Registration and Onboarding

Registration is Stage 1 of the Customer Adoption Framework — the critical first step where an existing customer creates a digital account and links it to their ERP account record. It seems simple. It is often where everything breaks down.

Why Registration Matters in B2B

B2B registration is fundamentally different from B2C signup. In B2B:

• The customer is already a buying customer — they have contract pricing, credit terms, and approved product lists
• Registration must link the digital account to the ERP record so the customer sees their price (not list price)
• A customer who registers and sees wrong pricing will never come back
• Unlinked accounts create customer service headaches and erode trust in the platform

“When they look at your website, they see their pricing, their inventory. If you want them to have that step, you have to simplify the registration process.”
— Customer Adoption Masterclass

The Registration Simplicity Principle

The registration process must be as simple as possible:

• Maximum: email + password (two fields)
• Ideal: single-click registration from a personalized email link (“We already know who you are — just set a password”)
• Do not: require company name, address, account number, credit application-style form
• The customer should be registered in under 60 seconds

“It cannot be a four-page signup. It cannot look like a credit application.”

ERP Account Linking

The technical challenge of registration: matching the digital account to the correct ERP account:

• Auto-match by email domain — if the customer’s email matches the company domain in ERP
• Account number entry — customer enters their account number during registration
• Sales rep confirmation — rep confirms the match in CRM/portal before account activates
• Manual admin approval — for high-value accounts where errors are costly

The priority: no customer should ever see list pricing. One wrong-price experience can kill adoption for that customer permanently.

Internal Adoption Prerequisites for Registration

Before running registration campaigns with customers, the internal organization must be ready:

1. Sales team alignment — reps must actively encourage registration, not resist it
2. Compensation alignment — tie sales credit and commission to digital orders
3. Process training — CS and sales need to know how to handle “I registered but can’t log in” calls
4. Content readiness — the site must look credible and show the customer’s actual pricing

See internal-adoption-salesforce for the full internal readiness strategy.

Tactics to Drive Registration

Sales-led (highest impact):

• Rep personally emails/calls each customer with a personalized invite link
• Rep does an in-person “site visit” demo and registers the customer on their behalf
• Sales contest: rep who registers the most customers per month wins

Marketing-led:

• Personalized email campaign to all active accounts with one-click registration link
• Paper invoices with QR code linking to registration page
• “Register to see your account” call-to-action on order confirmation emails

Incentive-based:

• First digital order discount: “Register and get 5% off your next order”
• Account credit for completing registration + first order

What Registration Success Looks Like

Milestone metrics to track:

• % of active accounts (accounts that bought in last 12 months) with registered users
• % of registered accounts that have logged in at least once
• % of registered accounts that have placed at least one digital order

Goal sequence:

• Month 1–3: Reach 25% of active accounts registered
• Month 4–6: 50% of registered accounts log in at least once per month
• Month 7–12: 25% of registered accounts place at least one digital order