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         Overcoming key challenges
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         Discover how top SaaS companies fix common onboarding challenges 
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In our survey of 80+ SaaS leaders, we asked: *“What’s the biggest challenge you face in onboarding today?”*

The answers ranged from familiar pain points, like drop-offs after signup and blank-canvas paralysis, to emerging challenges around AI adoption, scaling personalization, and adapting to product-led growth models.

We grouped the responses into **10 recurring themes**. Each one includes:

- **Why it happens**: the root causes and patterns behind the challenge.
- **What teams told us**:  direct quotes from SaaS leaders in the survey.
- **Tips to handle it**: actionable ways to address the issue.
- **Real-world examples**: strategies used by companies like Stripe, Airtable, and Mailmodo, backed by verifiable sources.
---
## 1. Getting the right users in the door 

Even the best onboarding flow won’t work if the user isn’t the right fit for your product. When SaaS products attract signups outside their Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), those users often have different expectations, use cases, or skill levels. This creates friction early; for example, they might not realize the core value or try to use the product for something it’s not designed to do.

As a result, you end with a bloated sign-up number and spending efforts on leads that weren’t even meant to be your users. 

One of our survey respondents, who runs an AI tool for content marketers, admits that their current onboarding process has been effective for the target audience. However, they see friction and dissatisfaction from users who end up on the tool with a completely different expectation. 

Similarly, another respondent shared that many of their dropped-off users turned out to be the wrong fit in the first place when probed further. 

### 💡 Tips to handle it

- **Clarify your ICP before they sign up**: Refine marketing copy, CTAs, and landing pages so the wrong-fit audience self-selects out.
- **Use qualification questions at signup**:  Ask about role, industry, and goals to flag misaligned users early.
- **Segment onboarding flows**: If a user is not a good fit, direct them through a self-serve, education-focused onboarding process that only utilizes explainer videos, emails, and other resources. Reserve demos and assistance from the CSMs and sales team for the right ICP. 

### 📚 Real-world example

Mailmodo identifies the right fit for new users by determining whether they plan to send promotional campaigns, newsletters, or transactional emails, and then decides the onboarding path. 

---
 
## 2. Users losing momentum right after they sign up 

New users may lose momentum due to two reasons: either they’re faced with a blank canvas or too little guidance on what to do next, or they’re bombarded with too many steps and explanations too soon. 

As a result, they either target confused or overwhelmed users, leaving the product without testing its true potential. Many of our respondents identified these two factors as the most common and pressing challenges. 

### 💡 Tips to handle it

* **Start filled, not empty,** by adding prebuilt templates, projects, or prompts to nudge users.  
* **Delay complexity by i**ntroducing advanced setup only after the basics are done.  
* **Highlight first wins and milestones** by providing a short checklist that ends with a tangible result, and telling users that they’re on the right track.

### 📚  Real-world examples

* **Airtable** starts with a populated template from its **Template Gallery**, so users see the structure immediately instead of an empty grid.
* **Trello** offers prebuilt boards for common workflows, enabling instant card movement and interaction.
* **Canva** encourages “pick a template and editt,” helping non-designers create something in minutes.
* **Webflow** lets new users publish to a subdomain with one click, showing visible results right away.
* **Mailmodo** offers **prebuilt email templates and onboarding journeys** so users can send their first campaign or set up an automated flow within minutes, bypassing the blank canvas stage entirely.
---
## 3. High drop-off in the first 48 hours of signing up

Even if users get past the first impression, many fail to continue for the first 1–2 days. They sign up, click around, but don’t achieve a meaningful outcome. Without that early “aha moment,” interest fades fast, especially in PLG products where no human follow-up is built in.

Some of our respondents mentioned their users dropping off in exalt 48 hours, while many shared how challenging it is to help them reach the ‘aha’ moment as they explore everything but do not fully commit to one feature of the product. 

### 💡 Tips to handle it

* **Design an early win:** Ensure users can achieve something valuable within minutes of signing up.
* **Trigger time-sensitive nudges:** Use push, in-app, or email within the first day to guide toward the next action.
* **Personalize the journey:** Adjust suggestions based on what they’ve done so far (or haven’t).

### 📚 Real-world examples

* **Slack** sends contextual in-app tips right after signup, encouraging users to send their first message or invite teammates. 
* **Duolingo** pushes learners to complete their first lesson within minutes, using progress streaks to keep momentum high. 
---
## 4. Getting users to try advanced features without overwhelm

Many users stop exploring once they achieve their initial goal, especially in tools with a steep learning curve or broad capabilities. 

One of the survey respondents whose product has an activation rate of 95% shared that their main challenge is to encourage users to explore more advanced features after their first win. 

