What is Contextual Onboarding? and does it make any difference?

Contextual Onboarding is the practice of introducing users to a product via in-app Guides. Adopting this approach Product Managers can make a major improvement in user adoption and retention rates whilst lowering costs.

This strategy helps users overcome any initial confusion or frustration they may have when first using a new product. Contextual onboarding helps users quickly learn to use a product, improving the users experience and increasing user engagement.

Contextual onboarding helps users achieve their goals more efficiently and effectively. It does this by providing the right information to the right user at the right time whilst reducing customer churn rates.

Here 5 key steps to successful Contextual Onboarding :

1. Understand what users need to do to achieve their goals in your product. This could be signing up, creating a profile, or using certain features. This is referred to as “Activation” in popular product adoption frameworks such as Pirate Metrics.
2. Give the right users, the right information and instructions at the right time and place within the app. Use tooltips, pop-ups, or interactive tutorials to help them navigate and complete task.
3. Personalized user onboarding: Customize the onboarding process to fit user preferences, behaviour, or past interactions. By understanding the user and the user journey, you can offer more relevant and focused assistance.
4. Progressive disclosure is a technique that involves gradually introducing features to users as they become more familiar with the product. This approach prevents users from feeling overwhelmed with too much information all at once. It also allows users to learn at their own pace. This helps prevent cognitive overload and allows users to learn at their own pace.
5. Monitor and improve the onboarding process by observing user behaviour and collect user feedback via in-app surveys. Utilize analytics tools to track user engagement, completion rates, and drop-off points. Use this data to enhance the onboarding experience.

By using these strategies, you can create an onboarding experience that will help users learn and use your product or service. As a result, more users will continue to use your product and potentially refer more of their friends and colleagues.

What difference can Contextual Onboarding make? What are the important numbers?

1. Improved Product adoption. Contextual customers have been able to seamlessly onboard thousands of users in a matter of days instead or weeks.
2. Lower onboarding costs. Companies have reported that it costs 5 times less with Contextual Onboarding than using traditional methods. Contextual onboarding makes external services like knowledge bases and their maintenance redundant. Users don’t have to attend online classes and can complete the app onboarding in their own time
3. Increased user retention: Companies using Contextual Onboarding have reported user retention rates of over 80%. Contextual onboarding accelerates Time to Value which ensures that users quickly understand how to use the product to achieve their goals. This reduces the time it takes for users to derive value from the product, leading to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.
4. Enhanced user satisfaction: Contextual Onboarding helps users achieve their goals more efficiently and effectively. This leads to increased user satisfaction and a better overall experience. This can often lead to increased positive reviews on the App and Play Store.
5. Reduced support costs: Contextual onboarding can help reduce support costs by helping users navigate and use the product confidently. Users who have a clear understanding of how to use a product are less likely to require support or assistance.

These are just a few examples of the benefits that companies can enjoy after implementing contextual onboarding. By providing a seamless and guided onboarding experience, companies can drive user engagement, satisfaction, retention and sustainable growth.