User Experience and Onboarding: Bridging the Gap

We spend weeks (sometimes months) hiring someone, then rush the part that actually sets them up to succeed. In a lot of businesses, onboarding is still treated like a box-ticking exercise with no real thought behind it. What people think onboarding is: 1 - A laptop set up on day one. 2 - A diary full of intro meetings. 3 - A branded pen and notebook. 4 - A few “welcome!” emails. 5 - A quick lap of the office. That’s admin. Not onboarding. What onboarding could (and should) look like: 1 - Pre-boarding that actually starts when the offer is accepted. The gap between resigning and starting is weird and unsettling for a lot of people. Silence doesn’t help. A simple plan, a call with their manager, a virtual office walk-through, even a coffee with the team goes a long way. 2 - A clear 30-60-90 day roadmap. Not performance targets. Expectations. What they’re meant to understand, focus on, and not worry about yet. 3 - Regular check-ins where people can ask the same question twice without feeling stupid. If people are scared to ask, they’ll guess. Guessing leads to mistakes. 4 - A real introduction to culture. Culture gets talked about endlessly in interviews, then rushed or ignored in induction. New starters notice that gap immediately. 5 - Onboarding that lasts longer than a week. Probation periods are often 6 months. Support should last just as long. Confidence doesn’t magically appear once the induction checklist is done. Most people don’t fail new roles because they can’t do the job. They struggle because they’re never properly set up to succeed. What’s the best or worst onboarding you’ve experienced?

You don’t need a new UI. You need a clearer path to action. A startup with over 280K paying users reached out for a full redesign. Their product already looked great but something felt off. Sometimes, the biggest wins come from fixing what’s almost working. Here’s why subtle tweaks often outperform shiny redesigns 👇 The interesting thing is that most UX teams want to “reimagine everything.” We think: • A new layout = better usability • A fancy UI = better conversion • A full redesign = more credibility But most of the time? 👉 Users weren’t stuck because of the visuals. They were stuck because of friction. Don’t redesign the whole thing, redesign the decision path. In the “before” version here: • All the interests are crammed together • There’s no grouping or structure • The call to action appears tappable too soon It looks complete… but feels confusing. Now look at the “after” version: ✅ Categories give the brain a break ✅ A counter gives users feedback ✅ The CTA only activates after a valid selection Same content. Different outcome. This is how you reduce drop-offs without touching the brand. People mostly in this case dropped off not because they were confused, but because they didn’t know how far they had to go (I’m guilty too). Truth is, most real UX work isn’t about how the screen looks. It’s about how the experience feels and flows. Don’t get me wrong, rebrands have their place. But if users are abandoning mid-onboarding, no amount of pixel-perfect UI will save you. Fix the friction first. It’s all psychology: • Structure helps users scan • Feedback helps them feel in control • Small nudges = massive results At the end is about honest UX thinking, product clarity, and small decisions that drive big outcomes. #UXDesign #ProductDesign #OnboardingUX #DesignThinking #UserExperience #FrictionFixes #MobileUX #MinimalChangesBigImpact

I spent 5 years scaling Superhuman's white glove, concierge onboarding. …and another 2 years rebuilding it in product. My biggest lessons on effective product onboarding: It must be *opinionated*, *interruptive*, and *interactive*. ••• 🧐 Opinionated There's a million ways to use Superhuman, but only one correct way. We had unopinionated steps in the onboarding, like teaching "j" and "k" to navigate. But what really matters is Inbox Zero. Marking Done. Our most extreme form is Get Me To Zero — a pop-up that practically coerces you to Mark Done *everything*. This experience gets an astonishing 60% new user opt-in. New users want to experience something different; they want to learn. We pruned away the bland, and left behind pure, unfiltered opinion. Exactly what made our concierge onboarding effective. 💥 Interruptive We've all seen them before: checklists, tooltips, nudges. Inoffensive growth clutter that piles up in the corners of your app. We shipped all this and more. But it had precisely zero impact. Our most impactful changes were interruptive: on-rails demos, full-screen takeovers, product overlays. Arresting user attention is critical: if an experience is tucked away in the corner, it will be ignored. If it's ignored, it may as well not exist. 🕹️ Interactive You can't be Opinionated and Interruptive without being Interactive. It's a crime to force users to engage with non-actionable information. Instead, provide functionality: an action to take, setting to toggle, CTA to click. It's more fun AND users build muscle memory. There is something to do in every step of our onboarding. Perhaps that's how we get away with an onboarding nearly 50 screens long 🤭 ••• Final thought: if you're struggling with this flow, simply watch new users. Note all the places you want to jump in — there's your onboarding 👌 s/o to the very thoughtful Superhumans building this: Ben ✨Kalyn Lilliana Kevin Peik Erin Gaurav 💜 #plg #onboarding #activation