Another one admitted that their users seem to be sticking to the basic features and don’t explore the advanced capabilities the tool can offer.

Although this may seem like a problem beyond onboarding, the lack of proper nudges towards advanced features at the beginning often leads to adoption plateaus and low retention. 

But surfacing too much complexity too soon can also overwhelm and stall them.

Thus, the real challenge is finding the balance, nudging users past the basics at the right time, without 

### 💡 Tips to handle it

* Use **progressive disclosure**: Reveal advanced features only after core usage is established.
* Add **contextual nudges** (“Have you tried…?”) triggered by in-app actions.
* Provide **bite-sized learning** through tooltips, short videos, or weekly product update emails. .
* Offer **role-based experiences** so beginners, advanced users, and admins see only what’s relevant.
* Celebrate advanced usage with **badges, milestones, or summaries** to reinforce progress.

### 📚 Real-world examples

* **Amplitude** uses progressive disclosure. This means advanced analytics features only appear once users complete a few basic reports.
* **Notion** offers a minimalist initial workspace for new signups, gradually introducing more powerful blocks and integrations through guided templates.
---
## 5. Tech jargon that confuses non-tech users

Many SaaS products rely on integrations, APIs, or compliance-heavy setups that non-technical users find intimidating, especially products that cater to many different roles, such as legal, IT, and marketing, but require heavy implementation. Without clear guidance, jargon-free explanations, or visual support, these users stall and activation drops.

### 💡 Tips to handle it

* Use **plain language descriptions** before diving into technical terms.
* Offer **progressive guidance**: start with a conceptual overview, then offer optional deeper detail for those interested.
* Provide **contextual visuals**: tooltips, GIFs, or short videos that demonstrate actions in real time.

### 📚 Real-world examples (accurately sourced)

* **Stripe’s hosted onboarding** turns complex compliance steps into a short, guided form, so users don’t have to deal with the technical setup.  It hides technical complexity and gives non-technical users a simple, familiar flow, making it easier to complete the setup without confusion.
---
## 6. Anxiety during migration and data transfer

Switching platforms means moving critical data like emails, contacts, workflows, and analytics. Users fear losing information, breaking workflows, or exposing private details. This hesitation can stall onboarding, especially for high-stakes accounts.

### 💡  Tips to handle it

* Offer migration specialists or concierge onboarding for high-value customers.
* Start with a small sample migration to prove data fidelity before a full transfer.
* Display trust signals — certifications (SOC 2, GDPR), SLAs, and visual progress trackers.

### 📚 Real-world examples 

* **Mailmodo** provides dedicated customer support and hands-on migration assistance for transitioning from other platforms. Following the recent sunsetting of the email tool in Yotpo, Mailmodo initiated an ‘Email migration Clinci’ to offer free, dedicated migration support to all Yotpo customers.

* **Shopify** provides detailed migration checklists and connects merchants with vetted migration partners to ensure safe transitions. 
---
## 7. Losing onboarding quality while scaling with automation

As companies grow, manual onboarding for every segment becomes unsustainable. Automation can help, but risks making personalization feel shallow if it’s not tied to real behavior and needs.

Many respondents said their biggest challenge is striking the balance between personalized onboarding and scalable, repeatable processes without breaking the overall platform experience.

### 💡 Tips to handle it

* **Trigger onboarding by behavior, not just demographics:** Use real usage signals (first campaign sent, first integration added) to branch flows, instead of only static persona tags.

* **Build reusable onboarding blocks:** Create modular assets (tutorials, emails, tooltips) that can be combined dynamically based on user actions. 

* **Reserve human touch for critical moments:** CSMs should step in only when impact is highest, like enterprise setup or stalled trials, so their time drives maximum conversion while automation covers routine guidance.

* **Automate context-aware nudges:** Send prompts that reference what the user has already done (e.g., “Since you set up your first form, here’s how to automate follow-ups”) to maintain a sense of personalization at scale.

* **Continuously test segments and flows:** Review whether automated personalization is driving activation and retention, and refine based on drop-off patterns.

### 📚  Real-world examples

- **Intercom** uses event-based triggers to personalize onboarding messages at scale, sending different nudges depending on the features a user has or hasn’t tried.
- **Notion** reuses the same “invite your team” prompt across personal, startup, and enterprise plans but triggers it at different points in the journey.
---
## 8. Drop-offs during key feature usage due to integration

For many SaaS products, the first “aha” moment depends on connecting a data source, API, or third-party app. But when this step requires admin rights, credentials, or IT approvals, users stall and never reach the core value.

Our survey respondents shared how many of their signed-up users dropped while trying the key feature, as it required an integration or asked them to link an account. 

