project showcase

Strategic Onboarding to Reduce Churn

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⏳ Context

My first experience in a startup was at Nucont, a fintech for accountants that transformed raw balance sheets into visual dashboards. I joined as a Customer Success Analyst, but even then, I had a strong instinct for improving the user journey, even though I didn’t yet know what UX was.

The product was solid, but something didn’t sit right with me: many customers were churning early, often saying things like, “This isn’t what I expected,” or “I don’t know how to use this with my clients.” I was on the front lines, hearing this feedback daily.

And that’s when I decided to act.

🎯 The Problem

We noticed that the post-sale process was shallow and ineffective: clients would go straight from the salesperson to a CS, without any proper triage or alignment. This often resulted in a disconnect between what the client thought they were buying and what they were ready to use.

The outcome? High early churn, frustrated clients, and CSMs struggling to add value.

🧭 My Process and Strategy

I started with a simple question:
“How can we understand the customer’s real pain before they even begin their journey?”

I led the creation of a Strategic Onboarding flow, broken into four stages:

  1. Maturity Test
    We created a diagnostic to identify where the accountant was in their journey. Were they ready to use dashboards with clients? Did they have a structured internal process? Or were they still trying to organize their business?
  2. Result Presentation Meeting
    This was a key moment of transparency and trust. We showed the customer their diagnostic results and helped them visualize what the journey ahead would look like.
  3. Contextual Platform Walkthrough
    The product wasn’t shown in isolation. We presented the dashboard in a way that connected to their actual pain points, using relevant examples and quick wins.
  4. Transition to the Right CS
    Only after this triage did we hand the client off to their long-term Customer Success Manager. This ensured the CSM was equipped to add real value from day one.

📦 Deliverables

  • Complete design and implementation of a new onboarding process
  • Custom maturity assessment tool
  • Presentation assets focused on value delivery, not just features
  • Clear scripts and templates for the hand-off process
  • Segmented onboarding paths based on client profile and readiness

📊 Results

  • Significant reduction in churn within the first 3 months
  • Clearer expectation alignment from day one
  • Increased perceived value of the product within the first few weeks
  • More efficient onboarding process and happier CS team
  • Improved trust and retention

🧠 What I Learned

Before this project, I saw Customer Success mostly as operational support. But after designing and leading this onboarding initiative, I realized:

User experience starts long before the product is used, it begins with expectations, communication, and guidance.

That project was my first true step into UX, without even realizing it. Looking back, I can clearly see how that experience shaped my thinking as a product designer today. It was about human behavior, clarity, and intentional experiences... everything UX stands for.

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