Streamline Client Onboarding with Interactive Forms – A Customer Onboarding Checklist
Shawn Phillips 
September 30th, 2024
They say you only get one chance to make a first impression. That’s as true in business as it is in personal relationships. Your client onboarding process is your first chance to establish a positive customer experience. Focusing on customer onboarding solutions not only builds strong relationships with clients; it also helps you collect valuable customer data and insights.
Your client, customer, or patient onboarding process is powered by your customer communications management (CCM) solution. A CCM software system enables you to build interactive forms to collect essential customer information. That helps ensure a first-rate digital customer onboarding process. Read on for our client onboarding checklist, and to learn how you can request a demo of MHC’s CCM software solutions.
Table of Contents
- What Is a Client Onboarding Form?
- Why Are Client Onboarding Forms Important for Business?
- What Kind of Data Should You Include in the Client Onboarding Form?
- Client Onboarding Checklist
- Automate Client Onboarding with Interactive Forms and CCM Software
- Why Use Interactive Forms for the Client Onboarding Process?
- Get a Free Demo and Learn about Interactive Forms with CCM Software
- Impress New Customers with Client Interactive Form Features
- Enhance Your Customer Onboarding with Interactive Forms from MHC
What Is a Client Onboarding Form?
When a new client chooses to do business with you, there is some key information you need to collect as part of the onboarding process. Gathering the right data is essential for processing applications and getting new customers set up in your system. For example, when customers reach out to apply for a loan, mortgage, or insurance policy, certain information is necessary to begin those processes. Your customer onboarding process is the simplest method for collecting that data, confirming their expectations for your business relationship, and making sure documents have been signed.
A client onboarding checklist helps you automate client onboarding and welcome new customers. This is a kind of customer onboarding form that provides a step-by-step process for completing the documents and entering the information you need to conduct your business. A customer onboarding checklist not only speeds up your onboarding process. It also creates a consistent, reliable customer experience that can be customized to each client’s needs.
Why Are Client Onboarding Forms Important for Business?
As we noted earlier, your client onboarding platform is often your organization’s first in-depth interaction with a customer. That makes it all the more important to understand the best customer onboarding practices for your industry. Generally speaking, there are two main objectives in client onboarding:
1. To Create a Strong Customer Experience from the Very Beginning
- Branding: Onboarding is a chance to familiarize clients with the logos, colors, taglines, and other branding that symbolize your business.
- Interactive Forms: Using interactive elements like fillable form fields, drop-down menus, and checkboxes puts the customer in control of their own onboarding experience.
- Ease of Use: The more intuitive your onboarding process is, the more your customer will appreciate it. Be sure to include a thank-you message or other rewarding element at the end.
2. To Collect the Customer Data that Your Business Needs
- Comprehensive Data: Be sure to include a variety of fields that collect all of the necessary client data without making the customer feel overwhelmed.
- Simple Workflows: Interactive forms make it easy to gather and store key data by entering it smoothly into simple-to-use workflows.
- Reliable Compliance: Automated CCM software ensures that your customer onboarding data collection is compliant with all data privacy regulations and other important rules.
What Kind of Data Should You Include in the Client Onboarding Form?
The exact parameters of your client onboarding questionnaire will have a lot to do with your specific industry, use case, and business needs. Keeping that in mind, there are still several key areas of data that should be included in nearly all customer, client, or patient onboarding solutions. To maximize the value of the data you’re collecting, be sure to include these five items:
1. Contact Details and Billing Information
The most important step is collecting all of the basic information you’ll need to process their application, set them up in your systems, and deliver the personalized service that meets your clients’ specific needs. That will usually include:
- Emails and phone numbers for a primary contact person (including preferred names and pronouns)
- Emails and phone numbers for backup contact people (including preferred names and pronouns)
- List of stakeholders who need to be looped in
- Preferred communication channels for all contacts (email, SMS, phone, etc.)