### 💡 Tips to handle it

* **Cut out manual setup:** Use OAuth or marketplace installs so users can connect apps with a single click instead of copying keys or tokens.
* **Let users play before setup:** Offer demo data, templates, or a sandbox so they can explore the product’s value without integrations.
* **Make progress feel achievable:** Add a short checklist with 2–3 clear steps, progress markers, and time estimates like ‘2 minutes to connect’. 
* **Unblock IT dependencies:** Include a “Send to Admin” option that auto-generates an email with prefilled scopes and instructions.


### 📚 Real-world examples

* Previously, integrating tools with **Slack** meant generating API tokens, copying, pasting, and managing permissions manually. Now, users just click **“Add to Slack,”** approve a simple permission screen, and the integration is complete in seconds — no tokens, no friction.
* In **Intercom’**s marketplace, connecting apps is as simple as hitting **Install** and approving permissions. Tokens and setup happen in the background, so users never deal with technical keys.
* Before asking users to connect their spreadsheets or databases, **Airtable** lets them play with pre-populated demo bases. This shows the product’s value right away, even without integrations.
---
## 9. Difficulty re-onboarding inactive users without repetition

Inactive or returning users often forget key workflows or miss important product updates. Many dropped off after skipping a critical step, but forcing them through the full onboarding again feels repetitive and discouraging. The challenge is to **reintroduce features in a lightweight, respectful way** that helps users pick up where they left off.

### 💡 Tips to handle it

* **Highlight only what’s new:** Trigger short “what’s changed since you last logged in” tours instead of the full onboarding flow.
* **Help users pick up seamlessly:** Use in-app banners or emails that say *“Continue where you left off”* with direct links to unfinished tasks.
* **Show missed value:** Share usage summaries that highlight what they could have achieved (e.g., “You could have automated 5 campaigns last month”).
* **Gamify return visits:** Use streaks, badges, or progress reminders to reward consistency.

### 📚 Real-world example

**Duolingo** uses streak-based gamification to re-engage lapsed learners without forcing them to start from scratch.

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         AI trends
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         Explore how SaaS companies are using AI for onboarding
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AI isn’t just a buzzword in SaaS anymore. From our survey, **36.3% of SaaS teams say they’re already using AI**, and **another 37.5% are planning to integrate it** into their onboarding workflows.

In this chapter, we dive into:
* How are SaaS team using AI in onboarding already 
* Emerging use cases that show promise
* Gaps and challenges in adoption
*  How you can start using AI in onboarding right now
---
## 1. What are teams using AI for in onboarding?

* **Personalizing onboarding emails** at scale, using AI to adapt tone, CTA, or feature focus based on user segment or actions.
* **Recommending next steps in-app,** often based on real-time signals like skipped actions, unfinished flows, or role-based goals.
* **Powering chatbots** to handle FAQs, guide setup, or troubleshoot early friction points.
* **Building dynamic onboarding flows** where modules, tooltips, or checklists adapt depending on how users interact.
*  **Scraping or pre-filling data** during signup to reduce manual effort and speed up time-to-value.
* **Experimenting with copy and UI** using AI-generated tooltips, email variations, or sequence tests.

Some teams were direct about their approach:

> "For personalising emails, data insights based segmentation, and personalised product walkthroughs." — [Rida Ejaz](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rida-ejaz/)

> "We apply AI to suggest what to do next depending on the user's goals and current actions." — [Hone John Tito](ttps://www.linkedin.com/in/honetito/)

> "We use AI to guide users through conversational onboarding based on their responses." — Kent

Others described deeper predictive use cases:

>“I use an AI model to predict, in real-time, which new users are likely to get stuck and drop off… When a user’s friction score passes a certain threshold, it triggers an in-app chatbot message with a 30-second video.” — [Beatus Hoang](https://www.linkedin.com/in/beatus-hoang/)

---

## 2. Strategic use cases we’re seeing

| Use case | Why it works | Real-world examples |
| ----- | ----- | ----- |
| **Smart onboarding forms** | Reduces friction by auto-filling data and tailoring inputs | One SaaS team uses AI to scrape a company’s website during sign-up and automatically pre-fill fields, so new users don’t spend the first session on admin tasks. |
| **Real-time next step suggestions** | Keeps users moving with contextual nudges | A legal-tech platform analyzes role and progress to recommend the most logical next action. For example, after consent setup is complete, AI prompts users to configure data subject requests rather than leaving them to figure it out. | 
| **Dynamic checklists and help** | Guides users based on actions or inactions | A productivity app reorders onboarding modules dynamically. If a new user ignores explainer videos but clicks heavily on peer testimonials, the system prioritizes community modules the next time they log in. | 
| **Behavior-based email sequencing** | Replaces static drips with personalized messages | A music software provider personalizes onboarding emails by pulling in product metadata. Users who purchased a Logic Pro-compatible pack receive a step-by-step guide tailored to that DAW, while advanced buyers are shown pro tips. | 
| **Adaptive chatbots** | Scales support without bottlenecking CSMs |  bottlenecking CSMs	A law firm integrated AI-powered chat into its onboarding, giving clients instant answers to FAQs and pointing them toward resources. This reduced wait times and freed CSMs for higher-value conversations. |

