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.
Struggling to keep your customers engaged after they sign up? If your new users don’t experience the value of your product quickly, they may lose interest and start looking elsewhere.
This can lead to higher churn rates and missed opportunities. But there’s good news—effective customer onboarding tools can transform this critical phase, helping users see the benefits of your product right away.
To make things easier, we’ve put together a list of the best customer onboarding software and apps for 2024, designed to enhance your onboarding process and drive user adoption.
What is SaaS customer onboarding software?
Customer onboarding refers to the software that teach users how to use primary and secondary features of a product. In other words, customer software are tools that help users guide through the initial stage of their product or service.
Let's clarify what we're talking about. When we mention customer onboarding in the context of SaaS, we're focusing on user onboarding rather than employee training or client onboarding for project-based work. If you’re seeking advice on training new hires, this article won’t address that. This might include:
- Tooltips that highlight new or complex features, enhancing user engagement.
- Interactive walkthroughs that help users navigate core features and achieve success with your product.
- Modals that suggest upgrading to a higher account level for long-term users.
- In-app help center widgets that provide access to your knowledge base directly from within the software.
Common features to look for in customer onboarding tools
When choosing a customer onboarding tool, look for features that enhance user experience and streamline the process. Key elements to consider include customizable onboarding flows, interactive tutorials, and in-app messaging to guide users effectively.
Tools should offer segmentation and personalization to tailor experiences, as well as robust analytics and reporting for tracking progress. Integration with existing systems and support for automation can save time, while mobile compatibility and help center integration ensure accessibility.
Additionally, features like multi-language support, customizable branding, and interactive elements like quizzes can make onboarding more engaging and aligned with your brand. Scalability is also crucial to accommodate your growing user base.
Key factors for selecting the best customer onboarding software
While the price is an obvious consideration, evaluating the true value of customer onboarding software involves focusing on several crucial aspects:
- Is the software equipped to segment your users effectively?
Without segmentation, you risk providing a one-size-fits-all onboarding experience, which can lead to disengagement. Ensure the software can automatically categorize users into relevant segments to tailor the onboarding process accordingly.
- Can you track and analyze user behavior?
Measuring the impact of your onboarding efforts is essential for determining their effectiveness. Your chosen software should offer robust analytics to assess how users interact with your onboarding content and gauge the success of your strategies.
- Are your walkthroughs truly interactive?
Some tools only offer basic tooltips or linear tours, which might not be effective. Look for software that enables dynamic, responsive walkthroughs that adapt to user input, providing a more engaging experience.
- Can you communicate with users within the app?
Avoid relying solely on email notifications and surveys, which can lead to distractions. Opt for software that supports in-app messaging and microsurveys to gather feedback and engage users directly within your application.
- Is the software genuinely no-code?
Be cautious of tools that claim to be code-free but still require complex coding for advanced features. Verify that the software delivers on its no-code promise, allowing you to build and customize onboarding experiences without needing coding skills.
Best No-code customer Onboarding Software
1. Pendo
Pendo is a robust digital adoption platform known for its advanced analytics and in-app feedback features, primarily targeting enterprise users. It offers various onboarding guides like Lightbox, Banner, and Tooltips, and supports both web and mobile apps.
However, its free version has limited features and basic analytics. Pendo’s onboarding elements are somewhat basic and lack customization without coding.
Additionally, checklists are only accessible from the resource center, which can be unintuitive. Notably, Pendo doesn’t allow targeting users based on in-app events, making its analytics less actionable.
2. Userpilot
Userpilot is a no-code product adoption platform that lets you create personalized in-app experiences and onboarding flows without writing code.
It offers a range of UI patterns, an AI-powered writing assistant, and robust tools for tracking user interactions and gathering feedback. You can easily build contextual onboarding experiences and integrate with Hubspot and analytics tools.
However, while Userpilot is powerful and flexible, it may have a learning curve for new users and might be costly for smaller teams or startups. Overall, it provides great value for enhancing user onboarding and engagement.
3. Appcues
Appcues, once known for its onboarding templates that simplified the setup process, has removed these templates without providing a replacement.
Despite this, Appcues still allows you to design intuitive onboarding flows and product tours with an easy-to-use, no-code interface. You can build in-app experiences using a WYSIWYG editor, though you’ll need to manually create flows without the previous templates.
Checklists and UI engagement tracking are available, but the functionality is somewhat limited compared to competitors like Zero to Aha. Appcues offers custom user segmentation, but the Essentials plan restricts you to just five segments.
4. Userlist
Userlist simplifies the process of sending automated onboarding flows via email or in-app messages. It allows you to set up advanced triggers based on user behavior, like starting an onboarding sequence when a user reaches a specific page.
With a clean, user-friendly interface, creating emails is easy, and segmentation lets you tailor onboarding flows to different customer groups.
Userlist’s Basic plan is affordable at $149 per month for unlimited messages and up to 10,000 users, though prices increase with upgrades. Overall, it's a strong choice for automating email onboarding.
Conclusion
By now, you should have a clearer understanding of what onboarding software is and why it's essential for your SaaS business. We've provided you with a solid framework to help you choose the best solution for your needs.
Zero to Aha is an excellent choice with its broad features and competitive pricing. It offers everything from user segmentation to in-app guidance, ensuring your customers quickly see the value of your product and remain engaged.
If you're looking for a reliable onboarding software that drives user adoption and growth, Zero to Aha is the top choice to elevate your onboarding strategy and keep your customers coming back.
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