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User Onboarding & Engagement

15 Customer Onboarding Best Practices: A Complete Guide

blog author
Lara Stiris

December 20, 2024

Customer onboarding is one of the most important stages of the customer journey for any SaaS company. It’s the process where new users are introduced to your product, learn how to use it, and start seeing value. A successful client onboarding strategy can make the difference between gaining loyal, long-term customers and losing them to frustration or confusion.

In this guide, we’ll explore the best practices for the onboarding process to help SaaS teams design effective onboarding strategies. With these tips, you'll not only reduce churn but also increase customer retention and satisfaction.

Why Customer Onboarding Matters

The onboarding process sets the tone for the entire customer experience. It’s a user’s first impressions with your product. A positive onboarding experience can accelerate product adoption, boost engagement, and drive long-term loyalty. Without a good client onboarding experience, even the best products can struggle to retain users and may face increased customer churn.

So now that we know why customer onboarding matters, let's get into details of how to create successful onboarding processes. 

1. Understand Your Customer’s Goals

Even before your users get started with onboarding, you need to figure out their goals and needs. Different users have different objectives. For example, a marketing manager may be looking for automation tools, while a developer might be more interested in API integration. Understanding your customer needs from the very beginning helps personalize their onboarding process.

How to Understand Customer Goals:

  • Surveys and Onboarding Forms: Use initial surveys or onboarding forms to gather data about your users’ roles, goals, and expectations.
  • Segment by Persona: Create personas based on the data you gather to tailor onboarding steps and resources accordingly.
  • Monitor Behavior: Track how users interact with your product during the client onboarding process to better understand their needs and customer journey.

2. Create a Clear and Structured Onboarding Plan

The key to a successful onboarding process is structure. Your onboarding, whether in the form of interative walkthroughs or tutorials, should guide users step-by-step, showing them the most important features and actions to take without overwhelming them with too much information at once. Using an onboarding checklist can make this process more manageable for users.

Best Practices for Structuring Your Onboarding Plan:

  • Checklists: Provide a clear list of tasks that need to be completed during the client onboarding process, such as setting up a profile, exploring key features, or completing a tutorial.
  • Step-by-Step Guides: Break down complex processes into smaller, manageable steps to keep users from feeling overwhelmed. Walkthroughs can also assist users in navigating new features.
  • Deliver Quick Wins: Focus on getting users to experience value as soon as possible. For example, if your product is a CRM, a “quick win” might be helping users import their initial batch of contacts.

3. Send a Welcome Email to Get Users Started

The welcome email is often the first direct communication you have with your new customers, setting the stage for the rest of the client onboarding process. A personalized and informative welcome email can introduce them to key product features, link them to resources, and outline the steps they need to take to get started. All in all, a well-crafted welcome email will help users get started on the right foot and increase the likelihood of keeping your customers engaged throughout the client onboarding process. 

What to Include in Your Welcome Email:

  • Introduction to Features: Highlight the most important features users should explore first.
  • Link to Onboarding Checklist: Provide a link to the onboarding checklist or a tutorial to help them complete essential tasks.
  • Contact Information: Give users a point of contact, such as a customer success manager, for any questions they may have.

4. Provide Personalized Experiences

Personalization is a powerful tool for increasing engagement and customer retention during client onboarding. By tailoring your onboarding strategy to individual users based on their behavior, goals, or role, you ensure that each user receives relevant and meaningful guidance, which enhances the overall customer experience and keeps customers engaged. This strategy is vital for maintaining customer success throughout the onboarding journey.

Ways to Provide Personalization in Onboarding

  • User Segmentation: Group users based on criteria like job role, experience level, or goals. For example, first-time users might receive a more detailed product tour, while returning users might skip certain steps.
  • Dynamic Onboarding Paths: Adjust the client onboarding process based on user actions and interactions. If a user has already completed a certain task, skip to the next most relevant action.
  • In-App Messages: Use in-app messaging to offer personalized tips, guidance, or product suggestions based on the user’s behavior.

5. Provide Contextual Onboarding

In-product guides and tooltips provide immediate, contextual help, guiding users through key features without interrupting their workflow. This type of onboarding walkthroughs ensure users get the right information at the right moment, making the client onboarding process smoother and more effective, which in turn also improves  user confidence, reduces the learning curve, and enhances user retention by offering guidance exactly when it's needed. 

Key Types of In-Product Guides

  • Product Tours: Step-by-step walkthroughs that explain core features, making complex processes easy to understand.
  • Tooltips: Pop-up messages that offer quick, targeted info when users hover over elements, reducing confusion.
  • Interactive Checklists: Track user progress with dynamic prompts, keeping users focused and motivated.

6. Assign Small, Achievable Milestones

One of the most effective best practices in onboarding is breaking down the user journey into small, manageable goals. When users see immediate progress, it creates a sense of achievement that keeps them engaged and motivated to continue. Small goals help users build confidence in your product, as they can easily accomplish each step without feeling overwhelmed. Whether it’s completing the first step of a setup checklist, trying a new feature, or reaching a quick “win” during the client onboarding process, celebrating these milestones keeps users excited about what’s next.

