Users open your product and see a blank screen
Replace empty states with pre-populated examples. Users edit content faster than they create it from scratch.
When to use
Your product has empty states where users need to create something. Users are dropping off at empty screens.
Hypothesis template
If we pre-fill fill in: feature with fill in: smart defaults/sample content instead of showing a blank state, activation will increase by fill in: target% because editing is easier than creating.
Method
The problem: Users sign up, open your product, and see empty dashboards, blank forms, and "Create your first X" prompts. The blank canvas is paralyzing.
What Canva did: Instead of a blank canvas, every template category shows pre-designed options. Users click a template and edit it rather than starting from scratch.
The result: Template-first onboarding dramatically increased activation. Users who start from a template are 3x more likely to complete their first project.
How to do it:
- Identify every empty state in your product (new user dashboard, empty project, first form)
- For each one, create 2-3 pre-filled examples showing what "done" looks like
- Let users click to start with any example and modify it
- Make the pre-filled content relevant to common use cases
- Add a "Start from scratch" option for power users
- Track: activation rate with vs without pre-filled content
Key insight: Nobody stares at a blank document and feels inspired. Everyone can look at an example and think "I'd change that." Start with something, not nothing.
Success metrics
- •Activation rate (pre-filled vs blank)
- •Time to first completed action
- •Template usage rate
- •Day 1 return rate
Prerequisites
- Sample content or templates for common use cases
- A way to pre-populate user workspaces
- Analytics on empty state drop-off
Common pitfalls
- •Making sample content too generic
- •Not letting users start from scratch if they prefer
- •Pre-filling with obviously fake data
- •Not updating samples to stay relevant
Source: Canva, Notion, Figma. Pre-filled templates are one of the most reliable activation patterns.
Suggested ICE scores
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