## 3. Where most teams are struggling

Even among respondents planning to use AI, adoption is far from smooth. Several common struggles emerged:

 - **Choosing the right entry point:** Many aren’t sure which onboarding task is the best place to apply AI first. One respondent admitted they would “test several ways and develop the best ones” before committing to a single use case.
 - **Uncertainty around data and privacy:** Some leaders hesitate to feed sensitive user behavior into AI-driven systems. As one SaaS team explained, their AI plans were still on hold because they were “not sure what data to use without raising privacy concerns.”
 - **Lack of in-house AI/ML skills:** A recurring challenge is the gap between enthusiasm and expertise. Several respondents noted they were “actively exploring ways” to integrate AI but lacked the technical resources to build flows themselves.
 - **Trust in automation:** Teams worry about ceding too much of the onboarding experience to AI. For example, one company said they were experimenting with chatbots but weren’t confident enough to let them fully handle setup questions without human oversight.
 - **Tooling gaps** Most AI tools today focus on emails, chat, or analytics, but there isn’t a dedicated AI-onboarding stack. Teams end up stitching tools together, which slows adoption. One respondent noted they’re “exploring ways to integrate AI” but haven’t found a solution built for onboarding.

---

## 4. How to start using AI in onboarding

You don’t need to reinvent onboarding from scratch to add AI. Many teams are layering it onto existing channels and flows, for example:

 - **AI-powered email journeys:** Use tools like Mailmodo to segment new users during onboarding by role or goals, and automatically draft personalized email content and subject lines.
 - **In-app nudges & experiments:** Platforms like Chameleon recommend next steps and run A/B tests on tooltips or banners in the background.
 - **Predictive disengagement alerts:** Analytics platforms like Mixpanel Signals or Amplitude Predict can flag likely drop-offs (e.g., integration setup) and trigger AI-generated guides at the right moment.
 - **Support augmentation:** AI-powered chatbots can cover repetitive FAQs so CSMs can focus on complex onboarding needs.

---

## 5. Emerging trends: What’s next in 1–2 years

### 1. Hyper-personalized journeys

Onboarding will shift from static flows to highly adaptive experiences tailored to user roles, goals, and behaviors. Teams expect AI to dynamically adjust content and interventions in real time.

>“AI-driven personalization and automation will enable more adaptive onboarding experiences tailored to individual roles and workflows, with analytics spotting friction points proactively.” — [Katherine](https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherine-king-yarris-technologies/)

### 2. Onboarding copilots

AI won’t just support users; it will also assist onboarding managers by automating repetitive tasks like progress tracking, summarizing calls, and surfacing risks.
>“AI copilots for onboarding managers will handle repetitive tasks like tracking progress and surfacing risk signals, so teams can focus on strategic conversations.” — [Ranudi](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ranudij)

### 3. Micro-onboarding moments

Instead of long product tours, onboarding will be delivered in smaller, contextual nudges that adapt to what the user is doing in the moment.

>“Onboarding will shift from static checklists to intelligent, behavior-based journeys with shorter prompts that guide users step by step.” — [Colleen Barry](https://www.linkedin.com/in/colleenkbarry/)

### 4. Gamification and engagement

Companies see gamified elements like trackers, rewards, and interactive tutorials playing a larger role in driving retention and making onboarding enjoyable.


>“Incorporating progress trackers, reward systems, and interactive tutorials will make onboarding more engaging and improve satisfaction during those critical first interactions.” — [Marcus Denning](https://au.linkedin.com/in/marcus-denning-6137643a)

### 5. Smarter defaults

Reducing setup fatigue will be key. Teams are investing in simpler first interactions — one-click installs, pre-configured templates, and auto-suggested flows.

>“Setup fatigue is real, so we’re investing in one-click installers and drag-and-drop templates that reduce friction from the very first interaction.” — [Zazie Kanwar-Torge](https://www.linkedin.com/in/zazie-kanwar-torge-3b8a98373/) 

### 6. Less, not more

Some teams believe the future of onboarding isn’t about adding more steps, but hiding what’s irrelevant — so users only see what matters most.


>“AI will be used to predict which features a user will never need—and hide them. Smarter onboarding might actually mean showing less, not more.” — Kevin Moore
---
## 6. What’s next?

