In-Depth Review of Appcues: All-in-one user onboarding platform

Looking to enhance user onboarding and product adoption? Appcues, a well-known platform for web and mobile apps, focuses on delivering personalized onboarding experiences, streamlining product adoption, and collecting user feedback.

This review provides a detailed analysis of its features, advantages, and limitations, helping you determine if it fits your business needs.

TL;DR

Appcues -A product adoption and user onboarding platform for web and mobile apps, focusing on personalized in-app experiences, feature announcements, and user feedback.

Key Features:

No-Code Builder: Allows easy design and deployment of onboarding flows without technical expertise.
Interactive Guides: Provides step-by-step assistance to help users understand app features.
Feature Announcements: Notify users about new features directly within the app.
Feedback Collection: Gathers user feedback through surveys and NPS prompts.
Analytics: Tracks performance of onboarding flows and user engagement.
Segmentation: Enables targeted messaging based on user segments.

Who Benefits:

Product, marketing, and customer success teams, as well as developers, with tools to enhance user onboarding and engagement.

Product Adoption:

Features include a drag-and-drop builder, pre-designed templates, flow targeting, review prompts, and basic event tracking.

User Feedback:

Offers NPS surveys with targeted distribution and basic analytics; limited to NPS feedback.

Analytics:

Provides user segmentation, click-to-track events, flow analytics, and goal tracking; however, real-time data is limited.

Integration:

Integrates with analytics, CRM, and engagement tools, but some features require additional costs.

Pricing:

Starts at $249/month with tiers for Essentials, Growth, and Enterprise plans; higher tiers offer more features but come at a premium.

Pros:

Intuitive interface, easy setup, mobile onboarding, extensive integrations, and streamlined feedback collection.

Cons:

Limited customization, basic analytics, narrow survey options, high pricing, and no live chat support.

Consider Alternatives If:

You need lower costs, more customization, advanced analytics, diverse feedback tools, or real-time support.

What are Appcues?

Appcues is a sophisticated product adoption and user onboarding platform tailored for web and mobile applications. It provides product teams with the tools to efficiently design, deploy, and evaluate personalized in-app onboarding experiences. Notably, Appcues excels in announcing new product features and gathering customer feedback.

Key Features

No-Code Builder

Empowers Non-Technical Teams: Enables teams without technical expertise to design and deploy onboarding experiences and in-app messaging effortlessly, streamlining the process and reducing dependency on developers.

Interactive User Guides

Enhances User Learning: Provides step-by-step guidance through product features, helping users quickly understand and utilize functionalities, leading to improved user satisfaction and reduced support queries.

Feature Announcements

Drives Engagement with New Features: Allows you to notify users about new product updates and features directly within the app, ensuring users are informed and can start using new functionalities immediately.

User Feedback Collection

Gathers Actionable Insights: Collects feedback from users through surveys and NPS prompts, offering valuable insights into user satisfaction and areas for improvement, which can be used to refine the product.

Analytics and Reporting

Monitors Effectiveness: Tracks the performance of onboarding flows and user engagement metrics, providing data-driven insights to measure success and make informed decisions for optimizing user experiences.

Segmentation and Targeting

Personalizes User Interaction: Enables targeted messaging to specific user segments, ensuring that onboarding and feature announcements are relevant to the user’s needs and behaviors, which enhances engagement and effectiveness.

Who Appcues Helps

Product Teams: Supports in designing and managing effective onboarding and feature announcements.

Marketing Teams: Aids in creating engaging in-app messages and tracking user interactions.

Customer Success Teams: Offers insights to address user needs and enhance satisfaction.

Developers: Simplifies integration and deployment processes, reducing coding requirements.

Getting Started with Appcues: First Impression Matters

Upon signing into Appcues for the first time, users are greeted with a clean, organized dashboard that emphasizes usability and ease of navigation. The initial experience is designed to be intuitive, guiding new users through the platform’s main functionalities.

User Interface: The dashboard features a minimalist design with a clear layout, making it easy for users to locate essential tools and features. The interface is visually appealing and avoids overwhelming new users with excessive information.

Onboarding Walkthrough: Appcues provides a guided tour that introduces key features such as the no-code editor, analytics dashboard, and various onboarding elements. This walkthrough helps understand the basic functionalities and get started quickly.

