User onboarding is a crucial phase in the user experience journey – it guides new users through the initial steps of using your software and sets the tone for their interaction with the platform on an on-going basis. It also significantly influences the likelihood of continued engagement and satisfaction. There are a variety of tools available to help you make sure you get this critical part of the user journey spot on.
What is a user onboarding tool?
A user onboarding tool is software designed to streamline and enhance the process of guiding new users through their first steps in using your product. These tools can help your users learn the ropes more easily. They assist you in creating engaging onboarding experiences that will guide your customers to quickly understand how to use your product, and will lead them to see the value in what you are offering and what it can do for them.
What are the benefits?
The main benefit of user onboarding tools is that they reduce the learning curve for new users and therefore reduce the possibility of churn. Taking users through a step-by-step journey helps them feel competent using your product and avoids the risk of information overwhelm.
Onboarding tools give you the chance to create interactive guides, walkthroughs, tooltips, and pop-ups directly within your product to provide contextual assistance to users as they navigate through different features. Some tools will let you segment your users based on things like their behaviour, demographics or characteristics. This ability lets you deliver personalised onboarding experiences to different user groups, which increases your chances of a successful user journey.
Using analytics tools can give you an insight into how your customers behave during
the onboarding process and you can track key metrics like user progress, drop-off points, and conversion rates. This knowledge will help you to optimise your onboarding flow. Some user onboarding tools will let you conduct A/B tests and experiments to compare different onboarding strategies, messages, or designs and determine which ones are most effective in driving user engagement and retention for your particular customers.
You can also use onboarding tools to collect user feedback and get insight into their sentiment during the onboarding process. Again, this helps you understand more about how your customers experience the process, what they like, what they struggle with, where their pain points are and what you can do to improve them.
How to Choose User Onboarding Software
Choosing the right customer onboarding software for your specific use case will, of course, differ from business to business. The “best” user onboarding tool depends on various factors including your specific requirements, budget, team size, and the nature of your product. But there are some common factors that you can consider.
Before choosing a user onboarding tool, it’s important to think about your own specific needs. This might need some research to work out exactly what you’re looking for and most tools offer free trials or demos so you can try before you buy.
Consider choosing an onboarding tool that integrates with other software you already use – CRM systems, help desk software, marketing automation tools and others to make sure your onboarding is a seamless process. Look for options that allow you to share data across departments easily if this is a priority for you.
Look for features such as in-app guidance, product tours, user segmentation, analytics, A/B testing, and feedback collection. Make sure the tool feels intuitive to you and will be straightforward for you and your team members to use. Also think about your employees and consider how easy the tool will be for them to navigate. Things like a user-friendly interface and a good visual editor can make it simpler to create and manage engaging onboarding flows. The degree of customisation and personalisation each tool offers will also be a consideration for you if branding and visual identity are important requirements in your use case.
Price point is probably part of your selection criteria. Assess the cost of the onboarding tool relative to the value it provides to your business. Think about thinks like pricing plans,
contract terms, return on investment (ROI), and any additional fees for premium
features or support. With some products you may be paying more for features that you don’t actually need and probably won’t use.
5 Inspiring Onboarding Tools
1.Userpilot
Userpilot offers a suite of user onboarding and product adoption tools, including in-app guidance, product tours, user segmentation, and analytics. It’s known for its intuitive interface and robust feature set.
It provides tools for creating interactive user guides, onboarding flows, and tooltips to help users navigate through software interfaces more effectively. There are also features to collect user feedback which you can use to analyse user behaviour to optimise the user experience.
Userpilot prioritises making it easy for non-technical users to create and manage onboarding experiences and guides with a user-friendly interface and intuitive tools. Customisation is possible within Userpilot so companies can tailor their onboarding experiences and guidance to specific user segments and needs.
It’s a good choice for mid-market companies offering good value-for-money, with unlimited feature usage, completely interactive walkthroughs, NPS, micro surveys, resource centre and user analytics.
2. Appcues
Appcues provides a platform for creating in-app experiences such as onboarding flows, feature announcements, and user surveys. It offers a visual editor and targeting options to personalise the onboarding experience for different user segments.
