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Workflow Guide: Customer Onboarding and KYC

This guide walks you through building a HubSpot workflow that handles customer onboarding and Know Your Customer (KYC) data collection via WhatsApp, reducing friction and accelerating time-to-activation for new customers.

 

What This Workflow Does

When a new customer signs up or a deal closes, they receive a welcome message in WhatsApp followed by a structured onboarding form that collects the information you need to set up their account, verify their identity, or complete regulatory requirements. The workflow tracks completion, sends reminders for incomplete submissions, and routes the data to the appropriate teams. For customers who need help, the workflow can hand off to a Breeze Customer Agent for real-time assistance in WhatsApp.

What You Will Need

  • A Flowella account connected to your HubSpot portal
  • One or more WhatsApp Flow templates for onboarding data collection (personal details, identification, preferences, compliance questions)
  • A HubSpot contact property for onboarding status (e.g. "Onboarding Status", type: dropdown: Not Started, In Progress, Completed, Stalled)
  • HubSpot contact properties to store the collected data
  • The contact's WhatsApp phone number in international format

Step 1: Design Your Onboarding Forms

The number and complexity of forms depends on your industry and requirements. Here are two common approaches:

Approach A: Single Comprehensive Form

For simpler onboarding (e.g. SaaS, memberships, non-regulated services):

  • Full Name — as it should appear on the account
  • Date of Birth — if required
  • Company Name — if B2B
  • Primary Contact Email — if different from the one on file
  • Preferred Communication Channel — dropdown: WhatsApp, Email, Phone
  • How did you hear about us? — dropdown: your referral sources
  • Any initial questions? — single-line text (optional)

Approach B: Multi-Step Forms

For complex or regulated onboarding (financial services, insurance, legal):

Form 1: Personal Details

  • Full legal name
  • Date of birth
  • Nationality
  • Residential address

Form 2: Identification and Verification

  • ID document type (passport, driving licence, national ID)
  • ID number
  • Proof of address type (utility bill, bank statement)

Form 3: Account Preferences

  • Account type or plan selection
  • Communication preferences
  • Terms and conditions acceptance

For multi-step onboarding, each form is a separate WhatsApp Flow template in Flowella. The workflow sends them in sequence, waiting for each to be completed before sending the next.

Step 2: Create the Workflow

In HubSpot, go to Automations > Workflows and create a new Contact-based workflow.

Set the Trigger

Choose based on your sales process:

  • Deal stage trigger: when the associated deal moves to "Closed Won"
  • Lifecycle stage trigger: when the contact's lifecycle stage changes to "Customer"
  • Enrolment from another workflow: from your sales or payment processing workflow
  • Manual enrolment: for offline or bespoke sign-ups

Step 3: Send the Welcome Message

Before sending the onboarding form, send a warm welcome message.

Add a Send WhatsApp Message action (Flowella):

Message text: "Welcome to , ! We're delighted to have you on board. To get you set up, we'll send a quick form in a moment. It takes about two minutes to complete."

Add a Set contact property action:

  • "Onboarding Status" → "In Progress"

Add a short Delay — 2 minutes. This lets the welcome message land before the form arrives, making the experience feel more personal.

Step 4: Send the Onboarding Form

For Single-Form Onboarding

Add a Send WhatsApp Template action (Flowella).

Configure:

Field Value
Contact Phone Number WhatsApp phone number property
Template Name Your onboarding Flow template
Template Variable 1 First Name
Template Variable 2 Account or plan type (if applicable)

For Multi-Step Onboarding

Send the first form here. Subsequent forms are sent later in the workflow after each form is completed (see Step 5).

Step 5: Wait and Process Each Form

Single-Form Workflow

Add a Delay until event occurs action:

  • Event: Flowella: WhatsApp Forms Integration: Form Completed
  • Maximum wait time: 48 hours

Branch: Whether or not the event criteria were met.

