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Engagement and Success - Customer Onboarding: AHA! or WTF?
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#dfdfdf}:where(amp-accordion>section)>:last-child{margin:0}}amp-accordion>section{float:none!important}amp-accordion>section>*{float:none!important;display:block!important;overflow:hidden!important;position:relative!important}amp-accordion,amp-accordion>section{margin:0}amp-accordion:not(.i-amphtml-built)>section>:last-child{display:none!important}amp-accordion:not(.i-amphtml-built)>section[expanded]>:last-child{display:block!important} /*# sourceURL=/css/ampshared.css*/</style><meta name="amp-to-amp-navigation" content="AMP-Redirect-To; AMP.navigateTo"><meta name="description" content="You think the AHA! moment during Customer Onboarding is a positive thing. But it's not. Here is why that is and how to avoid that common mistake."><meta property="og:locale" content="en_US"><meta property="og:type" content="article"><meta property="og:title" content="Engagement and Success - Customer Onboarding: AHA! or WTF?"><meta property="og:description" content="You think the AHA! moment during Customer Onboarding is a positive thing. But it's not. Here is why that is and how to avoid that common mistake."><meta property="og:url" content="https://sixteenventures.com/customer-onboarding-aha-wtf"><meta property="og:site_name" content="Customer-centric Growth by Lincoln Murphy"><meta property="article:publisher" content="https://www.facebook.com/sixteenventures"><meta property="article:published_time" content="2019-09-05T04:08:54+00:00"><meta property="article:modified_time" content="2019-09-05T04:08:57+00:00"><meta property="og:image" content="https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/cropped-Customer-Onboarding-AHA-or-WTF.png"><meta property="og:image:width" content="910"><meta property="og:image:height" content="512"><meta property="og:image:type" content="image/png"><meta name="author" content="Lincoln Murphy"><meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"><meta name="twitter:creator" content="@lincolnmurphy"><meta name="twitter:site" content="@lincolnmurphy"><meta name="twitter:label1" content="Written 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href="https://sixteenventures.com/customer-onboarding-aha-wtf"><script type="application/ld+json" class="yoast-schema-graph">{"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://sixteenventures.com/customer-onboarding-aha-wtf","url":"https://sixteenventures.com/customer-onboarding-aha-wtf","name":"Engagement and Success - Customer Onboarding: AHA! or WTF?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://sixteenventures.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://sixteenventures.com/customer-onboarding-aha-wtf#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https://sixteenventures.com/customer-onboarding-aha-wtf#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/cropped-Customer-Onboarding-AHA-or-WTF.png","datePublished":"2019-09-05T04:08:54+00:00","dateModified":"2019-09-05T04:08:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https://sixteenventures.com/#/schema/person/e4ebf136d66ed125655b281ff644752b"},"description":"You think the AHA! moment during Customer Onboarding is a 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Moment during Customer Onboarding is a positive thing.</p> <p>But it’s not.</p> <p>AHA! moments are only a positive thing if you’re searching for something… perhaps aliens or a missing sock.</p> <p>At the end of this journey you discover what you’re looking for and you say, “AHA!… I knew it was there all along.”</p> <p>That’s a great feeling because it validates your scientific hypothesis or completes the pair of socks.</p> <p>But as your new customer with an <a href="https://sixteenventures.com/emotional-disconnect-onboarding?amp=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">emotional connection</a> to their goals who sees – or <strong>SAW</strong> – your product or service as the catalyst to reach those goals, the Aha! moment comes at the end of a discovery journey…. only it’s <strong>NOT</strong> AHA!</p> <p>It’s WTF?!?!</p> <p>“Why did you let me poke around for so long not knowing what to do only to discover this on my own and waste a bunch of time in the process?”</p> <p>Your customer should <strong>NEVER</strong> have to ask, “why did you let me do that?“</p> <p>Maybe you just want to make sure the customer sees all the cool stuff you have for them during <a href="https://sixteenventures.com/customer-onboarding-basics?amp=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Onboarding</a>, or is able to find whatever they need without you restricting their exploration.</p> <p>You’re just thinking of the customer, right?</p> <p>No,… you’re not. Here’s how I know.</p> <p></p> <p>If you were thinking of the customer, you’d understand that you need to guide them to the things that will deliver value to <strong>THEM</strong>, both initially (and quickly), and as they grow and evolve over time.