessful.

So of course, once

you have this information, it's much easier to make decisions around

how to improve the overall experience for most customers.

And in the case of a physical product, for example, you might discover

that some customers are very proactive in that they go to YouTube

and look up how to videos on how to make the most of what they've purchased.

And meanwhile,

perhaps other customers don't do that, and instead they just try to follow

through the text manual that comes with the product and they get lost.

And as a result they don't make full use of the product or service.

So this tool might give you some hints at what you can do differently

to improve the overall customer experience.

The key idea here behind step number two is to simply identify

the things that tend to cause customers to have a worse experience,

as well as the things that tend to cause

other customers to have a better experience.

And once you have this data, it's time to move on to step number 3.

Brainstorm interventions.

The goal here is to brainstorm ideas

for how we can guide more of our customers towards having a better experience.

Now, a really great book on this subject is Start at the End by Matt Wallaert.

And as the title suggests, the idea here is to start at the end.

What is the final experience that we want customers to have?

Well, we've already identified our aha moment.

So once we know what it is that we want customers to achieve,

we can work backwards from there and identify the roadblocks and the obstacles

and then come up with interventions, ways that we can intercede

and strategies that we can use to help customers get through those obstacles

and ultimately be more likely to be successful in achieving the AHA moment.

Now, of course, every product or service is different.

There is no one single approach that's going to work in all situations,

and that is why we've gone through the first two steps

to get very clear on the aha moment and to identify the roadblocks.

But the idea here in step number three is just get very clear on some options

or some ideas for how you can help customers overcome those challenges

and be more likely to experience the aha moment of your product or service.

So, for example,

in the case of a physical product, as we covered in the previous step,

if the most successful customer simply proactively sought out a great

how to video before using the product, well, maybe you're going to put together

your own how to video

that guides customers exactly through how to make use of your product.

And you can send this video directly to them immediately after they order.

So even as the product is still en route to be delivered to their house,

they can already watch that video

and understand how to use the product when it arrives.

And in the case of a complicated cloud software solution,

you can of course, create a team of onboarding experts

that just like the happier

customers, had someone they knew that got them up and running.

You can have a team that is specifically designed

to help them achieve that outcome where they can guide them through

the initial setup process to make sure that they have a better experience.

Now, in some cases the solution might be very simple.

It doesn't

always have to be some complicated process or something difficult to implement.

In some cases,

you might identify that the AHA moment is simply a result of certain customers

discovering a specific feature or benefit of your product, in which case

you can put together a series of follow up emails that go out to customers

to nudge them in that direction, to use that feature,

so they're more likely to have a better experience.

The point here is you need to identify simple things that you can do

to help more customers get to that AHA experience.

Step number 4. Build your campaign.

Now, regardless of what you put together to help customers experience

the core value of your product, oftentimes it's very powerful

to deliver your intervention or your strategy through a series

of follow up emails that go out after somebody has made a purchase.

So very similar to our nurture campaign and our sales campaign

from previous videos,

it helps to put

together a series of emails so that once a customer makes a purchase,

they receive these emails over the period of a week or two and they're guided

through the process of getting up and running with the product or service.

So again, in the example that you've put together a how to video

to show them how to use your product that can be sent out in a follow up email,

or if you put together a series of articles or PDFs

that guide them through how to use your product in different ways,

you can send those out as well over a series of emails.

Now, again, every product or service is different,

so there is no one size fits all formula here.

But let me quickly give you an example of a campaign that you can use or at least

kind of follow the structure when it comes to putting together your own campaign.

Email number 1.

this would go out immediately after they make a purchase.

And in the case of a physical product, you might provide information

about when their product will ship and whether or not

they will receive tracking details.

And in the case of an online software solution or something like that,

you might provide them with the instructions they need to either

create their account or perhaps provide them with their username

and a temporary password so they can get started immediately.

Now, it's worth noting that this first email is an excellent opportunity

to provide any sort of a

how to video that they can watch before receiving the product.

Or, for example, in the case a physical book that is being shipped to them.

You might consider including a PDF that covers the first three chapters.

That way they don't actually have to wait for the book to arrive

in order to get started.

And perhaps using that early preview, they'll actually get a chance

to experience that aha moment even before the product itself arrives at their door.

So this is an excellent opportunity to find ways to either

preview the product or help them get started even before it arrives.

Email number 2.

This would typically go out a day or two after they place their order,

and this is an excellent opportunity to once again provide a link to your video

guide or your how to guide when it comes to using your product or service.

