Best User Activation Tools to Increase Retention
Discover the top user activation tools to boost retention and turn new users into loyal customers with our expert guide.
UserGuiding is an affordable digital adoption platform offering features like onboarding checklists, product tours, NPS surveys, in-app messaging, and a resource center for documentation. It provides good customer support and is suitable for early-stage startups and SMBs.
However, as your user base grows, UserGuiding may not scale effectively, as it struggles to meet the needs of mid-tier and enterprise users.
This article will evaluate UserGuiding’s strengths and weaknesses, exploring its core features, limitations, and alternatives for onboarding and in-app experiences.
TL;DR
- What is UserGuiding? A no-code platform for creating in-app guides, product tours, and onboarding checklists to enhance user engagement and retention.
- Main Use Cases:
- User onboarding through interactive guides and checklists.
- Limited product analytics; external integrations needed for deeper insights.
- Self-service support via a resource center, but manual localization is required.
- Pricing Plans:
- Basic: $89/month, limited features.
- Professional: $249/month, improved capacity and support.
- Corporate: Custom pricing, tailored for enterprises.
- Reasons for Alternatives:
- Limited analytics and customization options.
- High costs for scaling and manual localization process.
- Alternatives: Consider platforms like Appcues, UserPilot, Chameleon, Pendo, and Stonly for more comprehensive features and analytics.
What is UserGuiding?
UserGuiding is a no-code platform that helps teams create in-app guides, product tours, and onboarding checklists without needing coding skills. This tool is designed to streamline the onboarding process, keeping users engaged and guiding them through the product features to improve retention.
Main Use Cases for UserGuiding
- User Onboarding:
- Interactive Walkthroughs and Guides: You can create interactive product tours and guides that help new users understand how to navigate your software, without involving developers.
- Onboarding Checklists: These checklists help users know what steps they need to take next, leading them through a logical process to complete onboarding.
- Resource Center: This feature allows you to store helpful resources like tutorials or documents that users can access when they need help.
- However, on the Basic plan, you face limitations like being able to create only:
- 20 guides and hotspots,
- 2 onboarding checklists, and
- 1 resource center.
If you need more flexibility, the Professional plan allows unlimited guides and additional features, but it costs between $299 and $399 per month.
- Product Analytics:
- Limitations: UserGuiding does not offer built-in product analytics beyond interactions with the guides and resources created within the tool. This limits how much insight you can gain about overall product usage.
- Integrations: You can integrate with external analytics tools like Amplitude, Mixpanel, and Segment to get broader analytics, but you’ll need to pay for these services separately.
- Self-Service Support:
- Resource Center: You can use this feature to create a hub where users find answers and learn to use the product on their own.
- Localization: You can offer content in multiple languages, but the process is manual. You’ll need to download the content, translate it, and then upload it back into the system.
- Analytics: UserGuiding’s analytics only show basic information, such as how many users interacted with the resource center in the last seven days, limiting your ability to measure engagement effectively.
UserGuiding Pricing
UserGuiding offers three pricing plans designed for various business sizes, from startups to enterprises.
- Basic Plan ($89/month): For startups and SMBs, includes one active survey, two checklists, up to 2,500 MAUs, user identification, and basic integrations.
- Professional Plan ($249/month): Designed for larger teams, it allows up to 20,000 MAUs, removes branding, adds language localization, and offers unlimited guides/checklists.
- Corporate Plan (custom pricing): Tailored for enterprises, includes up to 10 active surveys, custom MAU capacity, and comprehensive support agreements.
5 Reason why you might need a UserGuiding Alternatives
You may want to consider an alternative to UserGuiding if you find yourself in any of the following situations:
- Lack of In-Depth Analytics
UserGuiding's analytics capabilities are limited to tracking interactions with the guides and resources you create within the platform. It doesn't offer native product analytics, and to get broader insights, you'll need to integrate with third-party tools like Amplitude or Mixpanel, which come with additional costs. An alternative that offers built-in analytics may provide more value.
- Create Fully Interactive Product Tours
While UserGuiding excels at creating in-app experiences and user guides, it may not provide the breadth of tools necessary to support a comprehensive product adoption strategy. The platform's limitations can hinder your ability to fully engage users and drive long-term adoption.
- Need for CSS Knowledge for Customization
While UserGuiding markets itself as a no-code tool, customizing certain elements requires CSS skills. As you dive deeper into using the platform, you’ll encounter situations where the drag-and-drop interface falls short, and manual coding is required. For teams without developers, this can be a significant drawback, and no-code alternatives might be a better fit.
- Manual Localization
For businesses with multilingual user bases, UserGuiding's manual localization process is a drawback. You'll need to manually download, translate, and upload CSV files, which is time-consuming. Some alternatives offer automated localization, making it easier to support users in different languages.
- High Costs for Scaling
The pricing jump from the Basic to Professional plan is steep, increasing costs from $89/month to $249 or more. For small teams or startups, this price hike can be prohibitive, especially given the limitations of the Basic plan. If you’re seeking more cost-effective options with better scalability, you may need to explore alternatives with more flexible pricing and features.
