What is SaaS onboarding? What are the best practices? How do you create great user onboarding experiences?

When it comes to onboarding a new user, the onboarding experience must be focused on providing that first moment of value.

In this post, we’ll go over the basics for great saas user onboarding and then show 8 of our favourite SaaS onboarding examples.

(or TL;DR – you can build amazing user onboarding with Userpilot, no coding needed!)

TL;DR:

• SaaS onboarding helps new users learn how to use a product and realize its value quickly
• Onboarding experiences include the signup flow, welcome screen, and initial interactions
• Best practices for SaaS onboarding:
  1. Reduce friction in the onboarding process
  2. Start with a welcome screen and microsurvey
  3. Segment users for personalization
  4. Create an onboarding checklist with a progress bar
  5. Build interactive walkthroughs instead of linear product tours
  6. Remember the importance of context in onboarding experiences
  7. Use native tooltips for less disruption
  8. Ensure a self-serve SaaS onboarding flow
  9. Continuously update onboarding as product and market evolve
• To improve existing onboarding experiences:
  1. Analyze user behavior and identify drop-off points
  2. Develop hypotheses to improve onboarding experiences
  3. Implement improvements
  4. A/B test new onboarding flows
  5. Compare feature adoption goals for each variant
• Some good SaaS onboarding examples to follow:
  • Box:
    • Simple homepage layout with prominent CTA
    • Easy-to-understand pricing page
    • Simple sign-up form
    • Brief product tour with tooltips
    • Use of empty states with sample content
    • Gamified checklist for onboarding tasks
  • Productboard:
    • “Try now” CTA on the homepage
    • Easy email validation process
    • Fill-in-the-blanks method for gathering user information
    • Checklist to introduce key features
  • FullStory:
    • Strong value proposition and clear CTA on the landing page
    • Beautiful feedback gathering modal
    • Persona-based questions during onboarding
    • Early push for activation with script installation
  • Airtable:
    • Clear CTA on homepage
    • Onboarding video and user persona questionnaire
    • Empty states with clear CTAs
    • Simple, easy-to-use UI
  • Userpilot:
    • Conversational sign-up process with chatbot
    • Simple personalization question
    • Installation of Chrome extension upfront
    • Interactive tour and onboarding checklist
  • StoryChief:
    • Testimonial in the signup flow
    • Welcome modal with brief video introduction
    • Onboarding checklist to drive activation
  • Salesflare:
    • Striking CTA on the homepage
    • Interactive product tour
    • Checklist and help widget
    • Activation prompts during Aha! Moment
  • Feedier:
    • Native onboarding checklists
    • Welcome modal with opt-in product tour
    • Event-driven onboarding email sequence

What is SaaS onboarding?

SaaS onboarding refers to the process of helping new users learn how use your product to achieve their goals (and hence realize the value of the product quickly).

What are SaaS onboarding experiences?

User onboarding experiences are all the interactions that a user has with your SaaS product onboarding at the beginning of their user journey.

Starting from the signup flow, you’ll generally have a welcome screen and some initial experiences/interactions.