How User Onboarding Will Help You Succeed with Outbrain Amplify

If you’ve heard the term “onboarding” before, then you know what it traditionally means: acclimating a new employee to the processes and culture of a company.

But in the age of SaaS, onboarding has come to mean something else too. And it all revolves around how well the user knows and understands the product, so they can get the most out of it.

At Outbrain, we have a user onboarding process specially designed for new advertisers who sign up to our Amplify platform. We’ll get into that in a moment, but first, let’s explore deeper what user onboarding is, why it is important today, and what onboarding as an Outbrain advertiser is all about.

What is User Onboarding?

As already mentioned above, onboarding is the process of familiarizing and educating a new customer about a software product, guiding them through the adoption phase, setting up their account, and educating them about how to use the features and tools.

During the onboarding process, customers are gradually introduced to different aspects of the product, and also get to know the customer success team, who will be their go-to address for any issues or technical hiccups moving forward. 

Onboarding flows are usually made up of different interactive elements, such as video tutorials, webinars, emails with explanations and tips, and even live chats with the onboarding team. Other tactics used for onboarding flows include help guides, FAQs, and automated walkthroughs inside the software or the dashboard.

Why is User Onboarding So Important?

Onboarding is a small investment of time and concentration, but it brings big benefits to your experience as a customer. Here’s several reasons why onboarding is important, and why you should never skip the onboarding process.

It’s a fast track to understanding the product.

There are loads of different SaaS products available, and they all have their own functions, features, and benefits. With onboarding, you can get a thorough ‘crash course’ of how to use the product, and what the different built-in tools are all about. Instead of learning slowly over a few weeks or months, you can get a fast track into really understanding the product in just a few days, or even hours. And it’s already laid out for you in the onboarding process.

It uncovers features and tools you might not have known about.

Today’s digital products are rich in extra tools and functions that can really ramp up your potential results. Unless you go through a proper onboarding process, it may take you a long time to discover some of those features, and learn how to use them for your benefit. Plus, during a solid onboarding process, you can learn about the hidden ‘superpowers’ of the product, and then just choose the features that work for you.

It’s a great way to build a relationship with the software provider.

As a customer, you want to have a team behind you, who can help you with upgrades, questions, and technical support whenever you need. A user onboarding process is a great way to get to know the customer success team, and gain yourself some allies in the journey you’ll take as a customer. 

You can achieve better performance, sooner.

If you go through the onboarding process, you can expect to start seeing better performance and results more quickly than if you hadn’t. User onboarding gives you a guided and detailed glimpse into the working of the software, and the things you need to know to use it as efficiently and smartly as possible. Remember, it is in the interest of the provider that you have a great experience with the product – that’s one of the main reasons why they offer the onboarding process! So make sure to take advantage of it.

You’ll get more value for money.

User onboarding is designed to help you adopt a software product faster and better, and to get the most out of it in the shortest time. And that means you’ll get more value for your investment. Think of onboarding as a free boost of fuel for your car – it will get you from A to B more efficiently, at no extra cost to you. So why not join in? 

Besides all the reasons above…

It’s been noted that 63% of customers say that the user onboarding process is a key to deciding whether or not to subscribe to a product. In addition to getting you more familiar with the software, onboarding can even help you decide whether it’s right for you. And that’s really important.

User Onboarding with Outbrain Amplify – What to Expect

The customer success team at Outbrain has put together an awesome onboarding flow for the Amplify native advertising platform. It introduces customers to the dashboard and the most important features and tools, so they can kick off high-quality campaigns quickly, and learn how to optimize campaigns in the future.

Here’s a quick overview of what advertisers can expect from Amplify onboarding:

Start with the basics.

First things first, we help you get to know your Amplify dashboard, and how to use it to create and manage campaigns. We offer a live Dashboard 101 webinar, running monthly for all the new advertisers who recently joined.

Next, Outbrain Pixel installation.

Those taking part in the onboarding process will receive information about what is the Outbrain Pixel, why installing it is so important, and different methods of how to install and troubleshoot it.

Moving on to advanced tools.

The next phase is when we introduce the more advanced tools, like Conversion Bid Strategies and Engagement Bid Strategies, plus we explore the targeting options designed to help advertisers reach audiences with the highest potential of converting.

Finish line.

The onboarding process ends with the introduction to various Resources available to Outbrain advertisers as they move forward, such as the Help Center, blog, and even a dedicated  Onboarding page, where all the most important and useful information is easy to find. 

Hop On the Onboarding Train

Now that you understand what user onboarding is, why it matters, and what onboarding at Outbrain looks like, you might be wondering how to get started with the onboarding process. Don’t worry – once you sign up as an Outbrain advertiser, you’re automatically enrolled in the program, and you’ll receive prompts via email and messages in your Amplify dashboard every step of the way. So, what are you waiting for? Join Outbrain today and start onboarding with us.