How Salesflare Proves That Better Onboarding = Better SaaS Retention

The CRM market is as crowded as it gets — over 640 vendors, dominated by a handful of well-funded giants. Most try to win on feature checklists or integrations. But Jeroen Corthout, co-founder and CEO of Salesflare, has taken a different route: making CRM usable for the people who actually need it day-to-day — sales teams and founders.

That focus on user experience, especially onboarding, has allowed Salesflare to carve out a loyal customer base in SaaS companies and agencies, despite the fierce competition.

The Real CRM Problem Isn’t Features — It’s Adoption

Corthout’s frustration with traditional CRMs came from years of hands-on use. Tools like Salesforce were “great for management, but not for salespeople,” he says. The problem wasn’t just complexity — it was that most CRMs require constant manual input.

“Discipline fails, the data becomes unreliable, and the CRM stops being useful. That’s the downward spiral,” Corthout explains.

Salesflare’s approach was to automate data entry by pulling information directly from email, calendar, and other connected tools. But the real unlock came when they realized product value is irrelevant if customers never get to experience it fully.

Onboarding as a Retention Engine

Corthout’s team discovered a direct link between how far users progressed in onboarding and their long-term retention. The better the setup during the trial, the lower the churn.

Salesflare now treats onboarding like a core sales function:

Frictionless connection steps — every initial integration is as few clicks as possible.
Immediate time-to-value — users see populated CRM data within minutes, without manual entry.
Guided “aha” moment — a walkthrough that both teaches and demonstrates the software’s benefit.
Gamified setup guide — each completed onboarding task extends the trial and sends celebratory team notifications.
Pre-trial sandbox — prospects can click “Try it” and explore a live environment before creating an account, lowering psychological barriers.

Agency takeaway: The first 10 minutes in your product matter more than the next 10 months. Optimizing onboarding isn’t just UX — it’s a revenue and retention lever.

Manual First, Then Automate

In the early days, Corthout personally onboarded every customer: convincing them, setting up their integrations, training them, and supporting them afterward. This was intentional.

“If we had automated from day one, we’d have missed critical insight into where people get stuck,” he says. “Manual onboarding let us watch every embarrassing moment — and fix it.”

Only after the process was refined and the value path was proven did Salesflare build scalable self-service flows.

Retention = Setup Depth + Workflow Fit

Salesflare doesn’t just get users into the platform — it embeds itself into their workflow. The goal is for the CRM to become invisible infrastructure. Once email, meetings, and pipeline tracking are synced and automated, leaving becomes costly and inconvenient for the customer.

This buyer-intelligent approach recognizes that retention isn’t about locking people in — it’s about making your product the most natural place to work.

Lessons for SaaS Founders

Shorten time-to-value — Show real, personal data in the first session.
Gamify progress — Make onboarding feel rewarding, not like a checklist.
Observe before you automate — Manual processes reveal where value breaks down.
Correlate setup depth with retention — Use data to prove what matters most in onboarding.
Fit the buyer’s workflow — The deeper the integration, the harder the churn.

Why this matters for SaaS companies: Most founders obsess over features and lead generation. Salesflare proves that optimizing onboarding can drive both higher conversion rates from trial to paid and longer customer lifetime value.

This is exactly where agencies like ours help SaaS brands — redesigning onboarding flows, integrating behavioral triggers, and aligning web experience with buyer psychology to drive retention from day one.