User Onboarding Best Practices

🎢 Onboarding UX Playbook (+ Decision Trees). Practical techniques for better onboarding UX, design patterns, kits and Figma templates — on mobile and desktop. 🚫 Users often skip tutorials/walkthroughs entirely. 🚫 Never block the UI with full-page onboarding modals. 🚫 Avoid long multi-step tutorials with 5+ steps. ✅ Ask customers what goals they are trying to achieve. ✅ Allow users to hide walkthroughs and restore them later. ✅ Focus on bringing users to first success moments fast. ✅ Structure your onboarding suggestions in bite-sized chunks. ✅ Explain features when users slow down or make mistakes. ✅ Show features when users lose time with repetitive tasks. ✅ Prevent failure with an early warning system for new users. ✅ Collapsible checklists work well for onboarding. ✅ Personalized onboarding works even better. ✅ Design sets of filters, templates and empty states. ✅ Show starter kits based on user’s profile and interests. ✅ Consider short video guides and email drip campaigns. Good onboarding can’t be generic. It has to be relevant and valuable. Define your user segments first. Design a set of presets to help them get to success moments faster. Think of the questions you need to ask to customize their experience. Think about filters and presets they might need. Onboarding tutorials often appear once and get instantly dismissed, nowhere to be found again. Allow users to find them when they need it. Bring them up when users slow down or make mistakes. And test the discoverability of your features continuously. If a feature is obvious, you might not need to explain it at all. And if it isn’t, perhaps onboarding won’t solve this problem either. Useful resources: How to Choose Onboarding Methods and Components, by NewsKit 👍 Methods: https://lnkd.in/eWn5FPWA Decision Tree: https://lnkd.in/e8TmMDFf Design Patterns: https://lnkd.in/ed7HjzkW Onboarding UX Playbook, by Eleana Gkogka https://lnkd.in/edcDfMFG Complete Onboarding UX Guide (free eBook), by Intercom https://lnkd.in/eAxT6ZM4 User Onboarding Best Practices, by Taras Bakusevych https://lnkd.in/eRwr2tEc Guide to Onboarding, by Phil Byrne https://lnkd.in/esEavgw7 How Spotify Organizes Onboarding in Figma, by Barton Smith, Cliona O'Sullivan https://lnkd.in/ei434tqq Mobile Onboarding Wireframe Flows (Figma template) https://lnkd.in/ekhzWFJz UX Onboarding Patterns, by Eve Weinberg https://lnkd.in/e7_M4kDv #ux #design

A few years ago, we spotted something interesting on monday.com’s signup page: A blurred version of their dashboard is in the background of the signup form. It looked great - but did it work? We A/B tested it in a couple of our products. No major impact (for us - though it might work differently for you). Fast forward to a few months ago: We decided to try it again - this time in Poptin’s onboarding flow as part of our new UI. 👉 We added a blurred version of the user dashboard behind each onboarding screen. 👉 We removed one of the questions (Less friction, even though it was pre-filled) 👉 We removed the progress bar (We might a/b test more versions with it later) 👉 We tracked the entire flow in the database, both before and after the change. 👉 We tested each version with approximately 10K signups. The result? It blew us away: 🔵 Before (solid color background): 35% of signups completed onboarding 🟢 After (blurred dashboard background): 51% completed onboarding That’s a 45% increase 🚀 💡 Pro tip: As users progress through onboarding, gradually reduce the blur or dark overlay to signal they’re getting closer to the finish line. (For context: popup creation rate and plan purchase rate stayed about the same - but total numbers were significantly higher due to better onboarding completion.) Sometimes, the smallest UX tweaks make the biggest difference. ____________ Gal and I started to post SaaS growth hacks & strategies on a weekly basis. You'll be able to check them out by clicking on #TomerAndGal #ux #onboarding #cro #poptin #signup

