Customer Onboarding

The Challenge

Business Context

The B2B ecommerce tech company specializes in subscription management software that helps merchants create frictionless subscription experiences to grow recurring revenue. While the platform excelled in overall ease of use and customer support quality, onboarding was a significant pain point.

Key Performance Gaps:

• Ease of Setup score: 7.1 vs. 8.2 industry average

• Overall satisfaction with onboarding rated significantly lower than post-launch experience

• Customer feedback indicated the onboarding process was preventing optimal "time to value"

Research Objectives

1. Understand friction points in the customer onboarding journey across 4 main e-commerce platforms (Shopify, BigCommerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, and Magento)

2. Discover best practices for optimizing onboarding experiences

3. Inform strategic investment areas for smooth, efficient onboarding

4. Establish baseline metrics for measuring onboarding improvements over time

Research Methodology

Mixed Methods Approach

The research employed both quantitative and qualitative methods to provide comprehensive insights:

Phase 1: Survey Analysis

• Large-scale online survey sent to customers who completed onboarding within the past 3 months

• Hybrid of rating scales and open-ended questions

• Measured satisfaction and implementation difficulty on 1-5 scales

Phase 2: In-Depth Interviews

• 16 face-to-face interviews with recent customers

• 15-30 minute remote sessions via Zoom

• Participants included executives, managers, and technical implementers

• Sessions were recorded and transcribed with consent

Phase 3: Data Analysis & Synthesis

• Individual coding of interviews by research team

• Collaborative affinity mapping to identify patterns

• Cross-platform analysis to understand platform-specific challenges

Participant Profile

• Target Audience: Recent customers who completed implementation within past 3 months

• Roles: Decision-makers, implementation managers, senior engineers, technical program managers

• Platform Distribution:

  • Shopify: 50% (8 customers)

  • Salesforce: 12.5% (2 customers)

  • Magento: 18.75% (3 customers)

  • BigCommerce: 25% (4 customers)

Key Findings

Customer Journey Overview

The research revealed a 4-phase onboarding journey with distinct emotional peaks and valleys:

1. Sales & Initial Contact - High optimism

2. Kickoff/Introduction - Cautious optimism

3. Implementation - Mounting frustration

4. Go Live & Post Launch - Relief and satisfaction

Major Pain Points Identified

1. Gaps in Customer Relationship & Tailored Solutions (62.25% of customers)

The Problem: Customers felt the onboarding experience was impersonal and lacked customized solutions for their specific needs.

Evidence:

• "I had to find solutions on message boards, on Reddit. If [the company] has a solution, why were we not given it? We were left on our own to figure it out." - Customer feedback

• Customers described relationships as "cold" compared to other SaaS implementations

• Communication delays when trying to reach launch teams

Platform Impact: All platforms affected, with highest impact on BigCommerce (75%) and Salesforce (100%)

2. Misaligned Expectations (43.75% of customers)

The Problem: Initial sales conversations set unrealistic expectations about timeline, effort, and product capabilities.

Evidence:

• "We were told everything would be plug and play and easy, and we've had to push the migration back a month" - Customer feedback

• Promises of enterprise capabilities that required extensive customization

• Feature availability misrepresented during sales process

Platform Impact: Particularly acute for Magento (100%) and BigCommerce (50%)

3. Perceived Product Gaps (68.76% of customers)

The Problem: Customers identified missing functionality, particularly around data migration, shipping options, and subscription management flexibility.

Evidence:

• Need for automated data migration tools

• Missing free shipping options for mixed cart orders

• Inability to create multiple subscription orders for the same SKU

• Integration gaps with fraud protection tools

Platform Impact: Highest on Shopify (75%) and Magento (100%)

4. Internal Team Coordination Issues (18.75% of customers)

The Problem: Perceived disconnect between internal teams led to inconsistent information and escalation challenges.

Evidence:

• "Please make sure the CSM is regularly involved to make sure we can get [the company] to where you need to be" - Customer feedback

• Information silos between sales, technical, and support teams

• Unclear escalation paths for complex issues

5. Migration Complexity (43.75% of customers)

The Problem: Data migration was more complex and time-consuming than expected, requiring heavy developer involvement.

