Are you curious about how to improve your customer onboarding strategy? In this webinar recap, Shannon Chatman, Marketing Project Manager with Liberty Mutual Insurance and Safeco Insurance, shares tips to improve and automate an onboarding strategy to boost customer retention.
1. Start the Relationship Right
The key to any customer relationship is to ensure you get off on the right foot. To build trust from the onset, Chatman recommends assembling a welcome kit. Welcome kits serve as a “thank you” to customers for their business, as well as build trust in the early stages of the relationship. Additionally, these kits boost retention rates, which is especially important as retaining clients is often more cost-effective than gaining new clients.
2. Conduct Personal Introductions
Building trust with a customer is an ongoing process. Chatman believes that ensuring the customer knows each team member on a personal level nurtures that trust. Having a page on your company’s website that lists key team members, along with a short biography, bolsters relatability. Chatman also recommends an ‘action’ shot versus a traditional headshot, further illustrating a team’s personality and approachability.
3. Demonstrate Community Involvement
Customers value an agency’s commitment to giving back to the community. To Chatman, charitable giving is often a key differentiator in the market. Consider creating a web page dedicated exclusively to volunteering programs. Here, you can list organizations supported by your agency, as well as include photos of team members actively volunteering. Giving back stands to augment trust with your customer.
4. Gather Client Referrals
To attract and retain customers, Chatman discusses client referrals, which stand to be the number one source of new business for independent agents. Establishing a formal referral program, especially one that ties to a charitable cause, goes a long way in gaining a customer’s trust.
5. Consider Printing Your Welcome Kit
The tangibility of print tends to have a more meaningful impact in the hands of the customer. Chatman asserts that proofreading is paramount, but a clean, well-organized welcome kit provides the customer with a physical reminder as to why their business is appreciated. A printed welcome kit demonstrates that an agency is willing to go above and beyond to maintain the relationship.
In summary, each customer is unique; however, they greatly appreciate an agency’s efforts to build trust and dedication to growing the relationship.