To incorporate small goals in your client onboarding: 

  • Use Checklists: Include a checklist that tracks progress, allowing users to see their accomplishments.
  • Highlight Quick Wins: Guide users to achieve quick results with basic tasks, like completing their profile or trying a core feature.
  • Provide Encouraging Feedback: Use in-app messages or a welcome screen to congratulate users on reaching milestones, reinforcing their progress.

7. Track Key Onboarding Metrics

Measuring the success of your client onboarding process is critical to improving it. By tracking key metrics, you can identify where users are getting stuck, which features are most helpful, and how long it takes for users to complete the onboarding journey.

Important Onboarding Metrics to Track:

  • Onboarding Completion Rate: The percentage of users who complete the onboarding process. A low completion rate may indicate that users are struggling.
  • Time to First Value (TTV): As mentioned above, TTV looks at how long it takes for users to reach their first "aha moment" where they realize the value of your product.
  • Feature Adoption: Track which features users engage with during onboarding.
  • Churn Rate: Keep an eye on churn rate and whether client onboarding improvements reduce early customer churn.

8. Provide Continuous Support After Onboarding

Onboarding doesn’t end once the user completes the initial steps. Providing ongoing support and guidance ensures that users continue to engage with your product and explore new features over time. 

Best Practices for Continuous Support:

  • Access to a Help Center: Provide users with easy access to a knowledge base or resources where they can find answers to common questions.
  • Follow-Up Emails: Send emails to users post-onboarding, offering additional tips, product updates, or training resources.
  • Customer Success Check-Ins: For more complex products, offer check-ins with your customer success team to ensure users are getting the most out of your product.

9. Collect Feedback and Continuously Improve

Customer feedback is a goldmine of insights that can help you improve your client onboarding process. By asking for feedback at various stages, you can better understand what’s working and what needs improvement. And in turn, acting on user feedback shows customers that you value their input and are committed to improving their experience.

How to Gather and Act on Feedback:

  • In-App Surveys: Use brief surveys to ask users about their onboarding experience immediately after they complete it.
  • Direct Outreach: Reach out to users via email or through customer success teams to ask for more detailed feedback.
  • Regular Iteration: Use the feedback you receive to continuously refine and improve your onboarding process.

10. Incorporate Gamification in Onboarding

Adding elements of gamification can make the client onboarding process more engaging and enjoyable. Gamification not only keeps users motivated but also makes the learning process feel less like work. Gamified onboarding elements include progress bars, rewards for completing milestones, badges, or even friendly competitions. 

Benefits of Gamification:

  • Increased Engagement: Users are more likely to complete tasks when they are presented as fun challenges.
  • Faster Learning: Gamification encourages users to explore the product more thoroughly, improving feature adoption.
  • Improved Retention: Users who enjoy the onboarding process are more likely to stick with the product long-term.

11. Provide Self-Serve Resources for Users

While guided walkthroughs for onboarding are critical, it’s equally important to offer self-serve resources that users can access on their own. This includes creating a robust knowledge base, FAQs, video tutorials, and a community forum where users can find answers quickly.

Benefits of Self-Serve Resources:

  • Reduces Support Load: Users can find answers without contacting support, freeing up your team’s time.
  • Encourages Exploration: Users who have access to self-serve resources are more likely to explore features on their own, leading to deeper product adoption.
  • Empowers Users: Self-serve resources allow users to control their learning pace, increasing confidence and satisfaction.

12. A/B Test Your Onboarding Flows

Just like marketing campaigns, onboarding flows can benefit from A/B testing to determine what works best. Test different onboarding messages, flows, in-product guides, or even the order in which features are introduced to users.

Benefits of A/B Testing Onboarding Flows:

  • Data-Driven Optimization: A/B testing allows you to use data to refine the onboarding process, making it more effective.
  • Improved Conversion Rates: By testing different flows, you can identify which ones drive better conversion rates and retention.
  • Tailored Experiences: Testing helps you understand what resonates best with different user segments, leading to more personalized onboarding experiences.

13. Use Tools Like Userflow for Efficient Onboarding

One of the most effective best practices to enhance your client onboarding is to use dedicated tools like Userflow, Userpilot, or Appcues. These tools simplify the process of creating and managing onboarding experiences without relying on engineering resources. 

Benefits of using an onboarding tool: 

  • Save Development Costs: Tools like Userpilot reduce the need for custom coding, cutting down costs and letting your development team focus on the core product rather than spending time on onboarding.
  • Faster Implementation: Pre-made templates and drag-and-drop builders allow you to quickly onboard new users, introduce features, or make changes to the client onboarding experience based on feedback.
  • Data-Driven Insights: These tools often include analytics to monitor user behavior, track feature adoption, and refine the client onboarding process more effectively.
  • Scalability and Consistency: Tools like Userflow ensure a consistent onboarding journey for all users, making it easier to manage customer experiences as your product grows.
  • Personalized Onboarding: They enable you to personalize client onboarding based on roles, actions, or user engagement, increasing user retention.

