User Onboarding: Best Practices to Enhance Software Adoption

It’s Friday, and the extensive CRM training is over.

You’re optimistic: no more fragmented data, siloed workflows, or data entry errors. Adoption should be seamless, right? But as weeks pass, the reality sinks in: support tickets are piling up, employee productivity is sinking, and resistance to change is growing.

Why does this happen? Traditional user onboarding, often limited to initial training sessions, misses the mark when driving long-term adoption. Employees need more than just a one-time introduction; they need ongoing guidance and support embedded into their workflows to enable them to follow processes and complete tasks correctly.

As this article outlines, the answer lies in strategically merging traditional onboarding practices like training sessions with a technology-driven approach using digital adoption platforms (DAPs).

Let’s start with seven key elements of successful user onboarding.

💡Note: In the context of this blog post, users refer to employees. Although user onboarding differs from customer and employee onboarding, it is part of employee onboarding. 

7 Key Elements of Successful User Onboarding

A successful user onboarding process consists of several components, which can vary depending on brand goals. However, some elements remain consistent across the board. Here are seven of these essential elements:

1. Welcome Screen

The welcome screen greets users and signals the start of their user onboarding flow. It’s like a digital handshake or a friendly hello, setting the tone for the entire user onboarding experience. Here, you encourage users to take their initial steps and get the primary value of the platform.

💡 Pro tips:Add personalized welcome messages like their names and show features relevant to their roleInclude clear calls to action (CTAs) like “Next,” “Start Setup,” or “Take a Quick Tour”Customize the welcome screen using branded colors and assets.

The timing of the welcome screen can vary; it may appear before or after the account setup, depending on your objectives. Some companies, like Notion, show their welcome screen, while ClickUp blends account setup on the welcome page as a call to action (CTA).

 

2. Account Setup

This element focuses on gathering user information, including their roles, relevant features, team invitations, and integrations.

The goal is to personalize their journey effectively and provide a good user onboarding experience.

💡 Pro tips:Keep the forms concise. Only ask for essential details and avoid overwhelming usersUse data from integrations to auto-populate fieldsAdd tooltips and contextual cues to guide users Use DAPs like Apty, which allow you to populate data from existing systems to reduce friction automatically

3. Product Tour

Product tours show employees around the software. They’re done using demo calls, on-demand videos, and DAPs that provide interactive walkthrough experiences around the app.

💡 Pro tips:Personalize tours based on their roles and tasksCombine interactive walkthroughs with tutorials for more user engagementGive users the option to skip or revisit the tour later.

Use proactive and predictive DAPs like Apty to analyze user data using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) during onboarding. Then, it chooses the most efficient path for the product tour and featured showcase.

Reactive DAPs, on the other hand, offer only in-app guidance, tooltips, and basic analytics. Proactive and predictive DAPs take it up a notch.

 

4. Progress Indicators

Progress indicators help users feel accompanied and reduce fatigue by tapping into psychological cues such as the:

• Zeigarnik Effect: Users remember incomplete tasks more, encouraging them to return
• Endowed Progress Effect: Seeing progress (e.g., 2 out of 10 completed) boosts motivation and satisfaction

💡 Pro tips:Break down the product tour and tasks into smaller stepsProvide positive reinforcement after each task is completedUse visual cues like checklists and progress bars to enhance visibilityAllow users to skip checklists and guides

5. User Personalization

Personalization allows users to customize their dashboards, themes, and other settings as per their preferences and roles.

💡 Pro tips:Offer interactive walkthroughs on how to personalize settingsProvide templates, videos, and resources to inspire customization

6. Task Completion

Often referred to as the “Aha moment,” this occurs when users recognize your platform’s primary value by completing a relevant task. This occurs when users experience a sense of accomplishment and realize the primary value your platform offers by completing a relevant task.

