Customer Onboarding Best Practices 2021. An expert interview.
📌 Read the interview to find out how SEO and marketing agencies can build customer relationships effectively and efficiently.
Today we will be discussing the topic of Customer Onboarding with the founder of Holistic SEO & Digital Koray Tuğberk GÜBÜR.
Let's get to know him better!
Koray Tuğberk GÜBÜR is the founder and owner of the Holistic SEO & Digital. With more than 6 years of SEO experience, Koray Tuğberk GÜBÜR uses Data Science, Visualization, Front-end Coding, and Google Patents for SEO Projects.
Koray is a contributing author for OnCrawl, JetOctopus, Authoritas, Serpstat, NewzDash, Traffic Think Thank (TTT). Also, he is a speaker for SEO webinars with RankSense and Authoritas.
Koray has worked with over 200 companies for their SEO Projects. He uses Technical SEO, Content Marketing, and Coding strategies for improving the organic visibility of the SEO Projects.
Well, let's start a discussion!
AO: What stages should an effective Customer Onboarding consist of?
Koray:An effective client onboarding process consists of 5 stages.
These stages involve the introduction of the methods of agency to the employees of the client and education of the client.
But, if you do not focus on getting things done, a wrongly performed Client Onboarding process can hinder the project's success while making the communication more blurry.
To prevent this, every rule, purpose, and definition have to be done from the beginning.
Thus, the first step of customer onboarding involves the definitions of the roles and responsibilities.
The second step is determining an efficient communication methodology.
Some clients tend to ask more questions than others. For these types of questions, you shouldn't spend your time, and you should state this with your behaviors.
SEO Projects or any other types of projects are not practiced with questions, but answers. Instead of spending time on the questions, improve the project, and explain the things in the meetings in a visual way.
The written questions and emails will consume the time while making the client's value decrease, and the project more ineffective.
The third step is stating your perspective for the project development.
For me, even a single byte matters, or a single letter. In this context, you shouldn't let any of the clients' employees tell you that "this is not important".
The importance of a thing comes from its cumulative and marginal effect that is distributed in a timeline.
A lean and sensitive manufacturing understanding will improve the efficiency of the onboarding.
The fourth step is timing for the steps.
If a consultant gives the tasks but does not chase after the results, it is not promising. Eventually, the client will fail, and the project will be unfinished.
To prevent this, solutions should be sought even if it is not the duty of the consultant or the agency.
The final step is reporting.
Even if there is no change, the reports shouldn't just include the numeric values, but the latest events on the Google side, and how things change on the open web.
The perspective for the future changes will keep the client's awareness for SEO, and other verticals of digital marketing high.
AO: What are the key channels for onboarding? Which channel works best in your experience (email, calls, system messages, etc.)?
Koray:
The best method for onboarding is visual and vocal communication instead of emails.
Thus, to onboard a client, if the owner and the manager don't have enough level of time, the employees should be assigned to the clients.
To not repeat the same things, the recordings should be taken from the meetings, and they should be shared with the client, so that client also can educate himself/herself.
The well-written and structured documents are also beneficial for improving the onboarding process.
In this context, the best onboarding channel is recorded, structured, and saves time for everyone by presenting the steps, concepts, and rules.
📎 Read also How SEO tools use academies to generate leads and onboard customers. Google, Moz, and Semrush case studies.
AO: What's the hardest part about onboarding users?
Koray: The hardest part about onboarding users is not being able to make clients understand that they are not the only client.
In the beginning, clients might not respect the time limits, an agency or any other kind of working place should put the boundaries, and make the client respect the rules of the business.
If a client sends emails even for the simple things, and if they do not watch recordings, instead if they ask questions that are not necessary, it means that the agency should change the client.
As a business owner, you have to calculate the Opportunity Cost. When you choose a client, it means that they prevent you to take another one. Know this, and behave according to that.
AO: What technologies should the сustomer success department invest in?
Koray: Task Tracking and Project Management Technologies such as Kanbanize.com, or Taskworld can be used. Trello, ClickUp, and other types of task tracking, creation, and managing technologies can help SEOs and digital marketers to make concrete steps in the mind of the clients.
Client psychology understanding and client communication are also important for customer success departments. In this context, any written, or visual course for customer success managers is valuable.
💡 Want to know more about how you can train your customer support team? Go to AcademyOcean solutions!
AO: What customer onboarding metrics and KPIs should you track?
Koray: Any metric for onboarding will make the onboarding harder and more complex.
In my SEO Projects, for content management, web development, and digital marketing, I create different verticals, and I assign these tasks from these verticals to the different departments.
These tasks are easy to do, and while doing them I manage the meetings. If the tasks are finished in under 6 weeks, it means that the onboarding has been finished. If not, it means that some departments have some problems.
This is also a good process to know when you should change a client, or check your waitlist.
When I created the Holistic SEO & Digital, most of these things were blurry. But, in under one year, I was able to create an agency with 9 employees and 30 clients. I learned from my mistakes, and I convey them to you as is.
AO: Thank you, Koray for sharing the experience and best practices of your company!
And we know another cool way to educate clients and increase their loyalty to your company — to create your own academy 😉
Until next time 👋