Recommended Tools for Client Onboarding

  • Userflow – Userflow is an all-in-one tool with robust features like checklists, in-app surveys, and flow builders that help users feel welcome from day one. It's know for its ease-of-use and speedy deployment. 
  • Userpilot – Userpilot is a good no-code tool, especially for segmentation and contextual guidance, but it does lack in integrations. 
  • Appcues – Appcues is another no-code tool with a wide variety of integrations. But it is less flexible when it comes to customization and it is a bit more expensive.

14. Develop a Strategy for Upsells and Cross-sells 

Onboarding isn't just there to welcome new users—it's also essential for upsells and cross-sells. Even if users are familiar with the main product, they still need guidance to understand and adopt the new features or services effectively.

That's why another onboarding best practice is to create distinct client onboardingpaths for upgrades or add-ons. Consider dedicating specific team members to help existing users learn these new features. 

Benefits of an effective product expansions are: 

  • Increase Customer Retention: Users who receive proper guidance with add-ons are more likely to stick around, reducing churn.
  • Maximize Value: Users who understand how to use new features are more likely to see value and continue investing in your product.
  • Leverage Trust: Existing users already trust your brand, making it easier to introduce and onboard additional features.

15. Create a Coherent Brand Experience Throughout the Onboarding

A consistent brand experience is critical not only for attracting users but also for retaining them throughout the client onboarding process. A strong, recognizable brand helps build trust, familiarity, and engagement. From your intake form template to every single part of your walkthroughs, you should present a consistent brand approach throughout the customer journey. 

What you should do to keep a consistent brand experience: 

  • Align Visual Elements: Make sure that all your onboarding elements, including your sign-up page, walkthroughs, tooltips, help menus, and tooltips match your product’s overall design—colors, fonts, icons, and imagery should all reflect your brand’s identity.
  • Keep the Tone Consistent: Whether you use a friendly, professional, or playful tone, maintain that style across all welcome messages, in-app guidance, and tutorials to reinforce your brand personality.
  • Use Branded Templates: Create customizable templates and styling options that you can easily deploy. These templates allows you to ensure that your onboarding flows reflect your brand’s look and feel.

Start Onboarding Customers with Confidence

Creating a standout client onboarding experience isn’t just a strategy—it’s your ticket to lasting success. The way you welcome and onboard users from day one can decide what  feel supported and valued from day one, they’re more likely to stick around, explore your product’s full potential, and become loyal advocates. Whether it’s understanding customer needs, personalizing interactions, or reducing churn, implementing these best practices can have a  impact on your customer journey.

But the right strategy needs the right tools. That’s where Userflow comes in. Userflow makes it easy to design seamless, personalized onboarding experiences without tapping into your development resources. With features like in-app guides, checklists, and templates, you can automate and optimize onboarding for every user segment. It’s the perfect solution for turning new users into lifelong customers.

2 min 33 sec. read

blog single image
User Onboarding & Engagement

15 Customer Onboarding Best Practices: A Complete Guide

blog author
Lara Stiris

December 20, 2024

Customer onboarding is one of the most important stages of the customer journey for any SaaS company. It’s the process where new users are introduced to your product, learn how to use it, and start seeing value. A successful client onboarding strategy can make the difference between gaining loyal, long-term customers and losing them to frustration or confusion.

In this guide, we’ll explore the best practices for the onboarding process to help SaaS teams design effective onboarding strategies. With these tips, you'll not only reduce churn but also increase customer retention and satisfaction.

Why Customer Onboarding Matters

The onboarding process sets the tone for the entire customer experience. It’s a user’s first impressions with your product. A positive onboarding experience can accelerate product adoption, boost engagement, and drive long-term loyalty. Without a good client onboarding experience, even the best products can struggle to retain users and may face increased customer churn.

So now that we know why customer onboarding matters, let's get into details of how to create successful onboarding processes. 

1. Understand Your Customer’s Goals

Even before your users get started with onboarding, you need to figure out their goals and needs. Different users have different objectives. For example, a marketing manager may be looking for automation tools, while a developer might be more interested in API integration. Understanding your customer needs from the very beginning helps personalize their onboarding process.

How to Understand Customer Goals:

  • Surveys and Onboarding Forms: Use initial surveys or onboarding forms to gather data about your users’ roles, goals, and expectations.
  • Segment by Persona: Create personas based on the data you gather to tailor onboarding steps and resources accordingly.
  • Monitor Behavior: Track how users interact with your product during the client onboarding process to better understand their needs and customer journey.

