Voice of the Customer Begins at Onboarding: Using Early Feedback to Drive Loyalty

Customer experience professionals and executives know that winning a new customer is only the beginning. The accurate measure of success is how well you onboard that customer and set the stage for a long and loyal relationship. This means the Voice of the Customer (VoC) – the feedback, needs, and perspectives your customers share – should be actively sought and embraced from the beginning of the onboarding process. 

In this post, we’ll explore why gathering customer feedback early in onboarding is so critical and how doing so drives stronger loyalty over the long term. We’ll also discuss practical ways to integrate VoC into onboarding, and how early feedback can continually improve your process and product.

The Critical First Impression: Onboarding Sets the Tone for Loyalty

When a new customer signs on, their initial experience with your company can make or break the relationship. Research shows that the risk of losing a customer increases if your onboarding process doesn’t quickly demonstrate value and ease. A well-executed onboarding creates a positive first impression that can significantly influence long-term loyalty.

Consider a simple scenario: a customer is excited to start using your product, but during onboarding, they encounter a convoluted setup, unclear instructions, or unresponsive support. It doesn’t take long before they feel frustrated and start questioning their decision. First impressions are everything – and a confusing or difficult onboarding is a first impression that can sow doubt. On the other hand, a seamless, user-friendly onboarding experience reassures new customers that they made the right choice and that your company is committed to their success.

It’s not just about avoiding a bad start; a great start has rewards. Customers are far more likely to remain loyal to a company when the onboarding is effective. An onboarding program that is known to be excellent can attract customers, while a poor reputation in onboarding can repel them. The takeaway is clear: early experiences shape long-term attitudes. Onboarding sets the tone for the entire customer journey, and it’s the earliest opportunity to either reinforce a customer’s confidence or undermine it.

Why Voice of the Customer Should Start on Day One

Many companies have Voice of the Customer programs – regular customer surveys, feedback sessions, Net Promoter Score (NPS) tracking, and so on – but too often these efforts focus on later stages of the customer lifecycle. Perhaps you survey customers once they’ve been using the product for 6 months, or you solicit feedback prior to renewal. Yet waiting too long misses a golden opportunity. The voice of the customer should begin at onboarding, right when the relationship is formed.

Why gather feedback so early? First, it signals to the customer that you are listening and value their opinions from the outset. This immediately helps them feel appreciated and heard. And feeling appreciated is vital – 66% of customers will switch brands if they think they are unappreciated3. By asking new customers, “How is it going? What could we do better?” you demonstrate that their success is your priority. It’s a powerful trust-builder. Instead of the customer wondering if they made a mistake choosing your solution, they see a company eager to understand their experience and address any concerns. This creates a sense of partnership early on.

Second, early feedback allows you to fix issues before they escalate. If a new customer is experiencing confusion or a problem during onboarding, you want to know immediately, not months later when the damage has been done. A quick check-in or survey during onboarding can uncover pain points while there’s still time to course correct. For example, the customer may find a particular setup step confusing or feel the training materials don’t match their expectations. Armed with that insight, your team can clarify, provide extra guidance, or adjust the process for that customer and others. You are essentially rescuing the experience in real time. This kind of responsiveness can turn a lukewarm customer into a loyal advocate because they’ve seen that you take their input seriously and act on it.

Finally, engaging the voice of the customer during onboarding lays the cultural groundwork for a long-term relationship built on open communication. If a customer’s first interactions post-sale involve giving feedback and seeing that feedback acted upon, they learn that this is a two-way relationship. They’ll be more likely to continue sharing honest input down the road – whether it’s new feature requests, ideas to improve, or praise for what they love. In short, early feedback opens the dialogue. It tells customers, “We’re in this together – your voice matters here.” That feeling of being valued is the seed of loyalty.

Building Feedback Loops into the Onboarding Process

How can you practically incorporate Voice of the Customer into the onboarding stage? It’s crucial to design feedback loops that are natural, timely, and not burdensome to the customer. Here are some proven approaches to gathering early feedback:

1. Post-Onboarding Surveys: 

A common best practice is to send a brief survey to new customers immediately after the initial onboarding or implementation is completed (for example, 30 days in, or once the onboarding project is officially closed). This survey should focus on the onboarding experience – was it smooth? Did the customer feel supported? Did it meet their expectations? The idea is to capture the customer’s sentiment while the experience is fresh. Experts strongly recommend deploying a survey at the end of onboarding to assess satisfaction during this critical first stage of engagement. By capturing these insights early, you can identify any simmering dissatisfaction or confusion before it affects the customer’s ongoing product usage. Keep the survey short – maybe just 5 to 10 questions – including a few customer satisfaction (CSAT) questions (e.g., “How satisfied or dissatisfied were you with your onboarding experience?”), A question about expectations versus reality, along with one or two open-ended questions for suggestions, can suffice. The data from these surveys is a treasure trove for improving your process (more on that in the next section).

