Create or improve your customer onboarding experience using AI

Why Onboarding Matters (More Than You Think)

Onboarding is often treated as a checklist task. Get access, set things up, move on. But in reality, it sets the tone for the entire client relationship. A strong onboarding process builds trust early, reduces future support load, aligns expectations, and makes your team look sharp and professional.

It doesn’t need to be complex. It just needs to be intentional.

Starting From Scratch? Use AI to Build a Baseline

If you don’t have an onboarding process yet, don’t worry. You can create a solid starting point in under 10 minutes.

Here’s how:

1. Ask your AI of choice (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) to create a starter checklist
   Prompt:
   Act as an onboarding specialist in [insert industry/niche]. Create a simple checklist for onboarding a new client from sales handover to first 30-day check-in.
2. Review and tweak it by using natural lanuage within the AI chat window. Adjust the checklist based on your actual workflow. Include any client-specific steps or common gotchas your team runs into.
3. Use and refine it live. Apply it during your next onboarding. Treat it as a living doc and update it as you learn what works and what doesn’t.

Already Have a Process? Run a Quick Gap Check

Even mature onboarding processes can quietly drift over time. If you already have something in place, AI can help you fine-tune it.

Here’s a simple approach:

1. Write out what actually happens during onboarding. Don’t rely on old SOPs. Get your team to walk through what really happens today.
2. Ask your AI of choice (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) to review it
   Prompt:
   Act as an onboarding specialist in [insert industry/niche]. Here’s how we onboard new clients. Where might we be missing steps, creating confusion, or losing time? Suggest improvements.
3. Look for opportunities to improve. AI will often catch things like missing welcome communications, weak handovers between teams, no follow-up milestones, or unclear ownership.

You can address these one step at a time. No full overhaul required.

Closing Thought

Client onboarding is one of those areas that quietly shapes how your business is perceived. Done well, it builds confidence, reduces chaos, and sets everyone up for success.

And remember, you don’t need a perfect process. Just one that’s thoughtful, repeatable, and continuously improving. AI can just help you get there faster.