Customers are the most crucial element in running a business. Without them bringing in revenue, even a large company will cease to exist. Apart from foolproof sales and marketing efforts, proper customer onboarding can make all the difference in any industry, particularly financial services.
According to Tallyfy, “Client onboarding is the process of welcoming new clients into your business, addressing their questions and concerns, and ensuring they understand the services available to them.” Typically, professional services, technology, and financial organizations use this method, with some even incorporating compliance into it.
More than being a way to make a lasting impression on your clients, customer onboarding serves as an opportunity to get to know them better. If done correctly, this first encounter can set the tone for your business relationship, which can ultimately yield favorable results.
To avoid any bumps on the road, you might want to look into frictionless customer onboarding. Read on to learn more about it and what it can do for your business.
What is Frictionless Onboarding?
As its name suggests, frictionless onboarding means having no “friction” or resistance when a company and a client come together for the first time. It’s the complete opposite when one or both parties find the business relationship-building process arduous or even boring.
Here, everyone shares their goals and sets their expectations in the trade. It’s also an opening to get acquainted with the team members and representatives participating in the business.
The main goal of the frictionless onboarding process is to get both the company and client on the same page. When done right, it can turn the conversation from mere transactional exchanges to a collaborative one, which is essential to a prosperous business relationship.
Offering a frictionless onboarding experience can come with a lot of benefits. In a HubSpot guide, such a process is valuable because:
- Most sales come from existing customers
- Satisfied clients become your top referral sources
- Customer retention can decrease acquisition costs and increase revenue
Having a faster and more seamless system also lets you stay ahead of the competition. When you can beat your competitors in discussing with a prospect what doing business with you looks like, you have a better chance at winning the contract. After all, shortening time-to-value works best for managers and C-level decision-makers.
How to Make Frictionless Customer Onboarding Possible
Now that you know what frictionless customer onboarding is and why it’s essential, here are some ways to effectively integrate it into your business operations.
Identify where friction can happen
Remember that this type of customer onboarding aims to eliminate any friction in the relationship-building stage. To do that, you must be ready for them. Enumerate all possible friction points that may occur in the process and be sure to think from start to finish—from inquiring in multiple channels to completing a payment transaction.
Establish expectations for the sign-up process
The sign-up process can be confusing and overwhelming, especially in the financial sector. When onboarding, setting clear expectations for your potential customers can motivate them to complete the steps. Make sure to discuss the procedure as thoroughly yet as simple as possible, and be open to questions that may come along the way.
Create an omnichannel approach
With today’s advanced technologies, customers expect businesses to make their services available on various platforms. Unfortunately, this can be a problem for financial institutions, as only 23% of banks have omnichannel account opening processes.
Having an omnichannel strategy greatly impacts your customer satisfaction rate. So, when orientating future patrons, think about enabling online chatbots, creating an FAQs page, and providing e-signature options to make their experience easy.
Use MFA with biometrics for identity proofing
Your clients are not the only ones benefiting from the customer onboarding process. This particular stage in the business also aids in keeping your company and your systems secured against fraudulent acts such as synthetic identity theft.
A multi-factor authentication (MFA) system with biometric technology, such as fingerprint or facial recognition scan, covers the identity proofing work to ensure that your enterprise, too, is doing business with a trusted individual or organization.
Perform instant identity verification
When you do have an identification step in your onboarding process, make sure your technology is quick and easy for your clients to accomplish. Otherwise, that added procedure may push them to take their business elsewhere.
While there are multiple options available today, pick an authentication security tool that offers a well-secured system with a frictionless process.
Improve your processes over time
First impressions do last in a business, which is why you need to give the best onboarding experience for your customers. But while upgrading your processes to become more frictionless is a must, be careful not to overdo it.
Make the necessary adjustments on what your customers want to see changed first. Then, work on enhancing your services by incorporating new security technologies to stay ahead of the curve. These touch-ups don’t have to happen overnight, so take your time on this one.
Secure Your Customer Onboarding Process
Providing a frictionless onboarding experience for your customers is a win for your business. Not only can this forge a strong relationship, but it can also guarantee that all your services are aligned with the client’s wants and needs moving forward.
As for your company’s benefit, frictionless onboarding ensures that every client transaction is done with utmost safety and security.
With financial scams more rampant than ever, opening your business to the market with an added layer of protection is a great first step that can make all the difference. If you’re on the lookout to enhance your own onboarding experience and safeguard your enterprise, add a comprehensive authentication system to your process.
Talk to the experts at Q5id today and learn more about how their proven identity solutions can help secure and elevate your business.