- Billing address and other contact info needed for invoices and accounting
2. Business Goals and Requirements
Personalized service makes a big difference. You need to collect data related to your customers’ specific needs, goals, and best-case outcomes so that your business can tailor results to those specs. That might include:
- List of goals and ideal outcomes
- Key performance indicators (KPIs) and key metrics to track
- Existing pain points to address
- List of deliverables, including a timeline
- Project budget
3. Documents for Uploading
The onboarding process usually involves a good deal of paperwork and document entry. Be sure to let clients know what documents are needed from them, and make it easy for them to upload materials including:
- Legal documents such as contracts and non-disclosure agreements (NDA)
- Data files to be imported from other tools and systems
- Spreadsheets and documents listing team members who will require access
- Branding guidelines and related brand assets
4. Additional Information
Include all information and data collection processes relevant to your specific business and industry. For example, a business in the healthcare industry will have very different customer data needs than a business in the automotive industry. A few industry-specific examples include:
Patient Onboarding for Healthcare
- Patient contact information
- Medical history and required patient onboarding forms
- Current list of medications
- Health insurance details
Bank Customer Onboarding
- Customer contact information
- Tax ID number, proof of address, financial statements
- Terms and conditions and applicable fees
- Information related to specific account types and products
Credit Union Member Onboarding
- Contact info for new member onboarding
- Tax ID number, proof of address, financial statements
- Credit check data
- Minimum funding for beginning a membership
Manufacturing Customer Onboarding
- Contact information for clients
- Data processing consent forms
- Statements of work, including customer goals
- Contracts and legal documents
5. Regulatory Compliance Items
Data privacy and cybersecurity are major concerns for today’s clients. Your onboarding process should include language that ensures that customers understand and approve of the ways in which their data will be used. That entails:
- Explicit consent for processing customer data
- Statement of terms and conditions for your business collecting, storing, and processing personally identifiable data
- Any legal disclaimers or considerations specific to your industry
Client Onboarding Checklist
Whatever your industry, building forms that optimize customer experience requires following certain best practices. This ensures that each new client onboarding meets the specific needs of both the customer and your business. Keeping these practices front of mind is key to maintaining compliance, communication, and trust as you welcome new customers. Here are some best practices:
1. Create a welcome message
Say hello to new customers with a personalized greeting delivered via their preferred channel (email, SMS, physical mail, etc).
2. Give a time estimate
Mention the average time required to fill in the form so that customers know what to expect and can schedule accordingly.
3. Start with the simpler fields
Hitting customers with complex questions or tedious data entry right away can be a turn-off. Open your form with easy fields such as contact details and other basic information.
4. Leave the more complex fields for later
Once a customer has gotten comfortable with your forms, ease them into more detailed data such as business requirements and personal preferences.
5. Ask clients to upload the required documents
Be sure to explain which documents clients will need to supply. Provide them with an easy method for uploading them in multiple formats (PDF, Word docs, etc).
6. Finish with data processing consent fields
Receiving consent for how your business will collect, store, and process personally identifiable data is important to ensure compliance and protect sensitive customer data.
7. Include a confirmation and thank you message
How to Automate Client Onboarding with Interactive Forms and CCM Software
The importance of client onboarding software has grown considerably over the past decade. This shift to software solutions is driven by customer expectations for flexible, frictionless engagement anytime, anywhere, on any device. Data entry and other processes that used to be handled manually have been replaced by digital workflows with faster, more accurate automated functions. That improves the onboarding experience for all parties.
MHC NorthStar CCM provides a customer onboarding software solution that makes it easy to create interactive forms for your business. Automating your client onboarding process ensures a speedier, more engaging onboarding tailored to your customers’ specific needs. MHC’s CCM software is designed to integrate seamlessly with your existing systems. That allows you to automate workflows, eliminate errors, and streamline onboarding across the board. Both your customers and your staff benefit from this frictionless experience.
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Why Use Interactive Forms for the Client Onboarding Process?