AI’s role in onboarding is only growing. We expect the next generation of onboarding to be:

* Fully behavior-based
* Self-optimizing through experimentation
* Personalized down to the user-level
* And largely **designed, delivered, and iterated by AI**

Or as one respondent summarized:

>“AI will help us move from rule-based guidance to an onboarding system that’s always learning, always adapting, just like our users.” — [Phil](https://www.linkedin.com/in/og-phil-newton)

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          About this report
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         Everything you need to know about this report, straight from the Mailmodo team
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*Disclaimer: All the data in this report are estimations based on the survey and data we have collected. This report aims to provide a basic understanding of trends and benchmarks. The analysis, while based on real-life data, is not to be taken as standard fact. While we have done the analysis with the utmost care, we recommend you always check and contextualize this data for your industry and brand. In case of any doubts, feel free to write to us at [sabahet@mailmodo.com](mailto:sabahet@mailmodo.com)*

---

## How was this survey conducted?
We distributed the State of Onboarding survey through social media, email, SaaS communities, and platforms like **Help a B2B** to reach SaaS leaders and practitioners actively involved in user onboarding.

The survey targeted Mailmodo’s subscribers, customers, general SaaS audience, and participants in events based on SaaS organized by us. We also invited input from onboarding thought leaders, product-led growth experts, and SaaS consultants.

In total, we collected responses from 80+ SaaS leaders across roles, geographies, and product types. The data was then compiled, cleaned, and analyzed by our in-house research team to produce the insights you’ll find in this report.

---

## What did the survey cover?
The survey included 30+ questions exploring:

✅ Company and product demographics (ACV, product category, target market)

✅ Onboarding flows and formats

✅ Communication channels and in-product nudges

✅ Metrics tracked and definitions used for success

✅ Biggest onboarding challenges and solutions

✅ Trends shaping onboarding in the next 1–2 years

---

## Who took this survey?
We gathered insights from over 80 SaaS leaders across a mix of roles, regions, and business models. Nearly half are founders or CEOs, with the rest including growth leaders, marketing heads, product managers, and RevOps specialists. They represent a truly global sample from countries including the US, Singapore, India, Europe, and Australia bringing diverse perspectives on onboarding.

When it comes to deal sizes, companies span the spectrum: 35% have ACVs under $500, 31% between $500–$5K, 22% between $5K–$20K, and 9% above $20K. Their products cover a wide range of categories, with Martech, AI/ML, developer tools, and fintech making up the largest share.

This spread means the benchmarks and strategies in this report reflect how onboarding is approached for different target markets, from products built for fast-moving startups and SMBs to tools serving the complex needs of mid-market and enterprise customers.

