Can smart onboarding be the silver bullet to better engagement?

Smart onboarding can be crucial in improving engagement for some products and services, but it is not necessarily a silver bullet that will solve all engagement problems.

Onboarding can help new users get up to speed with your service more quickly and understand the value proposition. This can increase the likelihood that they will continue to use the product or service over time. 

Smart onboarding will do that without annoying them.

By using individual user context during onboarding, users may feel more invested in your service. Nearly every content service has content recommendations. Yet, we know that they contribute very little to lifetime value. Why is that? Until recently, the buzzwords in our world were content, content, and content. Now it is content, user, and value. We must educate, inform, and even nudge users to take actions that increase value. Maybe a cheaper plan, maybe use a new feature, or maybe a partner offer.

Traditional onboarding tools feel like a straight jacket at times to users, a fixed path to follow feels constraining without being useful. The most common reason is that the onboarding path was created based on one product manager's view and implemented using a tool with limited options.

But what if the tool could assemble the right guide for each user based on what they have not done and use an appropriate voice for each prompt? If the user can save money with a cheaper plan, it's fair to be vocal about it. If it  is an email alert or newsletter, subtle is better than vocal.

Redfast Guides is a wholly reimagined answer to the problem of how best to guide users - one at a time. Subscription businesses are unique because money is paid upfront while value is delivered over time. The power to chain prompts that look different, shown at various places on the site, at different points in time, or across visits, lays an amazing foundation to a smart onboarding experience.

Ask one of our team members to show you how

We will be happy to show you real-world examples from some of the largest subscription businesses that use our platform. If you just want some ideas to bring back to your team, here are some basic tests:

• Is it simple and short? Onboarding should be a quick and easy process.
• Is it visual? Use images and videos to show users what they need to do, rather than relying solely on written instructions.
• Do you explain the benefit? Explain why users should complete the onboarding process and what they stand to gain from it.
• Do you allow users to skip? Some users may already be familiar with your website or simply prefer to explore on their own.
• Is the experience personalized? Collect data during the onboarding process to personalize the user experience.
• Do you test and iterate? Continuously test and improve the onboarding process based on user feedback and data analysis.

‍