Initial Setup Experience: The initial setup process is straightforward, with context-sensitive help and tooltips that assist users in configuring their first onboarding flows. This ease of setup is particularly beneficial for non-technical users.

Appcues’s Product Adoption

Appcues is a powerful tool designed to enhance product adoption and drive user conversions. This review critically examines Appcues' features, usability, and limitations, providing a thorough analysis of how well it serves its purpose.

Core Features and Functionality

No-Code Builder: Appcues' no-code builder allows users to create onboarding flows and in-app announcements without coding. This tool facilitates the creation of guided user experiences and feature highlights, making it accessible for non-technical users. However, its simplicity may limit customization for more complex needs.

Pre-Designed Templates: Appcues offers a variety of pre-designed templates for product tours, tutorials, and announcements. These templates streamline the creation process, enabling quick setup of onboarding and promotional content. While convenient, the reliance on templates might restrict the uniqueness of the user experience.

Flow Targeting: The platform allows segmentation based on user activity, behavior, and lifecycle stage. This feature enhances the relevance of messaging and onboarding, potentially increasing conversion rates. Effective segmentation requires accurate data and careful configuration, which might be challenging for some users.

Review Prompts: Available on Appcues Mobile, this feature encourages users to rate and review the app on app stores. This tool can drive new sign-ups and improve app visibility. However, its effectiveness depends on the timing and frequency of prompts, which may impact user experience.

Event Tracking and A/B Testing: Appcues supports event tracking and A/B testing to refine onboarding processes. While these features are useful for optimizing user flows, the depth of data and analysis is limited compared to more robust analytics platforms. The integration with external tools like Amplitude incurs additional costs.

Product Adoption and Onboarding

Drag-and-Drop Builder: This feature allows users to design personalized onboarding experiences using a visual interface. The ease of use makes it accessible for teams without technical expertise. However, advanced customizations might be restricted by the builder’s capabilities.

In-App User Guides and Product Tours: Appcues provides various UI patterns like hotspots and tooltips for user guidance. These elements are effective for introducing users to product features, but their impact may be limited if not strategically implemented.

Checklists: Users can create checklists to prompt actions and guide users through the app. While useful, the functionality of checklists is somewhat basic compared to alternatives, lacking advanced features like JavaScript triggers or gamification

Segmentation: Appcues allow for the creation of custom segments based on user attributes and behavior. This feature enables targeted messaging, though the effectiveness of segmentation depends on the accuracy of user data and the complexity of setup.

Performance Measurement and Optimization: Appcues offers tools to track the performance of onboarding flows and conduct A/B testing. These features support continuous improvement of user experiences. However, the depth of analytics is limited, and some advanced metrics are only available in higher-tier plans.

In-App Support

Launchpads: Launchpads provide access to all Appcues flows from a dropdown menu within the app. This feature offers a centralized resource for users but lacks categorization and search capabilities, potentially making it difficult to navigate.

Tooltips, Modals, and Screens: These elements are used to guide users and communicate updates or tips. They are effective for delivering timely information but might become intrusive if overused.

Appcue’s Interactive User Guides and Segmentation

User Segmentation:

Appcues allows for user segmentation into predefined groups (Explorers, Beginners, Regulars, Champions) and custom segments based on factors like in-app activity and lifecycle stage.

The predefined segments provide a starting point, but customization is necessary for comprehensive user engagement.

Advanced segmentation is facilitated through integration with CRM platforms like HubSpot and Salesforce, which enhances data accuracy and user differentiation. This integration can offer valuable insights but may increase complexity and cost.

Tooltips:

Tooltips are a versatile UI pattern available on all pricing plans. They can be used for various purposes, such as onboarding, feature announcements, and contextual messaging.

Tooltips are highly customizable and accessible across all plans, making them a practical tool for guiding users. They can be easily added and configured using the visual Appcues Builder, with options for CSS customization. Floating and anchored tooltips enhance mobile usability. However, while tooltips are useful, their effectiveness relies on strategic placement and timing to avoid user distraction.