2. In-App Feedback and Usage Signals: 

If your product allows, consider building in-app feedback prompts that appear during the onboarding period. This could be as simple as a thumbs-up or thumbs-down after an onboarding tutorial, or a quick one-question poll after the user completes key onboarding steps. These micro-feedback tools can alert you to areas of friction. Additionally, usage data itself is a form of feedback – if a new customer isn’t utilizing a feature or hasn’t logged in for days during onboarding, that behavior signals potential trouble. Set up dashboards or alerts to monitor onboarding engagement (for example, track if the customer completed the training modules or if specific tasks in the onboarding project are overdue). If something looks off, it’s a cue for the customer success manager to reach out and ask how things are going. Modern onboarding platforms often facilitate this kind of visibility. (For instance, an onboarding platform with integrated satisfaction tracking and analytics can help you gather customer insights and spot issues in real time.)

3. Personal Outreach and Check-Ins: 

Not all feedback has to come via formal surveys or software. There’s huge value in good old-fashioned conversations. Have your Implementation Specialist or Customer Success Manager schedule a check-in call early in the onboarding, perhaps one week in, explicitly to ask, “How are things going? Is there anything we can do better or anything that wasn’t clear so far?” This proactive outreach often prompts customers to share minor concerns or questions that they might not otherwise voice. It also reinforces that you care about their progress. Similarly, at the end of onboarding, a wrap-up meeting to review the project can double as a feedback session. You can use the feedback from the post-onboarding survey to guide the conversation. Not only do you get candid input, but you also show we’re always looking to improve. That attitude leaves a lasting, strong, and positive impression.

In building these feedback loops, a few principles are key. Timing matters – ask for input when the experience is fresh (during or immediately after onboarding milestones). Brevity matters – respect your customers’ time by keeping feedback requests concise. And most importantly, follow up matters – if a customer provides feedback, acknowledge it and act on it (even if it’s just a thank-you and a note that you’re looking into their suggestion). This closes the loop and encourages future feedback. Also, make feedback a two-way street: share with the customer what changes you’re making based on the input they and others have given. This kind of responsiveness early in the relationship strongly reinforces loyalty – the customer feels heard and valued.

Using Early Feedback to Refine Your Onboarding (and Product)

Collecting feedback during onboarding is only half the equation. The real power of VoC at onboarding comes from what you do with that feedback. Companies that effectively leverage early customer input treat it as a continuous improvement loop—constantly refining their onboarding process (and even their product or service) to better meet customer needs. Let’s explore how acting on early feedback drives loyalty by improving the experience.

Improve the Onboarding Process: Trends and common pain points that emerge from onboarding feedback should be channeled straight into process enhancements. For example, imagine your post-onboarding surveys reveal that several customers felt overwhelmed by the amount of information in the first week. That’s a clear signal to consider pacing the onboarding more digestibly – perhaps by spreading out training sessions or simplifying initial setup steps. Possibly multiple customers commented that a particular integration was challenging to configure. With that knowledge, you can create a better step-by-step guide or adjust the product to reduce complexity. 

The best companies treat this feedback as a gift – an early warning system for friction in the customer journey. They then refine the onboarding program accordingly, smoothing out those rough spots. This dedication to continuous improvement pays off in future customer loyalty: each new customer enjoys a slightly better onboarding than the last, leading to higher satisfaction rates over time. In essence, your new customers are helping improve your service for themselves and those who come after – a collaborative effort fostering goodwill.

Empower Your Team to Respond Quickly: Early feedback is only valuable if it reaches the right ears and prompts action. Ensure your Customer Success and onboarding teams have a transparent process for reviewing and addressing onboarding feedback. For instance, if a customer’s survey response indicates dissatisfaction, there should be an immediate task or alert for a team member to follow up with that customer, resolve any issues, and reassure them. This kind of “close the loop” action can be incredibly impactful. Customers are often pleasantly surprised when a company responds rapidly to their feedback. It turns a potentially harmful experience into a positive story. (In fact, some research suggests that when companies resolve an issue promptly, customers can become even more loyal than if no issue had occurred.) The takeaway: speed and sincerity in acting on feedback amplify the loyalty benefits of gathering feedback. It shows the customer that their voice doesn’t disappear into a void – it drives real change.