This onboarding tool aims to empower businesses to enhance user adoption, retention, and satisfaction by delivering targeted and contextual guidance within their applications. The main point of difference with Appcues is its comprehensive platform dedicated to optimising in-app experiences and driving user engagement. It prioritises usability, personalisation, and analytics, allowing users to create impressive in-app experiences within minutes without developer assistance.
Appcues provides a full-featured free trial and offers three pricing tiers based on monthly active users. Additionally, they offer a 14-day free trial with complete access to all features. Appcues also provides customised onboarding, professional services, and dedicated customer support, available at additional charges alongside its pricing model.
3. WalkMe
WalkMe focuses on (as the name suggests) walking users through the onboarding process step-by-step to improve their onboarding experience. Its key features include interactive guidance to streamline task completion, seamless onboarding for new users, targeted messaging, surveys, and feedback mechanisms to foster user engagement and communication.
Users benefit from tailored in-app guidance, contextual tooltips, customisable onboarding checklists, product tours, and access to the WalkMe resource centre, which provides on-demand materials and features an AI-powered chatbot for user assistance.
WalkMe promises better work flow and the ability to analyse, automate, and optimise experiences to eliminate digital friction. It distinguishes itself with its exceptional in-app guidance and support capabilities, facilitating personalised assistance directly within the application interface.
Pricing for WalkMe is typically aimed at Enterprise Level customers and custom quotes are available on request.
4. Omniplex Guide
Omniplex Guide prides itself on effective onboarding. Guide makes learning effective and easy by showing employees the ropes with step-by-step help on important tasks. It guides users through interfaces and processes, making sure they know what to do every step of the way. It will even suggest helpful guides based on where they are, so they can get up to speed really quickly.
Omniplex Guide stands out for its user-friendly experience for both you and your end-user. The intuitive design makes creating guidance easy and it provides quick and helpful software tips and support implemented right where your users need it. Support is available in multiple languages and there are options for the product to scale with you as your business grows.
The Omniplex Guide Suite offers three distinct products: Guide Workflow Assistant, Guide and Guide Pro. Guide Workflow Assistant helps you craft professional guides with screen capture software, convert the files and seamlessly import into your preferred authoring tool. Guide gives users the support they need to make the most of software while they work, and Guide Pro is an advanced platform that helps you create interactive in-app guidance, making software learning simple and enjoyable.
Omniplex Guide is the latest addition to Omniplex Learning’s portfolio of products and services. With over 30 years of experience, Omniplex Learning has empowered numerous organisations to design, create, and deliver impactful digital learning solutions. Using Omniplex Guide lets you elevate the quality of learning and onboarding on your platform.
With pricing plans tailored to suit the needs of any organisation, you can easily sign up for a free and instant product tour to experience the benefits firsthand.
5. Userlane
One of the key features of Userlane is its ability to create personalised user experiences based on user roles, preferences, and actions. It allows businesses to customise the guidance and support provided to users, ensuring that they receive relevant assistance at the right time.
Userlane aims to streamline user onboarding, reduce training time, and improve user productivity by providing contextual guidance and support within the application itself. It helps users overcome any barriers to adoption with walkthroughs and tooltips and accelerates the learning process. It also gives you the option of analytics and reporting tools
to help businesses track user engagement, identify areas for improvement, and optimise the user experience. It provides insights into things like user behaviour, usage patterns, and performance metrics, enabling companies to make data-driven decisions to enhance their software applications.
Pricing for Userlane isn’t widely available without contacting the company directly.
Onboarding is a critical part of the user experience because it shapes the initial impression and understanding users have of a product, influencing their long-term engagement and satisfaction. A well-designed onboarding experience guides users through the product’s features, helping them realise its value quickly and reducing the likelihood of
churn. Effective onboarding increases user retention, fosters product adoption, and ultimately drives business growth.
Choosing the right onboarding tool allows you to address your customer’s needs by providing clear guidance in a way that works for them, and minimises friction. Selecting user onboarding software that aligns with your particular requirements sets the foundation for a positive user experience, leading to higher conversion rates, increased customer loyalty, and ultimately, a more successful product.
To learn more about how Omniplex Guide can help with your user onboarding, get in touch or book a free product tour.