Appcues' User Feedback Features

As a product adoption platform, Appcues provides a range of tools designed to enhance user onboarding and engagement. However, when it comes to collecting user feedback, the platform offers a somewhat limited set of features. This review explores the depth and effectiveness of Appcues' feedback capabilities, focusing on its Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys and associated analytics.

Survey Capabilities

NPS Surveys

Appcues supports the creation of Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys, a widely used metric for gauging customer loyalty and satisfaction.

The NPS survey is the sole survey type available on Appcues, which may be restrictive for users needing more varied feedback methods. The NPS functionality includes customizable templates and a drag-and-drop builder for ease of setup.

NPS Targeting

Appcues enables targeted NPS surveys, allowing you to direct surveys to specific user segments based on behavior or demographics.

This feature can help in directing feedback to the most relevant users, enhancing the quality of insights. However, the effectiveness of this targeting is contingent upon accurate user segmentation.

Feedback Collection and Analysis

Survey Placement and Limitations

Appcues allows NPS surveys to be displayed within the app, though placing a survey on a modal can hinder efficient data collection and analysis.

Using modals for surveys can impede the ease of data collection and analysis, potentially negating the benefits of collecting feedback. This approach may lead to fragmented data and make it challenging to derive actionable insights.

Survey Analytics

Appcues provides basic analytics for NPS surveys, including tracking, visualization, and data export capabilities.

Users can view survey results through customizable date ranges and visual graphs, which aid in understanding trends and sentiments. However, the analytics features are limited to NPS data and lack advanced functionalities such as cross-survey comparison or detailed sentiment analysis.

Segmentation and Filtering

Appcues offers segmentation and filtering options for NPS survey results.

Filtering results by user segments can provide more nuanced insights into customer feedback. Nonetheless, the limited scope of surveys means that the depth of feedback and analysis remains constrained.

Data Exports

Survey results can be exported as PDF files for further use. While exporting results is useful for reporting and sharing, the format may not support in-depth analysis or integration with other data systems.

Review of Appcues Analytics

Appcues analytics suite provides essential insights into user behavior, flow performance, and engagement, making it a useful tool for product managers, UX designers, and marketers. This review explores Appcues’ core features, focusing on its analytics capabilities, including user segmentation, event tracking, flow analytics, and integrations.

1. User Segmentation

Appcues offers segmentation based on user properties, flow interactions, checklist statuses, and predefined categories like "Evaluators," "Beginners," "Regulars," and "Champions." Users can also define segments based on custom events they create within the platform.

Appcues makes segment creation simple, allowing for quick filtering and targeting. This flexibility is critical when trying to cater to different user groups and ensuring that specific onboarding messages reach the right people.

While this feature is adequate for small teams, larger businesses will likely find the segmentation restrictions a barrier to effective personalization at scale.

2. Click-to-Track Events

Click-to-Track is Appcues’ event-tracking feature that enables non-technical teams to monitor customer interactions within the product by tagging specific UI elements. It allows product teams to track how users engage with various features in the app, all without writing any code.

Click-to-Track makes it easy to monitor button clicks, form submissions, or any other key interactions within the app. Once events are created, they can be used to trigger personalized flows or segment users based on behavior.

However, the major downside is that data does not update in real-time, which severely limits its effectiveness in high-urgency use cases. The Essentials plan also limits event tracking to 10 events, making it unsuitable for teams that need more comprehensive behavioral insights.

3. Flow Analytics

Flow Analytics helps track the performance of the flows by providing insights into user engagement, completion rates, and goal achievement.

The step-by-step breakdown allows product teams to see where users are engaging or dropping off, helping refine onboarding sequences to optimize user activation.

Additionally, Appcues offers insights into how individual versions of a flow perform over time, making it easier to identify and replicate successful onboarding strategies.

4. Goal Tracking

In Appcues, goals represent key actions users should take during onboarding or product tours. These could range from completing a feature discovery to making a purchase. The Goals page allows users to create, activate, and track these goals within the platform.

Appcues provides basic goal-tracking functionality, with data tied to flow analytics to measure how well users are converting through predefined stages.

Moreover, goal tracking lacks the depth of more advanced analytics platforms, offering little in the way of multi-step funnel analysis or advanced attribution reporting. For teams looking to analyze complex user journeys, Appcues may not be robust enough without integrating additional tools.

