As businesses plan for the year ahead, budgeting often takes center stage. One area that shouldn’t be overlooked is client onboarding.
While onboarding is a critical step in solidifying long-lasting relationships, the process can quickly become a financial burden if not managed effectively. From communication inefficiencies to resource-heavy tasks, costs can accumulate in surprising ways—and by a lot.
Here’s a look into where client onboarding costs can add up and how to curb those numbers.
3 Strategies To Curb Onboarding Costs
1. Consolidate Your Tech Stack
60% of companies use between four to six tools for customer onboarding. When you’re managing various tools for onboarding project management, data management, and communication, the inefficiencies add up:
- Subscription fees: Paying for several tools that only handle single aspects of onboarding can inflate your software budget.
- Time costs: Switching between systems eats into your team’s productivity and increases the risk of errors.
- Integration struggles: Combining data across systems requires time and technical expertise, further adding to expenses.
The better option: Move away from a fragmented tech stack to an all-in-one onboarding platform. Consolidated solutions like Setuply can handle all facets of client onboarding in one place—saving you money and minimizing inefficiencies.
Learn more about the hidden costs of single-point onboarding solutions.
2. Automate Repetitive Tasks
Research shows that 94% of workers perform repetitive, time-consuming tasks in their roles. For onboarding teams, these menial efforts can involve sending up follow-up emails and reminders to clients—whether it’s to notify clients that project milestones have been met or an effort to gather documents the onboarding process relies on.
Manual execution of these tasks not only drains your team’s time but also increases the risk of delays and errors.
The better option: Leverage automation tools to take care of routine tasks. By automating follow-ups, reminders, and other aspects of onboarding, your team can focus on higher-value activities that directly contribute to client success. Automation powers consistency, reduces human error, and delivers a smoother experience for your clients—all while cutting costs.
Take a closer look at how automation helps drive onboarding profitability.
3. Use AI-Driven Insights To Optimize Resources
Client onboarding teams often handle multiple projects simultaneously—sometimes far more than leadership realizes. Without clear visibility into team capacities and workload imbalances, team members can be unintentionally overloaded, creating inefficiencies and increased costs.
To put this in perspective, burnout can decrease employee productivity by as much as 40%.
The better option: Implement AI-driven tools to analyze team performance and optimize resource allocation. With AI, you can:
- Assign tasks based on employee skill sets, maximizing productivity
- Identify team members at risk of burnout and adjust workloads proactively
- Gain insights into process bottlenecks and inefficiencies, so you can fine-tune your onboarding flow
Not only does this approach reduce costs, but it keeps your team motivated and engaged.
Explore tips for creating balance for your client onboarding team.
Turn Client Onboarding Into a Profit Driver
Reducing client onboarding costs is more than cutting expenses—it’s about delivering an experience that sets your business and clients up for long-term success. A seamless onboarding process builds trust, accelerates client satisfaction, and reinforces your value.
By streamlining operations and automating repetitive tasks, you can boost efficiency, reduce churn, and free your team to focus on high-impact activities. You’ll have happier clients, stronger retention numbers, and more opportunities for growth through upselling and referrals—all while keeping costs in check.
Try Setuply Freemium today and experience how efficient and enjoyable onboarding can be.