Back to library
HubSpotHubSpot

Customer Onboarding Plan Design

Customer Success

What it tests

Ability to structure a repeatable onboarding process that drives time-to-value and early adoption

Format

  1. 1Candidate receives a customer brief: mid-market SaaS company, 50 seats purchased, 3 key use cases defined, go-live in 30 days
  2. 2Take-home task: design a 30-day onboarding plan including kickoff agenda, week-by-week milestones, success metrics, and escalation triggers
  3. 3Plan is reviewed asynchronously by the hiring manager, then discussed in a 30-minute live walkthrough
  4. 4During the walkthrough, interviewer introduces a wrinkle: the champion just went on leave in week 2 — how does the plan adapt?

What to look for

  • Is the plan customer-centric (built around their goals) or product-centric (feature-by-feature training)?
  • Are milestones specific and measurable, or vague checkpoints like 'complete setup'?
  • Does the escalation logic show proactive thinking, or is it only reactive to customer complaints?
  • When the champion disappears in the scenario, do they have a clear stakeholder backup plan?

Adaptation guide

Use your actual onboarding timeline and product complexity. For PLG companies, include product usage data instead of a kickoff call as the starting point.

Full description

Format:

  1. Candidate receives a customer brief: mid-market SaaS company, 50 seats purchased, 3 key use cases defined, go-live in 30 days
  2. Take-home task: design a 30-day onboarding plan including kickoff agenda, week-by-week milestones, success metrics, and escalation triggers
  3. Plan is reviewed asynchronously by the hiring manager, then discussed in a 30-minute live walkthrough
  4. During the walkthrough, interviewer introduces a wrinkle: the champion just went on leave in week 2 — how does the plan adapt?

Time: 90 minutes (take-home)

What to look for:

  • Is the plan customer-centric (built around their goals) or product-centric (feature-by-feature training)?
  • Are milestones specific and measurable, or vague checkpoints like "complete setup"?
  • Does the escalation logic show proactive thinking, or is it only reactive to customer complaints?
  • When the champion disappears in the scenario, do they have a clear stakeholder backup plan?

Adaptation: Use your actual onboarding timeline and product complexity. For PLG companies, include product usage data instead of a kickoff call as the starting point.