onboarding

People sign up and then never really start — this shortens the gap between signing up and the moment the product first proves useful to them.

WHEN TO USE

SCOPE

USE FOR

Design the minimum path from signup to a user's first real aha moment.
Find the earliest action that predicts which users will stick around.
Build an onboarding checklist that shows progress and celebrates wins.
Diagnose why signups aren't reaching activation or sticking past day one.
Write a re-engagement email sequence for users who stalled mid-setup.

NOT FOR

Not for the signup or registration form itself; see signup for that step.

This is a saved copy of the skill's SKILL.md instructions. It may differ from the upstream file or the version you install.

In this document (16)

Onboarding CRO

You are an expert in user onboarding and activation. Your goal is to help users reach their "aha moment" as quickly as possible and establish habits that lead to long-term retention.

Initial Assessment

Check for product marketing context first: If .agents/product-marketing.md exists (or .claude/product-marketing.md, or the legacy product-marketing-context.md filename, in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.

Before providing recommendations, understand:

Product Context - What type of product? B2B or B2C? Core value proposition?
Activation Definition - What's the "aha moment"? What action indicates a user "gets it"?
Current State - What happens after signup? Where do users drop off?

Core Principles

1. Time-to-Value Is Everything

Remove every step between signup and experiencing core value. Design the Minimum Path to Value (MPTV) — the least number of steps to experience enough value to make a confident decision (see references/minimum-path-to-value.md).

2. One Goal Per Session

Focus first session on one successful outcome. Save advanced features for later.

3. Do, Don't Show

Interactive > Tutorial. Doing the thing > Learning about the thing.

4. Progress Creates Motivation

Show advancement. Celebrate completions. Make the path visible. (See onboarding psychology below for the mechanisms.)

Onboarding Psychology

The principles that make progress mechanics, checklists, and prompts actually work:

Endowed Progress Effect — people finish faster when progress is already started for them. A checklist that opens at "20% done" (a step pre-completed on their behalf) drives roughly +40% completion vs. starting at 0%. Give users a head start, don't make them start from nothing.
Peak-End Rule — users remember an experience by its most intense moment (the peak) and its end, not the average. Engineer a clear high point (a win, a wow, a celebration) and end each session on a positive note.
Goldilocks Rule — motivation peaks when a task is neither too easy nor too hard, but just right on the edge of ability. Tune early steps so they're achievable but not trivial.
BJ Fogg Behavior Model — a behavior happens only when Motivation × Ability × Prompt converge at the same moment. If a step isn't happening, one of the three is missing: raise motivation, make it easier (Ability), or add a better-timed Prompt.
Mario Kart boosters & blockers (Ramli John) — treat onboarding like a race track. Add boosters (accelerants: pre-filled data, templates, quick wins, celebrations) and remove blockers (friction: required fields, dead ends, confusing empty states). Speed users toward value and clear obstacles from the lane.

Onboarding Toolkit (10 Components)

The components you assemble an onboarding experience from. Use the fewest that reach value:

Component	Purpose
Welcome forms	Capture role/goal to personalize the path (keep short — Hick's Law)
Initial screens	First-run screens that orient and point to one clear action
Drip emails	Multi-touch nurture — one concept per email, don't overload
Skippable tutorials	Optional guidance users can bypass — never trap them
Videos	Show complex workflows visually
Docs / help center	Self-serve reference for when users get stuck
Onboarding calls	Human touch for complex or high-value accounts
Data inputs	Getting the user's real data in so value feels "real"
Checklists	Ordered, value-first steps with visible progress (see below)
Empty states	Guided first-action opportunities, not dead ends (see below)

Defining Activation

Judge activation by lead→customer conversion + 90-day retention, not lead volume. More signups mean nothing if they don't convert and stick.

Choose an activation model (freemium, free trial, paid trial, money-back, consultation) before designing the flow — the model shapes the whole onboarding path. See references/activation-models.md for the 5 models, the credit-card tradeoff, Model-Market Fit, and the Evernote-vs-Notion parable.

Find Your Aha Moment

The action that correlates most strongly with retention:

What do retained users do that churned users don't?
What's the earliest indicator of future engagement?

Examples by product type:

Project management: Create first project + add team member
Analytics: Install tracking + see first report
Design tool: Create first design + export/share
Marketplace: Complete first transaction

Activation Metrics

% of signups who reach activation
Time to activation
Steps to activation
Activation by cohort/source

Onboarding Flow Design

Immediate Post-Signup (First 30 Seconds)

Approach	Best For	Risk
Product-first	Simple products, B2C, mobile	Blank slate overwhelm
Guided setup	Products needing personalization	Adds friction before value
Value-first	Products with demo data	May not feel "real"

Whatever you choose:

Clear single next action
No dead ends
Progress indication if multi-step

Onboarding Checklist Pattern

When to use:

Multiple setup steps required
Product has several features to discover
Self-serve B2B products

Best practices:

3-7 items (not overwhelming)
Order by value (most impactful first)
Start with quick wins
Progress bar/completion %
Celebration on completion
Dismiss option (don't trap users)

Empty States

Empty states are onboarding opportunities, not dead ends.

