Scaling Onboarding Processes for Growing B2B Businesses

As businesses experience growth, they often face the challenge of scaling their onboarding processes to meet the increase in new customers wanting to sign up for their product/service. If improvements aren't made, then the efficiency of the onboarding process will start to drop as it is put under more strain and pressure; unable to accommodate the larger volume of users. As a result, internal teams are put under more pressure and frustrations grow leading to more errors and delays - not ultimately leads to a poor first interaction and experience for the new customer. To scale the onboarding processes for growing companies there needs to be strategic planning, a platform put in place that integrates into existing systems and a seamless experience for new customers.

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Why is it important to scale your onboarding process as your company grows?‍

Simply, scaling onboarding processes is crucial for accommodating the larger volume of new business customers without sacrificing quality or customer satisfaction. As the business grows, manual onboarding methods become unsustainable and prone to errors, leading to delays and inefficiencies. By scaling onboarding effectively, businesses can reduce time-to-value for customers, improve retention rates, and drive long-term success.

In summary the key reasons for why onboarding needs to be improved as a company grows include:

• Meeting increased demand: Scaling onboarding processes efficiently handles growing customer numbers, preventing delays and bottlenecks as the business expands.
• Maintaining quality: Consistent attention and support for new customers, regardless of business size, builds trust, leading to higher retention rates and positive referrals.
• Reducing errors and inefficiencies: Automation and standardised procedures in scaling processes decrease errors, streamline operations, and improve overall satisfaction and time-to-value.
• Enhancing customer experience: Streamlined onboarding journeys ensure customers feel supported, valued, and empowered, boosting satisfaction, retention, and future growth potential.
• Driving long-term success: Scalable onboarding strategies align with long-term success by fostering ongoing engagement, upselling opportunities, and customer advocacy, enabling sustainable growth in competitive markets.

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Achieving this requires a shift away from highly manual onboarding processes towards a streamlined and integrated flow that is simple to use for both the customer and the internal teams involved. Four key aspects that should be considered are explored here:

The build vs buy debate

The first step in scaling onboarding processes is designing scalable workflows that can handle increased volumes without becoming overwhelmed. This involves mapping out the entire onboarding journey, identifying key touchpoints, tasks, and stakeholders involved at each stage. By streamlining and automating repetitive tasks using workflow automation tools or customer onboarding platforms, businesses can reduce manual efforts and ensure consistency across multiple customer onboarding journeys.

At this stage, a lot of scaling companies face the decision to build a more scalable solution internally or buy elsewhere. Building custom onboarding systems offers tailored solutions that align precisely with company needs and processes, providing greater control and flexibility but requiring significant time, resources, and expertise to develop and maintain. On the other hand, buying ready-made onboarding solutions can offer faster implementation, access to advanced features, and ongoing support, but may lack full customisation and could lead to dependencies on external vendors.

For a scaling company, there is often not the time or resources available to spend building a comprehensive solution. When the build decision is chosen we often see unfinished projects and inefficient systems which require regular fixing and updates. Additionally, we tend to see these build options become out-of-date more quickly, especially in a rapidly growing business where all processes are not set in stone.

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Integrating other technologies‍

Part of scaling up requires a shift away from manual, disorganised processes and ensuring all customer data is collected in a secure location. This often involves integrating into existing systems such as CRMs and having a workflow to complete all the necessary compliance checks. Companies will also need to source relevant data in a more efficient way as they start to scale up. The data required is dependent on the industry, location and demographics of their customer base so the most appropriate data sources need to be integrated.

Integrating both types of technologies are very important to the successful scaling up of onboarding process:

• CRMs and other internal systems: An efficient integration allows customer data to be centralised, communications automated and track progress throughout the onboarding journey. Even better, is integration with other business systems such as billing, support, and analytics which further enhances visibility and collaboration across teams.
• Data sources: Collecting data manually is a time consuming process and does not validate the data. By using a data source, multiple data points can be collected instantly and can be used to spot any inconsistencies when compared to the data provided by the onboarding customer.

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Training & collaboration‍

As onboarding processes scale, training new employees involved in onboarding and providing ongoing support is essential. Ensuring that teams are well-equipped with product knowledge, onboarding procedures, and customer communication skills empowers them to deliver exceptional experiences consistently. Continuous training and feedback loops help refine onboarding strategies based on real-time insights and customer feedback.

There is also a need for collaboration and alignment across cross-functional teams such as sales, marketing, customer success, and product development. By fostering open communication, sharing insights, and aligning goals, businesses can ensure a cohesive onboarding experience that addresses customer needs holistically.

Training & collaboration are one of the most important factors when scaling an onboarding process. When teams don’t understand how the onboarding process works, or what it is trying to achieve, then there is often friction. Take sales and compliance; sales want to move their prospects through onboarding as quickly as possible so that they start generating revenue which leads to commission while compliance needs to do their job by thoroughly checking every onboarding customer. If sales don’t appreciate that compliance needs to do their due diligence and compliance doesn't understand that there is a commercial imperative then there cannot be harmony.

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Metrics and Iterating

Tracking key metrics such as time-to-onboard, customer satisfaction scores, conversion rates, and retention metrics is vital for evaluating the effectiveness of scaled onboarding processes. Regularly analysing these metrics allows businesses to locate areas for improvement and opportunities for innovation. Iterating onboarding workflows based on data-driven insights ensures continuous optimization and alignment with business goals.

A step beyond this includes onboarding behavioural analysis which specifically looks at the drop-out points, bottlenecks and other metrics focused around customer conversion. This provides insights into the customer’s experience and provides a more in-depth understanding of the whole onboarding process.

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How can Detected help?

In conclusion, scaling onboarding processes for growing B2B businesses involves a strategic blend of process design, technology adoption, personalised engagement, training, metrics monitoring, and cross-functional collaboration. By implementing these strategies and embracing a mindset of continuous improvement, businesses can successfully manage increased onboarding volumes while delivering value-driven experiences that drive customer loyalty and business growth.

At Detected, we're reinventing the traditional approach to business, customer and merchant onboarding. Focused on meeting your needs where onboarding in a compliant way is a time-sensitive and commercial imperative. 

Design your ideal business onboarding sequence using the no-code Detected modules. Connect to Detected’s network of specially selected risk, fraud & compliance sources. Control all your customer data through the Detected Case Management system.

Detected can specifically help a company who is scaling up by providing the customisation and flexibility of an in-house solution while maintaining the same ease of implementation, access to data and functionality found in other suppliers.

If you'd like to hear more about how we can help your onboarding processes please get in touch here.