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How a SaaS company cut time to first value from 14 days to 2 days.
Every new customer needed three live calls to get started, and the onboarding team couldn't keep up. Skillfi's fractional CXO redesigned the first-week experience so customers could set themselves up inside the product, with people saved for the accounts that needed them. It's how our fractional CXO service works: experiences that keep customers coming back.
Growing fast, and onboarding one call at a time.
The company sells scheduling software to multi-site businesses like clinics, gyms and retailers, and was adding around 80 new customers a month. Every one of them went through three live calls: a kickoff, a setup session and a training.
That meant 240 calls a month for a six-person onboarding team. New customers waited nine days just for their first call, and it took 14 days on average before they published their first schedule. Small customers lost patience, 18% cancelled within 90 days, and the cost of onboarding them was wiping out their first year of profit.
Our customers wanted to get started on day one. We were making them wait for a calendar slot.
VP of Customer Success, client
Let customers start on day one, and save people for where they matter.
Our fractional CXO interviewed new customers, watched them try to set up and found exactly where they got stuck. Welcome and nudge emails were triggered by in-app behaviour using marketing automation.
Guided setup inside the product
A five-step setup that imports staff from a spreadsheet, offers ready-made templates by industry and gets customers to their first published schedule in one sitting.
Answers right where they're needed
Tips, two-minute videos and a progress checklist on every key screen, so customers get unstuck without booking a call.
A resource hub for going further
Short courses, live group webinars and how-to guides, with one-to-one onboarding kept for larger accounts that need it.
6 months, step by step
From three live calls per customer to setup in a single sitting. Here's how the engagement unfolded.
- Month 130 interviews
Journey research
30 new customers interviewed and observed, with every point where setup stalled mapped.
- Month 11 key moment
First value defined
Publishing the first schedule chosen as the moment that predicts whether a customer stays.
- Month 2–39 → 5 steps
Guided setup built
The five-step setup, staff import and industry templates designed and built with the product team.
- Month 3–440 help videos
Help & resource hub
In-app tips, short videos, checklists and the resource hub launched, with emails triggered by progress.
- Month 4–52 onboarding paths
Smart routing
Small customers onboarded self-serve, larger accounts given a dedicated specialist from day one.
- Month 62 days to value
Measure & refine
Activation, time to first value and early churn reviewed, with the biggest remaining sticking points fixed.
From sign-up to first schedule
What a new customer experiences now, from the moment they log in to the moment they see value.
A setup that fits them
- Choose your industry
- Ready-made templates
- Clear progress checklist
Guided, step by step
- Import staff in one go
- Add sites & shifts
- Tips on every screen
First schedule published
- Staff invited
- First schedule live
- Quick win celebrated
Going further
- Resource hub & courses
- Live group webinars
- Specialist for big accounts
Six months after the redesign
Live onboarding calls a month
The onboarding team now spends its time on larger accounts and expansion.
Customers now publish their first schedule the day they sign up. Our team stopped repeating the same setup call and started helping customers grow.
VP of Customer Success, clientIs onboarding slowing your growth?
Our fractional CXO will map your first-week experience, design self-serve setup inside your product and keep your people for the customers who need them most. Want onboarding emails that react to what customers do? Add marketing automation.
- A first-week journey map
- Guided setup inside your product
- In-app help & a resource hub
- Self-serve and high-touch paths
30 minutes. No obligation.
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