</p> <p>This is about the customer and helping them receive value as quickly as possible so that you’re setting them up for continued and evolving success.</p> <p>While you may think the AHA! moment is cool, it’s possible this is the first seed of churn (or at least non- or slowed-<a href="https://sixteenventures.com/expansion-grow-fast?amp=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">expansion</a>) being planted. And that’s definitely not cool.</p> <p>I hope you see that letting customers wander aimlessly until they discover what they <strong>NEED</strong> to get value from their relationship with you is a bad idea.</p> <p>Some companies intentionally make their Onboarding process seem like a “discovery” adventure where the customer may have what appears to be an Aha! moment after “poking around” for a while.</p> <p>But this only works if two things are true: 1) this is part of your customer’s <a href="https://sixteenventures.com/appropriate-experience-required?amp=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Appropriate Experience (AX)</a> and 2) it’s still completely orchestrated so nothing is actually left to chance.</p> <p>Probably the coolest example of this for the longest time was Twilio (not sure if they still do this).</p> <p>You’d sign-up and immediately get “dumped” into what looked like a command line interface, and given some examples to recreate (sending text messages, making a voice call, etc.) right there by writing some code.</p> <p>The user was “poking around” and just trying stuff (perfect considering the person signing-up was almost 100% guaranteed to be an engineer), but it was actually a very controlled environment designed for them to quickly see how powerful this platform was.</p> <p>And if they didn’t take the action Twilio wanted them to take in-app, all <a href="https://sixteenventures.com/communication-model?amp=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">communication</a> from the system or team was designed to get them to take that action.</p> <p>They engineered the “AHA! moment” and the process to get the user there… but unless your business fits that model – and it probably <strong>DOES NOT</strong> – don’t play games like that with your new customers with whom you have a very fragile relationship.</p> <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><a href="https://www.impactdemy.com/collections?ref=58b2b0" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><amp-img width="800" height="800" src="https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Impact-Academy-Johan-and-Lincoln.png" alt="" class="wp-image-8479 amp-wp-enforced-sizes i-amphtml-layout-intrinsic i-amphtml-layout-size-defined" srcset="https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Impact-Academy-Johan-and-Lincoln.png 800w, https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Impact-Academy-Johan-and-Lincoln-300x300.png 300w, https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Impact-Academy-Johan-and-Lincoln-150x150.png 150w, https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Impact-Academy-Johan-and-Lincoln-768x768.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" layout="intrinsic" disable-inline-width="" i-amphtml-layout="intrinsic"><i-amphtml-sizer slot="i-amphtml-svc" class="i-amphtml-sizer"><img alt="" aria-hidden="true" class="i-amphtml-intrinsic-sizer" role="presentation" src="data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyBoZWlnaHQ9IjgwMCIgd2lkdGg9IjgwMCIgeG1sbnM9Imh0dHA6Ly93d3cudzMub3JnLzIwMDAvc3ZnIiB2ZXJzaW9uPSIxLjEiLz4="></i-amphtml-sizer><noscript><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="800" src="https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Impact-Academy-Johan-and-Lincoln.png" alt="" srcset="https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Impact-Academy-Johan-and-Lincoln.png 800w, https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Impact-Academy-Johan-and-Lincoln-300x300.png 300w, https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Impact-Academy-Johan-and-Lincoln-150x150.png 150w, https://sixteenventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Impact-Academy-Johan-and-Lincoln-768x768.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"></noscript></amp-img></a></figure> </div> <footer class="amp-wp-article-footer"> <div class="amp-wp-meta amp-wp-tax-category"> Categories: <a href="https://sixteenventures.com/category/customer-success?amp=1" rel="category tag">Customer Success</a> </div> </footer> </article> <footer class="amp-wp-footer"> <div> <h2>Customer-centric Growth by Lincoln Murphy</h2> <a href="#top" class="back-to-top">Back to top</a> </div> </footer> <div id="amp-mobile-version-switcher"> <a rel="nofollow" href="https://sixteenventures.com/customer-onboarding-aha-wtf?noamp=mobile"> Exit mobile version </a> </div> </body></html>