How to Scale Customer Onboarding Without Hiring More CSMs
More onboarding calls do not have to mean more hires. Choose software for repeat setup work and keep your team available for the calls that need a person.
Quick answer
When onboarding calls take up most of your team's week, you have five ways to scale without hiring: group onboarding sessions, a customer academy, in-app guides, an onboarding portal, or an AI onboarding agent that runs one-to-one sessions with each customer. Most teams keep people for complex accounts and move repeat setup calls to software. Cor's AI onboarding agent, Obi, is one example of the last option: it works directly with every new customer on a live session, sees their screen and guides them through setup step by step. Your team gets a report after each session, and a handover with the context when a person is needed.
Signs onboarding calls are overloading your team
- Your team repeats the same setup call every week.
- New customers wait days for a first session.
- CSMs have no time for renewals and expansion.
- Smaller accounts get no onboarding at all.
Five ways to scale onboarding
| Option | Keeps it one-to-one? | Best for | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group onboarding sessions | No | Many similar customers | Customers wait for the next session. Questions get lost. |
| Customer academy | No | Structured training and certification | Many customers never enroll or finish. |
| In-app guides | No | Simple products learned by clicking | The same path for everyone. Guides break when the UI changes. |
| Onboarding portal | Partly | Multi-week projects with several people | Still needs your team to run it. |
| AI onboarding agent | Yes | One-to-one help for every customer | A newer category. Needs good product knowledge to start. |
Which calls to move first
Move repeat setup and how-to calls first. These calls cover tasks that your team already knows how to explain. Write down the steps, common questions and when to ask a person for help.
Keep strategy calls with people. These conversations depend on the customer's goals and need judgment.
Keep complex migrations and large accounts with people too. Software can help with repeat tasks, but your team should own the plan and handle exceptions.
Tools for each option
AI onboarding agents
Obi by Cor is an AI onboarding agent. It runs onboarding sessions with each customer, explains the product, shows them around and, where permitted, completes setup tasks for them.
Customer academies
Skilljar provides a learning platform for customer courses and certifications. See our Skilljar review.
Docebo delivers structured training through a learning management system. See our Docebo review.
In-app guides
Appcues builds onboarding flows, checklists and messages inside a product. See our Appcues review.
Userpilot creates product tours, checklists and other in-app guidance. See our Userpilot review.
Onboarding portals
Rocketlane coordinates customer-facing implementation projects and shared onboarding work. See our Rocketlane review.
GUIDEcx gives teams and customers a shared view of onboarding tasks and progress. See our GUIDEcx review.
Frequently asked questions
How do I scale customer onboarding without hiring?
Move repeat setup work to group sessions, a customer academy, in-app guides, an onboarding portal or an AI onboarding agent. Keep your team involved in complex accounts and calls that need judgment.
What software replaces manual onboarding calls?
AI onboarding agents can handle guided setup sessions. In-app guides and academies help users learn on their own. Onboarding portals organize the work but still need your team to manage it.
Can AI run customer onboarding calls?
AI onboarding agents can run sessions for repeat setup and how-to tasks when they have good product knowledge. Keep clear permissions and a way to hand the customer to a person.
Which onboarding calls should stay with people?
Keep strategy, complex migrations and large accounts with people. Your team should also handle exceptions and problems the software cannot solve.
Is group onboarding a good alternative to one-to-one calls?
It can work when many customers need the same introduction. It is less suited to customers with different setup needs, private questions or a problem that needs direct help.