Appcue’s Integration

Appcues offers a wide range of integrations to extend its functionality, especially in analytics, engagement, and customer relationship management. Key integrations include:

Analytics Tools: Appcues integrates with advanced analytics platforms such as Amplitude, Mixpanel, Heap, and Fullstory. These integrations are essential for teams that need deeper insights into user behavior than what Appcues natively provides.

Engagement & Messaging Tools: Integrations with Intercom, Slack, and Klaviyo enable teams to deliver personalized messages and engage users directly within the app.

CRM Integrations: Appcues supports two-way integrations with CRMs like Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk, and Marketo, allowing customer data to flow seamlessly between platforms.

Connector Products: Tools like Segment, Zapier, and Google Tag Manager help connect Appcues with various other applications, streamlining workflows and enhancing automation.

Appcue’s Pricing

Appcues pricing starts at $249 per month, with three main tiers: Essentials, Growth, and Enterprise. The total cost depends on the number of Monthly Active Users (MAU), and prices increase as MAU scales. For example, the Essential plan begins at $249 per month for 2,500 MAU but rises to $299 for 5,000 MAU.

Here’s a breakdown of the different pricing tiers:

Essentials: Starting at $249 per month, this entry-level plan includes 3 user licenses and allows for up to 5 audience segments. However, it lacks certain UI features like checklists, launchpads, and custom CSS support. Customer support is limited to email.

Growth: Beginning at $849 per month for 2,500 MAU, this plan offers 10 user licenses, unlimited audience segments, and access to all available UI patterns. It also includes premium integrations with tools such as Slack, Salesforce, Marketo, and Zendesk.

Enterprise: Tailored for larger organizations, this tier provides enhanced security features like role-based access and activity logs, along with multi-account and localization support. It comes with dedicated phone support, a Customer Success Manager, and a Technical Implementation Manager. Pricing is provided upon request.

All plans offer a 14-day free trial, where you can test unlimited flows and track up to 5 events. The trial can be extended by an additional 14 days if the Appcues SDK is installed, and no credit card is needed to sign up.

Notably, these pricing options apply to web apps, with Appcues Mobile pricing available upon request. While Appcues is more expensive compared to some competitors, like Userpilot, which offers its Starter plan with up to 10 audience segments and all UI patterns at a lower cost, the additional features in Appcues’ higher tiers may justify the premium for larger organizations.

What do users say about Appcues?

The overall feedback from Appcue’s customers indicates its strong user experience and ease of building onboarding flows, but the absence of robust survey features has diminished its overall appeal.

Of course, negative feedback isn’t limited to the survey feature as there are also customers who are dissatisfied with the product’s analytics and the inaccuracy of audience targeting and segments.

Pros and Cons of Appcues

Pros of Using Appcues

As a pioneer in the no-code product adoption space, Appcues delivers several features that appeal to mid-market SaaS businesses seeking a user-friendly platform to improve onboarding, retention, and overall customer experience. Here’s a closer look at its advantages:

Intuitive UI and UX: Appcues boasts a clean and easy-to-use interface. Its drag-and-drop builder allows non-technical users to create engaging in-app flows and onboarding experiences. You can design personalized user journeys using a variety of UI patterns, including modals, tooltips, slideouts, hotspots, and banners.

Simple Setup: Setting up Appcues is hassle-free, requiring only the addition of the SDK to your app’s codebase or integration through Segment or Google Tag Manager. Once the Chrome extension is installed, you can launch the Appcues Builder with ease and begin crafting in-app experiences.

Feedback Collection: With Appcues, gathering feedback is streamlined through built-in Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys. The platform also allows you to analyze NPS data directly from its dashboard, providing insights into user sentiment.

Mobile Onboarding: Appcues supports seamless onboarding for mobile apps, allowing you to build experiences across multiple mobile environments such as Native Android, Native iOS, React Native, Flutter, and Iconic, ensuring cross-platform coverage.

Extensive Integrations: The platform integrates with over 20 popular tools, including email automation, CRM, and analytics platforms like Heap, Zapier, HubSpot, Google Analytics, and Google Tag Manager. Many integrations, such as those with Salesforce and Amplitude, offer two-way data syncing for more comprehensive insights.

