An in-depth UserGuiding reviews-Features, Pricing, Pros and Cons

In this article, we’ll help you evaluate if UserGuiding meets your customer experience needs. We’ll examine its features, pricing, and provide a thorough review to support your decision-making process.

Let’s dive in!

TL;DR

What is UserGuiding?

A no-code product adoption platform for creating in-app walkthroughs, guides, and checklists.
Enhances onboarding, engagement, and customer retention without coding skills.

Key Features:

UI Patterns: Tooltips, prompts, and walkthroughs for user support.
Customer Engagement Tracking: Tools for gathering experience data.
Microsurveys: For feedback and user persona building.
Advanced Segmentation: Tailors user experience based on needs.
Analytics Dashboard: Centralized tracking of user insights and behaviors.

Ideal Users:

Small to mid-sized businesses seeking a user-friendly onboarding tool.
Non-technical teams needing an intuitive interface.
Companies with basic onboarding requirements.

Pros:

Easy setup and no coding required.
Customizable themes and straightforward onboarding.
Good user segmentation capabilities.

Cons:

Limited customization options and analytics.
Significant pricing jump from Basic to Professional plans.
Manual localization process; no AI-powered features.
Basic plan limits active surveys and checklists.

Alternatives:

Consider if you need advanced analytics, fully interactive product tours, or code-free segmentation features.

What is UserGuiding?

UserGuiding is a no-code product adoption platform that lets you create in-app guides for easy user onboarding. It enables teams to build walkthroughs, guides, and checklists to onboard, engage, and retain users—all without requiring coding skills.

Overall, UserGuiding offers a flexible solution that enhances the onboarding process, boosts user engagement, and improves customer retention.

Key Features of UserGuiding

UI Patterns: Elements like tooltips, action-driven prompts, and interactive walkthroughs to provide proactive user support.

Customer Engagement Tracking: Tools to gather valuable customer experience data.

Microsurveys: For gathering feedback and building user personas, which are essential for product personalization.

Advanced Segmentation: Options like need-based and behavioral segmentation to tailor the user experience according to individual needs and goals.

Analytics Dashboard: A centralized place to track customer insights, including user events, feature usage, and survey data.

Who Should Use UserGuiding?

Small to Mid-sized Businesses (SMBs): If you’re a small company looking for a cost-effective, easy-to-use onboarding tool, UserGuiding is a great fit. Its pricing and feature set are ideal for businesses that don’t need deep customization or advanced analytics.

Non-technical Teams: UserGuiding’s no-code interface is perfect for teams without technical expertise. If your marketing or product teams are responsible for user onboarding, they’ll find this platform intuitive and straightforward to use.

Companies with Simple Onboarding Needs: If you don’t need extensive customization or advanced analytics, UserGuiding covers the basics very well.

First Impressions: UserGuiding’s Interface and Usability

Initial Setup Experience

UserGuiding’s interface offers a straightforward, no-code platform designed to create interactive onboarding experiences quickly. Its clean layout, minimalistic design, and intuitive drag-and-drop builder make it accessible to non-technical users.

Setting up basic onboarding flows, such as tooltips and product tours, is simple enough. However, as you attempt to integrate more complex elements like checklists or resource centers, the platform can become a bit challenging to navigate without prior experience or in-depth tutorials. A more guided onboarding flow for first-time users would improve the setup experience.

While the platform's ease of use is one of its key selling points, advanced users may find it lacks the depth offered by competitors like Userpilot or Appcues.

Essential Elements of the UserGuiding Interface

Interactive Product Walkthroughs

UserGuiding shines when it comes to interactive product walkthroughs. As a no-code platform, you can create these walkthroughs without involving developers. The interactive elements you can add—such as modals, tooltips, and input fields—are designed to help users navigate your product seamlessly.

Modals: You can create modal pop-ups for announcements, welcome screens, or user instructions using templates or from scratch.

Tooltips: Tooltips guide users by highlighting specific areas of the interface, and you can customize them through various templates.

Input Fields: These are handy for collecting user information during onboarding processes, though their use is more niche.

However, UserGuiding lacks native A/B testing functionality, so users will need to rely on manual analysis when comparing different guides or walkthroughs.

Onboarding Checklists

UserGuiding allows you to build onboarding checklists that help drive users toward key activation points. These checklists ensure that users are aware of the next step they need to take, thus reducing uncertainty during onboarding.

However, the Basic plan is highly restrictive, limiting you to only 2 checklists. If you need unlimited access to this feature, the Professional plan is required, which may not be budget-friendly for smaller teams or startups.

Resource Centers

The Resource Center feature enables you to compile a library of educational materials that users can access anytime. This can include guides, videos, and help articles, acting as a self-service hub for users. Resource centers also come with a search function, aiding in self-service support.

Unfortunately, you're limited to just one resource center on the Basic plan, which might not be sufficient for products with complex features or multiple user personas.

User Segmentation

User segmentation in UserGuiding is a straightforward process. You can filter users based on their interaction with the platform, browser attributes, or operating systems. User attributes, such as User IDs or interaction history, allow you to create more granular segments, helping tailor onboarding experiences for different user groups.

