User onboarding 101

You don’t get a second chance at making a good first impression. Learn how to effectively guide your new users, and ensure that your product becomes their next favorite tool.

Aha moment definition - the pivotal moment when new users first realize the value of your product.
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Inside the course
7 Lessons
1 hour
“Onboarding is the most important thing in the world.”
ERIC YU
Growth lead
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Here’s what’s inside…

We’ll begin by talking about why user onboarding matters and what it looks like (the good, the bad, and the just plain annoying). Then we’ll move on to some best practices and introduce a collection of familiar patterns to inspire your own onboarding flows. You’ll create a user journey map, learn a bit about building in-house vs. outsourcing, and end the course with some tips on metrics and testing. Capeesh?

You'll learn:
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The business impact of user onboarding
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What good (and bad) user onboarding looks like
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Best practices of effective onboarding flows
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How to utilize segmentation and personalization
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How to create your first user journey map
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The pros and cons of building in-house vs. outsourcing onboarding
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What metrics you should care about
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Testing tips and tricks to try
This course is for:
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Product marketers
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Product managers
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Product designers
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UX enthusiasts
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When you finish this course, you can humble brag about it for weeks. But that’s not all. We’ll send you a shareable certification and some fun (and practical) goodies. 😎

Helpful terms

Activation event
Noun • Synonymous with Appcues

The activation event (also known as an activation metric) is the first point in your product where you deliver the value that you promised your user. The percentage of people who reach your activation event = your activation rate. This is a key metric to track and improve for user onboarding.

Aha moment
Noun • Synonymous with Appcues

In software, the aha moment is the pivotal instance when a new user first realizes the value of your product and why they need it. It’s often accompanied by, “Oh wow. This is awesome.”

In-app
Noun • Synonymous with Appcues

An adjective that describes anything living inside your product (not exclusive to mobile apps).

Onboarding flow
Noun • Synonymous with Appcues

An in-app experience that welcomes a new user to your product and guides them to value. It’s typically made up of some combination of modals, tooltips, etc.

Personalization
Noun • Synonymous with Appcues

In the world of UX, personalization is the process of creating unique experiences tailored to each user. You can use data willingly declared by the user or data from a third-party tool to make your product feel more relevant and, well, personal.

Segmentation
Noun • Synonymous with Appcues

The concept of placing users in different groups based on use case, behavior, etc., so that they can be better targeted with relevant experiences and information. For example, new users should not get the same messaging as power users who’ve been around for a long time. 

Time to value
Noun • Synonymous with Appcues

This is the time it takes for a new user to recognize the value of your product or service. When it comes to user onboarding, your goal should be to shrink your users’ time to value.

User journey map
Noun • Synonymous with Appcues

A visual representation of a user's interactions (across all channels) with your brand or product—from their point of view. It shows the whole process from the moment a person learns about your product, through becoming a customer, to the point at which they stop using it. 

USER ONBOARDING 101

Ready to become a user onboarding master?

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