The goal is not just to throw your product at users and hope they use them. The goal is business transformation through customer onboarding.
Customer onboarding is the process of getting your new customers acquainted with your product or service. As B2B digital marketers, we seldom care what happens to them once they become paying customers.
It is important to note that the customer journey is as important as the buyer journey, and B2B marketers also play an important role in that process. Oftentimes, companies experience churn, even though they have a great sales and marketing process, because they do not pay enough attention to customer onboarding.
Having a solid and robust customer onboarding process makes sure that the customers we’re getting are able to use our product or service successfully and that they get to reap the benefits that we promised to deliver them in our marketing and sales campaign.
In this episode, Donna Weber expounds more on the subject and explains how customer onboarding and retention is an important aspect of B2B digital marketing.

DONNA WEBER is the world’s leading expert in customer onboarding. For more than two decades, she’s helped high-growth startups and established enterprises create customers for life.
Prior to founding her boutique consulting firm, Springboard Solutions, Weber worked at several startups, where she built customer success and education programs from scratch. A customer success thought leader, influencer, and strategist, Weber has been recognized as a Top 50 Customer Success Influencer of 2021 and Top 100 Customer Success Strategist of 2020.
She is also the author of Onboarding Matters: How Successful Companies Transform New Customers Into Loyal Champions.
Podcast Timestamps/Outline
01:07 – Introduction
02:17 – What B2B digital marketers should be asking themselves in terms of client onboarding
02:57 – Why is client onboarding important to B2B digital marketers?
04:58 – The problem of overselling and underdelivering
06:40 – Why onboarding is the most important part of the customer journey
10:09 – Tracking your digital marketing ROI
11:48 – Customer onboarding vs. implementation
14:35 – Account onboarding vs. user onboarding
17:19 – The 6-Stage Orchestrated Onboarding Framework
25:30 – What is a customer health score?
28:31 – How to scale customer success
29:37 – What are reactive heroics?
31:24 – Being mindful with the value of customer onboarding
34:45 – Identifying the ideal customer
36:36 – Helping customers achieve success
37:58 – Changes in customer onboarding and client success due to the pandemic
42:31 – Connect with Donna Weber
Memorable Quotes
“The service people receive is becoming more and more important, as important as the product being sold and customers are willing to pay more for higher service.”
“If you’re not getting your customers enabled, then you’re missing out on the opportunity in enabling them to be successful.”
“It’s important for your customers to know the path to success.”
“People are willing to pay more for a good experience.”
Episode Links and Resources
Donna’s website: https://www.donnaweber.com/
Donna’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donnaweb/
Digital activity ROI assessment: https://b2bdm.com/digital-activity-roi/
More episodes related to customer onboarding: https://b2bdm.com/customer-relationships/