Users don't know where to start in your product
Guide new users through 3-5 key actions with an interactive walkthrough that highlights what to click next.
When to use
Your product has multiple features and new users don't know where to start.
Hypothesis template
If we add an interactive tour showing fill in: 3-5 key actions, onboarding completion will increase by fill in: target% because users have clear direction.
Method
The problem: Users sign up, see your dashboard, and don't know what to do first. They leave and never come back.
What works: A lightweight interactive tour that walks users through 3-5 essential actions. Not a video tutorial — actual tooltips pointing to real UI elements.
The result: Apps with interactive tours see 2-3x higher feature adoption in the first session. Users who complete the tour have significantly better retention.
How to do it:
- Identify the 3-5 actions that correlate with retention (check your data)
- Build tooltips that highlight each action in sequence
- Make each step do something real — not just "click here to see this menu"
- Let users skip the tour (but track who does)
- Keep it under 2 minutes total
- Show a completion message: "You're set up! Here's what to do next."
Key insight: 3-5 steps max. Every step beyond 5 reduces completion rate by ~15%. Focus on the actions that matter most.
Success metrics
- •Tour completion rate
- •Feature adoption rate for toured features
- •Activation rate (toured vs non-toured)
- •Day 7 retention (toured vs non-toured)
Prerequisites
- A clear set of 3-5 key actions for new users
- A tour library (Shepherd.js, Intro.js, or custom)
- Analytics to compare toured vs non-toured users
Common pitfalls
- •Making the tour too long (5 steps max)
- •Touring features that don't matter for activation
- •Not letting users skip
- •Showing the tour to returning users
Source: Common pattern. Interactive tours consistently improve activation by 2-3x vs no guidance.
Suggested ICE scores
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