Onboarding Flow Design Patterns

"Intent capture" is the most underutilized sign-up screen in your onboarding flow. Especially if you're pre-PMF. The goal of many activation flows is often understood as: "getting users to understand how our product works (together with our value prop), so that they can experience value from it asap & become active users" The first common mistake here is to explain features, not benefits. (But that one has been repeated countless times here already) Second, by thinking like this, we omit the user's mindset & context when they signed up. Was the user "just curious", "trying to do X", "trying to do Y", ... By capturing the user's intent at signup (together with other data like job title, department, team size, ...) you're giving yourself a bunch of opportunities to give new users a personalized experience and bring them to *their* aha moment asap. - Less generic drip campaigns based on the 3-4 intent categories you defined - Highly personalized sales outreach (by email or call) - Personalized in-app templates & setup (Notion & Airtable use this) - Personalized product tours/onboarding modals - If you're early stage, you can use this to learn which of your value props new users sign up for and drill down on that one. There are many screens you could include in your onboarding flow, but I think this one is a must. What do you think? 🤔

We just launched a new Dopt example: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐮𝐛! Power a PLG motion with a dedicated home for onboarding resources in your product. Onboarding hubs usually include a getting started checklist, entry points to interactive tours, and links to docs, support, and other resources. You can see them used by companies like June, Framer, Hubspot, Remote, and Dopt 🙂. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐮𝐛𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 ✅ Easy for the user to find the next steps, resources, and help. ✅ They're not annoying and feel natural because they're natively integrated into the product’s nav and UI. ✅ The pattern is super flexible -- you can create the experience, content, and entry points that are best for your users and product. ✅ Easy surface area to experiment with, like personalizing setup steps 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 Onboarding hubs are great when the user needs more structure and support on their journey to their aha moment, like dev tools, financial tools, and some collaborative apps and marketing tools. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 They’re not as good for apps with established patterns (e.g. Linear) or where there’s a single, core workflow that’s simple (e.g. Slack). 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐮𝐛 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐃𝐨𝐩𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐲 The onboarding hub is a perfect example of a natively integrated, multi-step onboarding flow that Dopt makes easy to build. Check out the full blog post with real-world examples and an interactive onboarding hub demo built with Dopt!

𝗕𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘀. Your onboarding is the user’s first impression of your app, and like it or not, it’s 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴. You could have a revolutionary product, but if the onboarding isn’t spot on, you’re practically inviting users to walk away. Here’s what to consider when building your flow: 𝟭. 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗺𝗮 𝗳𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁? The KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) principle is key for product onboarding. If your grandma would struggle with your flow, it’s probably too complicated. This doesn’t mean removing all the friction. The goal is to make the process simple enough so users can complete it without bouncing. 𝟮. 𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗮𝘆? A good onboarding flow guides users through the essentials without boring them. It excites and builds anticipation. A longer flow is sometimes necessary to deliver the app’s “aha” moment, but if it drags or repeats, you risk losing users before they even get started because of boredom or frustration. 𝟯. 𝗜𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹? The era of one-size-fits-all onboarding is over. The purpose of onboarding is to show users that your product is exactly what they need, and personalization is a powerful weapon for that. Tailor the flow based on different data points like how users discover your product and their specific goals. 𝟰. 𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗸? Users should know why they can’t live without your product 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝟯𝟬 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘀. Understand your audience’s problems, identify your product’s top value proposition, and make it front and center during onboarding. 𝘽𝙤𝙣𝙪𝙨 𝙩𝙞𝙥: 𝘾𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙥 𝙘𝙤𝙥𝙮𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚. 𝟱. 𝗜𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸𝘆? A great onboarding flow leads users to the product's "aha!" moment early. Find ways to get users invested quickly: First actions, quick wins, rewards, or anything else that encourages them to return. 𝟲. 𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹? Onboarding should be so smooth that users don’t even realize they’re being onboarded. Remember, it is not separate from the product, but an integral part of the overall experience. 𝟳. 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲? The best onboarding flows weren’t built overnight. They’re the result of countless iterations. Keep refining your process as you gather more data, and make sure your onboarding flow can evolve without needing a complete design or code overhaul. Remember, in the end, it's all about getting users to that “holy sh*t” moment as fast as possible. Nail this, and you've won half of the battle. Follow me for more insights on product design, startups, and entrepreneurship!

Good onboarding feels like a dialogue. Bad onboarding feels like bureaucracy. Like filling forms at the dentist 👀 I did a teardown of Attio and found 6 design choices that can make long onboarding feel more like a two-way street. And ultimately, more delightful, more fun 🤸🏼 : ✅ Breathing space, whitespace + hierarchy so steps feel light ✅ Chunking to MAX 1–3 inputs per screen ✅ Smart defaults: pre-fills, dropdowns, autofill, location ✅ Personalisation: reflect user data back (in fun places) ✅ Reassurance; explain why you’re asking for info, show control ✅ Reward: visible progress, seeded data, alive workspace at the end The result is that you can have (almost) any length of onboarding, and still make it feel like a breeze. Steps are outlined in this one-pager - enjoy! (I know the irony of me not using enough whitespace in this visual, there was just too much to say 🫠) #product #growth