---

## Our Contributors

| |  Contributors |  |
|---|---|---|
| [Aaron Wertheimer](https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronwertheimer1/) | [Abhishek Shah](https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhishekrshah/) | [Adrian Nikolov](https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrian-nikolov/) |
| [Andranik Miansyan](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andranik-minasyan-5bab165b/) | [Austin Rulfs](https://au.linkedin.com/in/austin-rulfs-28624172) | [Beatus Hoang](https://www.linkedin.com/in/beatus-hoang/) |
| [Borets Stamenov](https://www.linkedin.com/in/borets-stamenov-a488a8329/) | [Chris M Walker](https://x.com/cmwalker) | [Colleen Barry](https://www.ketch.com/) |
| [Daniel Espejo](https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielespejo/) | [Daniel Shapiro](https://www.redpoints.com/) | [David Kemmerer](https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidkemmerer1/) |
| [David Reynolds](https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-reynolds-ba54ba2a6/) | [Dawson Whitfield](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawsonwhitfield/) | [Deepak Singla](https://www.linkedin.com/in/deep-singla/) |
| [Denni](https://www.linkedin.com/in/denseymour) | [Des Brown](https://www.linkedin.com/in/desbrownsa/) | [Dimi Baitanciuc](https://www.brizy.io/) |
| [Dipak Vadera](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dipakvadera/) | [Dirk Alshuth](https://www.emma.ms/) | [Edward White](https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwardjwhiteiii/) |
| [Garvish](https://www.linkedin.com/in/garvish-singh/) | [Gautam Mane](https://www.linkedin.com/in/gautam-mane/) | [George Chasiotis](https://restartt.ai/) |
| [Hone John Tito](https://www.linkedin.com/in/honetito/) | [Hrish](https://www.linkedin.com/in/hrishikeshbarua/) | [Ian Gardner](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianwoodgardner/) |
| [Imad Ali](https://www.linkedin.com/in/imadali94/) | [James Berry](https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-berry-2a58a4167/) | [Jan Pabellon](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpabellon/) |
| [Jas](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasbarinaga/) | [Jeppe Lindhard](https://betterlytics.io) | [Jibril](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jibrilsalaudeen) |
| [Joseph Cochrane](https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-cochrane-b6677630/) | [Joy Pak](https://www.linkedin.com/company/getreviews_ai) | [Justin Wheeler](https://www.funraise.org/) |
| [Karan Rawal](https://www.linkedin.com/in/karanjrawal/) | [Kat Milner](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kat-milner-syt/) | [Katherine](https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherine-king-yarris-technologies/) |
| [Kristiyan Yankov](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristyan-yankov/) | [Lorena](https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorenagallo/) | [Lynn Martinez](https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynn-martinez/) |
| [Marcus Denning](https://au.linkedin.com/in/marcus-denning-6137643a) | [Maria-Cristina Muntean](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mia1107/) | [Marvin Maglonzo](https://www.linkedin.com/in/marvin-maglonzo-35a44585/) |
| [Michelle Lagare](https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-chua-lagare/) | [Mikayel](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikayel-abrahamyan) | [Monideepa Majumdar](https://www.linkedin.com/in/monideepa) |
| [Olha](https://www.linkedin.com/in/olha-yevtushenko-20a1b8157/) | [Peter Barnett](https://www.action1.com/) | [Phil](https://www.linkedin.com/in/og-phil-newton) |
| [Purva](https://www.linkedin.com/in/purva-gupta-95664a14b/) | [Rabiya](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rabiyafarheen/) | [Ranudi](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ranudij) |
| [Rida Ejaz](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rida-ejaz/) | [Sarkis Hakopdjanian](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarkis-hakopdjanian/) |  [Sergey Galanin](https://phonexa.com/?utm_source=mailmodo&utm_medium=website+&utm_campaign=state-of-onboarding) |
| [Tamilselvi Ramasamy](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamilselvi-ramasamy/) | [Tomas Melian](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomas-melian-a6a8434/) | [Udo K](https://www.linkedin.com/in/udok1111/) |
| [Vijay Surya](https://www.linkedin.com/in/vijaysuryap/) | [Yasmim Mayumi](https://www.linkedin.com/in/yasmim-mayumi/) | [Yogesh Choudhary](https://www.linkedin.com/in/yogeshchoudhary/) |
| [Zahwah Jameel](https://www.linkedin.com/in/zahwah-jameel?trk=feed-detail_main-feed-card_feed-actor-image) | [Zazie Kanwar-Torge](https://www.linkedin.com/in/zazie-kanwar-torge-3b8a98373/) |  |

![expert partner 2.png](https://res.cloudinary.com/mailmodo/image/upload/v1755251092/strapi/expert_partner_2_457166192e.png)

 
## Meet the PLG coach helping companies grow users with onboarding

*Disclaimer: Portions of this content have been edited for clarity and readability. All edits preserve the original intent and meaning of the statements.*

When we started looking for an expert to guide this report’s thinking on SaaS onboarding, one name kept coming up: **Ramli John**.

Ramli’s work has shaped how countless product-led companies think about onboarding as a powerful engine for long-term retention and growth. So, his experience stood out immediately. With a rare mix of product, marketing, and engineering expertise, he brings exceptional clarity to a topic that often feels overcomplicated.

He’s currently the Director of Content at Appcues, a best-selling author (*Product-Led Onboarding*), and a PLG coach at ProductLed. He’s also advised teams at Mixpanel, Microsoft, and Ubisoft, helping them rethink how they activate and retain users.

In this interview, Ramli shares actionable principles, tactical mistakes to avoid, and the key mindset shifts SaaS teams need to make onboarding truly effective, whether you're just starting out or scaling to your next million in ARR.

Let’s dive in 👇

---
 

**Team Mailmodo: You’ve been deeply involved in PLG onboarding for years and call it the most important phase for any product. What drew you to focus so much on onboarding in your career?**

***Ramli:** Onboarding is the most crucial part of the user journey. I have seen this both as a consultant and working in-house. If your onboarding is not working as it should, no amount of growth can help you. You can be bringing in new users and creating new products, but if you can't connect new users to the value, you won't see new customers. It also significantly impacts long-term retention, which, as we know, is the key to sustainable growth.
When it comes to product-led growth, I was talking with Wes Bush, and we found that onboarding is the crux of product-led growth. There are many misconceptions and differing definitions about it. For me, product-led growth is about ensuring that your users are as successful as possible, and that success turns into long-term success. That starts in the onboarding process.
If you can get new users set up early on, they are more likely to stick around, expand to new features and use cases, upgrade to more advanced, higher-tier price points, and really become advocates of your product. This creates a cycle in the product-led growth flywheel, where new users become engaged customers, who in turn become advocates both internally within their companies and externally. That fuels the entire product-led growth flywheel.*