I'm going to say it: SaaS products need to stop over-relying on onboarding tours. Every user doesn't have the patience to watch the fancy onboarding video and 10-slide carousels. They've got places to be. According to Chameleon, the average completion rate for product tours is 61%. In a recruitment tech product I worked in, I found that 1 out of 4 users would happily skip onboarding prompts to get straight into action. With the rise of prompting, that trend is only going to rise. Users won't want to "learn the product" to get stuff done. They want the product to "learn what they want" and take orders. Over the years, exposure to a high volume of B2B SaaS products has made users more confident in riding in without training wheels. This is especially seen in category-aware and solution-aware users. Even more so if they are migrating from a competing product. So, yes, there is a place to have an "onboarding" flow. I'm not asking to drop that. But you need a Plan B for users who bail out from that path. You need to support "Noboarding". A few things Product Managers, Designers & Marketers need to get right: 1) Navigation → use jargon-free labels. → too many items in settings? Offer search. → sequence items based on usage frequency. → interview users to identify familiar nomenclature. 2) Product microcopy → clear titles and descriptions for each screen. → proofread success, error, and transactional emails. → write copy with HEAL in mind (helpful, empathetic, actionable, linear) 3) Help users visualize the end → use familiar web constructs. → offer templates where possible. → show sample data on blank states (with an easy way to delete it). Above all, have internal and external users test your "no-boarding" flow and critically assess how it holds up. What are some products that do this well? Canva: users zipline to the editor and figure it out with drag-n-drop. Lovable: simple chat interface with a preview pane. Loom: single prominent CTA ("Record a video"). -- What do you do for users who choose to "no-board"?

If onboarding were a product sold on the open market, most of our ‘customers’ would be asking for a refund. We’ve let process kill the experience, and it's time to treat it as a design challenge, not a delivery task. In most established organisations onboarding has long since stopped being about the people and has become about process. Many of us are now trying to wrestle with the process when really we need to step back and reassess what’s needed. You know the signs: The slide decks get longer, the stakeholders multiply, the excitement of joining fades faster than anyone intended and L&D is left trying to make something meaningful out of a process that was never designed to solve a real problem. That tension sat right at the heart of last week’s L&D Office Hours. What emerged, through open, thoughtful conversation, were a few consistent themes many of us will recognise: - Onboarding that ticks boxes instead of solving business problems - Well-intentioned managers who agree to help us upfront… then disappear once the hire starts - A lack of usable data, making it hard to prove impact or change the narrative - Too many stakeholders treating onboarding as a content dumping ground Rather than jumping to solutions, we slowed things down and reframed the challenge. A few ideas that resonated strongly: - Designing onboarding around real outcomes (probation success, time to contribution, retention), not what all your stakeholders think they need to be told - Thinking like a data investigator: “If onboarding were failing, what would we see?” - even when the data isn’t perfect yet - Treating onboarding as a product, with clear ownership and a protected learner experience - Mapping the emotional journey of a new joiner, not just the information they need to consume - Positioning a deal that helps managers see a clear payoff, not just another task Onboarding is one of the few moments where organisations have genuine leverage. When motivation is high, habits are still forming and expectations are being set in real time. When we treat it as ‘something that needs to be delivered’, we waste that leverage. When we design it around context, outcomes and experience, it becomes one of the most powerful drivers of performance and retention we have. L&D Office Hours will be back in March. If there is a challenge you’re grappling with, you’re welcome to join us.

Your onboarding feels fine to you. To new clients, it screams disorganization. 𝟲 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗹𝗮𝗴𝘀 𝗵𝗶𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝗻𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀: 𝟭/ 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝘄𝗶𝗰𝗲 Intake form asks for their goals. Kickoff call asks for their goals again. First email asks for their goals a third time. Message received: you don't read what they send. → Consolidate information requests into one place. 𝟮/ 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽𝘀 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 Contract says "starts in 5 business days." Welcome email says "starts next week." Kickoff invite is scheduled for 10 days out. Inconsistent timelines signal unreliable delivery. → One timeline. Stick to it. Update it everywhere. 𝟯/ 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 Email comes from Sarah. Contract is signed with John. Kickoff meeting is with Maria. They don't know who their actual point of contact is. → Introduce the team structure upfront. One clear owner. 𝟰/ 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 Email says "upload files to Dropbox." Portal says "attach files here." Phone call mentions Google Drive. Conflicting instructions make them question everything else. → Audit every touchpoint. Use one system consistently. 𝟱/ 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱 Welcome packet is 47 pages. Critical deadlines are on page 31. Login credentials are in paragraph 12. They miss key details because you overwhelmed them. → Put critical info first. Make it impossible to miss. 𝟲/ 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝗮 𝗴𝗮𝗽 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 They sign the contract Tuesday. Hear nothing until the following Monday. No confirmation, no next steps, no timeline. Radio silence after commitment feels like buyer's remorse. → Immediate next step email after signature. No gaps. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴: "If onboarding is this confusing, what's the actual work going to be like?" First impressions set expectations for everything after. Smooth onboarding signals smooth operations. Messy onboarding signals future problems. Small confusions compound into big doubts. By week two, they're already questioning their decision. Not because your work is bad. Because your process made them feel lost. Your process might make sense to you. But you've done it 100 times. They're doing it for the first time. And they're judging your competence by it. ♻️ Repost if onboarding reveals operations. ➕ Follow me, Louis Shulman, for more tactics to stay top of mind and beat the competition. 📧 Join our weekly marketing newsletter: https://lnkd.in/gYGzEeTb

