Client Onboarding

Solution

I took ownership of this project from initial discovery through to deployment. After an in-depth requirements session with the key stakeholder (business accounts manager), I broke the scope into two focused phases: Client Onboarding and Credit Account Application.

I planned the end-to-end experience, designed the workflows, created documentation for cross-team alignment, and collaborated with developers and our systems architect to ensure feasibility within Salesforce. I personally set up and maintained all Zapier integrations to support automation across both staging and production environments.

User Research & Discovery

To kick off the project, I held a requirements-gathering session with the key stakeholder to understand the current onboarding process, its limitations, and his vision for improvement. The stakeholder described the full flow of reaching out to potential clients, sharing forms via email, manually extracting data, and creating accounts in Salesforce. This insight helped identify opportunities for automation, better structure, and integration.

I consulted with the systems architect and lead Salesforce developers to understand the technical constraints and possibilities within our infrastructure. This helped shape realistic workflows, informed the form and field structure in Salesforce, and ensured seamless backend automation through Zapier.

Design & Development Approach

My proposed solution focused on creating an onboarding workflow fully integrated with Salesforce. This included a one-click welcome email feature, personalised form links with customer pre-fill logic, a new case type for early-stage queries, and Zapier-based form automation. These tools enabled the stakeholder to onboard and manage clients efficiently.

Each part of the solution was designed around a clear user journey: the key stakeholder could create a customer record, send a welcome email with custom links, and monitor form submissions through Salesforce. Customers, in turn, received an email that gave them immediate access to prefilled booking and contact forms, removing friction and improving engagement from the very first interaction.

User Flows

I created a comprehensive end-to-end user flow to visualize the complete client onboarding experience, showing the happy path for both the stakeholder (Operations & Performance Manager) and the customer. This flow guided the design process and ensured a seamless experience from initial client contact through to successful onboarding and ongoing engagement.

Wireframes

I designed wireframes for all email templates, form interfaces, and Salesforce customizations to ensure consistent user experience and clear information architecture across all touchpoints.

Technical Implementation

During development, I took full ownership of the end-to-end build, ensuring all features were implemented according to the project vision and design.

• Designing and developing all email templates used in the onboarding flow
• Creating a new "Contact via Email" form with fields mapped to Salesforce account data
• Setting up and configuring the Zapier integration for the "Contact via Email" form in both staging and production environments
• Overseeing the implementation of all features, user flows, and processes to ensure alignment with the intended experience

Quality Assurance

To ensure everything functioned smoothly, I tested each feature as it was developed.

• Verifying that all email templates were triggered correctly and rendered as expected on both mobile and desktop devices
• Testing the Zapier integration to confirm case creation, correct field mapping, and assignment of the "Case via Email" type
• Manually testing user flows to ensure they performed reliably from onboarding through to customer submission and stakeholder notification

Key Learnings

Impact

The client onboarding tools and workflows were successfully deployed and integrated into Aspect’s operations. Phase 1 delivered the tools and automation needed to streamline client onboarding, giving the stakeholder a more efficient workflow.

While follow-up research and performance data were not gathered at this stage, the next phase was designed to validate adoption and measure impact through stakeholder feedback and Salesforce metrics.

Project Delivery

• Hosted a walkthrough session with the stakeholder to demonstrate the new features and discuss the upcoming second phase of the project
• Created internal release notes summarising all new features, the "Contact via Email" form, and updates to existing systems and workflows
• Coordinated a company-wide release email to showcase the new functionality and ensure teams were aware of the changes and how they impacted day-to-day processes

Planned Next Steps

With the "Client onboarding" phase successfully delivered, the project is ready to move into its second phase: Credit Account Application. The following next steps will ensure a smooth transition and effective implementation across teams:

• Begin Phase Two Design & Development

  • Initiate the build of the Credit Account Application flow using the prepared design documentation and form prototype
  • Finalise updates to the Gravity Forms template based on integration needs and prefill structure

• Expand Salesforce Integration

  • Add new fields to the Account object to support data mapping from the credit form
  • Design a new Zapier integration to update existing account records using form submissions
  • Ensure seamless handoff of form data from Gravity Forms to Salesforce, preserving automation and traceability

• Facilitate Cross-Team Collaboration

  • Align with Marketing to establish shared access to the Gravity Forms staging environment
  • Promote a version-controlled approach to form editing across both Marketing and Product teams, preserving stability and avoiding conflicts in production

• Prepare for Internal Adoption

  • Conduct stakeholder walkthroughs with lead developers to align on the development timeline and solution architecture
  • Draft training guides and internal release notes tailored to stakeholder teams (customer service, sales, marketing)

• Rollout & Feedback

  • Organise a project showcase meeting to present all Credit Account Application features to internal stakeholders including the key stakeholder (business account manager), marketing, and the CTO
  • Collect feedback post-launch to monitor adoption, identify issues, and guide future iterations or enhancements

• User Research

  Carry out extensive user research to evaluate the effectiveness of the phase 1 tools and uncover both pain points and strengths. This would include:

  Primary Stakeholder (Operations & Performance Manager)
  • Understanding whether the tools supported their client base, accelerated onboarding, and simplified workflows
  • Identifying areas where efficiency or usability could be improved
  Secondary Stakeholder (Operations Manager):
  • Assessing how the new processes integrated into day-to-day operations
  • Ensuring the tools reduced complexity and work load for the operations team

• Performance Metrics

  Monitor Salesforce data to identify measurable outcomes, focusing on:

  • Efficiency of onboarding new corporate clients
  • Reductions in onboarding time and manual effort
  • Growth in client numbers following implementation