ZoomInfo Scales SMB Onboarding with EverAfter’s Digital Journey

About ZoomInfo

ZoomInfo, a global leader in go-to-market intelligence, helps revenue teams connect with ideal buyers through actionable data. With thousands of customers across every segment, its Customer Experience Operations team is focused on a key mission: accelerating time-to-value while preserving the quality and consistency of every onboarding experience.

Industry: B2B Data Intelligence / SaaS

Company size: 1000 emp.

Location: US

Use Case: Scaled Onboarding Enterprise Onboarding

“We were able to scale efficiently, to pull back human resources and let customers self-serve without watering down the experience.”

Nate Alcorn

Manager, CX Operations

The Challenge

For years, ZoomInfo onboarded all customers using a universal onboarding framework, a proven 90-day structure that pairs implementation, adoption, and success planning. That model continues to deliver strong results for mid- and up-market customers, where longer timelines and layered teams benefit from a guided cadence.
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But for down-market SMBs, often small, nimble teams running lean, the same time investment felt misaligned.
“These customers move fast,” said Nate Alcorn, Manager of CX Operations. “Their window for value is measured in hours and days, not weeks. When we asked them to schedule a kickoff, wait a few days, and then follow a 90-day nurture path, we were unintentionally slowing them down.”
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The traditional process required multiple scheduling steps, kickoff calls, and email coordination before customers could even begin. Despite the quality of the experience, adoption and early usage metrics didn’t show meaningful lift for this segment. “We realized it wasn’t the framework that needed to change, it was the format and pacing,” Nate explained. “They wanted to get started right away, on their own terms, without waiting for a meeting.” Internally, onboarding managers were spending significant time curating next steps, managing inboxes, and chasing updates for accounts that preferred to self-serve. “It wasn’t about effort, it was about leverage,” said Nate. “Our hours were high, but our impact wasn’t. We needed to re-allocate our people to where human interaction truly moves the needle.”

The goal became clear: keep the framework, modernize the delivery. ZoomInfo set out to build a digital experience that maintained the same structure and quality, but gave SMB customers the autonomy to start, and finish, at their own pace.

“It really felt like EverAfter was the only one that was going to be complementary to what we have built internally”

The Solution

The Search and Selection Process

ZoomInfo spent nearly two years exploring solutions that could complement its existing systems. “We were exploring the marketplace for probably a year and a half,” Nate recalled. The biggest challenge was finding a platform that could integrate seamlessly with ZoomInfo’s deeply customized Salesforce onboarding object, the backbone of its internal process. “Most tools wanted us to move into their system and away from our custom object. We wanted to keep using it because it fits us perfectly.”

What ZoomInfo needed was a customer-facing view of that internal data: no code, easy to maintain, and fully bi-directionally synced with Salesforce. It also had to support read-write functionality, ensuring any updates from customers flowed both ways.

Why They Chose EverAfter

“It really felt like EverAfter was the only one that was going to be complementary to what we have built internally,” said Nate. The decision came down to ease of use, technical flexibility, and the ability to create lightweight, branded experiences for customers.

“We felt confident we could learn EverAfter easily, sustain it, and build really great customer experiences, while keeping our Salesforce integration intact.” Other must-haves, like clean single sign-on embed, white-labeled experience, and Pendo pop-ups within the ZoomInfo platform, made EverAfter the ideal fit.

“We’ve spent years optimizing our Salesforce backbone. We wanted a professional, white-labeled layer that could bring that data to life for customers, no-code & seamless.”

Implementation: The ZoomInfo Journey Portal

ZoomInfo launched the ZoomInfo Digital Journey Portal, powered by EverAfter, a digital onboarding hub for down-market customers using the Professional edition. The portal replicates ZoomInfo’s proven onboarding framework in a self-service, modular experience designed for admin users.

Key Use Cases and Dynamic Personalization

Kickoff Call Reframe:
The traditional kickoff call was replaced by a self-service module called “Kickoff & Planning.”
Module Structure:
The experience is organized into five onboarding modules, reflecting ZoomInfo’s standard onboarding blueprint:
- Kickoff & Onboarding Planning
- Technical Configuration & Integrations
- Admin User Training
- End-User Training
- Long-Term Adoption Strategy
Customer-Driven Customization:
At onboarding start, customers select their pace, “hyper-fast,” “efficient,” or “nurtured onboarding”, and set their desired go-live date. EverAfter dynamically updates timelines, deadlines, and module content based on these preferences.
Data-Driven Automation:
Key fields (use case, tech stack, timeline) are synced bi-directionally with Salesforce, allowing ZoomInfo to:
- Auto-adjust deadlines and progress indicators.
- Trigger personalized, automated email nudges if customers fall behind.‍|

‍Embedded Experience:
Customers can access the Journey Portal directly within ZoomInfo’s platform via single sign-on and in-app prompts.

Key metrics

2× faster kickoff

Time from contract to kickoff dropped from 5–7 days to just 1–3.

Weeks → Days

Customers now complete onboarding modules in days instead of weeks.

100% self-service

SMB customers start instantly with personalized, real-time digital paths, no scheduling required.

“Everything we do at ZoomInfo CX is customer-first.”

Within just 40 days of launch, early results showed the strength of the new model. Time from contract signature to kickoff completion dropped from 5 to 7 days to just 1 to 3, allowing customers to begin onboarding almost immediately. Customers who once moved through onboarding over several weeks were now completing key modules in days instead of weeks, benefiting from a fully self-service experience tailored to their pace. “They sign the contract, and within hours, if the customer is ready, they can start on their onboarding experience,” Nate said.

The shift to a digital journey also improved continuity. Nate noted that once SMB customers reached the second module, the technical configuration stage, they were far more likely to complete the entire onboarding flow. At the same time, ZoomInfo maintained the same engagement volume while eliminating the heavy manual work of scheduling calls, managing inboxes, and pushing webinar attendance.

By modernizing the onboarding experience, the team freed onboarding managers to focus on strategic accounts while preserving a high-quality experience for every customer.

“We were able to scale efficiently, to pull back human resources and let customers self-serve without watering down the experience.”

When asked to summarize the impact in one word, Nate did not hesitate: “Scalability.”

“We see a world where all customers will get a version of the ZoomInfo Journey Portal, and they will get different journeys depending on what stage they’re at”

What’s Next?

The ZoomInfo team views the Journey Portal as the first step in a company-wide evolution toward digital-first success.

Upcoming initiatives include:

Shared Managed Spaces - For managed onboardings, providing a collaborative workspace with real-time visibility for both customers and onboarding managers.
Post-Onboarding Journeys - Extending digital experiences to the adoption and expansion phases.
Cross-Team Collaboration - Expanding beyond onboarding to support Customer Success Teams and expanded onboarding motions.

“We’re trying to do everything we can to be digital journey evangelists,” said Nate. “Human-led experiences are great; digital-first experiences are great too. This isn’t less of an onboarding - it’s just as legitimate.”

Partnership & Reflection

From the evaluation to the rollout, Nate described EverAfter as more than a vendor - it’s a collaborator. “We felt like partners with the EverAfter team. We’re building this together.”

He praised EverAfter’s responsiveness and shared innovation mindset:

“We’ve had some great conversations. When we had a specific idea, the team took it and delivered it within days.”

For ZoomInfo, EverAfter’s combination of flexibility, scalability, and partnership enabled the team to modernize onboarding and unlock efficiency - without compromising the customer experience.

“Everything we do at ZoomInfo CX is customer-first. We wouldn’t have made this change if we didn’t think it was best for the customer.”