I will admit that one of the most omitted aspects of creating a new feature (or product) is making sure the user knows how to use it. At the same time, you can only make one first impression. How to make it great? Let's face it: It's very hard to onboard users. People have very little time right now and are used to instant gratification. Thus, if the product requires some effort to use, you may see a very upset user on the other end. At the same time, not all products can be reduced to a single button called "solve my problem". So, how to onboard a new user in a way they actually engage? 1) Start with a great text copy There is nothing worse than a technical copy that is not written with your client in mind. Separate it into easy-to-complete steps so the user can learn and move to the next step easily. Remember, the user is not an expert yet like you are. Also, invest into professional translations, so the copy is great for everyone! 2) Set the production value of onboarding materials very high If your onboarding videos look and feel professional, you will build your brand image and user confidence. While creating such videos used to be expensive, nowadays tools exist that will help you automate and speed up the process, such as this post's partner: Guidde! Guidde allows you to create how-to videos quickly based on the screen recording of the process you wish to document. Using AI, Guidde will automatically generate the storyline with highlights, and add text to voice and multiple CTAs, saving you many hours of work. 3) Make it easy to repeat training People forget or skip onboarding steps accidentally. If it is difficult to access the training materials again, you might avoid a lot of user frustration. Not to mention support calls or tickets that could have been avoided. 4) Add micro onboardings While onboarding is associated with getting the user started using a product, that can also apply on a feature level. Take this into account when planning a new release, so it's stellar and accessible from day one! 5) Make it easy to speak to human support While your onboarding will surely be great, a lot of your users will prefer to talk/write to a human being. Make it easy to find contact info. Bonus: monitor the issues that come with this. Rather than hide support contact, eliminate the causes that led to those calls in the 1st place. Thus: 6) Care for onboarding funnel as a product Monitor onboarding usage and later client engagement. Look for steps/materials in dire need of improvement and monitor the metrics once those are introduced. As I said earlier, you can only make one first impression! Make it count :) So, did you find this useful? How do you build your product so that it's welcoming to new users? Sound off in the comments! #productmanagement #productmanager #onboarding

After analyzing 1,000s of first impressions it’s clear: A first impression is made before you say a single word. And there are 3 mistakes costing you opportunities: For context, most people (especially introverts) want to believe their first impression starts when they start speaking. The science says otherwise: Someone decides if they like you, trust you or want to work with you, the moment they first see you - when you walk into a room, open a door, or even when someone looks at your profile picture. After analyzing thousands of first encounters, I've identified what I call the 'triple threat' of first impression mistakes that people unknowingly make: 1. Making yourself small: Tucking your arms close to your sides and hunching your shoulders signals low confidence and submissiveness. The less space you take up, the less powerful you appear. This is why waiting for your job interview or date while checking your phone is sabotaging you before you've said hello. Every time you look down at your device, you accidentally adopt what scientists call the 'universal defeat posture': - chin tucked - shoulders hunched - making yourself small In evolutionary terms, you literally look like a loser. (Yikes!) 2. Hiding your hands: When your hands are in pockets, under the table, or out of sight, it creates subconscious distrust. Evolutionarily, we need to see hands to feel safe and assess intentions. 3. Avoiding eye contact: We experience a chemical burst of oxytocin during direct eye contact, which increases trust and connection. Avoiding eye contact in those first few seconds prevents this critical bonding opportunity. Research shows these first impressions are lasting. If you've made a bad one, recovery is difficult - but not impossible if you practice the right body language. Instead, adopt the confident alternative: - keep your hands visible and expressive - take up appropriate space with good posture - make deliberate eye contact in the first few seconds Master these 3 elements and you'll create positive, accurate first impressions that open doors rather than close them.

Scott Belsky has a framework I think about constantly: In the first 15 seconds of any new experience, your users are lazy, vain, and selfish. This sounds cynical. It's actually a design constraint. Lazy means they won't read instructions. They won't watch a tutorial. They won't give you the benefit of the doubt. If it takes effort to understand, they leave. Vain means they want to look good immediately. Instagram figured this out early - get users creating and receiving likes as fast as possible. Belsky calls these "ego analytics." The quicker someone feels competent or impressive using your product, the more likely they stay. Selfish means they need an immediate return. They don't care about your roadmap or your vision. They want something valuable right now, in exchange for the attention they just gave you. Here's what this means practically: Your onboarding has one job: get someone to a moment of value before their patience runs out. Every click before that moment is a tax. Every explanation is friction. Every "set up your profile" screen is a chance for them to leave. When we rebuilt Gamma's onboarding, we asked one question: What's the fastest path to someone feeling like they made something good?