---



**Team Mailmodo: Are there any principles that teams should always keep in mind when planning onboarding? If you had to mention the top 3 principles, what would they be?**

***Ramli:** I would say if I had to boil it down to three principles around better onboarding, it would be this:*

*1. **Choose clarity over clutter.** It sounds so obvious, but especially in B2B, clutter might not mean that information is scattered everywhere, but that there are so many options and possibilities that it could overwhelm users. By clarity, I mean making it super clear to users what the next steps are. Don't leave them confused. There's a great book I recommend to everyone called *Don't Make Me Think* by Steve Krug. Using checklists, progress bars, and clear wording helps make expectations clear.*

*2. **Be action-oriented versus info-driven.** This means ensuring that users do something, not just learn. There is a lot of "head knowledge" that you can share with users, but if they haven't applied it, it hasn't sunk into their learning. Successful onboarding is about building behavior, and behavior is built through repeated action over time.*

*3. **Focus on behavior-based over time-based onboarding.** Obviously, some elements involve timing, but behavior-based onboarding means focusing on what your users have done or not done in your product and sending the right kind of emails, notifications, and in-product guidance accordingly. A poor user experience is when a user gets notified to take an action they have already completed. That is not trustworthy. It's important to ensure that notifications and guidance relate to actions that users have not yet done.
These principles help create a clear, actionable, and personalized onboarding experience.*

---


**Team Mailmodo: What’s the most common onboarding mistake you see across SaaS companies, and how can teams fix it?**

***Ramli:** In my experience, the most common onboarding mistake that companies make is jumping right into building and choosing the tool. Whether that's deciding between product tours, hotspots, or modals, or what kind of emails to send, companies often overlook what a new user truly wants.
I look at three things that users want, which I call the three dimensions of user success:*

*1. **Functional success:** What are the new users truly trying to achieve with your product? If you are familiar with the Jobs to Be Done framework, this corresponds to the customer job of your product.*

*2. **Emotional success:** What feelings do users experience after achieving their goals with your product? This is important because users are emotional beings. You can use emotional highs to motivate users and help them overcome emotional lows — like complex steps such as uploading data or installing a snippet.*

*3. **Social success:** In B2C, this might mean showing off your product to friends. In B2B, it’s about becoming a change agent within the company. For example, the first Slack user in an org needs to become an internal advocate. Without this, internal adoption and expansion won’t happen.*

*Understanding these aspects will help you create the right in-product experience, email approach, and human touches needed to overcome any hurdles users might face.*

---


**Team Mailmodo: What’s the true goal of onboarding? Does it end at activation or the ‘aha moment’?**

***Ramli:** To me, the true goal of onboarding goes beyond the "aha" moment because there will be multiple "aha" moments throughout the journey. It could even happen before the product, when someone decides to sign up because they realize it could help them.*

*Onboarding isn’t just about conversion either. I've seen users sign up, pay for a month, and cancel — that’s not successful onboarding.*

*The true goal of onboarding is habit formation. It's about creating repeatable engagement and making your product part of the user's workflow or routine.*

---


**Team Mailmodo: How does onboarding change in PLG from 0–1M ARR to scaling?**

***Ramli:** At the earliest stages (0–1M ARR), onboarding should be human-led — often by the founder. That’s because you need qualitative insights: where users get excited, where they struggle, what questions they ask.*

*Watching this live gives you data to later automate product experiences and emails. The idea is to slowly hand off parts of onboarding to the product while retaining human guidance where needed.*

*As you grow, you’ll need to build customer education programs, documentation, and even communities to help users self-educate and support each other.*

*A great example is Slack. They combine self-serve onboarding, video courses, and Slack communities — a multi-touch, scalable onboarding engine.*

---


**Team Mailmodo: What onboarding tips would you give emerging AI tools? Should their approach differ from traditional SaaS?**

***Ramli:** For emerging AI tools, the same onboarding principles apply — but there’s room to do something exciting with hyper-personalization.*

*One challenge is the "blank page" problem. Tools like ChatGPT or Claude solve this by giving users prompts or examples right away.*

*But you can go further: use data like email domains to guess the user’s company type or industry, then auto-generate relevant sample dashboards. This is far more engaging than generic placeholders.*

*Your goal should be to make users say, “Whoa, this feels like it was made for me.” That gets them excited and nudges them to integrate your product deeper into their workflow.*

---


**Team Mailmodo: What is one simple, actionable change SaaS marketers can make to improve onboarding this week?**

***Ramli:** Simply sign up for your product again. With fresh eyes, go through the full experience and take note of any points of friction.*

*Also, talk to a real user this week. Ask where they get stuck. What feels unclear? It’s a simple habit, but those insights are gold when it comes to improving onboarding.*

---


**Team Mailmodo: Any link you'd like us to include?**

***Ramli:** Yes\! My new book: [Eureka](https://www.delightpath.com/book/eureka). Use code **MONDO20** for a discount when ordering directly.*

---

![expert partner 4.png](https://res.cloudinary.com/mailmodo/image/upload/v1755251092/strapi/expert_partner_4_6d490c9d8c.png)

## How this SaaS expert used an event-based model to boost adoption

Few people in SaaS can break down the mechanics of onboarding with the clarity and precision of **Jon Farah**.