And this is important because typically when people make a purchase,

they receive a series of immediate emails, they get a receipt

for the transaction, they might get some kind of a welcome email.

They might also get your onboarding email that provides a link to your video

guide or something like that.

And so because people are being inundated with things or perhaps it's closer

to the end of the day and they're busy

and they've got a bunch of other things in their email inbox,

they might not have time to consume the content right away, and as a result

they might never really notice what it is that you've provided and the importance

or the value of it.

So this is an excellent opportunity to a day or two later remind them

that you put together a how to guide, whether it's a video

or whether it's an article to give them a chance to consume that content

either before the product arrives in the case of a physical product,

or just as a reminder

to go ahead and set up their account in the case of an online service

or something like that. Email number 3.

This would typically go out 5 to 7 days after they place their order.

And the entire focus of this email is simply on letting them know

that you are there to help.

So, for example, you might provide your phone number, your email address,

maybe a link to an online discussion forum or a private Facebook group.

The point is you want to provide them

with the information that they need to get in touch with you.

If they have any questions or concerns about how to use your product.

And even in the case where they don't need your help

and they're well on their way to using your product,

simply sending an email like this can give them a great deal of confidence

when it comes to recommending your product or service to other people,

because if they have a friend or family member

that they're concerned might not get up and running with the product smoothly.

Simply knowing that you are very proactive in offering assistance

can give them that confidence.

When it comes to recommending your solution to others.

Now, of course, when it comes to your product or service,

you can customize this campaign to add additional emails as you see fit.

For example, you might have put together a series of step by step guides

that tackle different aspects of how to use your product or service.

And it might make sense

to send those out as individual emails over the period of a week or two.

But the point is, this is a very simple three email example

of how you can get customers up and running and show them that you're

proactively offering support in the case that they have any questions or comments.

So feel free to use this template or to modify it as you see fit.

Step Number 5.

Validate your campaign.

In an ideal world, you want to have proof or data that suggests

that your onboarding campaign is truly effective.

You want to know for certain that it's having a positive impact

and that as a result of it, more customers are having a better experience.

Now, in the case of an online subscription service, this is often much easier.

You have much better data about whether or not customers are using your product.

You can see whether they are logging in or whether they're not logging in

and whether they fully onboarded themselves in the case

of setting up their account, maybe adding other users or something like that.

But in some cases,

if you're selling a physical product or something like that, it can be much harder

to know whether or not your onboarding campaign is having a real positive impact.

So the entire point behind this last step is to identify some way

to determine whether or not your efforts are actually paying off.

Are customers happier?

Are you getting fewer refunds?

Are you getting more word of mouth referrals?

Are customers generally giving you more positive ratings?

You want to look for these kinds of data points

so that you can see whether or not things are getting better.

And it's very important

when it comes to tracking these things that you track their change over time.

So rather than just looking at the total number of five star ratings

or something like that,

you want to see the number of five star ratings

that are coming in in a given period of time

so that you can compare this month to last month.

And the same can be true when it comes to return requests or, for example,

the number of people that are contacting customer support.

Now, of course,

you don't want that number to be going down

just because people don't know how to reach customer support.

But ideally you're making it very easy for them to reach support.

But because you're providing them with, let's say, a how to guide,

fewer people are needing to reach out.

So even though it's easier than ever to do so, fewer

people are needing to contact your support because they're getting the information

that they need to get up and running with your product.

So again, the entire point behind this last step

is to look for ways to validate that your efforts are really working.

And again,

this is going to be largely determined based on what kind of product or service

you are selling and your ability to come up with a creative way to address

and measure this.

So again, you might track customer service requests, you might track

positive ratings, you might track a reduction in returns.

In the case of a digital product, you might be able to attract

more active usage.

You want to, based on what it is that you sell, identify

a way to track whether or not things are improving.

So with all of that said, now is the time to create your onboarding campaign.

Go through the five steps we've covered here to identify the aha

moment, spot roadblocks and opportunities, brainstorm interventions,

create your campaign, and finally validate your campaign.

Anyway, that is it for the seventh and final step

in this marketing funnel series.

If you have any questions or comments about anything that we've covered,

let me know in the comment section, because I am thinking about

following this up with a Q&A video in which I address

some of the most popular or common questions that have come up.

And in the case

that that video has already been launched by the time you're watching this,

then I'll link it up for you right here in the video player.

And if it is not yet available, then I'll link to some other video

that you might find interesting and relevant.