Meet Ted. He wants to apply for a home equity loan at a national bank. First, he tries to do this while at a coffee shop using his mobile device, but the bank’s forms aren’t mobile-friendly.

Later, he completes the form at home on his desktop, but discovers at the end of the process that he still has to print it out and will have to use his lunch break the next day to take it to the bank’s local office. Uh, no thanks.

Instead, after a little more searching online, Ted finds another bank that lets him complete the entire loan application online on his mobile device and offers the same great rates. After submitting his application, Ted can even opt to receive his welcome kit digitally — including offers personalised for his preferences. Ted’s only regret is that he wasted so much time on the first bank’s application.

Like the first bank in Ted’s story, many organisations overlook that the digital enrolment process is a critical piece of the customer experience. In fact, since it may be the first real interaction your customer has with your brand, it could be the most important experience of all. And when it doesn’t go effortlessly, customers like Ted will decide to take their business elsewhere. Across all industries, the rate of abandonment of online forms is 76.9 percent, according to SaleCycle.