Customer Onboarding Template: Proven Resources for Success

Winning a new customer is only the beginning of the journey. How you welcome and guide them can make or break the customer journey and lifecycle.

If you have ever scrambled with what comes next after the contract is signed, you are not alone. A customer onboarding template takes away the guesswork, helping you build trust from day one and set every customer up for success.

Main Takeaways:

• A customer onboarding template creates a repeatable, structured process that helps new customers achieve their first value quickly and consistently.
• Essential components include clear goals, detailed checklists, assigned roles, a proactive communication plan, and a resource library tailored to customer needs.
• The best templates balance structure with flexibility, allowing for personalization while delivering a high-quality experience at scale.
• Tracking onboarding progress with KPIs, timelines, and regular check-ins ensures customers stay on track and highlights opportunities for improvement.
• Effective onboarding templates reduce churn, accelerate adoption, and lay the groundwork for strong, long-term customer relationships.

What is Customer Onboarding? Key Examples

Customer onboarding is a process that guides new customers through the information necessary for them to realize the value of a product or service.

There’s no “set-in-stone” way to onboard customers, but these processes typically include kickoff calls with CSMs, in-app product education, videos, or other materials that can help a customer succeed.

Many companies rely on learning management systems (LMS) to automate the onboarding process and provide personalized experiences that address customers’ unique objectives and challenges. And the stakes are high—it can cost five times more to acquire a new customer than it does to retain an existing one, making effective onboarding a critical investment.

Customer Onboarding Examples:

• Product walkthroughs
• In-app messaging
• Videos
• Help documentation
• Certifications
• Quizzes
• Kickoff calls
• Learning paths

Most companies combine a variety of these customer onboarding methods to provide a holistic experience that provides total value to new customers. For example, a customer may start with a kickoff call with a CSM, then head over to an academy to go through a learning path and wrap up with a quiz.

What Is a Customer Onboarding Template?

A customer onboarding template is a structured framework that guides new customers through the essential steps needed to successfully adopt a product or service. It provides a process that ensures consistency, reduces manual work, and helps customers reach their first value milestone faster.

Customer onboarding templates typically include checklists, timelines, communication plans, and resources tailored to different customer segments. They serve as the backbone of the customer success journey by standardizing the critical first 30–90 days of the customer relationship.

Why Your Business Needs an Onboarding Template

Without a structured onboarding template, you risk delivering inconsistent experiences that can lead to confusion, delayed time-to-value, and churn.

Research from McKinsey illustrates this challenge—a media company’s new customer onboarding journey saw average satisfaction fall by almost 40% even though each interaction had at least a 90% chance of going well.

A well-designed template solves these onboarding pitfalls by creating a reliable path to customer success.

Benefits include:

• Reduced churn: Customers who experience thorough onboarding are less likely to abandon your product. According to SurveyMonkey, 89% of CX pros consider the customer experience the leading contributor to churn.
• Faster adoption: Clear steps accelerate the path to regular product usage.
• Scalable process: Templates allow you to onboard more customers without proportionally increasing resources.
• Consistent experience: Every customer receives the same high-quality introduction to your product. According to WyzOwl, 63% of customers stated that the onboarding process played a role in their decision to buy. Consistency is king in onboarding, so keep that in mind.

The most effective client onboarding process templates guide customers through standard milestones while adapting to specific needs and use cases.

Essential Elements of an Effective Onboarding Template

Let’s explore the elements of an effective onboarding template that your business can leverage.

Clear Goals and Success Criteria

Begin by defining what successful onboarding looks like for both you and your customer. Document specific objectives that align with the customer’s business goals.

• Measurable outcomes: Identify concrete metrics that indicate successful adoption.
• Timeline expectations: Set realistic timeframes for achieving key milestones.

Detailed Onboarding Checklist

A customer onboarding checklist breaks the process into manageable tasks with clear owners and deadlines.

