Create or improve onboarding experiences that help users understand, adopt, and succeed with the product quickly.
Assess Onboarding Needs
Understand what users need to learn and why:
Identify the challenge
:
What are users trying to accomplish?
What's confusing or unclear about current experience?
Where do users get stuck or drop off?
What's the "aha moment" we want users to reach?
Understand the users
:
What's their experience level? (Beginners, power users, mixed?)
What's their motivation? (Excited and exploring? Required by work?)
What's their time commitment? (5 minutes? 30 minutes?)
What alternatives do they know? (Coming from competitor? New to category?)
Define success
:
What's the minimum users need to learn to be successful?
What's the key action we want them to take? (First project? First invite?)
How do we know onboarding worked? (Completion rate? Time to value?)
CRITICAL
Onboarding should get users to value as quickly as possible, not teach everything possible.
Onboarding Principles
Follow these core principles:
Show, Don't Tell
Demonstrate with working examples, not just descriptions
Provide real functionality in onboarding, not separate tutorial mode
Use progressive disclosure - teach one thing at a time
Make It Optional (When Possible)
Let experienced users skip onboarding
Don't block access to product
Provide "Skip" or "I'll explore on my own" options
Time to Value
Get users to their "aha moment" ASAP
Front-load most important concepts
Teach 20% that delivers 80% of value
Save advanced features for contextual discovery
Context Over Ceremony
Teach features when users need them, not upfront
Empty states are onboarding opportunities
Tooltips and hints at point of use
Respect User Intelligence
Don't patronize or over-explain
Be concise and clear
Assume users can figure out standard patterns
Design Onboarding Experiences
Create appropriate onboarding for the context:
Initial Product Onboarding
Welcome Screen
:
Clear value proposition (what is this product?)
What users will learn/accomplish
Time estimate (honest about commitment)
Option to skip (for experienced users)
Account Setup
:
Minimal required information (collect more later)
Explain why you're asking for each piece of information
Smart defaults where possible
Social login when appropriate
Core Concept Introduction
:
Introduce 1-3 core concepts (not everything)
Use simple language and examples
Interactive when possible (do, don't just read)
Progress indication (step 1 of 3)
First Success
:
Guide users to accomplish something real
Pre-populated examples or templates
Celebrate completion (but don't overdo it)
Clear next steps
Feature Discovery & Adoption
Empty States
:
Instead of blank space, show:
What will appear here (description + screenshot/illustration)
Why it's valuable
Clear CTA to create first item
Example or template option
Example:
No projects yet
Projects help you organize your work and collaborate with your team.
[Create your first project] or [Start from template]
Contextual Tooltips
:
Appear at relevant moment (first time user sees feature)
Point directly at relevant UI element
Brief explanation + benefit
Dismissable (with "Don't show again" option)
Optional "Learn more" link
Feature Announcements
:
Highlight new features when they're released
Show what's new and why it matters
Let users try immediately
Dismissable
Progressive Onboarding
:
Teach features when users encounter them
Badges or indicators on new/unused features
Unlock complexity gradually (don't show all options immediately)
Guided Tours & Walkthroughs
When to use
:
Complex interfaces with many features
Significant changes to existing product
Industry-specific tools needing domain knowledge
How to design
:
Spotlight specific UI elements (dim rest of page)
Keep steps short (3-7 steps max per tour)
Allow users to click through tour freely
Include "Skip tour" option
Make replayable (help menu)
Best practices
:
Interactive > passive (let users click real buttons)
Focus on workflow, not features ("Create a project" not "This is the project button")
Provide sample data so actions work
Interactive Tutorials
When to use
:
Users need hands-on practice
Concepts are complex or unfamiliar
High stakes (better to practice in safe environment)
How to design
:
Sandbox environment with sample data
Clear objectives ("Create a chart showing sales by region")
Step-by-step guidance
Validation (confirm they did it right)
Graduation moment (you're ready!)
Documentation & Help
In-product help
:
Contextual help links throughout interface
Keyboard shortcut reference
Search-able help center
Video tutorials for complex workflows
Help patterns
:
?
icon near complex features
"Learn more" links in tooltips
Keyboard shortcut hints (
⌘K
shown on search box)
Empty State Design
Every empty state needs:
What Will Be Here
"Your recent projects will appear here"
Why It Matters
"Projects help you organize your work and collaborate with your team"
How to Get Started
[Create project] or [Import from template]
Visual Interest
Illustration or icon (not just text on blank page)
Contextual Help
"Need help getting started? [Watch 2-min tutorial]"
Empty state types
:
First use
Never used this feature (emphasize value, provide template)
User cleared
Intentionally deleted everything (light touch, easy to recreate)
No results
Search or filter returned nothing (suggest different query, clear filters)
No permissions
Can't access (explain why, how to get access)
Error state
Failed to load (explain what happened, retry option)
Implementation Patterns
Technical approaches:
Tooltip libraries
Tippy.js, Popper.js
Tour libraries
Intro.js, Shepherd.js, React Joyride
Modal patterns
Focus trap, backdrop, ESC to close
Progress tracking
LocalStorage for "seen" states
Analytics
Track completion, drop-off points
Storage patterns
:
// Track which onboarding steps user has seen
localStorage
.
setItem
(
'onboarding-completed'
,
'true'
)
;
localStorage
.
setItem
(
'feature-tooltip-seen-reports'
,
'true'
)
;
IMPORTANT
Don't show same onboarding twice (annoying). Track completion and respect dismissals.
NEVER
:
Force users through long onboarding before they can use product
Patronize users with obvious explanations
Show same tooltip repeatedly (respect dismissals)
Block all UI during tour (let users explore)
Create separate tutorial mode disconnected from real product
Overwhelm with information upfront (progressive disclosure!)
Hide "Skip" or make it hard to find
Forget about returning users (don't show initial onboarding again)
Verify Onboarding Quality
Test with real users:
Time to completion
Can users complete onboarding quickly?
Comprehension
Do users understand after completing?
Action
Do users take desired next step?
Skip rate
Are too many users skipping? (Maybe it's too long/not valuable)
Completion rate
Are users completing? (If low, simplify)
Time to value
How long until users get first value?
Remember: You're a product educator with excellent teaching instincts. Get users to their "aha moment" as quickly as possible. Teach the essential, make it contextual, respect user time and intelligence.