For instance, in ClickUp, users might complete their first task, set up a project, or organize a to-do list. When they successfully navigate these initial steps, they gain confidence in their ability to use the platform and see its practical benefits.

💡 Pro tips:Break tasks into smaller steps to simplify workflowsUtilize tooltips to assist during the task completion processEmbed resources and guides tailored to users’ roles

7. Success Messages

Success messages reinforce user progress and momentum, nudging them to continue using the platform and exploring other features. However, success messages don’t always mean onboarding success until the onboarding experience is complete.

 A success message can appear after completing a task or account setup.

💡 Pro tips:Use positive language in success messages.Incorporate fun animations, like confetti, for visual appeal.Add relevant CTAs to encourage further exploration.

Hurray! 🎉 You’ve reached the end of this section. 

Now, let’s dive into ten proven practices that enhance user adoption! (Your success message? 😉)

10 User Onboarding Best Practices for Enhanced Product Adoption

Now, let’s dive into ten proven practices that enhance user adoption.

1. Research User Needs

Speak to users to understand their learning preferences, knowledge gaps, the features they care about, and the potential impact of the software on their processes. Ask open-ended questions to avoid vague responses.

Here are some open-ended questions you may ask:

• How do you prefer to learn new tools or software through hands-on practice, guided tutorials, or written resources?
• What challenges have you faced when learning new systems in the past?
• What kind of ongoing support would you find helpful after the initial onboarding?
• How do you see this software fitting into your current workflow?

Discuss potential learning disorders or physical limitations, such as color blindness or hearing aids. Quality research minimizes frustrations and drop-offs and increases user retention because the experience is tailored to their needs.

Other ways to conduct quality user research:

• Dig into existing data. Have employees indicated their learning styles and limitations?
• Conduct surveys and interviews to uncover pain points and needs. 
• Use behavioral analysis to observe how users currently interact with other enterprise software.
• Create detailed user personas that reflect your users’ roles and needs, tailoring functionalities accordingly. Consider segmenting users into new users, intermediate, and experts to contextualize the training needed.
• Start a pilot test with a small group, collect feedback, and gather insights for a wider rollout.
• Use Apty’s AI to analyze your system, gather user-level data, find current bottlenecks, and deliver solutions to enhance software adoption.

2. Reduce Barriers to Entry

After understanding your users’ needs, show them how the software solves their pain points quickly.

Ideal scenario: A project manager logs into a new system, and instead of watching a 20-minute tutorial or lengthy article, they’re welcomed with a personalized, hands-on walkthrough on how to set up tasks and assign work to employees, and complete tasks in a few clicks. Within minutes, they can understand the software’s value to their workflow.

These are some ways to reduce barriers and provide immediate value:

1. Simplify initial setup with auto-fill features, pre-loaded templates, and single sign-on (SSO) to reduce time to value.
2. Provide immediate feedback, such as “Step 1, complete!” and “Data uploaded successfully.” A checklist or visual progress bar helps users keep track of their progress. 
3. Focus on quick wins, like taking the user step by step on completing the most basic valuable tasks.

As we’ll see soon, reducing barriers to entry can also be done using contextual and in-app guidance.

Duolingo nails quick onboarding by allowing users to sign up in under a minute, personalize their experience by selecting a language, and immediately begin learning with a short, engaging lesson.

“Two secrets to excellent user onboarding? Tailor it to employee roles and needs. The key is to create a seamless experience that highlights immediate benefits and equips users for long-term success.” – Rongzhong Li, CEO/Founder of Petoi

3. Create Contextual Onboarding Experiences

An HR specialist, customer success manager, and team manager are onboarding on the same platform. The specialist sees steps for setting up employee profiles while the manager receives prompts for tracking performance. On the other hand, customer success managers see ticketing features, cutting unnecessary steps and improving efficiency.

Contextual onboarding experiences mean providing the correct information to the right users at the right time. Instead of overloading the user,it involves providing all relevant information at the start.