Key checklist categories include:

• Account setup and configuration
• User training and enablement
• Technical integration steps
• Initial success milestone achievement
• Handoff from implementation to ongoing support

Role Assignments and Responsibilities

Clearly define who handles each aspect of onboarding, both on your team and the customer’s side.

• Your team: CSM, implementation specialist, technical support
• Customer side: Executive sponsor, admin user, end-user representatives

Resource Library

Include links to helpful materials customers can access throughout onboarding:

• Product documentation
• Video tutorials
• FAQ resources
• Community forums

B2B Customer Onboarding Templates

Here are some common customer onboarding templates your business can use throughout the onboarding process.

1. Client Onboarding Checklist

Purpose:  A structured checklist that captures key onboarding stages—from initial welcome to legal, finance, communication, PM setup, and file sharing.

Example Internal Message (Slack/Email):

“Hi Team, here’s the onboarding checklist for our new client, Acme Corp. We’ve already completed contract review and billing setup. The next step is to schedule a kickoff call with their champion, John, by Friday. Please update the checklist once your tasks are complete.”

2. New Client Onboarding Questionnaire

Purpose: Collect key customer information and goals to tailor the onboarding journey.

Example Email to Customer:

“Hi Sarah, welcome aboard! To make sure we align onboarding with your priorities, could you complete this short questionnaire? It covers your goals, key contacts, and timelines. Here’s the link: [Questionnaire Link]. Your input will help us deliver value quickly and efficiently.”

3. Welcome Email Template

Purpose: Provide a warm introduction and set clear expectations for the onboarding process.

Example Email to Customer:

“Hi Alex, welcome to the [Company Name] family! I’m your Customer Success Manager and will be your primary point of contact during onboarding. Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll:

• Schedule a kickoff call
• Share setup resources
• Align on your top 3 success goals

I’m excited to work with you to get you up and running smoothly.”

4. Onboarding Timeline & Internal Checklist

Purpose: Provide a shared roadmap with responsibilities and deadlines across teams.

Example Internal Email:

“Here’s the onboarding timeline for [COMPANY NAME]:

• Week 1: Kickoff call + Sales handoff (Owner: CS)
• Week 2: Platform setup & integrations (Owner: Tech)
• Week 3: Training sessions for end users (Owner: Enablement)
• Week 4: First value milestone check-in (Owner: CS)

Please confirm ownership of your tasks and update the status in the shared doc by the end of the day.”

5. Customer Onboarding Portal/Workspace Template

Purpose: Provide customers with one central hub for tasks, resources, and progress tracking.

Example Email to Customer:

“Hi Team, your personalized onboarding portal is now ready: [Portal Link]. Inside, you’ll find:

• A checklist of your onboarding tasks and milestones
• Training videos and documentation
• A shared progress tracker and Q&A section

This will be our workspace throughout onboarding, so you’ll always know what’s next and who’s responsible.”

6. 30–60–90 Day Feedback Survey Template

Purpose: Collect structured feedback from customers at key onboarding milestones to measure satisfaction, identify friction points, and refine your process.

Example Email to Customer:

“Hi Taylor, thank you for being part of our journey these past few weeks. As part of our onboarding process, we’d love your feedback to ensure everything is going smoothly. This short survey (2–3 minutes) covers:

• How clear and helpful the onboarding steps have been so far
• Whether you’ve achieved your first key outcomes
• Any challenges or questions you’d like us to address

Here’s the link: [Survey Link]. Your input helps us make sure you continue getting value and that our onboarding process works even better for you and future customers.”

Turn Onboarding Into Long-Term Growth with Gainsight

Using structured onboarding templates, you can create consistent, scalable processes that drive faster adoption and stronger customer relationships.

With Gainsight’s Customer Success platform, you can take these templates further, operationalizing them with automation, analytics, and playbooks to deliver value at scale and ensure every new customer becomes a long-term success.

Ready to transform your customer onboarding process? Schedule a demo to see how Gainsight helps companies deliver consistent, scalable onboarding experiences that drive adoption and retention.