2. Create a Clear and Structured Onboarding Plan

The key to a successful onboarding process is structure. Your onboarding, whether in the form of interative walkthroughs or tutorials, should guide users step-by-step, showing them the most important features and actions to take without overwhelming them with too much information at once. Using an onboarding checklist can make this process more manageable for users.

Best Practices for Structuring Your Onboarding Plan:

  • Checklists: Provide a clear list of tasks that need to be completed during the client onboarding process, such as setting up a profile, exploring key features, or completing a tutorial.
  • Step-by-Step Guides: Break down complex processes into smaller, manageable steps to keep users from feeling overwhelmed. Walkthroughs can also assist users in navigating new features.
  • Deliver Quick Wins: Focus on getting users to experience value as soon as possible. For example, if your product is a CRM, a “quick win” might be helping users import their initial batch of contacts.

3. Send a Welcome Email to Get Users Started

The welcome email is often the first direct communication you have with your new customers, setting the stage for the rest of the client onboarding process. A personalized and informative welcome email can introduce them to key product features, link them to resources, and outline the steps they need to take to get started. All in all, a well-crafted welcome email will help users get started on the right foot and increase the likelihood of keeping your customers engaged throughout the client onboarding process. 

What to Include in Your Welcome Email:

  • Introduction to Features: Highlight the most important features users should explore first.
  • Link to Onboarding Checklist: Provide a link to the onboarding checklist or a tutorial to help them complete essential tasks.
  • Contact Information: Give users a point of contact, such as a customer success manager, for any questions they may have.

4. Provide Personalized Experiences

Personalization is a powerful tool for increasing engagement and customer retention during client onboarding. By tailoring your onboarding strategy to individual users based on their behavior, goals, or role, you ensure that each user receives relevant and meaningful guidance, which enhances the overall customer experience and keeps customers engaged. This strategy is vital for maintaining customer success throughout the onboarding journey.

Ways to Provide Personalization in Onboarding

  • User Segmentation: Group users based on criteria like job role, experience level, or goals. For example, first-time users might receive a more detailed product tour, while returning users might skip certain steps.
  • Dynamic Onboarding Paths: Adjust the client onboarding process based on user actions and interactions. If a user has already completed a certain task, skip to the next most relevant action.
  • In-App Messages: Use in-app messaging to offer personalized tips, guidance, or product suggestions based on the user’s behavior.

5. Provide Contextual Onboarding

In-product guides and tooltips provide immediate, contextual help, guiding users through key features without interrupting their workflow. This type of onboarding walkthroughs ensure users get the right information at the right moment, making the client onboarding process smoother and more effective, which in turn also improves  user confidence, reduces the learning curve, and enhances user retention by offering guidance exactly when it's needed. 

Key Types of In-Product Guides

  • Product Tours: Step-by-step walkthroughs that explain core features, making complex processes easy to understand.
  • Tooltips: Pop-up messages that offer quick, targeted info when users hover over elements, reducing confusion.
  • Interactive Checklists: Track user progress with dynamic prompts, keeping users focused and motivated.

6. Assign Small, Achievable Milestones

One of the most effective best practices in onboarding is breaking down the user journey into small, manageable goals. When users see immediate progress, it creates a sense of achievement that keeps them engaged and motivated to continue. Small goals help users build confidence in your product, as they can easily accomplish each step without feeling overwhelmed. Whether it’s completing the first step of a setup checklist, trying a new feature, or reaching a quick “win” during the client onboarding process, celebrating these milestones keeps users excited about what’s next.

To incorporate small goals in your client onboarding: 

  • Use Checklists: Include a checklist that tracks progress, allowing users to see their accomplishments.
  • Highlight Quick Wins: Guide users to achieve quick results with basic tasks, like completing their profile or trying a core feature.
  • Provide Encouraging Feedback: Use in-app messages or a welcome screen to congratulate users on reaching milestones, reinforcing their progress.

7. Track Key Onboarding Metrics

Measuring the success of your client onboarding process is critical to improving it. By tracking key metrics, you can identify where users are getting stuck, which features are most helpful, and how long it takes for users to complete the onboarding journey.

Important Onboarding Metrics to Track:

  • Onboarding Completion Rate: The percentage of users who complete the onboarding process. A low completion rate may indicate that users are struggling.
  • Time to First Value (TTV): As mentioned above, TTV looks at how long it takes for users to reach their first "aha moment" where they realize the value of your product.
  • Feature Adoption: Track which features users engage with during onboarding.
  • Churn Rate: Keep an eye on churn rate and whether client onboarding improvements reduce early customer churn.

8. Provide Continuous Support After Onboarding

Onboarding doesn’t end once the user completes the initial steps. Providing ongoing support and guidance ensures that users continue to engage with your product and explore new features over time. 

Best Practices for Continuous Support:

  • Access to a Help Center: Provide users with easy access to a knowledge base or resources where they can find answers to common questions.
  • Follow-Up Emails: Send emails to users post-onboarding, offering additional tips, product updates, or training resources.
  • Customer Success Check-Ins: For more complex products, offer check-ins with your customer success team to ensure users are getting the most out of your product.

