When a new user signs up for your product, it is crucial that the user has a great onboarding experience which can spell long-term success for your business. On the other hand, a shoddy onboarding experience can put your business in jeopardy. Onboarding is the first step where users encounter your product; that’s why it is absolutely important that your onboarding process is impeccable and impactful.

A great onboarding experience always helps you quickly drive users to their ‘aha’ moment, which is indeed the first goal of a business. This improves the activation rates and ‘free-trial to paid customer’ conversion rate. Studies show that companies with a great user onboarding experience have 50% more new-hire productivity. You can also check these product walkthrough tools for a successful user-onboarding experience.

It is not easy to provide a smooth user onboarding experience. Businesses accept that they face difficulties while providing a great onboarding experience to their users. In this article, we will discuss the steps to build a successful user onboarding experience.

1. Always Be Simple and Contextual

The key to provide a best user onboarding experience is to keep it simple. Always create the content by thinking like an end-user. Introduce your product to customers in the most simple way, and explain how it will add value to them.

Ask yourself following questions about the:

• Complexity of product.

• Time users will take to understand it.

• Investment you have made on the product.

• Return on Investment (ROI).

• User persona.

• Expertise of users.

These questions will help you to understand your end-users and to provide a smooth user onboarding experience.

2. Always Give a Good Head Start

We know that the first impression is the last impression. So, make sure that your first impression is the best. Never provide unnecessary information right from the get go. Instead, give the most important information that helps users to achieve their initial goals.

Always minimize the number of steps wherever possible which will help in a smooth onboarding process. For some SaaS companies where users must go through many steps, they can provide a good head start and give their users what they want, as early as possible.

3. Display Outstanding Welcome Message

Make sure to provide appealing welcome messages to users as they are User Interface (UI) elements that visually differentiates your user onboarding experience from the products’ interface.

Welcome messages are the important step that enables users to get into the main application. They not only encourage people to complete their onboarding process but also keep an eye on their end goals.

4. Create Extraordinary Value for the User

This is one of the most important steps in giving the user a great onboarding experience. By creating extraordinary value for your user, you motivate them to engage and connect with your product. Tell your users “what’s in it for them” and how your product can solve their problem.

In the initial phase of onboarding, let your end-users understand the significant features and learn the extras when required. You can create the value by clearly defining your Value Proposition (VP), and making it simple and easy to understand for your end-users.

5. Put Your Users in the Driver’s Seat

If possible, give your users the control over the onboarding process. It might sound strange, but offering your end-users the choice to skip some steps in the user onboarding process gives them a feeling of control which results in more engagement.

Giving users the skipping option is a great idea as many users do not want to follow the entire onboarding process. Some users prefer exploring it by themselves rather than following the information you provide. By tracking the steps that users are skipping, you can get an idea that which step is not necessary, thereby removing it, and further making the onboarding process more smooth.

6. Set Objectives and Target Metrics

In order to achieve a smooth user onboarding process, you should clearly define objectives, key metrics, and targets. You should also focus on value creation, user engagement, and product adoption with each onboarding step. This will ensure the desirable outcome from every step.

Once objectives and target metrics are set, tell your end-users how their contribution will have an impact on the entire onboarding process. Always perform A/B testing before rolling out the entire onboarding process. It will help you to figure out the best approaches for a smooth onboarding experience.

7. Be Consistent and Predictable

Always make sure to keep track of your product consistency from start to end. You must be consistent in the language and tone that you are using for the onboarding process, progress bars, navigation icons, and other visual components. In other words, provide a consistent and predictable experience to your users.

Consistency will make the navigation of your product more predictable to your end-users, helping them understand what kind of user onboarding experience they are about to get.

Conclusion

Here, we have discussed the main steps to build a successful user onboarding experience. These steps will help you to provide a great user onboarding experience to your end-users. You can leverage the digital adoption platform to create a smooth UX and UI for your customers, irrespective of the complexity of your product.