B2B eCommerce Onboarding Transformation
Automated customer onboarding for a large global coatings manufacturer, generating $10+ million incremental revenue, increasing customer adoption, and decreasing the time-to-value
Company
Large Global Coatings Manufacturer
Duration
9 months
Notes
- IP belongs to the company, so I cannot show screenshots
- Numbers are rounded to protect confidential information
Overview
This case study details how I led a cross-functional team to transform the B2B customer onboarding experience for a Fortune 500 global coatings manufacturer, resulting in significant revenue growth, increased customer adoption, and decreased time-to-value.
The Problem
Poor adoption from current B2B customers who registered for our online eCommerce platform.
For Every 1,000 Registrations
Average Time-to-Value
From registration to first purchase completion
Business Impact
- Lost revenue opportunities worth millions annually
- High customer service burden
- Competitive disadvantage in digital transformation
- Poor customer satisfaction scores
Critical Issues
- Only 3% conversion from registration to purchase
- 97% of registered customers never complete a transaction
- Massive drop-off at access approval stage (55%)
- Extended 21-day time-to-value hurts competitiveness
Root Cause Analysis
Problem:
Poor eCommerce adoption from current B2B customers
Why are customers dropping after registration?
Because they don't receive immediate access and leave rather than wait for access to eCommerce.
Why don't they get immediate access?
Because access requires a manual approval step from a sales rep.
Why is approval required from a sales rep?
Because the business requires manual verification in our CRM before activating accounts for e-commerce.
Why is the verification manual (not automated)?
Because there are no reliable automated signals or systems in place to auto-verify B2B buyer eligibility and risk.
Why did we never implement automated self-service flows?
Because business priorities historically favored sales‑controlled onboarding, and our legacy systems did not integrate well together
Root Cause Identified:
We weren't prioritizing self-serve automation. The immediate root cause is that onboarding is a manual, sales‑controlled process. The deeper causes are missing automated verification capabilities and integration between core platforms (eCommerce, MDM, Identity Management, and CRM).
The Solution
I led a cross-functional team to recreate the B2B customer onboarding experience, implementing automated workflows to validate customers, streamlined user interfaces, deep intergration between our eCommerce, CRM, and MDM platforms.
Full Automation
Automated workflows to validate customers, link their accounts, and notify sales reps when their customers registered online.
UX Optimization
Redesigned the interface intuitive instructions and a seamless design.
System Integration
Deep integration between eCommerce, MDM, CRM, and Identity Management platforms.
Implementation Timeline
The Results
| Metric | Old Process | New Process | Improvement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rate of Users Granted Access | 45% | 100% | +122% |
| Adoption Rate | 13% | 40% | +207% |
| Rate of Purchasing Users | 3% | 10% | +233% |
| Time-To-Value | 21 days | 7 days | -67% (14 days faster) |
New Process - For every 1,000 Registrations:
New Average Time-to-Value
From registration to first purchase completion
Key Achievements
- Generated over $10 million in incremental revenue within 12 months
- 2,500 B2B customers registered online within 12 months
- Instant access for all validated customers
- Laid the groundwork for new B2B customer acquisition
Lessons Learned
Importance of Customer Retention
Sometimes, the most significant growth lever isn't acquiring new customers - it's making it easier for existing customers to buy from you.
Cross-Functional Collaboration is Key
This initiative required working closely with Sales, Customer Success, UX, and Engineering teams. Regular communication and shared goals were critical to success.
Data-Driven Iteration
Visualizing key metrics in the path to purchase funnel allowed us to take a digital-first approach. This led to an optimized user flow and a successful outcome.