New-user onboarding
Turn signups into active users in their very first session. Greet new users, walk them to the core action, and give them a checklist that ticks itself off as they go.
How teams use Wakeline for this.
Welcome them in
Open with a friendly modal that sets expectations and points to the first step.
Walk them to value
A guided tour moves users to the one action that matters, advancing as they actually do it.
Make progress visible
A checklist shows what's left and auto-completes as users finish each task.
Live in three steps.
Greet new signups
Target logged-in, first-session users.
Guide the first win
Tour them to the core action.
Track setup
A checklist carries them to done.
A first-week onboarding system, not just a tour.
One tour is a greeting; onboarding is a week. Here is the three-guide system a project-management app would run, using surfaces that each do one job.
Minute one: the welcome
A modal for logged-in users on first session: the promise in a sentence, then "Show me around" into a three-step tour that advances as the user actually creates their first board.
Day one: the checklist
A persistent launcher opens a four-item setup list — create a board, invite a teammate, add a task, connect a tool — each item completing automatically on the real action, in order.
Day three: the recovery nudge
A slideout targets a segment where boards_count equals 0: "Two minutes to your first board?" Users who activated never see it — the segment excludes them by definition.
All week: watch the funnel
The tour's step funnel names the drop-off step; the checklist's per-item completion shows where setup stalls. You fix the named thing, not the vibe.
What to expect: Activation becomes an instrumented path instead of a hope. Expect the checklist's weakest item to reveal your product's real friction point within the first hundred signups — that finding usually pays for the whole setup.
When not to use this play.
No pattern fits every job. Here’s where we’d point you at something else — sometimes ours, sometimes not.
Before the product can deliver its value
Onboarding amplifies a working product; it cannot rescue a broken one. If activated users do not retain, guides will move users to a destination that disappoints — fix the destination first.
Explaining a screen that needs redesign
When every user needs a tour to survive one screen, the screen is the defect. Use session replay to confirm, fix the UI, and let guides handle orientation rather than life support.
One giant tour instead of a system
A nine-step tour covering everything is the classic failure — completion collapses. Split by moment: welcome now, feature tours later, triggered when each becomes relevant.
What should new-user onboarding include?
Three layers: a short welcome tour to the first valuable action (three to five steps, advancing on real clicks), a self-completing setup checklist for the first week, and a recovery nudge for users who stall — each targeted so activated users never see remediation.
How do I measure whether onboarding works?
Tour completion and per-step drop-off in the funnel, checklist item completion, and — the number that matters — how many new users reach your activation event. Wakeline gives you the first three; join the last in your own analytics.
Won't guides annoy users who don't need them?
Not if targeting does its job: first-session triggers, "until completed" frequency, segment exclusions for already-activated users, and don't-show-again everywhere. The system is built so the fast users graduate out of it silently.
How long should the welcome tour be?
Three to five steps, ending on the user's first real win. Anything the tour does not cover belongs in later, contextual guides — feature discovery has its own moment, and it is not minute one.
Do I need a developer to set this up?
Only for the snippet install and, ideally, an identify() call with a few traits — one-time work. The tours, checklist, segments, and nudges are all built and iterated without code.
Put this to work.
Ship your first guide in minutes. Free to start — no credit card.