The Role of User Onboarding in Product-Led Growth

With rapid technological development, businesses of all sizes are adopting advanced measures to fast-track themselves. In 2022, around 90% of businesses adopted a digital user onboarding experience. The users claimed that if they face any challenges, they will abandon the products and services.

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Customer communication channels and optimization opportunities are some of the common challenges that businesses suffer from. However, optimizing the user onboarding process with a product-led growth strategy and comprehensive onboarding documentation can help to enhance the overall process. Optimizing product-led growth onboarding with the proper channels can eventually be helpful for business continuity.

In this blog, we will take a closer look at the role of user onboarding in product-led growth practices and benefits.

What is Product-Led Growth and Its Strategy?

Product-led growth is one of the most prominent business strategies in today’s time. Businesses of all sizes have been using product-led growth strategies to acquire and onboard new customers. This strategy focuses on enhancing users’ experiences via products rather than traditional approaches like support or customer service.

Businesses have been able to optimize their services, customer messaging, and on-screen experience for users via product-led growth onboarding. It eventually plays an important role in solving complex issues at the business while enabling the productivity of employees. With the help of a product-led growth strategy, businesses have been able to upsell their products while driving the best user experiences. With the help of a product-led growth strategy, businesses have been able to upsell their products while driving the best user experiences. All they have to do afterwards is find an agency to professionally promote the product.

Various businesses use different product-led growth strategies to ensure that customers are signed up for the products. In the initial stages, these businesses provide a freemium model where customers can sign up and check out the product.

Then, the business will create exciting and enticing copies with additional features to compel the users to upgrade to a paid version. As a result, it will help in using the software to its maximum capabilities and provide an excellent first experience to the customers.

Importance of User Onboarding in PLG

When you use a product, you tend to form an opinion about it within a few seconds. Once you have developed a first impression of a certain product, it can be quite different to change it.

Similarly, your users will also focus on the type of experience you’re providing. They will form an opinion about your brand in the initial stages of using the respective product.

If you want to onboard the user through a product-led growth strategy, it is crucial that you provide them with an exceptional experience. Some of the major benefits of product-led growth user onboarding are as follows:

1. Retention Driver

Businesses of all sizes must retain their customers, for it has an important role in increasing business revenue. Implementing user onboarding through product-led growth can help in increasing the overall lifetime value of the consumer.

With a smooth and successful onboarding process, you’re providing an exceptional experience from the initial stage itself. This will help you win over the trust of your customers, and you will receive better customer loyalty. This paves the way for retaining customers.

2. Increases Value

Rather than following what everyone is doing, you should consider creating a unique stream. Product-led growth onboarding can help enhance the overall value. Furthermore, it will contribute towards multiplying the income through different streams.

The value also increases because of retention. As a result, the company’s revenue and growth scope increase, which helps pave the foundation for the future. Furthermore, it helps create a positive first impression, which is highly crucial for development.

3. Low Cost of Customer Acquisition

Customer acquisition can often turn out to be extremely expensive. Well, one of the major advantages of user onboarding through PLG is that it helps to lower the customer acquisition cost, or CAC. This is mostly because it helps improve retention and revenue.

When you’re providing a smooth and efficient onboarding process, you’re increasing engagement rates. This provides an efficient source for better business while reducing unwanted CAC. Furthermore, you can also use this strategy to turn your regular user into a customer.

Fusing user onboarding with a product-led growth onboarding strategy can be the driving force behind the success of any business.

The Connection Between User Onboarding and PLG

Often, the product-led growth strategy will only help optimize the onboarding process. Since these two are interrelated, it is important to carefully plan them. The success of one factor will eventually determine the success of another.

Managing harmony and symphony through user experience can play an important role in solving problems. Implementing product-led growth and user onboarding is a win-win situation. The users get to experience new products that can potentially solve their problems. Moreover, these onboarding tools will help in solving the complex problems of users.

Your users are not only buying products but also experiences and solutions. If you can provide a combination of all the elements in one, your customers will be able to continue business with you. As a result, it will help foster long-term relationships between your brand and customers.

Best Practices for User Onboarding in PLG

Adopting the best practices for user onboarding in product-led growth is all about retention, adoption, activation, and a higher revenue model.

Here are some of the best product-led growth practices that you can implement to ensure a smooth user onboarding process:

1. Maintain Clarity and Simplicity

Simplicity is one of the fundamental requirements of user onboarding. It is advisable to keep the process as simple as possible with an intuitive flow. The process can also guide the users about what next step is to be taken.

The onboarding language tonality, too, should be clear and concise with all visual elements. This plays an important role in maintaining interactive aspects across all platforms to ensure the user finds the process engaging and follows it.

Grammarly is one of the prime examples of successfully onboarding customers. They have a very user-friendly interface and a simple onboarding process. You can visit their website, and the onboarding options (sign-up) are there. Once you click on the options, you will need to provide your details, and you will be onboarded.

Source: Grammarly

2. Gradual Feature Introduction

Your users may not be familiar with all the features that you’re offering. So, you can provide a gradual introduction to all the features. This helps in avoiding confusion and disengagement. 

In the initial onboarding phases, you should provide information on the most relevant features. Once you’ve explained the core functionality, the customers will become extremely comfortable using the products. However, before you launch a new feature important for the product, you should test it.

Trello does an excellent job of onboarding new users while providing them with information about the features. While onboarding the new users, it provides a four-step tour to the customers to ensure a proper user experience. In case of any new feature updates as well, the customer is constantly informed of it. You can get a guided tour of the new changes once you agree to their pop-up.

Source: Trello

3. Interactive Tutorials

Tutorials are an important part of the user onboarding process. It ensures that the users can effectively go through the entire process. It is advisable to provide a step-by-step guide on what must be done next.

To make the tutorial engaging and attractive, you can add interactive walkthroughs. Furthermore, you should mention how to use specific features. Product tours and in-app demos can also help make the process interactive and fun.

Loom is a prominent product that introduces its features to the customers while onboarding itself. They have a detailed step-by-step guide on how to use the platform. If any user is using the app for the first time, they will receive a complete walkthrough of the product. The tutorial also provides details on technical aspects in terms of extensions.

Source: Whatfix

4. Know Your Users

Knowing and understanding your users is one of the most prominent aspects of a product-led growth strategy. Once you know your target audience, you will be able to cater to their needs better.

Businesses should conduct user research and analyze customer feedback to understand customer pain points thoroughly. It should also aim at making the onboarding process simple while fitting their needs.

Facebook led the field in terms of understanding their users and onboarding them. Facebook became a one-of-a-kind company to provide a platform for people to connect. It monetized the highly engaged users while providing flexibility and freedom to the audience. The platform helped the users become familiar with their digital products and use it accordingly.

Source: CodePen

Conclusion

Adopting a digital platform can play an important role in solving customers’ potential problems. It also helps to streamline the process and ensure a smooth user onboarding experience. A product-led growth strategy can help onboard customers. Choosing the right platform for onboarding can help reduce time spent.

It is advisable that you do proper research about product-led growth onboarding. You should be familiar with the built-in analytics and tracking, which will help in measuring engagement across all sectors. Furthermore, it will also help in breaking down engagement, which will contribute towards a smooth user journey.