Using a DAP, you can set smart rules to deliver content dynamically, allowing users to see only the correct information based on their actions and choices.

Contextual onboarding uses familiar elements from traditional product tours, such as tooltips, hotspots, modals, progressive disclosure, and checklists. It focuses on timing, delivering tailored guidance based on users’ roles, actions, and behaviors when they need it.

4. Provide In-App Guidance to Help New Users

In-app guidance offers real time, hands-on help tailored to users’ roles and actions. After training, users often forget what they’ve been taught and need guidance as they use the app without needing to leave or contact support.

You can provide in-app guidance using tooltips, chatbots, popups, interactive walkthroughs, hotspots, and tutorial embeddings in relevant places.

For example, Zoom provides tooltips, chatbots, and media embeddings.

After facing challenges in training their global representatives, Mary Kay turned to Apty for assistance. With Apty’s implementation, the company company provide in-app guidance and targeted training content in 15 languages tailored to various countries. 

This led to a significant reduction in support tickets, improved productivity, and enhanced overall performance among their representatives.

Other in-app guides include:

• Continual Triggers: Use action-based triggers to provide relevant tips. For example, when a user generates a report, it shows a message suggesting available templates or a guide on customizing reports.
• Visual Cues: Highlight key elements, such as the “New Project” button, to guide users visually as they learn to perform tasks like creating a project.

5. Help Users Discover Relevant Features With Contextual Tooltips

Show the employees relevant features and provide in-the-moment guidance instead of constantly undergoing intensive training. Not every feature needs upfront learning.

Here’s how to use contextual tooltips effectively:

1. Strategic Placement: Position tooltips near the right features that may need clarification, like in the Zoom example.
2. Role-Specific Prompts: Tailor tips based on user roles for relevance.
   For example, the HR department sees prompts for adding hires, while the finance team views budget report tips.
3. Simple and Straightforward Language: Use simple and actionable language to write tips.

 

6. Avoid Overwhelming New Users With Information

Providing excessive information at once can cause cognitive overload, leaving users frustrated and disengaged. Instead of dumping all features and resources upfront, adopt progressive disclosure—introduce essential features gradually, allowing users to build confidence with simple tasks before exploring advanced functionalities.

How to avoid overwhelming users? Let’s see:

• Focus on role-specific, essential features first, introducing advanced functionality progressively.
• Use simple and concise language to take users through their journey.
• Break tasks into smaller steps, like teaching how to upload an invoice before exploring complex workflows.

Prime examples include Duolingo, as we saw previously.

7. Provide a Multi-channel Experience

A multi-channel user onboarding experience gives users choices on how to consume onboarding materials. This approach ensures users can access onboarding materials and support through their preferred channels, providing a seamless and comprehensive experience.

To make your onboarding experience multi-channel:

• Combine in-app guidance with external resources. Apty allows you to provide real-time contextual guidance while linking to external resources like documentation, FAQs, and knowledge bases.
• Offer learning material in different formats, such as live and pre-recorded videos, articles, visuals, interactive workshops, and Q&A sessions with power users and specialists.
• Provide mobile-friendly learning options so employees and employees can learn on the go.

Asana provides a multi-channel onboarding experience for their users. They offer webinars for new features:

They have multi-modal tutorials and guides while utilizing tooltips and chatbots to assist users at multiple touchpoints.

8. Provide On-Demand Help

What’s faster and less expensive in the long run: contacting customer support for every little issue or accessing resources within or outside the application to help you when needed?

With on-demand help, users can access resources directly within the application, enabling them to resolve issues independently. This reduces reliance on customer support and ensures faster, more seamless problem-solving.

Providing on-demand help within the application is simple:

• Add a Centralized Help Center: Integrate a searchable help center directly into the application, offering access to FAQs, troubleshooting guides, and tutorials.
• Include Contextual Help Buttons: Place help icons next to specific features or fields where users will likely have questions.
• Enable Live Chat or AI Chatbots: Provide an integrated chat option where users can ask questions and get immediate responses from a live agent or an AI-powered bot.
• Allow Users to Flag Issues and Provide Feedback Directly: Add a “Need Help?” button within your application allows users to request assistance or submit support tickets without leaving the app.