Feed Insights Back into Product Development: The onboarding phase is one of the richest sources of insight into what customers want from your product. In those first few weeks, customers view your solution with fresh eyes. Their questions and feedback often highlight gaps or opportunities that more seasoned users might overlook. Maybe a customer asks, “Is there a way to do X? It would help our use case.” That might spark a new feature idea. Or an onboarding survey might reveal that customers expected the product to handle a specific task automatically when it doesn’t, indicating an area to improve the product or better set expectations in sales. Capture these nuggets and share them with your product management and UX teams. Over time, incorporating this early feedback into your product roadmap will strengthen your solution and align with customer needs. Customers who see their early suggestions implemented (“Wow, they added the feature I asked for!”) will feel a deeper connection and loyalty to your company. You’ve shown that even as a new customer, their input can influence your direction – a surefire way to create fans, not just users.

It’s worth noting that technology can assist in this feedback-to-action cycle. By automating routine onboarding tasks and providing a transparent portal for collaboration, you free up your team to focus more on the customer’s voice rather than paperwork. (One GUIDEcx customer, MaidCentral, cut their onboarding task workload by 75% after implementing GUIDEcx – allowing their team to spend more time on high-touch customer interactions instead of chasing administrative to-dos.) Additionally, if your onboarding software integrates feedback tools – such as allowing customers to leave notes or comments on tasks or triggering surveys at key milestones – it becomes much easier to capture sentiment in the flow of work. The easier it is for customers to provide feedback and for your team to hear it, the more robust your early VoC program will be.

Early Engagement as the Foundation of Long-Term Loyalty

All of these efforts – making onboarding smooth, inviting early feedback, and acting on what you learn – ultimately serve one overarching goal: to earn the customer’s loyalty for the long haul. Early customer feedback is not just about fixing the onboarding phase; it’s about setting the tone for the entire relationship. When done right, engaging the voice of the customer at the start creates a ripple effect of positive outcomes across the customer lifecycle.

Emphasizing the voice of the customer from day one helps instill a customer-centric culture in your organization that perpetuates loyalty. When your teams – from implementation specialists to executives – routinely hear directly from new customers, it creates a feedback mindset. Employees become more attuned to customer needs and are proactive in addressing them. Over time, this shapes how your company delivers all stages of the customer experience. 

Companies that excel at customer experience make feedback a continuous cycle, not a one-off event. By starting that cycle at onboarding, you effectively “train” your organization to keep the customer’s perspective at the forefront. That cultural alignment results in consistently better experiences, which drives loyalty. Customers sense when a company is genuinely customer-centric, and they reward it with their loyalty. As Evan Klein (Founder of Satrix Solutions and long-time VoC champion) has often noted, companies that commit to capturing and acting on customer feedback consistently outperform those that don’t – they see higher retention, more referrals, and a stronger brand reputation in the market.

Conclusion: Onboarding Is the Beginning of an Ongoing Conversation

Too many companies treat onboarding as a checklist: implement the product, train the user, then move on and hope for the best. But onboarding is far more than a box to tick – it’s your first chance to show customers what kind of relationship they can expect with your business. Will it be a one-way street where you dump information and disappear? Or will it be a two-way partnership grounded in listening, learning, and continuous value delivery? The most successful, loyalty-driven organizations choose the latter. They make the voice of the customer the loudest voice in the room from day one.

By gathering early feedback and acting on it, you send a powerful message to your new customers: We are here for your success and listening. This message, delivered not just in words but in actions, is what creates loyal customers. It transforms the dynamic from vendor-client into a true partnership. When customers see their input influence your actions – an extra training session scheduled, a software tweak, a process improved – it builds an emotional connection and trust that no marketing campaign can buy.

Voice of the Customer begins at onboarding – put those voices at the center of your process from the very start. Do this, and you will achieve smoother implementations; you’ll cultivate loyal customers who stay longer, engage more, and sing your praises to others. In today’s competitive market, loyalty is the ultimate win-win for your customers and your business. Here at GUIDEcx (in partnership with Satrix Solutions), we’ve seen firsthand that an early focus on customer feedback is a game-changer for retention and growth. It’s time to make your onboarding the start of an ongoing, rewarding conversation. Your customers will thank you for your loyalty.

This article was written by Evan Klein, Founder and President at Satrix Solutions.