The Graveyard of Good Intentions.
SaaS and digital products are quiet competitive, there is a statistic that keeps product managers awake at night: the activation rate. It is a stubborn reality that anywhere from 40% to 60% of users who sign up for a free trial or a new account will log in exactly once and never return. This is more painful that you can imagine, one moment your hopes are high and in the next minute they are dashed.
They sign up with high intent. They are interested. They have a problem to solve. And yet, they drop off before they ever see the value of the solution.
This is the tragedy of bad onboarding and it is a real pain in the world of software as a service ‘SaaS’. If you are reading this, you probably have the same problem, stick around and I’ll show you just how several startups and successful gurus solved this fracas.
Onboarding is not just a “welcome tour.” It is the bridge between a user’s interest and a product’s value. When that bridge is broken, users fall into the chasm below. But why do onboarding flows fail so consistently? Why do teams of brilliant designers and engineers build flows that actively repel their customers?
The answer lies not usually in a lack of effort, but in a fundamental misunderstanding of human psychology, cognitive load, and the definition of “value.” Value, take note of that word as it is very subjective, changes from user to user even within the same niche, individual level understanding of your audience is one thing that’s very important in user onboarding, product tour or user journey flow but we are getting ahead of ourselves. 😊
Here is an autopsy of why product onboarding flows fail to convert, and how to stop the bleeding.
1. The “Feature Tour” Trap (vs. The “Aha!” Moment)
The most common mistake in product onboarding is treating it like a university lecture rather than a playground. (That’s actually crazy but several startups fall into this mess. Your audience do not often care about your stack and layouts, etc. they care about the solutions and values you have to offer them)
Many teams build onboarding flows that simply point out features. “Here is where your dashboard is. Here is the settings button. Here is the export feature.”
This is the “Feature Tour” trap. It assumes the user cares about the architecture of your software. They do not. Users care about the outcome. They want to know how this software helps them send an email, track a sale, or edit a photo faster.
Why it fails:
It forces the user to memorize information before they have a use case for it. It creates cognitive load. The user is thinking, “Why are you showing me the settings menu? I haven’t even created a project yet.” 😁😁😁😁😁
The Fix:
Stop teaching what the product is; teach how to achieve a specific goal. Build your flow around a “Quick Win.” Within the first minute, the user should have completed a task that results in visible value. If you are a project management tool, don’t show them the toolbar; have them create their first project and invite a teammate. The “Aha!” moment must happen immediately.
2. The Wall of Friction: The “Data Hoarding” Mistake
There is a perverse incentive in product management: the desire for data. Marketers want clean segmentation, and sales wants qualifying leads. Consequently, the signup form often looks like a job application.
“Name, Email, Phone Number, Company Size, Role, Budget, Preferred Cat Breed…”
Every field you add to an onboarding flow is a tax on the user’s time and patience. This is “Friction.” In an era of infinite digital choices, friction is fatal.
Why it fails:
Users are skeptical. They don’t know if they trust you yet. By demanding high-effort input (data entry) before providing high-value output (product utility), you violate the trust economy. You are asking for a commitment without giving a guarantee.
The Fix:
Adopt a “Progressive Disclosure” strategy. Ask for the bare minimum required to let the user into the product (usually just an email). As the user realizes value, then ask for more context. “Now that you’ve created your dashboard, want to connect your CRM to see your real data?” The request is now justified by the value they are receiving.
3. The “One-Size-Fits-All” Illusion
If your onboarding flow is exactly the same for a CEO, a Junior Developer, and a Freelance Designer, your flow is failing.
Different users have different “Jobs to be Done.” A CEO might sign up to look at a high-level revenue report. A Junior Developer might sign up to integrate an API. If you force the CEO to sit through an API tutorial, they will churn because they think the product is too technical. If you force the Developer to look at high-level dashboards, they will churn because they think the product lacks depth.
Why it fails:
Relevance is the engine of conversion. When a user sees screens that are irrelevant to their specific goal, they assume the product isn’t built for them.
The Fix:
Implement “Role-Based Onboarding.” Early in the flow, ask a simple question: “What is your primary goal with [Product]?” Branch the flow based on the answer. Tailor the UI, the empty states, and the tutorial to the persona.
4. Dead Ends and Empty States
A user completes the signup wizard. They are excited. They click “Finish.”
And then… nothing. Or worse, they land on a blank white screen. A dashboard with zero data. A list of contacts that reads “No contacts found.”
This is the “Sound of Silence” in UX.
Why it fails:
An empty state tells the user: “You are alone here. You have work to do before this place looks nice.” It shifts the burden of setup back onto the user. If the user just spent 10 minutes signing up, the last thing they want to do is spend another hour doing data entry just to see what the app could look like.
The Fix:
Design for the “Zero State.” Don’t show a blank chart; show a chart with a call-to-action that says, “Import your data to populate this view.” Better yet, use “Skeleton Screens” or demo data so the user can visualize the potential immediately. Guiding the user through the first data import should be the final, seamless step of the onboarding, not the post-onboarding chore.
5. Ignoring the “Time-to-Value” (TTV) Gap
There is a concept in product design called Time-to-Value (TTV). It is the exact moment a user experiences the core benefit of the product.
For Uber, TTV is when the car is on the way. For Google, TTV is the search results page.
For many complex B2B tools, TTV is days or weeks after signup. This is a conversion killer.
Why it fails:
Human memory is short. The motivation that drove a user to sign up on Tuesday has likely evaporated by Friday if they haven’t seen results yet. If the product requires a massive setup time (uploading files, training AI, configuring team permissions) before any value is delivered, the user will abandon the ship before it leaves the harbor.
The Fix:
Identify the “Minimum Viable Value.” Is there a way to deliver a partial, instant result while the heavy lifting happens in the background? For example, if your tool analyzes SEO data, don’t wait for them to connect their site. Show them a demo analysis of a competitor immediately to prove the concept, then ask for their data.
6. The Failure of “Vanity Metrics”
Finally, onboarding fails because teams optimize for the wrong metrics.
If your goal is to “increase the number of people who complete the onboarding tour,” you will optimize for speed and ease. You might add a “Skip” button to every screen.
And sure, your completion rate will go up. But your retention rate will likely stay flat.
Why it fails:
Completing a tour is not the same as activating. A user can click “Next” 10 times and learn absolutely nothing. They may skip the critical step that actually creates value for them. You optimized for the process, not the outcome.
The Fix:
Measure Activation, not completion. Activation should be defined by an action taken in the product (e.g., “Sent 5 emails,” “Created 3 designs”), not “Clicked through slide 5 of 5.”
Below is a really helpful video I found on youtube.
Empathy is the Engine
The underlying reason most onboarding flows fail is a lack of empathy for the user’s state of mind. Companies build flows that make sense to them (the builders), not to them (the users).
A successful onboarding flow is not a checklist. It is a psychological journey designed to move a user from skepticism to trust, and from interest to dependence.
To fix your onboarding, stop looking at your analytics dashboards for a moment. Sit down with a real user. Watch them try to use your product for the first time. Don’t help them. Just watch. You will see exactly where the bridge is broken.
And then, build them a raft. 😄😄