Notably, the segmentation feature is more suitable for web apps, and the platform lacks mobile app support, which limits its use in multi-platform environments.

Triggers

With UserGuiding, you can set automatic or custom triggers for your onboarding flows. You can decide whether a guide should appear once or repeatedly, depending on specific user conditions. This feature helps tailor onboarding flows to users' behavior, reducing the need for manual intervention.

Features and Functionalities

Onboarding Features

UserGuiding excels in providing tools that create smooth onboarding flows. From modals and tooltips to pop-ups, users are guided step by step, increasing their chances of successful onboarding.

The ability to copy existing guides and make small adjustments is a convenient feature, though the lack of A/B testing hampers the ability to test which version performs better.

Customer Experience Features

For customer experience, UserGuiding’s interactive product walkthroughs, checklists, and tooltips work well to keep users engaged. However, the Basic plan restricts you to only 20 guides and hotspots, which can limit how much you can do with the platform unless you upgrade to higher plans.

User segmentation is another strong point, letting you filter users based on their interaction with guides, operating systems, or user IDs. This can be useful for segmenting users based on their onboarding progress.

In-App Support & Self-Service Features

While UserGuiding isn’t a dedicated customer support tool, it offers features that complement your in-app support infrastructure. The Resource Center serves as a valuable hub for educational content, and live chat integrations with third-party tools enhance the in-app support capabilities.

For self-service support, the Resource Center stands out as the go-to feature, allowing users to search for the help they need without contacting support. The platform also offers localization, although it requires manual translation, which can be tedious for multi-language products.

Feedback Collection Capabilities

UserGuiding offers a variety of tools for gathering user feedback, but they are somewhat basic compared to more advanced onboarding platforms:

Gather Feature Feedback: You can use the Thumbs Up/Down or Written Feedback modals to collect user opinions on specific features. By setting the feedback as "Required to answer," you can ensure users must provide input before moving on to the next step.

Measure Onboarding Satisfaction: The Star Rating modal provides a simple way to gauge user satisfaction with the onboarding process, using a scale to assess the overall experience.

Collect Support Tickets: UserGuiding allows you to organize support tickets through a two-step survey. A Multiple-Choice modal helps users categorize their issue, followed by a Written Feedback modal to describe the problem. This setup keeps support requests organized but lacks more sophisticated support ticketing systems available in dedicated platforms.

Measure NPS (Net Promoter Score): To track customer loyalty, UserGuiding offers an NPS Rating modal, followed by a Written Feedback question to understand why users provided a specific score. While this tool is functional, the analytics behind it are less comprehensive compared to more specialized NPS platforms.

Deflect Churning Users: With a Multiple-Choice modal, you can ask churning users why they’re leaving, followed by a detailed feedback question. While useful, this feature would benefit from more in-depth analytics to understand user behavior and reduce churn effectively.

Collect Feature Requests: For feature requests, the Written Feedback modal is ideal. Its multi-line input field gives users enough space to describe their suggestions in detail.

Create From Scratch: You can build custom surveys using a mix of modals and input types without following pre-defined templates, allowing for greater flexibility in feedback collection.

While these feedback features are helpful, they’re relatively basic. For instance, there’s no ability to collect more granular user behavior data, such as heatmaps or session recordings, limiting the ability to dig deeper into user frustrations or issues.

Analytics: Basic but Limited

UserGuiding’s analytics are functional but not comprehensive. The platform provides insights into how users interact with specific onboarding elements (e.g., how many users complete guides or engage with tooltips), but it doesn’t track broader user behaviors across your product. This limitation could be a dealbreaker for teams looking for deeper product analytics.

For example, UserGuiding’s analytics dashboard doesn’t track user events outside of its platform, which makes it harder to get a complete picture of user behavior. Competitors like Userpilot or Pendo, by contrast, offer more detailed, event-based analytics that allow for deeper insights into user engagement.

Performance and Reliability

For startups or smaller businesses, UserGuiding performs reliably for basic onboarding processes. However, when scaling to more complex user journeys or handling large user bases, the platform can start to show its limitations. Occasional bugs and lack of advanced features such as A/B testing and comprehensive analytics reduce its appeal for more seasoned product teams.

UserGuiding’s Pricing

UserGuiding offers three pricing plans designed to cater to businesses of various sizes, from startups to large enterprises:

1. Basic Plan

Price: $89/month.

Target Audience: Startups and small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

Limitations: This plan restricts users to 1 active survey, 2 active checklists, and a maximum of 2,500 Monthly Active Users (MAUs).

Features:

User identification capabilities.
Integrations with tools like Google Analytics, HubSpot, and Intercom.
Email and chat support.
One customizable theme.

2. Professional Plan

Price: $249/month.

Target Audience: Mid-sized businesses looking for more robust features.

Increased Capacity: Supports up to 20,000 MAUs and offers enhanced customer support.

Features:

Removal of UserGuiding branding.
Language localization.
Full customer support.
5 team member seats.
5 customizable themes.
Unlimited guides and checklists.

3. Corporate Plan

Price: Custom Pricing.

