“Two things remain irretrievable: time and first impressions”, as Cynthia Ozick once said. Even in the online medium, this saying is still quite true. Businesses may help their customers get up and running with a new product more rapidly by using a self-streamlined onboarding approach. Well, this avenue has a significant competitive advantage since it accelerates product adoption and boosts user participation. We have previously covered some essential steps for deciding which product-led revenue model might be right for your business.

Instead of depending entirely on standard assistance from sales or customer service teams, product-led onboarding shifts the emphasis to using in-product experiences. 90% of companies in 2022 said that digital user onboarding caused consumers and users to abandon new products and services, according to the ABBYY State of Intelligent Automation Report.

So, what are the core steps for product-led onboarding? We uncover them in this article:

Understand Your Client’s Profile

When you know who you’re selling to, you can create onboarding material that gets them hooked and keeps them using your product for the long haul. 

Having a clear picture of your ideal client allows you to cater to their needs and demands from the start of their relationship with your company.

Gather as much data as you can about them. What industry are they in? What’s their role? This information can usually be found on company websites or professional networks like LinkedIn.

Streamline the Sign-Up Process for Seamless User Onboarding

The initial sign-up process sets the tone for your users’ experience with your product. It’s crucial to keep it simple and hassle-free. Avoid adding unnecessary complexities that can deter potential users.

In short, you enable users to swiftly begin their journey once they are motivated to sign up by minimizing barriers to entry. 

The critical information you should request at this stage is their email address, which serves both as an account identifier and a means of communication with your business.

Get Your Users to the “Aha!” Moment

Product-led onboarding revolves around leveraging your product to guide users through a series of value realizations, commonly referred to as “aha moments.” 

Through an engaging and intuitive onboarding experience, you aim to help users recognize your product’s unique benefits and value. 

To put it simply, the end goal is to not only drive initial purchases but also foster long-term customer retention.

Introduce Product Tours

When new users first log into your product, they may encounter landing pages, dashboards, and workflows that are unfamiliar to them. 

So, how can you help them navigate this unfamiliarity? The answer is – guided product tours and informative pop-ups. As defined by Whatfix, “Product tours are in-app tutorials that guide new users through an app, website, or SaaS tool’s user interface (UI) and key features.”

Thus, these guided tours and contextual pop-ups help users understand the functionality of the app’s most important components and functionalities. Users’ self-assurance and drive to continue using your product improve when you explain its features and how to access them.

Identify & Remove Friction 

Finding and fixing user friction points is essential for a smooth product-led onboarding process. To do this, the onboarding process must be tracked and monitored in real-time so that trouble spots may be addressed.

Also, any product-led onboarding should encourage users to give feedback during onboarding. This can be done through surveys or by providing an easy way for them to get in touch with support.

Data silos are a major stumbling block to this process and may result in inefficient onboarding methods, longer periods to fix app issues, and other negative user experiences.

Provide Comprehensive Support Options 

Even with a seamless product-led onboarding experience, it’s important to acknowledge that customers may still have questions or need assistance. While the goal is to minimize the need for support, having support channels in place is essential.

Offering options such as website chat, support e-mail, and a knowledge base allows customers to easily seek help and ask questions even after completing the onboarding process. 

Eventually, this human touch adds value to the customer experience, can increase conversions, and even generate valuable customer support leads.

Combine In-product and Email Onboarding 

Whereas the initial onboarding experience within the product should be the focus, leveraging e-mails can effectively re-engage users and bring their attention back to your product.

Similar to welcoming users within the product, sending a welcome email with helpful resources for getting started can further enhance their onboarding journey. 

In fact, the email’s content, copy, and structure must align with the in-product onboarding experience, creating a cohesive and consistent user experience. This way, it is feasible to reinforce key information and provide additional guidance to support users in their product adoption process.

Never Stop Onboarding

Onboarding doesn’t end with the initial user experience – it should be an ongoing process even after the purchase. 

As new customers engage with your company, they will require onboarding, and as you introduce new features, onboarding becomes crucial for driving adoption and retention.

Besides, allowing users to re-run checklists or onboarding guides might be beneficial, even if they have completed them. 

Frankly, users may not fully grasp everything during their initial onboarding, so offering the option to revisit onboarding materials can be helpful.