A positive onboarding experience confirms that your customers made a great choice. It also helps you retain them. 

And the two main reasons that customers churn?

1) they don't understand the product

and

2) they don't gain any value from it. 

Effective user onboarding can solve both of these problems. Customers' experience at the initial stages of their product interaction sets the tone for long-term engagement, which you can only ensure with a solid onboarding process. 

This guide lists six SaaS onboarding best practices that will help your new users integrate the product into their daily routines. 

Here are our best practices for an easy onboarding experience:

What is user onboarding?

First, let's define our terms. A user onboarding experience guides and educates new users toward understanding the product's core functions. The best onboarding experience familiarizes users with a product and helps them quickly obtain value from it. 

User onboarding elements may include product tours, tooltips, interactive walkthroughs, and user onboarding checklists. A sign-up process and welcome emails can also be considered user onboarding experiences.

Why is user onboarding essential?

According to recent data, nearly two-thirds (63%) of customers state that onboarding is a vital consideration in whether they decide to move forward with a product. And a whopping 90% of customers think that the companies could do better when onboarding new users and customers.  

Don't be on the wrong side of these statistics! Customers regularly take stock of just how many product options and alternatives they have to choose from, which is why effective onboarding strategies are essential in the fast-paced, competitive world of SaaS. 

Great customer onboarding sets your customers up to obtain value from using a product immediately and continuously. And it also creates a higher likelihood they'll keep engaging with a product, thus improving free trial conversions. 

6 best practices for effective user onboarding 

Without further ado, here are some best practices and tips to help set your newest customers up for long-term success.

1. Make sign-up seamless

A survey found that the average conversion rate for SaaS companies is 36.2%. You can avoid customer churn at sign-up by:

  • Keeping the sign-up flow as short as possible. It's simple: make it easy for users to sign up for the product and only ask for essential information. You can always ask for more details later, as needed. 

  • Splitting questions over multiple pages. If you need to ask for lots of information during sign-up, make it feel like less by splitting it up across several pages. 

  • Letting users sign up with a service they already use. Allowing sign-ups through Google, Facebook, or Slack removes friction and lets users get it done in one click. 

2. Let email play a supporting role

After a new user signs up, send them a welcome email. This email should direct them to the product so they can immediately start using and getting value from it.   

Some tips for putting together an effective welcome email include:

  • Say thank you. Users put time and effort into signing up for the product, so let them know you appreciate them. 

  • Share helpful resources that will help them get up and running. Include product onboarding elements like links to product tours, links to knowledge base articles, and FAQs. 

  • Direct them to the product. The main focus of a welcome email is to coax the user to click the link and log back into the product, so be sure to include a strong call to action. 

3. Make their first login experience a 10/10

Your users may have already taken a product tour, seen an interactive demo, or read a few knowledge-base articles. But their initial log-in is when they experience their first impression of the product. 

At this stage in the journey, you need to set them up to start using the product successfully, whether through guided tours, tooltips, onboarding checklists, or another type of user onboarding experience. 

Whatever you do, don't make your customers guess. Upon the first login, a new customer shouldn't be overly confused or faced with the regular homepage. Strategize a way to show them around, whether it's through a welcome modal or interactive experiences. 

Consider giving customers quick wins, too. Since getting customers to experience value from a product requires ongoing activity and interactions, you should motivate them to keep engaging. Helping them achieve small milestones (like completing their profile or inviting collaborators) reminds them that they're heading in the right direction, providing a positive psychological boost.  

4. Laser-focus on one onboarding goal 

Most products offer multiple features, but you'll overwhelm new customers if a website onboarding flow attempts to explain them all. Instead, laser-focus on the core functionality that showcases the product's value to that user (and encourages them to stick around.)  

Twitter does an excellent job of this. The only way a user can experience the platform's value is to start using its core features as soon as they log into the app. So, its onboarding flow points in one direction: writing a tweet. 

This best practice is best used in tandem with a personalized onboarding experience. By asking new users about their roles and needs during sign-up, you can figure out which features or functionalities to prioritize during onboarding. 

5. Create an internal SaaS onboarding to-do list

Build an internal list of all requirements in your onboarding strategy. This list will help you and your team stay focused and ensure you don’t miss any steps.

Your internal list might look something like this: 

  • Trigger an automated welcome email upon new user sign-up

  • Schedule a follow-up email to invite your new user to log back in after a period of inactivity

  • Build a welcome modal upon the first login with a CTA for the first step

  • Design on-brand feature tooltips that appear when the user initially enters the web app

  • Create a knowledge base with answers to FAQs

  • Schedule tasks for regular check-ins with new customers 

  • Trigger celebratory notifications when customers hit milestones

6. Use a digital adoption platform 

Implementing a top-tier digital adoption platform (DAP) can take your SaaS onboarding to the next level. A DAP is simply a no-code software tool that integrates on top of a platform to help users learn how to use the product. 

DAPs seamlessly implement in-app support such as product tours, tooltips, checklists, and more to guide users through important tasks and provide valuable context as they move through the product. These platforms help facilitate proficiency, seamlessly leading customers toward power-user status and providing ongoing education on new functionalities and features as they ship. 

When choosing a DAP, you want to find one that has a low or no code installation process and is easy to manage. A DAP like Lou easily integrates with your existing software and reduces users’ learning curve, increasing engagement and conversion. 

Conclusion: The best user onboarding experiences are seamless

User onboarding begins the very first time a potential user interacts with your brand. Every encounter is an opportunity to collect the information you need to create an effective onboarding experience. That's why building an easy experience between every touchpoint is essential. 

Ready to optimize your onboarding? Lou offers code-free, beautifully designed software that allows you to create onboarding flows in minutes. Start for free today.

Published on October 18th, 2022