Cons of Using Appcues

Despite its many strengths, Appcues also has some drawbacks that might limit its appeal for certain users or use cases. Here are a few key limitations:

Poor Element Detection: Appcues occasionally struggles to detect specific in-app elements, particularly when working with dropdown menus or more complex UI components. This can hinder the precise placement of tooltips and other UI elements compared to competitors like Userpilot.

Limited Customization: While the platform allows customization of pre-built templates, the options are relatively basic, confined to adjustments like font style, size, color, and padding. Advanced customization requires knowledge of CSS, which could be a challenge for teams without technical expertise.

Basic Analytics: While Appcues provides some level of product usage insights, its native analytics features are relatively limited. To access more granular data, users need to rely on third-party tools like Amplitude or Google Analytics for a deeper dive into customer behavior.

Limited Survey Options: Appcues is restricted to creating NPS surveys and lacks a diverse array of feedback collection tools. Unlike competitors such as Userpilot, which offer customizable survey templates and integrations with platforms like Google Forms and Typeform, Appcues’ survey options remain narrow.

High Pricing: Starting at $249 per month, the Appcues Essentials plan comes with several limitations, including restricted UI patterns and the absence of custom CSS support. Additionally, essential features like localization are locked behind the Enterprise tier, making it costly for businesses that operate across multiple languages.

No Live Chat Support: Appcues’ customer support is limited to email and phone assistance, with no live chat option. While the platform offers a help center and educational resources, the lack of immediate customer support could be a downside for users requiring quick resolutions.

Reasons Why you might need Appcues alternatives

There are several reasons why you might consider alternatives to Appcues, depending on your specific needs, budget, and goals. Here are some key factors:

Pricing: Appcues can be expensive, with its entry-level plan starting at $249 per month and significant jumps as your monthly active users (MAUs) increase. Businesses with smaller budgets or startups may find more affordable options that offer comparable features.

You want more customization: While Appcues offers customizable templates for in-app experiences, more advanced design flexibility is restricted without CSS knowledge. Teams seeking highly tailored onboarding flows or more intricate designs might find this limitation restrictive and turn to alternatives that offer deeper customization without the need for coding.

You need advanced analytics: Appcues provides product usage data and basic analytics, but users looking for in-depth insights will likely need to integrate third-party tools like Amplitude or Google Analytics. Some alternatives offer more robust, built-in analytics capabilities, reducing reliance on additional software.

You want to collect detailed customer feedback: Appcues is primarily focused on NPS surveys for gathering feedback. Businesses that require a broader range of survey templates or more feedback collection methods, such as polls or multi-question surveys, may prefer alternatives that support more versatile feedback options.

You want real-time support: Appcues does not offer live chat support, relying instead on email and phone options. If your business needs immediate assistance or real-time troubleshooting, an alternative with more responsive customer support might be a better fit.

Conclusion

Appcues stands out as a powerful tool for personalized user onboarding, offering a robust suite of features designed to enhance user engagement and streamline the onboarding process.

Its no-code builder and interactive elements make it accessible for non-technical teams, while its analytics and feedback tools provide valuable insights for continuous improvement.

However, while it excels in many areas, its pricing structure and occasional complexity in advanced features may be considerations for larger organizations or those with specific needs.

Overall, Appcues is a strong choice for teams seeking an effective onboarding solution, but businesses with complex requirements or large-scale needs should carefully evaluate the fit of its offerings.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who should use Appcues?

Appcues is ideal for product teams, marketing teams, customer success teams, and developers looking to streamline user onboarding and feature announcements.

What is the cost of Appcues?

Pricing starts at $249 per month for the Essentials plan, with higher tiers for additional features and user counts. Exact pricing for the Enterprise plan is available upon request.

What are the top alternatives to Appcues?

Alternatives include Userpilot, WalkMe, and Pendo, which offer different features, pricing, and customization options.

Does Appcues support mobile apps?

Yes, Appcues supports onboarding for mobile apps, including Native Android, Native iOS, React Native, Flutter, and Ionic.

What kind of support does Appcues offer?

Support is available via email and phone, with no live chat option. A 14-day free trial is available to test the platform.

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Aswin Kumar

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