As the Director of Professional Services and Customer Success at Zingfit, a SaaS eCommerce platform dedicated to boutique fitness studios, I had the privilege of leading a team of 10 direct and indirect reports. In this role, I was responsible for onboarding and servicing over 200 studio customers that collectively serve 70,000 consumers. Below, I’ll delve into some of the challenges I faced, the solutions my teams and I developed, and the results that followed.
Restructuring Onboarding & Customer Success
When I first assumed my role, the onboarding process was fragmented, and the Customer Support team often functioned in isolation. My first order of business was to standardize communication methods and bridge the gap between the two teams. One of the ways I accomplished this was by leveraging Zendesk. The Customer Support team was already using it. Having both teams use it allowed for a much more seamless communication flow between the two teams. This not only improved internal workflow but also cut down on project overages by a staggering 200%.
Onboarding Velocity
One of the most significant bottlenecks was the lengthy onboarding process, which took an average of 8 weeks. To address this, we co-created a new streamlined onboarding process. This included changing the way that the tool was integrated into our clients' sites. This reducing the time to just 4 weeks! This enabled us to serve our clients more efficiently and allowed them to benefit from our platform much sooner.
Onboarding Backlog
Similarly, there was a massive backlog of customers waiting to be onboarded, stretching over an average of 4 months. We prioritized the backlog according to customer needs and were able to cut it down to just 5 weeks. This boosted customer satisfaction and positively impacted our revenue.
Transforming Onboarding Into a Profit Center
Believing that onboarding was not just an entry point but also an experience worth investing in, I initiated efforts to rebrand the Onboarding division as a profit center. We successfully revamped our pricing models, which not only improved our revenue streams but also made the onboarding experience smoother for our clients.
Elevating Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is the cornerstone of any service-based company. Upon my arrival, our Capterra ratings stood at a mere 2.5 stars. By revamping customer-facing processes and focusing on saving unhappy accounts, we managed to elevate our ratings to 4.0 stars. This improvement was a testament to the hard work put in by both the Professional Services and Customer Support teams.
Paving the Way for Organizational Change
While my core responsibilities lay in Onboarding and Customer Success, my role also extended to helping Zingfit transition from its digital ad agency roots into a full-fledged software development company. To achieve this, I developed a new vision, organizational chart, key metrics, toolsets, and forecasting processes. These foundational changes have set the stage for the company’s continued growth and success.
My tenure at Zingfit was a journey filled with challenges, learning, and ultimately, transformation. From streamlining onboarding processes to significantly improving customer satisfaction ratings, the initiatives I led had a profound impact on both internal operations and client experiences. These experiences not only honed my skills as a leader in the technology space but also reaffirmed my belief in the transformative power of effective team management and customer-centric approaches.