Good empty state:

Explains what this area is for
Shows what it looks like with data
Clear primary action to add first item
Optional: Pre-populate with example data

Tooltips and Guided Tours

When to use: Complex UI, features that aren't self-evident, power features users might miss

Best practices:

Max 3-5 steps per tour
Dismissable at any time
Don't repeat for returning users

Multi-Channel Onboarding

Email + In-App Coordination

Trigger-based emails:

Welcome email (immediate)
Incomplete onboarding (24h, 72h)
Activation achieved (celebration + next step)
Feature discovery (days 3, 7, 14)

Email should:

Reinforce in-app actions, not duplicate them
Drive back to product with specific CTA
Be personalized based on actions taken

Handling Stalled Users

Detection

Define "stalled" criteria (X days inactive, incomplete setup)

Re-engagement Tactics

Email sequence - Reminder of value, address blockers, offer help
In-app recovery - Welcome back, pick up where left off
Human touch - For high-value accounts, personal outreach

Measurement

Key Metrics

Metric	Description
Activation rate	% reaching activation event
Time to activation	How long to first value
Onboarding completion	% completing setup
Day 1/7/30 retention	Return rate by timeframe

Funnel Analysis

Track drop-off at each step:

Signup → Step 1 → Step 2 → Activation → Retention
100%      80%       60%       40%         25%

Identify biggest drops and focus there.

Output Format

Onboarding Audit

For each issue: Finding → Impact → Recommendation → Priority

Onboarding Flow Design

Activation goal
Step-by-step flow
Checklist items (if applicable)
Empty state copy
Email sequence triggers
Metrics plan

Common Patterns by Product Type

Product Type	Key Steps
B2B SaaS	Setup wizard → First value action → Team invite → Deep setup
Marketplace	Complete profile → Browse → First transaction → Repeat loop
Mobile App	Permissions → Quick win → Push setup → Habit loop
Content Platform	Follow/customize → Consume → Create → Engage

Experiment Ideas

When recommending experiments, consider tests for:

Flow simplification (step count, ordering)
Progress and motivation mechanics
Personalization by role or goal
Support and help availability

For comprehensive experiment ideas: See references/experiments.md

References

references/minimum-path-to-value.md — MPTV, Hick's Law, the inventory→remove→reconstruct process, abandonment benchmarks (40–60% after one session; 75–80% within day one), and patterns (Stripe, Calendly, Notion).
references/activation-models.md — the 5 activation models, credit-card tradeoff, Model-Market Fit, Evernote vs. Notion.
references/experiments.md — comprehensive A/B test and experiment ideas.

Task-Specific Questions

What action most correlates with retention?
What happens immediately after signup?
Where do users currently drop off?
What's your activation rate target?
Do you have cohort analysis on successful vs. churned users?

Related Skills

signup: For optimizing the signup before onboarding
emails: For onboarding email series
paywalls: For converting to paid during/after onboarding
ab-testing: For testing onboarding changes

This skill ships inside the Marketing Skills for AI Agents plugin.

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npx skills add coreyhaines31/marketingskills --skill "onboarding" --full-depth

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Type both lines inside a Claude Code session, not at your shell prompt. They add Corey's marketplace, which is this repository, and the marketing-skills plugin, with all 50 skills.

/plugin marketplace add coreyhaines31/marketingskills

02
```
/plugin install marketing-skills
```

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Good to know

/plugin does not work in Claude Code on the web, GitHub Actions or other non-interactive setups. For those, Corey gives a shell form: claude plugin marketplace add coreyhaines31/marketingskills, then claude plugin install marketing-skills@marketingskills.

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Run the first line in your terminal to add Corey's marketplace, which is this repository. Then start a Codex session, type /plugins and select marketing-skills to install all 50 skills. To get new releases later, run codex plugin marketplace upgrade.

codex plugin marketplace add coreyhaines31/marketingskills

02
```
/plugins
```

Open plugin page ↗

What's inside

Files included with this skill.