9. Collect Feedback and Continuously Improve

Customer feedback is a goldmine of insights that can help you improve your client onboarding process. By asking for feedback at various stages, you can better understand what’s working and what needs improvement. And in turn, acting on user feedback shows customers that you value their input and are committed to improving their experience.

How to Gather and Act on Feedback:

  • In-App Surveys: Use brief surveys to ask users about their onboarding experience immediately after they complete it.
  • Direct Outreach: Reach out to users via email or through customer success teams to ask for more detailed feedback.
  • Regular Iteration: Use the feedback you receive to continuously refine and improve your onboarding process.

10. Incorporate Gamification in Onboarding

Adding elements of gamification can make the client onboarding process more engaging and enjoyable. Gamification not only keeps users motivated but also makes the learning process feel less like work. Gamified onboarding elements include progress bars, rewards for completing milestones, badges, or even friendly competitions. 

Benefits of Gamification:

  • Increased Engagement: Users are more likely to complete tasks when they are presented as fun challenges.
  • Faster Learning: Gamification encourages users to explore the product more thoroughly, improving feature adoption.
  • Improved Retention: Users who enjoy the onboarding process are more likely to stick with the product long-term.

11. Provide Self-Serve Resources for Users

While guided walkthroughs for onboarding are critical, it’s equally important to offer self-serve resources that users can access on their own. This includes creating a robust knowledge base, FAQs, video tutorials, and a community forum where users can find answers quickly.

Benefits of Self-Serve Resources:

  • Reduces Support Load: Users can find answers without contacting support, freeing up your team’s time.
  • Encourages Exploration: Users who have access to self-serve resources are more likely to explore features on their own, leading to deeper product adoption.
  • Empowers Users: Self-serve resources allow users to control their learning pace, increasing confidence and satisfaction.

12. A/B Test Your Onboarding Flows

Just like marketing campaigns, onboarding flows can benefit from A/B testing to determine what works best. Test different onboarding messages, flows, in-product guides, or even the order in which features are introduced to users.

Benefits of A/B Testing Onboarding Flows:

  • Data-Driven Optimization: A/B testing allows you to use data to refine the onboarding process, making it more effective.
  • Improved Conversion Rates: By testing different flows, you can identify which ones drive better conversion rates and retention.
  • Tailored Experiences: Testing helps you understand what resonates best with different user segments, leading to more personalized onboarding experiences.

13. Use Tools Like Userflow for Efficient Onboarding

One of the most effective best practices to enhance your client onboarding is to use dedicated tools like Userflow, Userpilot, or Appcues. These tools simplify the process of creating and managing onboarding experiences without relying on engineering resources. 

Benefits of using an onboarding tool: 

  • Save Development Costs: Tools like Userpilot reduce the need for custom coding, cutting down costs and letting your development team focus on the core product rather than spending time on onboarding.
  • Faster Implementation: Pre-made templates and drag-and-drop builders allow you to quickly onboard new users, introduce features, or make changes to the client onboarding experience based on feedback.
  • Data-Driven Insights: These tools often include analytics to monitor user behavior, track feature adoption, and refine the client onboarding process more effectively.
  • Scalability and Consistency: Tools like Userflow ensure a consistent onboarding journey for all users, making it easier to manage customer experiences as your product grows.
  • Personalized Onboarding: They enable you to personalize client onboarding based on roles, actions, or user engagement, increasing user retention.

Recommended Tools for Client Onboarding

  • Userflow – Userflow is an all-in-one tool with robust features like checklists, in-app surveys, and flow builders that help users feel welcome from day one. It's know for its ease-of-use and speedy deployment. 
  • Userpilot – Userpilot is a good no-code tool, especially for segmentation and contextual guidance, but it does lack in integrations. 
  • Appcues – Appcues is another no-code tool with a wide variety of integrations. But it is less flexible when it comes to customization and it is a bit more expensive.

14. Develop a Strategy for Upsells and Cross-sells 

Onboarding isn't just there to welcome new users—it's also essential for upsells and cross-sells. Even if users are familiar with the main product, they still need guidance to understand and adopt the new features or services effectively.

That's why another onboarding best practice is to create distinct client onboardingpaths for upgrades or add-ons. Consider dedicating specific team members to help existing users learn these new features. 

Benefits of an effective product expansions are: 

  • Increase Customer Retention: Users who receive proper guidance with add-ons are more likely to stick around, reducing churn.
  • Maximize Value: Users who understand how to use new features are more likely to see value and continue investing in your product.
  • Leverage Trust: Existing users already trust your brand, making it easier to introduce and onboard additional features.

15. Create a Coherent Brand Experience Throughout the Onboarding

A consistent brand experience is critical not only for attracting users but also for retaining them throughout the client onboarding process. A strong, recognizable brand helps build trust, familiarity, and engagement. From your intake form template to every single part of your walkthroughs, you should present a consistent brand approach throughout the customer journey. 

