I know I’m preaching to the choir when I say that onboarding new customers is a critical process for SaaS companies.

I’m sure you also know that it isn’t always smooth sailing.

I think I just heard a collective sigh… 😏

Despite the best-laid plans and the most structured processes, unexpected challenges can and do arise.

These pesky issues can threaten to derail the whole onboarding experience.

It can be technical issues, miscommunication, resourcing problems, or some other unforeseen circumstance.

How a company responds to these crises can make or break the customer relationship.

So, let’s explore strategies for managing onboarding crises effectively. We’ll look at how to quickly get things back on track and maintain customer trust.

And when the customer onboarding team says “we’ve got this”… they’ve got it. ↓

🧪 The Project: Crisis Management During Customer Onboarding

If you can get through your career in onboarding without any mishaps - then 10 points to Gryffindor! (I’d also love to know your secret.)

But if you are like the rest of us, then it’s inevitable that it will occur at some point. If you are prepared for it to happen then it’s much easier to manage.

It also gives the customer a sense that you are in total control and will handle the situation.

1. Identify common crisis scenarios

The first step is to audit your past onboarding experiences and catalog the types of problems that have arisen.

This could include:

• Technical failures

• Scope creep (read about fixing that here)

• Resource constraints

• Communication breakdowns

• Lack of customer commitment

• Stakeholder & user turnover

Make a list and categorise these issues by their root causes and potential impacts on the customer experience.

For example:

This can help to articulate the impact of these problems to other teams and leadership.

This in turn, helps onboarding teams to set boundaries more easily, both externally with customers, and internally with other departments.

2. Develop contingency plans

Map out a clear, step-by-step response plan for each problem. I know that sounds a bit daunting but it will save you a headache later on.

Remember, these are problems that have already happened. You are doing yourself a favour.

Your plans should cover immediate actions to stabilise the situation.

Things to think about:

• Communication protocols - Who needs to be aware of the situation? How are you going to communicate? What needs to be covered? When will you communicate?

• Mitigation strategies - How are you going to reduce the panic? What ways can you reassure the customer?

• Escalation procedures - Which senior people need to be brought into the conversation and when? Will bringing in your boss early help? Do stakeholders need to be made aware?

The customer onboarding team need to feel confident in the plans to be able to execute them when needed.

3. Establish early warning systems

We don’t ignore red flags. Not in onboarding… or elsewhere!

The ideal situation is to detect potential issues before they escalate. Armed with your list, you and your team should be able to identify anything bubbling up.

Keep an eye on task completion rates, support ticket volumes, or analysing customer sentiment. Perhaps you have a health score that you can also keep track of during onboarding.

Keeping an eye on it helps but go a step further and set appropriate thresholds and automated alerts to flag any concerning trends.

4. Optimise communication processes

Transparent communication is essential when managing onboarding crises. Customers want it to be clear and simple.

They don’t want to hear excuses. Just solutions.

Develop templated messaging for different scenarios that can be quickly customised and shared with affected customers.

Ensure your team knows escalation paths and has access to up-to-date information to address customer inquiries. This includes the support team who may be getting the bulk of the issues.

5. Conduct post-mortem reviews

After any major onboarding crisis, take the time to thoroughly review what happened. Figure out what went well and what could be improved.

Don’t stop there.

Document these learnings, update the contingency plans, and share best practices across the organisation.

This continuous improvement mindset will strengthen your ability to handle future challenges. And your onboarding program will get stronger and stronger.

🤓 The Analysis: Prep is Key

Onboarding crises are inevitable. But with the right preparation and response protocols in place, you can transform them into opportunities to deepen customer trust and loyalty.

The key is to approach onboarding crisis management proactively, rather than reactively.

Anticipate potential problems to empower your team. They can plan for the unexpected and turn potentially disastrous situations into opportunities to demonstrate your commitment to customer success.

Communicate this plan internally. It helps to mitigate the freak outs from other teams when things do go wrong!

What to expect if you try this project:

• Deeper customer trust during tricky times

• Empowered onboarding team, ready for anything

• Strong company reputation for customer experience