Jon has helped growth-stage and enterprise SaaS teams transform onboarding from a linear checklist into an adaptive, event-driven experience — one that accelerates time-to-value, increases activation rates, and sets the stage for long-term retention. With a rare mix of product strategy, growth marketing, and behavioral analytics expertise, he brings structure to a topic that often feels scattered and overly complex.

His work spans startups to global software companies, guiding teams to identify the right activation milestones, build behavioral triggers, and create scalable personalization without losing the human touch.

In this interview, Jon explains where most onboarding flows go wrong, the early signals that predict retention, and the traps SaaS teams fall into when chasing the wrong metrics. If you’re building or refining your onboarding, you’ll find plenty to borrow here.

---

**Team Mailmodo: Where do most SaaS onboarding flows go wrong?**

***Jon:** Most SaaS onboarding fails before it even ships. Teams launch without an event-based model, no clear “aha” moments, and no milestones to trigger different paths for different users. What follows is a linear, timer-driven drip that treats everyone the same and jumps to “upgrade now” or “complete onboarding,” while skipping the small, sequenced steps that build adoption.*

---


**Team Mailmodo: How do you decide when onboarding ends and retention begins?**

***Jon:** For most SaaS teams, onboarding ends when a user reaches and repeats the platform’s activation milestone — the event that signals real value. That could be sending a first invoice, creating a first project, connecting a data source, or building a first report. Once that action happens a few times in a healthy window and key features are in use, the journey shifts to retention and expansion.*

---


**Team Mailmodo: What onboarding behavior signals do you track to predict retention early?**

***Jon:** Time to value is the north star: how fast the first value happens, and how quickly the second follows. After that, I watch a short list: activation milestones completed, setup completeness (integrations/data), usage frequency in the first month, team adoption (invites and active seats), and whether users act after nudges. If TTV is fast and these stay green, retention follows.*

---


**Team Mailmodo: What’s a metric most SaaS teams obsess over in onboarding—but shouldn’t?**

***Jon:** Onboarding checklist completion rate. It measures compliance with your to-do list, not whether users reached the value. People can click through and still miss activation, which creates false positives and hides churn risk.*

---


**Team Mailmodo: How do you personalize onboarding at scale without making it creepy or chaotic?**

***Jon:** Use a few event-triggered paths that nudge only when someone stalls before the next step. Keep content modular, cap message frequency, explain why they’re getting it, and track time to value and step completion.*

---


**Team Mailmodo: What’s one popular onboarding trend that you think is actually hurting SaaS teams right now?**

***Jon:** Manual-only onboarding run by CS. It does not scale in enterprise SaaS, slows time to value, and leaves too many new users waiting. The fix is a blended model: event-triggered self-serve paths for most, with targeted human help where blockers appear.*

---

Read our report to get expert insights and email marketing benchmarks to improve your email marketing program in 2025.

State of Onboarding<br/>  2025 Report

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State of Onboarding 2025 Report

IT Consultant

Co-Founder & CSO

Marketing Copywriter

Founder

Software Developer

Founder and CEO Of Legiit.com

CEO and founder at inoRain

Marketing Specialist

VP of Product Strategy at Action1

Senior Growth Manager

SaaS Onboarding & Lifecycle Email Strategist

Co-Founder & CEO, SeekFast.org

SVP of Brand relationships & Strategic Partnerships at https://www.redpoints.com/?nab=1

State of Onboarding 2025

Benchmark

Data Insights

What onboarding processes do brands use?

What communication channels do brands rely on during onboarding?

What in-product nudges do brands show during onboarding?

How many emails do brands send in the first 7 days?

To what extent do brands customize onboarding flows for different segments?

How many brands are using AI in onboarding?

Do brands iterate onboarding flows frequently?

What makes brands review their onboarding flows?

How many brands are prioritsing onboarding revamp in the next months?

What user milestones are brands using to define activation?

What user behaviours are brands using to define time-to-value?

What events see the highest drop-off of users from the product?

What KPIs are being measured by onboarding teams?

Build onboarding & lifecycle flows with AI

Use pre-built journey and AI to set up flows

Automate with easy integrations & event syncs

Add interactive forms and NPS surveys in emails