5 Best UserGuiding Alternatives
1. Appcues
Appcues is a versatile product adoption platform, ideal for everything from user onboarding to feature adoption. It’s particularly user-friendly, requiring no technical expertise to set up, making it easy to start enhancing your user experience immediately.
Reviews: G2 - ⭐ 4.6/5 (305 reviews)
Pricing:
- Essentials: $249/month (2,500 MAU)
- Growth: $879/month (2,500 MAU)
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Why Choose Appcues?
Appcues is perfect for those who need a robust analytics system. Moreover, Appcues offers a range of powerful features, including a drag-and-drop builder, guides, checklists, tooltips, hotspots, and product tours, all designed to streamline user onboarding and enhance the user experience.
Additionally, it provides advanced capabilities like A/B testing, segmentation, and an events explorer, making it easy to track and optimize user interactions across your platform.
Appcues vs. UserGuiding:
Appcues excels in providing robust analytics and a variety of user engagement tools, making it suitable for detailed user onboarding and product adoption strategies. In comparison, UserGuiding may offer simpler setup but lacks advanced analytics and comprehensive engagement features.
2. UserPilot
UserPilot is a user onboarding and product adoption platform that focuses on creating personalized user experiences without needing code.
Reviews: G2 - ⭐ 4.7/5 (243 reviews)
Pricing:
- Starter: $99/month (5,000 MAU)
- Pro: $249/month (5,000 MAU)
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Why Choose UserPilot?
UserPilot stands out with its intuitive interface and comprehensive onboarding features. It offers a variety of user engagement tools like in-app messaging, NPS surveys, and user segmentation. However, its analytics capabilities are less advanced compared to Appcues.
UserPilot vs. UserGuiding:
UserPilot provides extensive user engagement tools and a straightforward setup process, making it suitable for startups and small to medium-sized businesses looking to enhance user onboarding. UserGuiding offers similar features but may have limitations in scalability and advanced feature customization.
3. Chameleon
Chameleon is a platform that specializes in in-product tours and walkthroughs to improve user onboarding and feature adoption.
Reviews: G2 - ⭐ 4.5/5 (182 reviews)
Pricing:
- Basic: $199/month (5,000 MAU)
- Growth: $599/month (5,000 MAU)
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Why Choose Chameleon?
Chameleon focuses on creating interactive product tours and walkthroughs to educate users about your product's features. It offers extensive customization options and analytics to track user behavior within your app.
Chameleon vs. UserGuiding:
Chameleon excels in creating engaging in-product experiences through interactive tours and personalized messages. UserGuiding may offer simpler setup but lacks the advanced customization and detailed analytics provided by Chameleon.
4. Pendo
Pendo is a comprehensive platform for product analytics and user feedback, designed to help businesses understand and improve user experiences.
Reviews: G2 - ⭐ 4.8/5 (390 reviews)
Pricing:
- Essentials: Pricing available on request
- Pro: Pricing available on request
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Why Choose Pendo?
Pendo offers advanced analytics features like user segmentation, funnels, and cohort analysis, coupled with in-depth user feedback tools. It provides robust integrations and customization options to tailor user experiences effectively.
Pendo vs. UserGuiding:
Pendo focuses heavily on analytics and user feedback, making it suitable for enterprises needing detailed insights into user behavior. UserGuiding, while offering similar onboarding capabilities, may not match Pendo's analytics depth and enterprise-level integrations.
5. Stonly
Stonly is a decent onboarding platform for building interactive guides and step-by-step walkthroughs for your website or SaaS product. It allows you to embed onboarding documentation in third-party applications like Zendesk, HubSpot, and Salesforce.
Reviews: G2 - ⭐ 4.6/5 (98 reviews)
Pricing:
- Starter: $149/month (unlimited guides)
- Growth: $499/month (unlimited guides)
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Why Choose Stonly?
Stonly specializes in interactive guides and tutorials that help users understand complex processes or features within your product. It offers easy customization and integration options with analytics to measure guide effectiveness.
Stonly vs. UserGuiding:
Stonly provides focused tools for creating interactive guides, making it ideal for companies looking to enhance user support and feature adoption through tutorials. UserGuiding may offer broader onboarding capabilities but with less emphasis on interactive guide creation.
Conclusion
UserGuiding is an affordable onboarding solution for startups and SMBs, offering features like interactive guides and checklists. However, it may struggle to scale for larger user bases due to limited analytics and customization options.
As businesses grow, they may require more robust solutions that provide advanced analytics, deeper customization, and specialized tools tailored for onboarding and product adoption.
Evaluating specific requirements and future growth potential is essential for selecting the right platform to enhance user engagement and support ongoing business development.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is UserGuiding primarily used for?
UserGuiding is mainly used for creating interactive onboarding experiences and guides to help users navigate software effectively.
- What are the main limitations of UserGuiding?
Key limitations include basic analytics capabilities, limited customization options, and a steep pricing increase as you scale.
- Can UserGuiding support multi-language content?
Yes, but localization is a manual process requiring translation and re-uploading of content.
- How does UserGuiding compare to other onboarding tools?
UserGuiding is more affordable but may lack the advanced features and scalability offered by competitors like Appcues and Pendo.
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