- The Onboarding Lab
- Posts
- How to Use Personal Stories Strategically in Customer Onboarding
How to Use Personal Stories Strategically in Customer Onboarding
Knowing when vulnerability builds connection vs when it's unprofessional
Clare Knight
October 16, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes
In partnership with
Startups who switch to Intercom can save up to $12,000/year
Startups who read beehiiv can receive a 90% discount on Intercom's AI-first customer service platform, plus Fin—the #1 AI agent for customer service—free for a full year.
That's like having a full-time human support agent at no cost.
What’s included?
6 Advanced Seats
Fin Copilot for free
300 Fin Resolutions per month
Who’s eligible?
Intercom’s program is for high-growth, high-potential companies that are:
Up to series A (including A)
Currently not an Intercom customer
Up to 15 employees
Personal stories are powerful connection tools in customer onboarding.
They demonstrate empathy, build trust, and show that you genuinely understand their world.
But if you get the timing or content wrong, you’re in danger of making yourself the centre of attention.
In a world where AI can handle the technical explanations, your human ability to connect through shared experience becomes incredibly valuable.
Let’s look at how to strategically share stories for valuable impact. ↓
This project helps you build a deliberate approach to using personal stories that strengthens customer relationships without crossing professional boundaries.
Each step ensures your stories serve the customer, not you.
Step 1: Build up a story inventory
Create a simple document with these common onboarding categories:
Technical resistance: Stories about overcoming pushback on implementation approaches
Stakeholder alignment: Times when you navigated competing priorities across departments
Resource constraints: How you've dealt with limited time, budget, or people
Change fatigue: Experiences managing teams overwhelmed by transformation
Early wins under pressure: Situations where you had to prove value quickly
Under each category, write 2-3 short stories (nothing too long) from your own professional experience.
Not embellished. Not dramatic. Just factual.
🔍 Note: You are aiming for recall speed. When a customer describes a challenge, you instantly know if you have a relevant story without scrambling through your memory mid-call or reading off a script.