What you should do to keep a consistent brand experience: 

  • Align Visual Elements: Make sure that all your onboarding elements, including your sign-up page, walkthroughs, tooltips, help menus, and tooltips match your product’s overall design—colors, fonts, icons, and imagery should all reflect your brand’s identity.
  • Keep the Tone Consistent: Whether you use a friendly, professional, or playful tone, maintain that style across all welcome messages, in-app guidance, and tutorials to reinforce your brand personality.
  • Use Branded Templates: Create customizable templates and styling options that you can easily deploy. These templates allows you to ensure that your onboarding flows reflect your brand’s look and feel.

Start Onboarding Customers with Confidence

Creating a standout client onboarding experience isn’t just a strategy—it’s your ticket to lasting success. The way you welcome and onboard users from day one can decide what  feel supported and valued from day one, they’re more likely to stick around, explore your product’s full potential, and become loyal advocates. Whether it’s understanding customer needs, personalizing interactions, or reducing churn, implementing these best practices can have a  impact on your customer journey.

But the right strategy needs the right tools. That’s where Userflow comes in. Userflow makes it easy to design seamless, personalized onboarding experiences without tapping into your development resources. With features like in-app guides, checklists, and templates, you can automate and optimize onboarding for every user segment. It’s the perfect solution for turning new users into lifelong customers.

2 min 33 sec. read

Customer onboarding is one of the most important stages of the customer journey for any SaaS company. It’s the process where new users are introduced to your product, learn how to use it, and start seeing value. A successful client onboarding strategy can make the difference between gaining loyal, long-term customers and losing them to frustration or confusion.

In this guide, we’ll explore the best practices for the onboarding process to help SaaS teams design effective onboarding strategies. With these tips, you'll not only reduce churn but also increase customer retention and satisfaction.

Why Customer Onboarding Matters

The onboarding process sets the tone for the entire customer experience. It’s a user’s first impressions with your product. A positive onboarding experience can accelerate product adoption, boost engagement, and drive long-term loyalty. Without a good client onboarding experience, even the best products can struggle to retain users and may face increased customer churn.

So now that we know why customer onboarding matters, let's get into details of how to create successful onboarding processes. 

1. Understand Your Customer’s Goals

Even before your users get started with onboarding, you need to figure out their goals and needs. Different users have different objectives. For example, a marketing manager may be looking for automation tools, while a developer might be more interested in API integration. Understanding your customer needs from the very beginning helps personalize their onboarding process.

How to Understand Customer Goals:

  • Surveys and Onboarding Forms: Use initial surveys or onboarding forms to gather data about your users’ roles, goals, and expectations.
  • Segment by Persona: Create personas based on the data you gather to tailor onboarding steps and resources accordingly.
  • Monitor Behavior: Track how users interact with your product during the client onboarding process to better understand their needs and customer journey.

2. Create a Clear and Structured Onboarding Plan

The key to a successful onboarding process is structure. Your onboarding, whether in the form of interative walkthroughs or tutorials, should guide users step-by-step, showing them the most important features and actions to take without overwhelming them with too much information at once. Using an onboarding checklist can make this process more manageable for users.

Best Practices for Structuring Your Onboarding Plan:

  • Checklists: Provide a clear list of tasks that need to be completed during the client onboarding process, such as setting up a profile, exploring key features, or completing a tutorial.
  • Step-by-Step Guides: Break down complex processes into smaller, manageable steps to keep users from feeling overwhelmed. Walkthroughs can also assist users in navigating new features.
  • Deliver Quick Wins: Focus on getting users to experience value as soon as possible. For example, if your product is a CRM, a “quick win” might be helping users import their initial batch of contacts.

3. Send a Welcome Email to Get Users Started

The welcome email is often the first direct communication you have with your new customers, setting the stage for the rest of the client onboarding process. A personalized and informative welcome email can introduce them to key product features, link them to resources, and outline the steps they need to take to get started. All in all, a well-crafted welcome email will help users get started on the right foot and increase the likelihood of keeping your customers engaged throughout the client onboarding process. 

What to Include in Your Welcome Email:

  • Introduction to Features: Highlight the most important features users should explore first.
  • Link to Onboarding Checklist: Provide a link to the onboarding checklist or a tutorial to help them complete essential tasks.
  • Contact Information: Give users a point of contact, such as a customer success manager, for any questions they may have.

4. Provide Personalized Experiences

Personalization is a powerful tool for increasing engagement and customer retention during client onboarding. By tailoring your onboarding strategy to individual users based on their behavior, goals, or role, you ensure that each user receives relevant and meaningful guidance, which enhances the overall customer experience and keeps customers engaged. This strategy is vital for maintaining customer success throughout the onboarding journey.