If completed:

  1. Set contact properties — update all relevant properties from the form data
  2. Set contact property — "Onboarding Status" → "Completed"
  3. Send WhatsApp Message — "All done! Your account is being set up. We'll be in touch if we need anything else. In the meantime, reply here if you have any questions."
  4. Send internal notification — alert the operations or account team that onboarding data has been received
  5. Create task — for account setup or compliance review (if manual steps are required)
  6. Optional: Assign to Customer Agent — if the customer is likely to have onboarding questions, the AI agent can provide immediate support

If not completed:

  1. Send WhatsApp Message — "Hi , we noticed you haven't had a chance to complete the onboarding form yet. No rush, but we do need this to get your account fully set up. Here it is again."
  2. Send WhatsApp Template — re-send the onboarding form
  3. Delay until event occurs — Flowella: Form Completed (max 48 hours)
  4. Branch:
    • If completed: process as above
    • If still not completed: Send WhatsApp Message — "If you're having any trouble with the form, reply here and we'll help you through it." Then Assign to Customer Agent to assist. Also create a task for the team to follow up.

Multi-Step Workflow

For each form in the sequence:

  1. Send the form (Send WhatsApp Template)
  2. Delay until Form Completed (max 48 hours)
  3. Branch: completed / not completed
  4. If completed: update properties, send next form
  5. If not completed: send reminder, re-send form, wait again
  6. After all forms are completed: mark onboarding as complete

Add a Set contact property action between forms to track progress:

  • After Form 1: "Onboarding Step" → "1 of 3 Complete"
  • After Form 2: "Onboarding Step" → "2 of 3 Complete"
  • After Form 3: "Onboarding Step" → "3 of 3 Complete" and "Onboarding Status" → "Completed"

Step 6: Handle Stalled Onboarding

If a contact does not complete onboarding after two reminders:

  1. Set contact property — "Onboarding Status" → "Stalled"
  2. Create task — assigned to the account manager with the contact's details and progress status
  3. Send internal notification — alert the team
  4. Optional: enrol in a separate stalled-onboarding workflow that follows up periodically (e.g. weekly for 4 weeks) before escalating

Workflow Diagram (Single-Form)

Trigger: New customer (deal won / lifecycle stage change)
    │
    ▼
Send welcome WhatsApp message
Set Onboarding Status → "In Progress"
Delay 2 minutes
    │
    ▼
Send WhatsApp Template (Onboarding Flow)
    │
    ▼
Delay until: Form Completed (max 48 hours)
    │
    ├── Completed ────────────────────────────┐
    │                                          │
    │   Update contact properties              │
    │   Set Onboarding Status → "Completed"    │
    │   Send confirmation message              │
    │   Notify team + create task              │
    │                                          │
    └── Not completed ───────────────────────┐
                                              │
        Send reminder + re-send form          │
        Delay until: Form Completed (48 hrs)  │
        ├── Completed → process as above      │
        └── Not completed                     │
            Offer help via AI agent            │
            Set Onboarding Status → "Stalled"  │
            Create task for team               │

Compliance Considerations

If you are collecting KYC data, personal identification, or other regulated information, keep the following in mind:

Data handling. WhatsApp messages and Flow submissions are processed through the Flowella platform and written to HubSpot. Ensure your data processing agreements cover this data flow and that your privacy notice informs customers about how their data is handled.

Sensitive data fields. For highly sensitive information such as full ID numbers, consider whether WhatsApp is the appropriate channel. You may prefer to collect less sensitive information via WhatsApp (name, date of birth, preferences) and direct customers to a secure portal for document uploads and ID verification.

Audit trail. HubSpot records the form submission event with a timestamp, providing a basic audit trail. For regulated industries, you may need to supplement this with additional logging.

Consent. Ensure you have the customer's consent to contact them via WhatsApp for onboarding purposes. This is typically covered by contractual necessity (they have just signed up) but check your specific regulatory requirements.

Tips for This Workflow

Keep each form short. Even in multi-step onboarding, each individual form should take no more than two minutes to complete. Five to seven fields per form is a good maximum for WhatsApp.

Send forms at sensible intervals. For multi-step onboarding, wait at least a few hours between forms. Sending three forms back to back feels overwhelming. Space them out and let the customer complete each one at their own pace.

Use the Customer Agent for complex questions. Onboarding is when customers are most likely to have questions about your product or service. Having an AI agent available in the same WhatsApp conversation provides immediate support without requiring a team member to be online.

Track onboarding completion rates. Use the "Onboarding Status" and "Onboarding Step" properties to build a funnel report showing where customers drop off. This data helps you identify and fix problematic steps in your onboarding process.

Celebrate completion. A brief "you're all set" message after onboarding goes a long way. Consider including a helpful resource, a link to a getting-started guide, or an invitation to book an onboarding call.