Evidence:

• "The managed migration service we paid for was not actually managed, and our devs needed to be very involved" - Customer feedback

• Data format mismatches between platforms

• Lack of incremental migration milestones

6. Documentation Issues (25% of customers)

The Problem: Technical documentation was outdated, inaccurate, or insufficiently detailed.

Evidence:

• Documentation described as "not helpful" and "wrong"

• Over-reliance on wiki references instead of direct support

• Lack of detailed migration guidance

Positive Findings

Despite the challenges, customers highlighted several strengths:

• Responsive Support: Timely communication from representatives

• Comprehensive Documentation: When accurate, documentation was well-structured and digestible

• Post-Launch Experience: Strong satisfaction with platform performance after implementation

Design Recommendations

Immediate Actions (Continue Current Strengths)

1. Maintain Communication Excellence: Continue frequent, timely customer communication to alleviate anxiety around technical implementations

2. Preserve Documentation Quality: Keep providing thorough, digestible documentation where it's working well

Strategic Improvements (Start Initiatives)

1. Strengthen Holistic Onboarding Experience

• Implement response time SLAs across all platforms

• Create feedback loops to incorporate customer learnings into documentation updates

• Develop customer success milestones and check-in protocols

2. Align Sales and Implementation Expectations

• Create realistic timeline estimation tools

• Implement regular timeline check-ins with customers

• Establish clear handoff protocols between sales and implementation teams

• Update customers proactively when red flags arise

3. Address Product Gaps

• Assess business impact and technical effort for requested features

• Develop customer-facing roadmap sharing process

• Prioritize automation for data migration processes

• Create platform-specific feature gap analysis

4. Improve Internal Collaboration

• Establish cross-team communication protocols

• Create escalation path documentation and training

• Implement shared customer context systems

• Regular cross-team onboarding reviews

5. Optimize Migration Processes

• Break large migrations into smaller, incremental milestones

• Improve data migration tooling and automation

• Create platform-specific migration guides

• Set realistic expectations for developer involvement

6. Update Documentation Systems

• Implement documentation accuracy review processes

• Create detailed, platform-specific guides

• Establish feedback loops for documentation improvements

• Regular audits of documentation currency

Platform-Specific Prioritization

Based on Revenue Goals:

• Shopify (33% revenue target): Focus on recommendations 1, 3, 5

• Salesforce (33% revenue target): Address recommendations 1-4

• Magento (10% revenue target): Implement recommendations 1, 2, 3, 6

• BigCommerce (7% revenue target): Focus on recommendations 1, 2, 5, 6

Success Metrics & Measurement

Primary KPIs

• G2 Onboarding Score: Target improvement from 7.1 to 8.0+

• Customer Satisfaction: Increase implementation satisfaction scores by 25%

• Time to Value: Reduce average onboarding timeline by 30%

Secondary Metrics

• Reduction in support tickets during onboarding

• Increased customer advocacy scores post-implementation

• Improved internal team coordination scores

Impact & Next Steps

Immediate Implementation (0-3 months)

1. Establish response time SLAs and tracking

2. Create customer check-in cadence templates

3. Develop sales-to-implementation handoff documentation

4. Begin documentation accuracy audit

Medium-term Development (3-9 months)

1. Build migration automation tools

2. Implement cross-team communication protocols

3. Develop customer-facing roadmap process

4. Create platform-specific onboarding guides

Long-term Strategic Initiatives (9+ months)

1. Full customer journey optimization

2. Predictive onboarding timeline tools

3. Self-service migration capabilities

4. Comprehensive customer success platform

Research Process Learnings

Future Research Recommendations

1. Minimize Interviewer Bias: Use UX-experienced interviewers who weren't involved in day-to-day operations

2. Comprehensive Discovery: Ensure access to all relevant business areas during research planning

3. Clean Data Collection: Avoid potentially biased data by collecting direct customer feedback without internal commentary

Conclusion

This research revealed that while the B2B ecommerce tech company excels in product functionality and post-launch support, significant opportunities exist to improve the onboarding experience. The findings provide a clear roadmap for addressing the most impactful friction points, with recommendations prioritized by platform revenue goals and customer impact.

By focusing on expectation alignment, internal coordination, and process optimization, the company can transform onboarding from a pain point into a competitive advantage, ultimately improving customer satisfaction and accelerating time to value.

This case study demonstrates the power of mixed-methods user research in identifying systemic experience issues and providing actionable, business-aligned recommendations for improvement.