Ways to Provide Personalization in Onboarding

  • User Segmentation: Group users based on criteria like job role, experience level, or goals. For example, first-time users might receive a more detailed product tour, while returning users might skip certain steps.
  • Dynamic Onboarding Paths: Adjust the client onboarding process based on user actions and interactions. If a user has already completed a certain task, skip to the next most relevant action.
  • In-App Messages: Use in-app messaging to offer personalized tips, guidance, or product suggestions based on the user’s behavior.

5. Provide Contextual Onboarding

In-product guides and tooltips provide immediate, contextual help, guiding users through key features without interrupting their workflow. This type of onboarding walkthroughs ensure users get the right information at the right moment, making the client onboarding process smoother and more effective, which in turn also improves  user confidence, reduces the learning curve, and enhances user retention by offering guidance exactly when it's needed. 

Key Types of In-Product Guides

  • Product Tours: Step-by-step walkthroughs that explain core features, making complex processes easy to understand.
  • Tooltips: Pop-up messages that offer quick, targeted info when users hover over elements, reducing confusion.
  • Interactive Checklists: Track user progress with dynamic prompts, keeping users focused and motivated.

6. Assign Small, Achievable Milestones

One of the most effective best practices in onboarding is breaking down the user journey into small, manageable goals. When users see immediate progress, it creates a sense of achievement that keeps them engaged and motivated to continue. Small goals help users build confidence in your product, as they can easily accomplish each step without feeling overwhelmed. Whether it’s completing the first step of a setup checklist, trying a new feature, or reaching a quick “win” during the client onboarding process, celebrating these milestones keeps users excited about what’s next.

To incorporate small goals in your client onboarding: 

  • Use Checklists: Include a checklist that tracks progress, allowing users to see their accomplishments.
  • Highlight Quick Wins: Guide users to achieve quick results with basic tasks, like completing their profile or trying a core feature.
  • Provide Encouraging Feedback: Use in-app messages or a welcome screen to congratulate users on reaching milestones, reinforcing their progress.

7. Track Key Onboarding Metrics

Measuring the success of your client onboarding process is critical to improving it. By tracking key metrics, you can identify where users are getting stuck, which features are most helpful, and how long it takes for users to complete the onboarding journey.

Important Onboarding Metrics to Track:

  • Onboarding Completion Rate: The percentage of users who complete the onboarding process. A low completion rate may indicate that users are struggling.
  • Time to First Value (TTV): As mentioned above, TTV looks at how long it takes for users to reach their first "aha moment" where they realize the value of your product.
  • Feature Adoption: Track which features users engage with during onboarding.
  • Churn Rate: Keep an eye on churn rate and whether client onboarding improvements reduce early customer churn.

8. Provide Continuous Support After Onboarding

Onboarding doesn’t end once the user completes the initial steps. Providing ongoing support and guidance ensures that users continue to engage with your product and explore new features over time. 

Best Practices for Continuous Support:

  • Access to a Help Center: Provide users with easy access to a knowledge base or resources where they can find answers to common questions.
  • Follow-Up Emails: Send emails to users post-onboarding, offering additional tips, product updates, or training resources.
  • Customer Success Check-Ins: For more complex products, offer check-ins with your customer success team to ensure users are getting the most out of your product.

9. Collect Feedback and Continuously Improve

Customer feedback is a goldmine of insights that can help you improve your client onboarding process. By asking for feedback at various stages, you can better understand what’s working and what needs improvement. And in turn, acting on user feedback shows customers that you value their input and are committed to improving their experience.

How to Gather and Act on Feedback:

  • In-App Surveys: Use brief surveys to ask users about their onboarding experience immediately after they complete it.
  • Direct Outreach: Reach out to users via email or through customer success teams to ask for more detailed feedback.
  • Regular Iteration: Use the feedback you receive to continuously refine and improve your onboarding process.

10. Incorporate Gamification in Onboarding

Adding elements of gamification can make the client onboarding process more engaging and enjoyable. Gamification not only keeps users motivated but also makes the learning process feel less like work. Gamified onboarding elements include progress bars, rewards for completing milestones, badges, or even friendly competitions. 

Benefits of Gamification:

  • Increased Engagement: Users are more likely to complete tasks when they are presented as fun challenges.
  • Faster Learning: Gamification encourages users to explore the product more thoroughly, improving feature adoption.
  • Improved Retention: Users who enjoy the onboarding process are more likely to stick with the product long-term.

11. Provide Self-Serve Resources for Users

While guided walkthroughs for onboarding are critical, it’s equally important to offer self-serve resources that users can access on their own. This includes creating a robust knowledge base, FAQs, video tutorials, and a community forum where users can find answers quickly.

Benefits of Self-Serve Resources:

  • Reduces Support Load: Users can find answers without contacting support, freeing up your team’s time.
  • Encourages Exploration: Users who have access to self-serve resources are more likely to explore features on their own, leading to deeper product adoption.
  • Empowers Users: Self-serve resources allow users to control their learning pace, increasing confidence and satisfaction.