After accessing help resources, prompting users to rate their usefulness, such as “Helpful” or “Needs Improvement,” provides valuable feedback for continuous improvement.

An example is Canva, at the bottom of every page to help users and flag issues before speaking to a customer success representative.

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Apty helps build a centralized help center with Apty OneX, a powerful platform that connects users with all enterprise software in one place. It enables users to leverage AI to streamline task execution and provide on-demand assistance.

9. Tailor User Experience to Industry-Specific Needs

Different industries have unique onboarding requirements. To optimize your approach, research industry-specific best practices, identify compliance or regulatory needs, and analyze how competitors and peers successfully onboard their users.

For example, retail compliance focuses on tax regulations and payment compliance. For finance, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS), and also global reporting standards like Basel III, Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) for investor protection, and MiFID II. However, in hospitality, data compliance is less strict.

Apty helps companies implement data validation checks to enforce compliance rules among employees.

Onboarding differs by software type; for instance, the onboarding of Workday users varies greatly from that of Salesforce users.

10. Use Product Analytics to Measure and Improve Onboarding Experiences

Without analytics, key questions remain unanswered:

• How are users behaviorally using this software in their workflows?
• Is our onboarding and help content being effectively utilized?
• Are we optimizing the right processes during our transformation journey?
• When should we sunset an application or focus on better team training?
• How can we streamline contract management with minimal IT dependency?

Answering these questions is crucial for optimizing onboarding and measuring software return on investment (ROI).

Apty PULSE provides the answers. 

As an AI-powered silent observer, it tracks user behavior, such as clicks, keystrokes, and navigation paths, offering actionable insights to improve productivity and reduce costs.

Key features include:

• Silent Monitoring: Tracks real-time user activity across apps, devices, and departments
• Productivity Insights: Identifies process bottlenecks and prescribes solutions (e.g., tooltips)
• User Flow Analysis: Visualizes navigation paths to optimize workflows
• App Utilization: Highlights underused apps, reducing unnecessary license costs
• Quick Setup: INSTALL > DIAGNOSE > PRESCRIBE delivers actionable insights in minutes

PULSE also tracks critical metrics like task completion rates, time to value (TTV), activation rates, content analytics, retention rates, feature adoption rates, user engagement scores, churn rates, and customer lifetime value (CLV).

Additionally, enhance onboarding effectiveness with:

• A/B Testing: Experiment across multiple scenarios to identify best practices
• Qualitative Feedback: Use surveys and interviews to collect user insights
• Continuous Iteration: Refine processes to improve user activation and retention

Onboard Users Better With Apty

$1 billion. That’s how much a leading global bank saved after using Apty to streamline its onboarding process and ensure compliance across international branches.

Traditional onboarding often fails due to forgettable training and lack of actionable insights, but Apty transforms the process with seamless integration and continuous optimization.

Here’s how Apty stands out:

• Rapid Deployment: Get started in 1-2 days with minimal IT effort
• Data-Driven Insights: Analyze software usage to identify bottlenecks, providing precise recommendations to improve adoption
• Contextual and In-App Guidance: Provide in-the-moment help tailored to user needs to boost engagement and productivity
• Automation for Efficiency: Simplify processes and reduce repetitive tasks
• Continuous Optimization: Doesn’t stop at deployment; it monitors and refines the onboarding process over time, ensuring ongoing improvement and higher ROI
• AI-powered: A predictive AI DAP that uses AI and ML to analyze software usage and adoption

With Apty, enterprises can deliver personalized onboarding experiences that drive adoption, productivity, and ROI.

Ready to experience the Apty difference? Book a demo today.