On First Impressions: What I'm Learning From This Hiring Season I'm currently in the thick of hiring, and my DMs are overflowing. It's giving me a window into how people approach professional outreach - and I want to share some reflections that might help you land that next opportunity. This isn't about judgment. It's about helping you show up in a way that serves you best. Because here's the truth: you don't get a second chance at a first impression. The "Hello" Trap I get it - you see the green dot on LinkedIn and think I'm actively online. But that green dot? It just means LinkedIn is open in one of my 47 browser tabs. When you send just "Hello" or "You there?" and nothing else, you've missed your window. DMs are asynchronous. When I finally do check messages, there's nothing to respond to. You've wasted the moment when I actually had time to engage. Instead: Lead with your ask or introduction. Make it easy for me to respond meaningfully when I do see your message. Desperation vs. Professionalism I know job searching is stressful. I've seen it all along. But here's what matters in hiring: your skills, your competence, your potential fit. Not your availability. Even if you can start tomorrow, companies like ServiceNow build in onboarding time and joining formalities. "Immediate joiner" doesn't move the needle. What moves the needle is demonstrating that you're the right person for the role. Your desperation doesn't make me want to help you more - it just obscures the talents I'm actually trying to evaluate. Don't Make Me Do Your Work "Here's my resume, let me know if anything fits." When I see this, I know you haven't done the basic work of understanding what we're hiring for or why you'd be a good match. If you don't care enough about your career to invest 10 minutes researching the role, why would I invest my time reviewing your profile? Do the work. Tell me specifically what role interests you and why you're a fit. Show me you've thought about this. The AI Cover Letter Problem I'm seeing the same AI-generated message patterns over and over. Use AI to enhance your writing, absolutely. But you need to write the first draft. Your authentic voice, your genuine interest, your specific reasons for wanting this role - that's what cuts through. When 3 out of 5 messages sound identical, none of them land. What Actually Works Be specific. Be authentic. Be professional without being distant. Tell me what role you're interested in, why it matches your skills, and what excites you about it. Make it easy for me to see the fit. When there is fitment, we can be intentional about the next steps. That's it. That's the whole formula. Your career deserves better than a copy-paste approach. Show up like you mean it. What have you learned from your own hiring experiences - as a candidate or as someone doing the hiring? #hiring P.S: The designer in me irks to put out a color like that but I want you to register the red flags and what not to do.

Your first 90 days with a customer can make or break the entire relationship. I've seen it happen too many times: - Great sales process - Solid product demo - Strong contract value - Excited stakeholders Then onboarding happens. And everything falls apart. Why? Most companies treat onboarding like a checklist: - Setup call ✓ - Product training ✓ - Technical integration ✓ - Documentation shared ✓ But here's the truth about onboarding: It's not about your process. It's about their success. After managing hundreds of onboarding sessions, here's what I've learned: The best onboarding isn't standard. It's personalized. Think about it: - Every customer has different goals - Every team has different challenges - Every organization has different paces - Every stakeholder has different priorities Your onboarding needs to reflect this. Here's what works: 1. Start with clear expectations - Define success metrics upfront - Set realistic timelines - Map out key milestones - Align on responsibilities 2. Build a dedicated team - Assign specialists who understand their industry - Create cross-functional support - Have clear escalation paths - Enable quick problem-solving 3. Monitor health signals - Track early usage patterns - Watch engagement levels - Note stakeholder participation - Measure progress velocity 4. Automate the right things - Regular check-in reminders - Progress updates - Resource sharing - Usage alerts But here's where most companies fail: They don't plan for challenges: - Low customer engagement - Complex technical integrations - Unclear success metrics - Resource constraints - Scalability issues The solution? Build feedback loops: - Collect input at every stage - Adjust plans based on signals - Iterate on materials - Improve processes continuously Remember: Onboarding isn't about getting customers to use your product. It's about helping them achieve their goals through your product. The first 90 days set the tone for everything that follows. Make them count. What's your approach to customer onboarding? What challenges have you faced? ------------------ ▶️ Want to see more content like this and also connect with other CS & SaaS enthusiasts? You should join Tidbits. We do short round-ups a few times a week to help you learn what it takes to be a top-notch customer success professional. Join 1993+ community members! 💥 [link in the comments section]