12. A/B Test Your Onboarding Flows

Just like marketing campaigns, onboarding flows can benefit from A/B testing to determine what works best. Test different onboarding messages, flows, in-product guides, or even the order in which features are introduced to users.

Benefits of A/B Testing Onboarding Flows:

  • Data-Driven Optimization: A/B testing allows you to use data to refine the onboarding process, making it more effective.
  • Improved Conversion Rates: By testing different flows, you can identify which ones drive better conversion rates and retention.
  • Tailored Experiences: Testing helps you understand what resonates best with different user segments, leading to more personalized onboarding experiences.

13. Use Tools Like Userflow for Efficient Onboarding

One of the most effective best practices to enhance your client onboarding is to use dedicated tools like Userflow, Userpilot, or Appcues. These tools simplify the process of creating and managing onboarding experiences without relying on engineering resources. 

Benefits of using an onboarding tool: 

  • Save Development Costs: Tools like Userpilot reduce the need for custom coding, cutting down costs and letting your development team focus on the core product rather than spending time on onboarding.
  • Faster Implementation: Pre-made templates and drag-and-drop builders allow you to quickly onboard new users, introduce features, or make changes to the client onboarding experience based on feedback.
  • Data-Driven Insights: These tools often include analytics to monitor user behavior, track feature adoption, and refine the client onboarding process more effectively.
  • Scalability and Consistency: Tools like Userflow ensure a consistent onboarding journey for all users, making it easier to manage customer experiences as your product grows.
  • Personalized Onboarding: They enable you to personalize client onboarding based on roles, actions, or user engagement, increasing user retention.

Recommended Tools for Client Onboarding

  • Userflow – Userflow is an all-in-one tool with robust features like checklists, in-app surveys, and flow builders that help users feel welcome from day one. It's know for its ease-of-use and speedy deployment. 
  • Userpilot – Userpilot is a good no-code tool, especially for segmentation and contextual guidance, but it does lack in integrations. 
  • Appcues – Appcues is another no-code tool with a wide variety of integrations. But it is less flexible when it comes to customization and it is a bit more expensive.

14. Develop a Strategy for Upsells and Cross-sells 

Onboarding isn't just there to welcome new users—it's also essential for upsells and cross-sells. Even if users are familiar with the main product, they still need guidance to understand and adopt the new features or services effectively.

That's why another onboarding best practice is to create distinct client onboardingpaths for upgrades or add-ons. Consider dedicating specific team members to help existing users learn these new features. 

Benefits of an effective product expansions are: 

  • Increase Customer Retention: Users who receive proper guidance with add-ons are more likely to stick around, reducing churn.
  • Maximize Value: Users who understand how to use new features are more likely to see value and continue investing in your product.
  • Leverage Trust: Existing users already trust your brand, making it easier to introduce and onboard additional features.

15. Create a Coherent Brand Experience Throughout the Onboarding

A consistent brand experience is critical not only for attracting users but also for retaining them throughout the client onboarding process. A strong, recognizable brand helps build trust, familiarity, and engagement. From your intake form template to every single part of your walkthroughs, you should present a consistent brand approach throughout the customer journey. 

What you should do to keep a consistent brand experience: 

  • Align Visual Elements: Make sure that all your onboarding elements, including your sign-up page, walkthroughs, tooltips, help menus, and tooltips match your product’s overall design—colors, fonts, icons, and imagery should all reflect your brand’s identity.
  • Keep the Tone Consistent: Whether you use a friendly, professional, or playful tone, maintain that style across all welcome messages, in-app guidance, and tutorials to reinforce your brand personality.
  • Use Branded Templates: Create customizable templates and styling options that you can easily deploy. These templates allows you to ensure that your onboarding flows reflect your brand’s look and feel.

Start Onboarding Customers with Confidence

Creating a standout client onboarding experience isn’t just a strategy—it’s your ticket to lasting success. The way you welcome and onboard users from day one can decide what  feel supported and valued from day one, they’re more likely to stick around, explore your product’s full potential, and become loyal advocates. Whether it’s understanding customer needs, personalizing interactions, or reducing churn, implementing these best practices can have a  impact on your customer journey.

But the right strategy needs the right tools. That’s where Userflow comes in. Userflow makes it easy to design seamless, personalized onboarding experiences without tapping into your development resources. With features like in-app guides, checklists, and templates, you can automate and optimize onboarding for every user segment. It’s the perfect solution for turning new users into lifelong customers.

About the author

blog author
Lara Stiris

Userflow

Director of Demand Generation at Userflow

Lara Stiris is the Director of Demand Generation at Userflow, where she focuses on helping SaaS companies succeed with product-led growth and user onboarding. Drawing from her experience leading marketing strategies at companies like Twitch/AWS, Splunk, and Vonage, she brings a unique perspective on how effective user engagement drives business growth. A data-driven marketer with a Stanford economics degree, Lara writes about the intersection of product experience, user adoption, and revenue generation in the B2B SaaS space.

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