Once a user realizes the impact that a particular product has on his or her life, the odds of them continuing to use that product increases immensely. Unless the user truly “gets it”, they will most likely abandon you and look for a better solution.
That moment of wonder, when they realize they must continue to use that product, is what we call the “wow” moment. Every successful product is looking to create that moment, be it prototyping software made for Interaction Designers or a tool for sales teams. User onboarding is about constructing the journey that takes users to that moment – everything that happens from the first time a user signs up until they say “wow.
We will now walk you through identifying this moment and constructing your onboarding journey (and what makes for great user onboarding). We will show some examples of products that do a good job at it and point you to tools that can help you in the design process.
What does User Onboarding mean?
Onboarding is the process of engaging a new user into your service. The onboarding strategy includes several methods, such as using popups, video tutorials, and interactive guides — all depending on your imagination and technical capabilities. The subscription form that you offer during registration is one of the onboarding elements that help you teach and “tame” your users.
User onboarding is the process where a product, service, or app is introduced to a new user and they become familiar with it. This phase often starts with the user’s very first experience with the product, where they are expected to be assisted and taught what to do. It’s a crucial moment when the product makes its first impact, and it may also begin before the user interacts with the product.
UX onboarding uses psychology to understand user motivations and jobs to be done. The goal is to use this information to create onboarding flows that help the user quickly see how the product can help them.
Done well, UX onboarding guides the customer through the different journey stages and ultimately turns many of them into paying customers.
Why is User Onboarding important?
If you dive into the analytics of new products, you will observe that in the majority of them, users create new accounts, try out a product briefly, maybe just once, and never come back. The company then tries to get that user back, more often than not by sending emails which, unsurprisingly, rarely work.
The reason why this happens is that the user did not “get” why that product is relevant or how it will improve their life in the first place.
There are enough alternatives out there so it is easier for these potential users to find something else, instead of spending time trying to figure out your product. Winning them back is really tough because the first experience really matters – a lot.
For example, picture a sales team.
They might look for a new sales tool if their current solution does not allow them to properly manage leads. When they arrive at your product, they will have two key questions in mind: “How does this work?” and “What should I do first?”.
If they feel overwhelmed, or lost, and if after some time using your product, they still do not know how it works or what to do, the easiest thing is to move on to something else. It does not matter the effort you spent to get them there in the first place. The marketing dollars are irrelevant if onboarding is terrible.
On the other hand, if you offer a solid user onboarding experience, users will quickly know what your product is for and how it works. And if they see you as the solution to their problems, they will not need to look for another one. Instead, your product will become a part of their workflows.
You will also observe low churn, higher retention, higher profits, more word-of-mouth referrals, and higher customer satisfaction.
What makes a great User Onboarding?
The first thing you have to have in mind when working on your product’s user onboarding experience is that the actual experience will be unique to your product. However you construct your onboarding needs, you must have in mind what is it that you are solving, for whom you are solving it, and what value you will bring to the table.
What works for one company and one product might not, and probably will not, work for another company and another product. Put in the hours, and do the research.