Step 3 asked for integration access. Step 1 never showed the product. A product team told me their onboarding was fine. 42% of users were dropping before finishing signup. The team blamed marketing. We're attracting the wrong users. So I walked through the flow myself. Step 1: What's your company size? Step 2: Describe your team structure. Step 3: Grant integration access. All before I'd seen a single feature. I hadn't experienced any value. But they wanted my org chart and API permissions. That's not onboarding. That's a first date asking for your Social Security number. The users weren't wrong. The sequence was. They weren't losing bad leads. They were asking for trust they hadn't earned. So we rebuilt it: → Show the product first. Let them feel the value. → Ask for the minimum. Name and email. That's it. → Build the profile later. When trust exists. One sprint. Drop-offs cut in half. Conversion up 19%. The product didn't change. The sequence did. Here's what most teams get wrong about onboarding: It's not about collecting information. It's about earning the right to ask for it. Every field is a question. Every question is a cost. And users do the math faster than you think. What's the most ridiculous thing an onboarding flow has asked you for?

After analyzing 50+ onboarding flows, I discovered even well-funded companies make the same 5 mistakes. Here's what we found when we dissected a major payment platform's user experience: Melio helps businesses pay and get paid with ease. High trust product. High stakes onboarding. Yet they stumble where it matters most. Their initial screens impress. Multiple sign-in options. Clear value prop instead of generic "Create account" text. Even a whimsical mascot that waves at you. But then everything falls apart. The layout suddenly shifts from centered to split-screen for no reason. This cognitive disruption increases drop-off by 23% according to Baymard Institute research. Right after the welcome screen comes an aggressive pricing modal: "90% off your first 3 months!" I hadn't even seen the product yet. This triggers loss aversion before establishing value... Reducing trial-to-paid conversion. Melio requests payment before displaying any functionality. Empty dashboards. No sample data. No guided tour. Just "Add a vendor" on a blank screen. An empty dashboard might look clean, but it leaves users wondering, "Now what?" The kiss of death for product adoption. Here's what the data says works instead: • Show sample data • Guide users through the first action • Delay monetization until after the aha moment. Companies that show value before payment see 3x higher activation rates. Those with guided onboarding retain 2.5x more users after 30 days. The best flows share patterns some designers miss: Progressive disclosure beats comprehensive tours. Show one powerful feature perfectly rather than ten features poorly. The first 90 seconds determine the next 90 days. Front-load your most compelling value demonstration. Even major companies struggle because they focus on what they want users to do, not what users need to succeed. At Pixel One, we apply these principles to redesign product experiences for B2B SaaS companies. The difference shows in activation rates and long-term retention. If you're losing users between signup and activation... Let's transform your flow into a growth engine.

The onboarding journey is the loyalty hinge. If onboarding goes badly, you’ll spend the rest of the relationship pushing a boulder uphill. In B2B, onboarding is not “setup.” It’s the moment your customer decides (often quietly) whether they can trust you. Because here’s what happens when customers don’t see value early: - They hesitate to roll it out broadly. - They open more tickets and escalate faster. - They start building workarounds. - They stop returning calls. They become “at-risk” long before anyone labels them that way. And then renewal season arrives, and everyone acts surprised. Onboarding is one of the most predictive journeys for long-term loyalty for a simple reason: Early experience becomes the story customers tell themselves. If the story is “this is harder than we expected,” you’ll fight friction for the rest of the contract. If the story is “these people make us successful,” you earn patience, partnership, and expansion. A practical way to strengthen onboarding is to stop treating it as a checklist. Checklists are necessary. But loyalty comes from confidence. So instead, design onboarding around three questions: 1. What is the first meaningful outcome the customer actually cares about? 2. What is the smallest set of steps required to get there? 3. What are the predictable moments where customers get stuck or lose momentum? Then measure what matters early: - Time to first value (not time to go-live). - Adoption of the first key behavior (not “training completed”). - Repeat contacts and escalations (not “how did we do?” surveys alone). The goal is simple: Create an early moment where the customer can say, “Okay. This was worth it.” What’s the earliest moment in your onboarding where a customer can honestly say, “This was worth it”? #Onboarding #CustomerSuccess #B2B #CX

Most companies spend months perfecting their product UI, then throw together onboarding in a weekend. This is backwards. Your onboarding IS your product's first impression. It's where users decide if they trust you enough to change their workflow. Our initial onboarding was basically "here's the docs, figure it out." But now we redesigned onboarding like a product feature: - User research on where people got stuck - Built interactive tutorials that actually work with real data - Added progress indicators and clear next steps - Made it feel as polished as our core platform The result? 3x improvement in day-7 retention. Your onboarding experience should have the same design rigor as your core product. Because if users don't make it through onboarding, they'll never see how great your actual product is. What's one thing you wish every product explained better during onboarding?