Interactive forms are a key component of a more efficient customer onboarding experience. Digital forms that provide clients with a clear explanation of the steps and actions required of them go a long way toward building a strong customer relationship. Interactive forms also make it much easier for your team to receive and process important customer data. Some key benefits of moving to interactive customer onboarding forms include:
1. Saving Time and Money
Automated workflows import customer data directly into your system, as quickly as your client fills out their forms.
2. Creating a Memorable Customer Experience (CX)
Onboarding is your customer’s first experience as your client. A seamless form-filling experience sets the tone for the rest of their interactions with your business.
3. Providing Self-service Options
Customer onboarding self-service tools empower new clients. Allowing customers to make choices and upload their own documents puts them in control of their own onboarding experience.
4. Employing Conditional Logic
Every customer onboarding lifecycle is different. Customizable, interactive forms with conditional allow you to adapt the experience to fit each client’s specific needs.
5. More Effective Data Collection
Automated CCM tools such as rich fields, clickable checkboxes, drop-down menus make it easier to collect accurate customer data that allows you to provide personalized service.
6. Seamless Integration
CCM software like MHC NorthStar CCM is built to integrate smoothly with your company’s existing business systems and internal workflows. That allows work to move forward with minimal interruption.
7. Easy Regulatory Compliance
Automating onboarding allows your business to set rules and enforce policies that ensure that you remain in compliance with all relevant regulations and industry standards.
Get a Free Demo and Learn More about Interactive Forms with CCM Software
MHC NorthStar CCM makes automating client onboarding simple, with a CCM software solution that’s easy to use and integrate. Generate interactive forms, collect valuable data, and eliminate compliance concerns. Take a look at our video to learn more about how MHC can empower new customers and establish working relationships that last.
Impress New Customers with Client Interactive Form Features
Remember, your client onboarding process is all about making a good first impression. It’s important to demonstrate from the beginning that your business is committed to providing fast, flexible, and personalized service. MHC helps you deliver a first-class experience with a wide range of features, including:
- Easy form creation: Build forms quickly with user-friendly, drag-and-drop fields
- 30-plus field types: Provide multiple options, including date, file upload, images, checkboxes, and rich text
- Conditional logic: Choose how items are displayed, based on data, user, steps in a process, or other options
- Easy data lookup: Quickly access the data you need from any system of record
- Consistent branding: Automatically apply brand standards across all forms and documents
- Embeddable forms: Make it easy to embed forms in any website
- Responsive forms: Ensure that forms function properly on desktop, mobile or tablet
- Multi-language forms: Speak to customers in their preferred language with forms that adapt automatically to data or browser settings
- AI assistance: Tools powered by artificial intelligence make it simple to create interactive PDF forms and other formats according to your preferences
- Preview forms in real-time: Create personalized documents for each customer’s needs while maximizing customer service
- Digital signatures: Speed up routing and approvals by allowing customers to use e-signatures
Enhance Your Customer Onboarding Process with Interactive Forms from MHC
The ideal customer onboarding process has two main goals. First, you are striving to provide your new clients with a positive customer experience that will establish a strong business relationship. Second, you are collecting important data that will both help you better serve each customer and provide insights into your own system and services.
Implementing an automated customer onboarding software solution with interactive forms is the best way to ensure that you reach both goals. Automating your CCM system with MHC creates a more welcoming, consistent, and error-free experience for every client. It also provides deep visibility into a wide range of data that helps you streamline and improve your services moving forward.
Ready to get a first-hand look at the ways MHC can transform the way your business approaches client onboarding? Contact us today to request a demonstration. Our in-house experts will be in touch to learn about your specific needs and goals. Then we will demonstrate a solution tailor-made for your organization.
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Shawn Phillips
Shawn brings over 25 years of tech and customer experience expertise to his role as Product Manager for MHC NorthStar CCM. He is driven by a simple philosophy: great technology should make everyone’s day better—customers and employees alike. His practical, hands-on approach helps companies streamline how they talk to their clients, making every message count. Before joining MHC, Shawn was employed at Heart of the Customer, where he worked with Fortune 100 companies to improve how they connect with customers—everything from reducing pain points to enhancing key moments in the customer journey.