Duolingo’s onboarding is a masterclass in activation & retention. In 60 seconds, it makes you feel - “I’ve started and I can do this.” Here’s what they do (step-by-step): 1. Remove the blank page instantly - The first decision is easy: pick a language. - No account friction or long forms. You’re in motion within seconds. 2. Ask questions that feel supportive - “Why are you learning?” - “How much do you know?” - It doesn’t feel like they’re collecting data, it feels like they’re trying to meet you where you’re at. 3. Sell the payoff before the effort - Before lesson one, they show you what you’ll gain from signing up to keep the user motivated. 4. Micro-commitments = macro retention - 5 mins/day. 10 mins/day. 15 mins/day. - It feels so tiny that it works. 5. Reduce fear of “doing it wrong” - “Start from scratch” vs “Find my level” - It’s a small choice, but it gives users control and confidence. If your onboarding is struggling, don’t add more screens. Show people what’s possible, not what’s required. I pulled these Duolingo screens from Mobbin - the best UX library if you're building onboarding right now. 📌 Save this post. 💬 What’s the most effortless onboarding you’ve experienced lately? P.S. For more insights on PLG and best practices like this, join over 7.000 on Growthmates — my weekly Substack newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eVf65bAx #duolingo #growth

We've been doing weekly review calls with clients since 2019. Sounds basic, but it's probably the only reason our retention sits above 80%. Every Friday. Same time slot. Doesn't matter if campaigns are crushing it or if we're just maintaining. We show up. When we started LeadsNLatte, this wasn't negotiable. Tanvi and I decided early that we'd rather over-communicate than assume everything's fine because numbers look good. Most agencies only talk to clients when there's a problem or a renewal coming up. We saw how that played out with other founders we knew, clients would leave even when results were strong, and nobody could figure out why. The answer was obvious: people don't leave because work failed. They leave because they stopped feeling like anyone was paying attention. What these calls actually do: → Small misalignments turning into deal-breakers. A question they didn't ask because it felt minor. A priority shift we didn't catch. → Keep us aligned without guessing. What we think is working and what they think is working aren't always the same thing. → Make them feel like a priority, not a contract. When you only show up for renewals or problems, people notice the gaps. Clients stay when they know someone's consistently paying attention, not just when metrics dip. PS: When's the last time you talked to a client when nothing was actually broken? #ClientRetention #AgencyLife #ClientExperience #FounderLessons #BusinessGrowth

Last week, I posted my most viral post ever on how to set better goals. This weekend, I used the technique myself. Here is what I learned. The method comes from Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani and was recently featured in a Harvard Business School case study by Frances Frei. It looks simple. It also looks beautiful. The four steps are: (1) Define your main goal. (2) Write that goal in the center of a 9×9 grid. (3) Identify eight supporting goals and place them around the center. (4) For each supporting goal, list eight specific behaviors you can practice consistently. On paper, this feels almost too easy. In practice, I don't think it is. When I filled out my grid, the hardest part was not coming up with actions. The hardest part was deciding what I actually want and what I am willing to trade off. --- A few things surprised me. --- First, the “main goal” matters more than I expected. My take is that it should be ambitious but realistic within the next decade. Not too concrete, like “publish paper XYZ.” Not too abstract, like “be a good human being.” The sweet spot is a medium-term direction that can be translated into tangible subgoals. --- Second, the grid forces you to confront overlap and misalignment. Some behaviors supported multiple supporting goals at once. That felt great because it creates leverage. But I also noticed something else: I have goals that matter to me that do not directly serve the main goal. That is also fine. Not everything has to be instrumental. Some things are worth doing because they make life better. --- Third, I realized I am not pursuing just one main goal. I am pursuing several. And sometimes they conflict. That is where the grid becomes less of a productivity tool and more of a self-reflection tool. It can make your competing commitments more visible. --- Fourth, not every supporting goal and not every specific behavior is equally important for the main goal. It feels a bit superfluous to even say this, but of course I can practice as much yoga as I want and it still probably will not matter too much for my academic career. But if I bring several projects to the finish line (100%) rather than just close to it (80%), this will likely have a much stronger impact on my main goal. And still, even the goals that may feel less important at first are still important for achieving the goal. If all I do all day long is "work on one project at a time" and not do anything else, I will soon give up on my main goal altogether and pursue a different career. --- No goal-setting technique is perfect, and my grid is definitely not perfect. Still, I walked away with this feeling: If I make just a little progress on most tiles in this grid over the next few years, I will move meaningfully closer to my main goal of becoming a professor. And that makes the exercise worth it. Have you tried the grid yet? What does yours look like?