Time-proven onboarding practices to foster user engagement
Leaving users to figure out how to use your product on their own is the last thing you want if you aim to cultivate loyalty among your customers.
When it comes to the complexity of your product, the onboarding process can be approached in various ways, depending on what suits your needs best. The goal is to help new users become acquainted with the product through a series of interactions and instructions.
By adhering to onboarding best practices, you can foster a sense of engagement and excitement among users, making them eager to dive back into using your product.
This ensures users fully understand the value and capabilities of your product, resulting in a more satisfying user experience and a higher likelihood of repeat usage.
Let’s find out how to create efficient onboarding with the help of Anastasia Zhebrun’s design expertise.
What's the user onboarding experience, and why should we care?
A user onboarding experience refers to the process of introducing and guiding new users as they first interact with a product or service. It provides users with the necessary information, instructions, and support to help them understand how to use the product effectively and derive value from it.
The onboarding experience sets the stage for users' initial interactions and facilitates a smooth transition into becoming active and engaged users.
User onboarding matters for several reasons:
First impressions: The onboarding experience forms users' initial impressions of a product or service.
User engagement: Effective onboarding helps users understand the value and benefits of the product, making them more engaged and motivated to continue using it.
Reduced learning curve: By providing clear instructions and guidance during onboarding, users can quickly grasp how to navigate and use the product.
Feature discovery: Onboarding provides an opportunity to showcase key features and functionalities, ensuring that users are aware of the product's capabilities.
User retention and advocacy: A positive onboarding experience increases the likelihood of users continuing to engage with the product over time.
Support and reduced inquiries: Clear onboarding materials and instructions can help reduce the need for user support and inquiries.
What onboarding experiences exist out there
There are various types of onboarding experiences. They can be combined or tailored to suit the specific needs of the product, the target audience, and the desired user engagement level.
Here are some of the most frequently used types of user onboarding experiences:
Passive onboarding: In a passive onboarding experience, users are typically shown a series of screens or videos (usually 4-5 screens) that explain the product's features, functionalities, and navigation. The focus is on providing information and showcasing the product's capabilities rather than encouraging users to interact or perform specific actions.
💡 Tip: It’s important to offer the choice to skip the onboarding if they prefer.
Product tours: Provide a step-by-step walkthrough of the product's features and functionalities. They introduce key elements, explain their purpose, and guide users on how to navigate and use them effectively.
Interactive Tutorials: Engage users through hands-on exercises and interactive elements. Let your users actively interact with the product, learn by doing, and gain practical experience.
Checklists and Progress Trackers: Help users visualize their progress during onboarding. They provide a sense of achievement, show what steps are completed, and guide users through the remaining onboarding tasks.
💡 Tip: Ensure that checklists and progress trackers are kept concise and brief, as they give users a sense of achievability and gently guide them forward.
Best practices to create great user onboarding experiences
Keep it simple and concise: Users have limited attention spans, so it's crucial to keep the onboarding process short and clear. Present information in digestible chunks, avoiding overwhelming users with excessive details. Focus on the essential features and actions users need to get started.
💡 Tip: Show users how long they have left and allow them to skip.
Provide a clear value proposition: Communicate the unique value and benefits of your product or service upfront. Clearly articulate how it solves their problems or improves their lives. Highlight key features or functionalities that differentiate your product from competitors.
💡 Tip: Users come to your app with a specific intent. Always remind them why they should use your product during their first experience.
Offer interactive and engaging elements: To swiftly engage your users and familiarize them with the fundamental features of your app, encourage them to perform one or all of the key actions.
Break down these actions into simple and manageable steps. For instance, you could prompt users to follow other users or save images they find appealing as illustrative examples.
Personalize the experience: Tailor the onboarding experience based on users' preferences, goals, or previous interactions. Prompting users to self-segment through one simple question (e.g. choosing their use case) and customizing their onboarding experience can increase their chances of reaching their “aha moment”.
💡 Tip: If you give your users the impression that you’ll customize an experience based on their inputs, not delivering on that expectation can quickly backfire.
Prime users for permissions: Make users feel more comfortable by explaining why your app needs certain information from their mobile devices. Apps often ask for permissions like location access or camera access.
To avoid making users uneasy, use the "permission priming” screen. Show users how your app can benefit them with the requested permissions and then ask for access, so they understand why it's necessary.
💡 Tip: A "primer" screen should always be in context — for example, ask for access to the camera when users want to take a picture.
Deferred account creation: Waiting until after users have seen your product’s value before asking them to confirm their email can increase your “Signup” to “First Key Action” rate by up to 100%.
💡 Tip: Reduce friction by using the ‘Sniper Link’ technique. Sending people to their distracting inbox during onboarding is always risky. Minimize drop-offs by using URL parameters to pre-fill the search query.
Conclusion
The onboarding process is vital for users’ first impressions of the product and their future desire to interact with it. So select your onboarding flow from the best practices available and make it easy, clear, and fun to interact with.
More Onboarding References:
👉 User onboarding: 11 best practices and 15 examples
👉 Customer Onboarding: How 4 Leading SaaS Companies Design the Experience
👉 8 Different Types of User Onboarding UX You Should Know