Onboarding Therapy #4: How to Reduce Friction in Customer Onboarding

In a recent episode of Onboarding Therapy, we sat down with Ramli John, author of "Product Led Onboarding" and founder of Delight Path, to discuss reducing friction in customer onboarding. What began as an exploration of individual user challenges evolved into an in-depth discussion about the true source of onboarding friction: internal organizational alignment.

The Hidden Source of Onboarding Friction

"I got into onboarding as a growth consultant," Ramli shared. "I was tasked with bringing in signups, but through my curiosity, I wondered if the signups I was bringing in were actually sticking around. They weren't—and that lit a fire in me."

This insight led to a deeper discussion about how onboarding friction often manifests in unexpected ways. While we typically focus on user interface challenges or complex documentation, our conversation revealed that the most significant onboarding friction points often originate within the organization itself.

Three critical internal friction points emerged:

Fragmented Ownership:

Different teams often own different pieces of the onboarding journey without proper coordination

1. Marketing manages onboarding emails
2. Sales sets initial expectations
3. Product teams control in-product experiences
4. Customer Success handles one-on-one interactions

The result? Customers receive disconnected, sometimes contradictory guidance from different touchpoints.

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Misaligned Success Metrics:

Each team often operates with different definitions of success.

1. Sales teams focus on closing deals
2. Marketing tracks email engagement
3. Customer Success measures time-to-value
4. Product teams monitor feature adoption

Without shared metrics, teams optimize for their own goals rather than the customer's success.

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Selfish Tasks vs. Customer Value:

Organizations often prioritize internal needs over customer goals:

1. Not personalizing the experience based on the customer's needs
2. Pushing feature adoption before establishing value
3. Frontloading more difficult administrative tasks
4. Requesting information that's already been provided

The Real Cost of Internal Friction

The impact of internal misalignment goes far beyond minor inconveniences:

• Early Churn: Internal friction often manifests as churn problems and ongoing retention challenges
• Resource Waste: Teams spend time fixing problems that could have been prevented
• Decreased Customer Trust: Inconsistent messaging erodes confidence
• Slower Time-to-Value: Internal confusion leads to delayed customer success
• Team Burnout: Support and success teams struggle to compensate for systemic issues

A Framework for Reducing Friction: The Three Levels

Ramli introduced a valuable framework for thinking about onboarding friction that starts at the deepest level and works its way up:

1. Product Friction: The foundational level - the basic mechanical steps users need to complete and the technical aspects of your onboarding process.
2. Social Friction: A multi-faceted layer that includes:
   • External: Getting customer buy-in, helping customers sell internally to their team, and enabling organization-wide product adoption
   • Internal: The often-overlooked organizational alignment within your own company - getting your teams aligned on onboarding success metrics, agreeing on necessary steps, and ensuring marketing, sales, product, and customer success are working together cohesively
3. Emotional Friction: The top layer dealing with human psychology - customer fears, anxieties, and resistance to change

As Ramli emphasized, when working to reduce friction, it's crucial to start with your internal alignment. Before tackling product improvements or customer emotional barriers, ensure your own teams are aligned on success metrics, understand where friction points exist, and are working together toward the same goals.

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Practical Solutions: Starting Small for Big Impact

1. Begin with One-on-One Onboarding

Despite being the author of "Product Led Onboarding," Ramli advocates starting with high-touch, human-led onboarding: "I actually don't suggest people start with product-led because you can learn so much from watching and experiencing where customers get stuck."

Key benefits:

• Observe real-time confusion points
• Gather immediate feedback
• Test assumptions quickly
• Build empathy for the customer journey

2. Create Multiple Learning Pathways

Ramli shared an insightful IKEA analogy: just as shoppers navigate the store differently - some following the arrows on the ground, others going directly to what they need, and some exploring freely - customers need different ways to learn your product. Rather than forcing everyone down a single path, provide options:

• One-on-one sessions for those who prefer personal guidance
• Self-service documentation for independent learners
• Interactive product tours for hands-on exploration
• Group workshops for collaborative learning

As Ramli noted, "Giving people the option based on how they prefer to learn... that's what the best in class product-led companies are doing."

3. Implement the "Confirm, Don't Ask" Principle

Instead of repeatedly asking customers about their goals, try this approach:

"I see your goal was to improve onboarding speed by 25%. Is that still the case?"

This method:

• Shows you're paying attention
• Reduces redundant information gathering
• Creates continuity across touchpoints
• Opens the door for goal refinement

4. Build Internal Alignment

Create systematic approaches to alignment:

• Establish monthly onboarding guilds
• Create shared documentation of common friction points
• Implement regular cross-functional reviews
• Develop common success metrics that everyone can align around

The Motivation Factor

One of the most powerful insights from our discussion was about reframing friction through motivation. As Ramli explained, "If you say onboarding is 100 steps but it's going to make your life so much easier and save you this much time, then I'm like, 'Heck yeah, let me get through those tasks as quickly as possible.'"

Don't try to eliminate friction with superficial rewards

Instead, focus on:

• Clear outcome visualization
• Concrete value metrics
• Specific customer benefits
• Real-world success stories

Moving Forward: A Practical Action Plan

1. This Week:
   • Document where your customers commonly get stuck
   • Map which teams own each part of your onboarding journey
   • Schedule your first cross-team onboarding sync
2. This Month:
   • Create a shared definition of onboarding success
   • Build one alternative learning pathway
   • Start tracking friction points systematically
3. This Quarter:
   • Establish regular cross-functional reviews
   • Implement a feedback loop for continuous improvement
   • Measure the impact of alignment on customer success

Remember, as Shareil pointed out in the episode, "You'll never have a perfect onboarding process, but you can have a continuously improving one."

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