Getting new customers up to speed shouldn’t be a marathon. If you’re stuck with clunky spreadsheets, scattered emails, or just want a saner way to track onboarding, this guide is for you. We’ll walk through how to use Totango to actually make onboarding smoother—without getting lost in the weeds or buying into the hype.
You’ll learn where Totango shines, where it gets in its own way, and how to set things up so you spend less time chasing status updates and more time actually helping customers succeed.
Step 1: Get Clear On Your Onboarding Process (Before Touching Totango)
Totango is a tool, not a magic wand. Before you start clicking around, sketch out (on paper, whiteboard, napkin—doesn’t matter) what your ideal onboarding looks like.
Questions worth answering first: - What are the key milestones every new customer should hit? - Who’s responsible for each step (you, the customer, both)? - What’s “done” look like? - Where do things usually go sideways?
If you skip this, you’ll just end up digitizing a messy process.
Pro Tip: Most teams overcomplicate onboarding. Start with the basics—think “activate account,” “complete training,” “first success milestone”—and add only what you know you’ll use.
Step 2: Set Up Your Totango Account (The Right Way)
Totango isn’t that hard to set up, but it’s easy to go overboard. Here’s what actually matters:
- Clean up your customer list before importing. Duplicates and stale contacts will haunt you later.
- Decide on your key data fields. You don’t need 50 columns—stick to what you’ll actually use to segment or trigger actions (e.g., account owner, industry, start date).
- Integrate your core systems (CRM, support, product usage data) only if you’re going to use that info for onboarding right now. Fancy integrations can wait.
What to skip: Don’t spend hours customizing dashboards or automating reports at this stage. They’re nice, but not critical for onboarding.
Step 3: Build Your Onboarding SuccessPlay
Totango’s “SuccessPlays” are basically templates for repeatable processes—onboarding, in this case. They’re powerful, but easy to overcomplicate.
How to set up a useful SuccessPlay: 1. Name it clearly. “New Customer Onboarding” works. Don’t get cute. 2. Map out the steps. Use your earlier process—each step should be a clear action (e.g., “Send welcome email,” “Schedule kickoff call,” “Deliver training session”). 3. Assign owners and deadlines. Make it obvious who does what, and by when. 4. Set up triggers. Does onboarding start when a contract is signed? When a product is provisioned? Pick a clear, automatic trigger if you can. 5. Add tasks and templates. Use Totango’s built-in task system for reminders and follow-ups. Save your best customer emails as templates.
What’s overrated: Don’t try to automate everything up front. Manual steps are fine, especially until you know what really works.
Step 4: Automate What Actually Saves Time
Totango can automate reminders, emails, and escalations. But automation only helps if it saves you clicks or headaches.
Good candidates for automation: - Kickoff emails sent when onboarding begins. - Task reminders for follow-ups or overdue tasks. - Alerts if a customer is stuck (e.g., hasn’t logged in after X days).
Skip this for now: - Complicated branching logic (“If the customer is in Industry X and has a dog, do Y…”). - Auto-assigning tasks to people who don’t check Totango anyway.
Reality check: If your team ignores automated emails or never logs in, no amount of automation will help. Start simple, then scale.
Step 5: Make It Easy For Your Team To Use
The fanciest onboarding workflow doesn’t matter if your team fights the tool. Totango’s UI is decent, but it’s not magic—expect a learning curve.
What helps: - Keep it simple. Limit required fields and steps. Nobody wants to fill out a novel for each customer. - Do a quick walkthrough. 20-minute screen share works wonders. - Document the basics. One-pager with “here’s what to do when you get a new customer” is enough. - Ask for feedback. If people are skipping steps or making up workarounds, listen.
What to ignore: Don’t get hung up on “adoption rates” or fancy usage metrics at first. Just make sure the essentials get done.
Step 6: Track Progress Without Becoming a Slave to Data
Totango’s dashboards and reporting are better than most, but it’s easy to drown in metrics.
What to track: - % of customers who finish onboarding (in any given time period) - Average time to complete onboarding - Where customers get stuck or drop off
What not to track (at least for now): - Every click, page view, or “engagement score” unless you know what you’ll do with that info - Vanity metrics that look good but don’t help you fix real onboarding issues
How to use this info: - If customers routinely get stuck at the same step, that’s your cue to simplify or add support—not to build another report.
Step 7: Iterate—But Don’t Redesign Every Month
Your first shot at onboarding in Totango won’t be perfect. That’s fine. The point is to get out of spreadsheet hell, not build the Sistine Chapel.
What works: - Review onboarding data every quarter. Look for bottlenecks or steps nobody uses. - Ask your team and new customers what’s confusing. - Make small tweaks—don’t tear it all down unless it’s truly broken.
What to ignore: Don’t chase every new Totango feature or “best practice” blog post. Most don’t move the needle.
A Few Honest Pros and Cons
Where Totango shines: - Keeps tasks and milestones in one place - Decent automation without needing an engineer - Good for teams who outgrew spreadsheets but don’t want Salesforce bloat
Where it gets annoying: - Can get noisy if you over-automate or add too many steps - UI isn’t always as intuitive as you hope; takes time for teams to adjust - Reporting is solid, but don’t expect magic insights
Stuff you can safely ignore: - Overly complicated health scores (for onboarding, at least) - Endless customization—get the basics working first
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple, Iterate as You Go
Totango can make onboarding a lot less painful—if you stick to what matters and avoid the urge to automate everything on day one. Start with clear steps, only automate what’s actually helpful, and keep your team in the loop. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of done.
The real trick? Keep it simple. Get feedback, tweak what’s not working, and don’t be afraid to cut steps that nobody uses. Onboarding isn’t about showing off your tool—it’s about getting customers to value, fast. Everything else is just noise.