When you think about SaaS onboarding, what comes to mind? Scores of help docs and maybe a few automated emails? In reality, onboarding requires significantly more human effort than most people realize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m the Director of Onboarding here at ChartMogul, and over the years, I\u2019ve seen what works, what doesn\u2019t, and all the in-between. This isn\u2019t a theoretical \u201chow to.\u201d It\u2019s a peek into how we run onboarding at ChartMogul, and what we\u2019ve learned along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I first joined, we already had some decent onboarding materials. However, we quickly realized that to truly set our customers up for success, we needed real people to guide the process. That\u2019s why we built a dedicated onboarding team of people who understand the product deeply and can coach new users through it step by step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our team doesn\u2019t work in a silo either. We\u2019re constantly collaborating with Sales, Marketing<\/a>, and Support. Why? Because onboarding doesn\u2019t live in just one department, it touches everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And here\u2019s the biggest lesson we\u2019ve learned: onboarding isn\u2019t a one-and-done thing.<\/strong> As customers grow, change teams, or expand their use of ChartMogul, they essentially go through onboarding again. That\u2019s why we treat onboarding as an ongoing cycle, not a one-time event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For our larger customers, especially those with more complex setups, we provide hands-on support. We offer 1-on-1 training sessions and walk-throughs tailored to their unique use cases. One small thing that\u2019s made a big impact: whenever someone new joins an existing account, we invite them to a personal training call. It helps them ramp up fast and gives us a chance to highlight features they might otherwise miss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s how we team up across departments to make onboarding work:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sales Marketing<\/strong> Customer Support<\/strong> Not every customer needs (or wants) a 1-on-1 walkthrough. For smaller teams or individuals, we\u2019ve built out a self-serve onboarding setup that includes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The idea is simple: give people what they need, when they need it, without forcing them to hop on a call if they don\u2019t want to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Something that\u2019s sometimes missed is that onboarding doesn\u2019t stop once someone signs up. As our product evolves, and as customers scale, they\u2019ll need help learning new features, setting up new integrations, or training new teammates. That\u2019s why we view onboarding as cyclical, and why we continue to check in, even months after a customer signs up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s the thing, onboarding is one of the most impactful parts of the customer journey. If people don\u2019t \u201cget\u201d your product early on, they\u2019ll likely drop off. But when you get onboarding right, you see:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Good onboarding is about meeting people where they are. Sometimes that\u2019s through a screenshare, and sometimes it\u2019s a tooltip at just the right moment. Either way, our job is to make sure people feel confident and supported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At ChartMogul, onboarding isn\u2019t just a stage, it\u2019s a relationship. And like any good relationship, we keep showing up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Use this template to build or document your onboarding process, from first signup through to long-term success.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Set clear expectations for what \u201conboarded\u201d means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2610 Customer connects key data sources \/ integrations \u2610 Kickoff call Use this section to track when onboarding might need to repeat or adapt:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2610 Customer adds a new team Track progress using clear metrics:<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When you think about SaaS onboarding, what comes to mind? Scores of help docs and maybe a few automated emails? In reality, onboarding requires significantly more human effort than most people realize. I\u2019m the Director of Onboarding here at ChartMogul, and over the years, I\u2019ve seen what works, what doesn\u2019t, and all the in-between. This …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":22510,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,1998],"tags":[25,105,21],"class_list":["post-22460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-we-build","category-retention","tag-chartmogul","tag-retention","tag-saas"],"yoast_head":"\nHow we do high-touch onboarding<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Onboarding is a team sport<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Sales usually spots customer pain points early<\/a>. When they pass that info to us, we\u2019re better prepared to hit the ground running. They also help us set expectations: what success looks like and what\u2019s realistic in the first few weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>We work closely with Marketing to build the right onboarding content: guides, videos, email flows, you name it. They help us craft resources that get used and drive feature adoption from day one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Our Support team flags the common questions and friction points. That feedback loop directly impacts onboarding, enabling us to improve the process and anticipate problems before they happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat we offer for self-serve onboarding<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
Onboarding never really ends<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Why all of this matters<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
In a nutshell<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nCustomer onboarding template<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. Onboarding goals (what success looks like)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\u2610 Customer completes core setup steps (list them)
\u2610 Customer reaches \u201cFirst Value Moment\u201d (e.g. generates first report, invites team)
\u2610 Customer feels confident using key features
\u2610 Customer understands how to get help \/ ongoing support
<\/p>\n\n\n\n2. Assign roles and responsibilities<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Role<\/strong><\/td> Team\/Person<\/strong><\/td> Responsibilities<\/strong><\/td><\/tr> Account Owner<\/td> [Customer Name]<\/td> Responsible for driving internal adoption<\/td><\/tr> Onboarding Manager<\/td> [Your Name\/Team]<\/td> Main point of contact, training, Q&A<\/td><\/tr> Sales Rep<\/td> [Name]<\/td> Shares context, pain points, goals<\/td><\/tr> Support<\/td> [Name\/Team]<\/td> Handles technical issues<\/td><\/tr> Marketing (optional)<\/td> [Name\/Team]<\/td> Delivers helpful resources and nudges<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n 3. Onboarding Timeline (Suggested Sequence)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Stage<\/strong><\/td> Timeframe<\/strong><\/td> Actions & milestones<\/strong><\/td><\/tr> Pre-Onboarding<\/strong><\/td> Day 0<\/td> Intro email, welcome call, shared onboarding goals<\/td><\/tr> Setup<\/strong><\/td> Days 1\u20135<\/td> Data connection, key settings, admin setup<\/td><\/tr> First Value<\/strong><\/td> Days 5\u201310<\/td> Training session, walkthrough, create first output<\/td><\/tr> Adoption<\/strong><\/td> Weeks 2\u20134<\/td> Team invites, explore advanced features<\/td><\/tr> Follow-up<\/strong><\/td> Week 4+<\/td> Check-in, review success metrics, re-onboarding triggers<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n 4. High-touch activities (if applicable)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\u2610 1-on-1 training or walkthrough
\u2610 Tailored use case mapping
\u2610 Ongoing check-ins (weekly\/biweekly)
\u2610 Success plan review<\/p>\n\n\n\n5. Self-Serve Resources<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
6. Re-Onboarding Triggers<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\u2610 Major product update \/ feature release
\u2610 Customer use case evolves
\u2610 New stakeholder joins
\u2610 Renewal approaching<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u00a07. Success Metrics<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Metric<\/strong><\/td> Target \/ Notes<\/strong><\/td><\/tr> Time to First Value<\/td> X days<\/td><\/tr> Activation Rate<\/td> % of users who complete setup<\/td><\/tr> Feature Adoption<\/td> Key features used by Week 2<\/td><\/tr> NPS \/ Customer Sentiment<\/td> After onboarding<\/td><\/tr> Retention \/ Expansion signals<\/td> CSAT, engagement trends<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n