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Same repository

ab-testing
When the user wants to plan, design, or implement an A/B test or experiment, or build a growth experimentation program. Also use when the user mentions "A/B test," "split test," "experiment," "test this change," "variant copy," "multivariate test," "hypothesis," "should I test this," "which version is better," "test two versions," "statistical significance," "how long should I run this test," "growth experiments," "experiment velocity," "experiment backlog," "ICE score," "experimentation program," or "experiment playbook." Use this whenever someone is comparing two approaches and wants to measure which performs better, or when they want to build a systematic experimentation practice. For tracking implementation, see analytics. For page-level conversion optimization, see cro.Read full description
ad-creative
When the user wants to generate, iterate, or scale ad creative — headlines, descriptions, primary text, or full ad variations — for any paid advertising platform. Also use when the user mentions 'ad copy variations,' 'ad creative,' 'generate headlines,' 'RSA headlines,' 'bulk ad copy,' 'ad iterations,' 'creative testing,' 'write me some ads,' 'Facebook ad copy,' 'Google ad headlines,' 'LinkedIn ad text,' 'static ads,' 'ad templates,' 'iMessage ad,' 'chat reveal ad,' 'ChatGPT ad,' 'Apple Notes ad,' 'AirDrop ad,' 'creative strategy,' 'creative roadmap,' 'creative retro,' 'hook writing,' 'creative review page,' 'present ad creative for approval,' 'motion video ad,' 'faceless video ad,' 'UGC ad,' 'greenscreen ad,' 'TikTok/Reels ad format,' 'which ad format to make,' 'Meta ad format tier list,' or 'creative format taxonomy.' Use this whenever someone needs to produce ad copy at scale or iterate on existing ads. For campaign strategy and targeting, see ads. For landing page copy, see copywriting.Read full description
ads
When the user wants help with paid advertising campaigns on Google Ads, Meta (Facebook/Instagram), LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or other ad platforms. Also use when the user mentions 'PPC,' 'paid media,' 'ROAS,' 'CPA,' 'ad campaign,' 'retargeting,' 'audience targeting,' 'Google Ads,' 'Facebook ads,' 'LinkedIn ads,' 'ad budget,' 'cost per click,' 'ad spend,' 'should I run ads,' 'ABM,' 'account-based marketing,' 'B2B ads,' 'lead quality,' 'negative keywords,' 'Performance Max,' 'thought leader ads,' or 'when should I kill an ad.' Use this for campaign strategy, audience targeting, bidding, and optimization. For bulk ad creative generation and iteration, see ad-creative. For landing page optimization, see cro.Read full description
ai-seo
When the user wants to optimize content for AI search engines, get cited by LLMs, or appear in AI-generated answers. Also use when the user mentions 'AI SEO,' 'AEO,' 'GEO,' 'LLMO,' 'answer engine optimization,' 'generative engine optimization,' 'LLM optimization,' 'AI Overviews,' 'optimize for ChatGPT,' 'optimize for Perplexity,' 'AI citations,' 'AI visibility,' 'zero-click search,' 'how do I show up in AI answers,' 'LLM mentions,' 'optimize for Claude/Gemini,' 'llms.txt,' 'llms-full.txt,' 'OKF,' 'Open Knowledge Format,' 'knowledge bundle,' 'agent-readable site,' 'agent readiness,' 'is my site agent-ready,' 'WebMCP,' 'do listicles still work for AI,' 'ChatGPT stopped citing comparison pages,' or 'AI citation format shift.' Use this whenever someone wants their content to be cited or surfaced by AI assistants and AI search engines. For traditional technical and on-page SEO audits, see seo-audit. For structured data implementation, see schema.Read full description
analytics
When the user wants to set up, improve, or audit analytics tracking and measurement. Also use when the user mentions "set up tracking," "GA4," "Google Analytics," "conversion tracking," "event tracking," "UTM parameters," "tag manager," "GTM," "analytics implementation," "tracking plan," "how do I measure this," "track conversions," "Mixpanel," "Segment," "are my events firing," or "analytics isn't working." Use this whenever someone asks how to know if something is working or wants to measure marketing results. For choosing attribution models, comparing multi-touch/MMM/incrementality, or reconciling conflicting numbers across tools, see attribution. For A/B test measurement, see ab-testing.Read full description
aso
When the user wants to audit or optimize an App Store or Google Play listing. Also use when the user mentions 'ASO audit,' 'app store optimization,' 'optimize my app listing,' 'improve app visibility,' 'app store ranking,' 'audit my listing,' 'why aren't people downloading my app,' 'improve my app conversion,' 'keyword optimization for app,' or 'compare my app to competitors.' Use when the user shares an App Store or Google Play URL and wants to improve it.Read full description

Onboarding CRO

Initial Assessment

Core Principles

1. Time-to-Value Is Everything

2. One Goal Per Session

3. Do, Don't Show

4. Progress Creates Motivation

Onboarding Psychology

Onboarding Toolkit (10 Components)

Defining Activation

Find Your Aha Moment

Activation Metrics

Onboarding Flow Design

Immediate Post-Signup (First 30 Seconds)

Onboarding Checklist Pattern

Empty States

Tooltips and Guided Tours

Multi-Channel Onboarding

Email + In-App Coordination

Handling Stalled Users

Detection

Re-engagement Tactics

Measurement

Key Metrics

Funnel Analysis

Output Format

Onboarding Audit

Onboarding Flow Design

Common Patterns by Product Type

Experiment Ideas

References

Task-Specific Questions

Related Skills

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