Nail the Onboarding Experience

If you are building a new application, nailing the onboarding flow can make your product dead on arrival. While some may see it as an after thought compared to the core product experience, I would argue it should be the most thought out and well optimized experience that you have.

But what makes it so important? And in 2025, what are elements required in a great onboarding flow? Let’s talk about it.

Every new product will live and die on it’s magic moment. The moment where users start to truly understand what differentiates you from the rest of the products they use and you start to drive a wedge in millions of digital experiences that compete for their time.

Onboarding can be simply defined as the time it takes to get them from 0 to that magic moment.

True onboarding actually starts far before a customer ever touches your product and is from the very first interaction your brand has with them. But for the purposes of this article, let’s stick to that first interaction assuming you nailed distribution and marketing.

1. Tunnel Vision to the Magic Moment

Some onboarding flows drop the user straight into the void without any context. Some go through every single feature in the app, duelessly explaining every single thing to its user before you can get started. The right answer of course is somewhere in the middle.

People need a hook in order to invest time. But once hooked, people will volunteer time in the things they are hooked in. So the main focus should be in doing a minimize time optimization for getting your users across that threshold.

Beyond limiting the amount of pages and elements you need to interact with to get there, some quick and practical ways to do that include:

• Using Auth0 or any other OAuth Provider for the sign in process. Not doing so should be absolutely necessary.
• Pre fill as much information as possible from the data you receive. You can also do import from LinkedIn or Instagram to make things easier.
• Use Google Location Services and Place Autocomplete if you need addresses.
• Use Stripe to process payments, start subscriptions and manage free trials. Their multiple payment options and ease of use makes it extremely easy nowadays.

2. AI-First Applications: Context Is Everything

With AI, context is everything. And with every application becoming based on personalized experiences driven through AI, it becomes extremely important to make sure your onboarding flow is getting the context it needs to effectively show differentiation through its magic moment.

The Cold Start Problem is real, AI systems need data to be useful, but users won’t provide data until they see usefulness. Smart solutions include:

• Begin with pre-trained defaults that provide immediate value
• Show before/after examples of personalization improvements
• Gamify the initial training process

The point of getting context has to be just right. Ask too many questions and 80% of people will likely drop off in the onboarding. Ask too little and the lack of personalization is likely to make sure people never open the app again.

It’s a very fickle balance. I think this is where Pareto’s principle comes into play. Effectively find the 20% that can get your app 80% there. Build the 20% over time with data collection or subtle nudges to get the user to do certain interactions. Once the user is invested and see the value in the app, getting that the required 80% for the last 20% will be far easier.

3. Nudge Your Users to Keep Going

The drop-off rate in onboarding flows is typically highest at points of friction or where users need to invest effort. Implementing strategic nudges can significantly improve completion rates.

Consider:

• Progress indicators showing how far users have come and how little remains
• Microcopy that reinforces benefits at each step (“This helps us customize your experience”)
• Strategic timing of reward previews (“You’re almost ready to access your personalized dashboard”)
• Breaking complex forms into digestible steps with immediate feedback
• Save-and-continue functionality for longer processes
• Ways you can reduce the amount the user has to read (every word on the page should be there for a reason)

Gamification: Make Data Collection Fun

Finding unique and fun ways to collect data can transform the onboarding experience.

Consider:

• Tinder-style swiping: For preference selection, makes choosing options feel like a game
• Achievement unlocks: Small celebratory moments when users complete important sections
• Interactive sliders: For numerical inputs rather than boring text fields
• Progress visualizations: Using animated characters that “level up” as users move through steps

When users are enjoying the process, they’re far less likely to abandon it midway. This approach works particularly well with younger demographics who expect digital interactions to be engaging rather than purely functional.

If you need any inspiration for this, I highly recommend downloading the Temu app. I have never seen an app so hell bent on gamifying everything like they have. While they take it to the extreme, there is definitely some interesting insights there which might be useful for your own applications, albeit more subtly.

4. Real World Success Stories

Notion’s Personalized Templates

Notion’s onboarding brilliantly solves the “blank canvas” problem that plagues many productivity tools. By asking users to identify their role and intended use case, they immediately present relevant templates that showcase the product’s value. Their completion rates reportedly jumped 40% after implementing this personalized approach.

Duolingo’s Gamified Learning Assessment

Duolingo’s language skill assessment doesn’t feel like a test, it feels like playing a game. Users are immediately engaged in the core activity (language learning) while the app cleverly determines their proficiency level in the background. This approach led to a reported 68% higher retention rate.

Slack’s Progressive Workspace Setup

Slack excels by breaking their onboarding into must-have configurations upfront and nice-to-have settings later. Their clever “skip for now” options prioritize getting teams communicating quickly, while subtle reminders encourage workspace customization over time. This approach contributed to their impressive 93% renewal rate among business customers.

5. B2B vs B2C Onboarding: Key Differences

While the fundamental principles remain consistent, B2B and B2C products require different approaches:

B2B Onboarding Priorities:

• Account hierarchy and team permission setup (this is where WorkOS can make onboarding and meeting security protocols dead simple)
• Integration with existing business systems
• ROI demonstration for decision-makers
• Multi-user collaboration features
• Training resources for team adoption
• Early stage, you as a founder, should be there every step of the way with your customer and can pull strings manually to reduce the friction to get things started.

B2C Onboarding Priorities:

• Immediate personal value demonstration
• Faster time-to-value (minutes, not hours)
• Entertainment and emotional engagement
• Social connection and sharing options
• Simplified one-user focused experience

The most critical difference: B2B products must often satisfy multiple stakeholders with different priorities, while B2C products can focus on delighting the individual.

6. The 2025 Onboarding Essentials

In today’s landscape, certain elements have become non-negotiable for a competitive onboarding experience:

1. Biometric authentication: Fingerprint/face ID integration for frictionless returns
2. Progressive disclosure: Revealing features as users need them rather than all at once
3. Personalized onboarding paths: Different journeys based on user segment or stated goals
4. Multi-device continuity: Seamlessly continue onboarding across devices, especially if it is lengthy
5. AI-powered assistance: Contextual help that anticipates user questions
6. Social proof integration: Strategically placed testimonials to reinforce value during moments of hesitation
7. Value-first demonstrations: Show, don’t tell, your key differentiators

7. Measuring Onboarding Success

Beyond completion rates, effective metrics to track include:

• Time to value (how quickly users reach the magic moment)
• Feature adoption rates post-onboarding
• Second-session return rates
• Activation rates for key features
• User satisfaction scores specific to the onboarding experience

The most successful products in 2025 recognize that onboarding isn’t just a series of forms to complete, it’s the critical first impression that sets the tone for the entire user relationship. By focusing relentlessly on accelerating the path to your product’s magic moment while collecting just enough context for personalization, you’ll dramatically improve your chances of turning new users into loyal customers.

In a world of endless digital options, users give new products mere minutes to prove their worth. Make those minutes count. Because there is no guarantee you will get them again.

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Check out this Podcast Episode!

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In this episode of Building Blocks, we sit down with Emre Ertan, co-founder and co-CEO of Cenoa, a borderless super wallet revolutionizing how people in emerging markets access digital dollars.

Previously the CPO/CTO at Getir where he scaled the engineering team from 80 to 400 people, Emre shares his journey from a small town in Turkey to Silicon Valley, and how that experience shaped his vision for democratizing financial access globally.

He discusses Cenoa's explosive growth in Nigeria (50K+ signups in first month), their innovative approach to simplifying blockchain technology for everyday users, and his perspectives on building compliant fintech products across 40+ markets.

Thanks for reading,

Daivik Goel