Target Audience: Large enterprises requiring extensive customization and support.

Enterprise Features:

Service Level Agreement (SLA) and Data Processing Agreement (DPA).
Up to 10 active surveys.
Custom MAU capacity tailored to business needs.
Unlimited team member seats.
Unlimited customizable themes.

For all plans, annual billing offers a 40% discount on monthly rates.

What do users says about UserGuiding

UserGuiding users frequently commend the platform for its straightforward onboarding setup and efficient user segmentation capabilities, which simplify progress tracking and data collection. However, some users express frustration over the limited ability to customize appearance without relying on custom CSS.

This viewpoint is echoed in reviews such as:

Of course, negative feedback isn’t limited to a customization as there are also customers who feel that the improvement in reporting functionality.

Pros and Cons of UserGuiding

Pros of UserGuiding

UserGuiding offers several advantages as a product adoption solution, especially for early-stage SaaS companies in need of a simple, no-code tool for product developers or marketers. Here are some key benefits:

Chrome Extension: UserGuiding provides a no-code Chrome extension, making it easy to build guides without any coding knowledge.

Survey Template Gallery: It includes six ready-to-use survey templates, with the flexibility to create custom surveys from scratch.

Analytics Dashboard: The dashboard allows users to track key metrics such as Monthly Active Users (MAUs), the number of guide views, and weekly interactions with checklists or resource centers—all from the homepage.

Custom Themes: Users can customize themes with granular control, including color selection for personalized branding.

Easy Onboarding: The onboarding checklist simplifies the setup process, guiding users through key steps like installing the Chrome extension and creating their first guide.

Cons of UserGuiding

Despite its benefits, UserGuiding has a few notable drawbacks:

Dashboard Customization: The dashboard cannot be customized, so users are unable to choose which analytics are displayed.

Significant Price Jump: Moving from the Basic plan (2,500 MAUs) to the Professional plan (20,000 MAUs) results in a price increase of over four times.

Manual Localization: There is no AI-powered localization feature. Users must manually download, translate, and upload CSV files to localize content for different regions.

HubSpot Integration: The integration with HubSpot is limited to one-way data sync, restricting full data exchange between platforms.

Limited Analytics: The analytics only track content created with UserGuiding, and survey data is minimal, showing total responses without the ability to filter by date range.

Survey Limit: The Basic plan only allows one active survey at a time, which is a major limitation considering the plan costs over $1,000 annually.

Why Consider Alternatives to UserGuiding?

Consider exploring alternatives to UserGuiding if you fit into any of the following scenarios:

Advanced Analytics Needs: If your organization requires a product adoption platform with extensive, native analytics capabilities, platforms like Userpilot or Appcues may better meet your analytical needs.

Fully Interactive Product Tours: While UserGuiding excels in creating in-app experiences and user guides, it may not offer the extensive tools necessary to fully support a robust product adoption strategy that includes fully interactive product tours.

Code-Free Segmentation: UserGuiding's segmentation features may not be sufficiently intuitive and could require additional developer assistance, making it less ideal for users seeking a completely code-free segmentation solution.

Additionally, here are some drawbacks to consider about UserGuiding:

Limited Dashboard Customization: Users cannot customize their home dashboard, limiting their ability to tailor analytics views to their specific needs.

Significant Price Increase: Upgrading from UserGuiding's Basic plan (2,500 MAUs) to the Professional plan (20,000 MAUs) involves a substantial cost increase, which might be prohibitive for growing teams.

Limited Analytics: The analytics dashboard primarily tracks UserGuiding-created onboarding materials and provides basic insights, such as total survey responses without date range filtering.

Survey Limitation on Basic Plan: The Basic plan restricts users to one active survey, potentially limiting comprehensive user feedback collection despite the plan's cost.

Conclusion

In conclusion, UserGuiding offers a no-code solution for product adoption that can significantly enhance onboarding and user engagement for small to mid-sized businesses. Its straightforward setup, user-friendly interface, and various features make it a compelling option for teams lacking technical expertise.

However, potential users should weigh its limitations, such as restricted analytics and customization, along with the considerable price jump when upgrading plans. Ultimately, assessing your specific needs and comparing UserGuiding with its alternatives can help ensure you choose the right platform for your customer experience goals.

Frequently Asked Questions

What types of businesses benefit from UserGuiding? UserGuiding is ideal for small to mid-sized businesses and non-technical teams looking for an easy-to-use onboarding tool.

Does UserGuiding support mobile apps? No, UserGuiding's segmentation features are primarily designed for web applications and do not extend to mobile platforms.

Can I customize the look of my onboarding guides? While UserGuiding allows some theme customization, extensive appearance changes may require custom CSS.

What analytics does UserGuiding provide? UserGuiding offers basic analytics focusing on user engagement with its onboarding materials, but lacks in-depth tracking capabilities.

Is there a limit on the number of guides I can create? Yes, the Basic plan limits you to 20 guides, while higher plans offer unlimited access to guides and checklists.

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Aswin Kumar

I'm a passionate blogger and content creator. I'm driven by a desire to share my knowledge and experiences with others, and I'm always looking for new ways to engage with my readers