SaaS Onboarding Checklist to Increase Conversions in 2025 [Best Practices]

Did you know that poor customer onboarding, engagement, and customer service are among the top reasons for customer churn?

Effective onboarding sets the tone for your customer’s journey, ensuring they see value in your product from the start.

SaaS products are often complex, and failing to guide users through their first interactions can leave them overwhelmed.

To help you with this, we created a SaaS onboarding checklist to boost engagement and build long-term customer relationships. 

Let’s get started!

What is SaaS onboarding?

Customer onboarding is the process of introducing your customers to your product or service and guiding them on how it works.

A complete onboarding process considers the entire journey your customers take—from the moment they sign up for your product or service to when they become regular, long-term customers.

Why is onboarding important in SaaS?

A seamless onboarding process is essential for the thrive of any product-led business.

In fact, 97% of companies believe that good user onboarding is necessary for driving product growth.

Here is why they see it crucial:

• Builds user confidence – A well-designed introduction helps users trust that your product addresses their needs effectively.
• Reduces churn rate – Positive early experiences engage users and encourage long-term loyalty.
• Boosts product adoption – Guiding users to adopt features quickly increases retention and supports growth.
• Cuts support demands – Clear guidance reduces the need for customer support by addressing common questions upfront.
• Increases user value – Happy users are more likely to leave positive feedback, recommend your product, and remain loyal.
• Drives growth potential – A strong first impression helps users see the value of your product, setting the stage for sustained success.

Important SaaS Onboarding Metrics to Follow

Analytics play a vital role in evaluating the success of your onboarding program, just like any other part of your business.

By monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs), you can gain insights into how effectively your onboarding process works and identify areas for improvement.

Let’s explore some essential KPIs to better track and understand your customers' onboarding experience.

✅ Completion Rate measures what percentage of users finish the onboarding process. A low rate often means the process is too long or unclear, and simplifying the steps can help.

Use tools like Mixpanel or Amplitude to monitor progress through each stage and identify drop-off points.

✅ Completion Time reflects how long users take to finish onboarding. If it takes too long, users may get frustrated and drop out. Tools like Google Analytics or Hotjar can help you track the time spent on each step.

✅ Usage Time shows how much customers engage with your product after completing onboarding. The process might not equip users with the necessary skills or information if usage steadily declines.

Monitor this with customer success platforms like Gainsight or product usage tools like Pendo.

✅ DAU (Daily Active Users) measures how often users return to your product.

A drop in DAU might suggest your onboarding failed to create lasting interest. Tools like Amplitude or Firebase are effective for tracking DAU trends.

✅ Churn Rate tracks the percentage of users leaving your product entirely. High churn could indicate that onboarding didn’t demonstrate your product's value.

Use CRM systems like HubSpot or analytics tools like PostHog to identify churn trends and gather feedback through exit surveys.

How to Build an Effective SaaS Onboarding Process?

1. Understand Your Audience

Creating an effective SaaS onboarding process starts with truly understanding your customer's goals.

Customers don’t choose your product for its features alone—they’re looking for a solution to their challenges.

Their objectives could include:

• Improving productivity
• Cutting costs
• Enhancing efficiency
• Simplifying complex tasks

To understand these goals, ask the right questions and actively listen to their responses.

This can be achieved through tools like onboarding surveys, direct customer interviews, or analyzing how users interact with your product.

Onboarding Surveys

Onboarding surveys are a great way to gather insights about your customers’ goals and expectations quickly.

By asking targeted questions, you can understand their needs and align your solution with their objectives.

For example, ask questions like "What is the biggest challenge you hope our product will solve?" or "Which feature of our product are you most excited to use?"

Customer Interviews

Customer interviews allow for deeper conversations, helping you uncover specific pain points and tailor the onboarding experience to your customers' goals.

These personal interactions build trust and show customers that their satisfaction matters.

Schedule a quick call to discuss their needs and expectations in detail.

For example, you can ask questions like “How was your experience with onboarding when you first started using our product?”

User Behavior Analysis

Analyzing user behavior helps you identify patterns and see how customers interact with your product.

This data-driven approach reveals pain points and highlights opportunities to improve their experience.

For example, if you notice users frequently search for help articles related to a specific feature, this indicates they may be struggling with that part of the product.

2. Create a Memorable Customer Welcome Experience

Welcoming your customers after they sign up isn’t just a nice touch—it’s something they expect.

A well-crafted welcome email series sets the tone for their journey, giving them a clear starting point.

This approach helps you guide users to key features, educate them about your platform, and stay on their radar, even if they’ve been inactive for a while.

But why stop at emails?

Take the welcome experience to the next level by engaging customers inside and outside your platform.

Popular methods like product tours and in-app welcome messages grab attention and provide clear guidance on where users should focus.

In fact, 86% of customers say they're more likely to stay loyal to a business if it provides helpful and welcoming onboarding content.

For example, imagine an SEO platform that greets new users with an interactive tour, showcasing essential tools like keyword research and site audits.

Alongside this, a friendly video from the product manager welcomes users, offering practical tips to help them make the most of the platform.

This blend of hands-on guidance and a personal touch helps users feel confident and connected from the start.

3. Pick the Right Onboarding Model

Once you've analyzed your data and identified what your customers need to experience the value of your product, it's time to select the best onboarding approach for your user flow.

Here are some options to consider:

1. Self-Service Onboarding

With self-service onboarding, you design a contextual flow, such as a "getting started" guide or an interactive walkthrough, allowing users to continue the process independently.

This hands-off approach is ideal if your product is simple and easy to understand without much guidance.

After a few introductory screens, users are encouraged to explore and get familiar with the product independently.

In-app checklists can provide additional guidance to help them navigate independently.

This method works well for platforms like social media networks and mobile apps.

2. Low-Touch Onboarding

Low-touch onboarding builds on the self-service approach by adding more interactive elements to guide users.

These can include in-app product tours, checklists, step-by-step tutorials, and interactive walkthroughs.

While users can access some human support if needed, no single customer receives dedicated assistance.

This model works well for moderately complex products that involve multiple steps but do not require detailed, hands-on guidance.

Many SaaS companies, including Zoom, Shopify, Canva, and Mailchimp, have adopted low-touch onboarding.

3. High-Touch Onboarding

High-touch onboarding is ideal for complex products that require multiple setup steps or significant time to understand.

This approach tailors the experience to each customer’s unique needs through personalized, one-on-one interactions. 

It often includes customized onboarding materials to provide additional support.

For example, you can include personalized walkthroughs based on user personas and goals. Pair each customer with a dedicated success manager who guides them through tailored steps to ensure successful implementation.

4. Offer Ongoing Support

Did you know that 62% of B2B customers returned to make additional purchases after a positive customer service experience?

Even with the most user-friendly software, customers will likely encounter challenges. That’s why consistent, accessible support during onboarding is essential.

It can make all the difference between turning a new user into a loyal advocate or losing them to frustration.

Support can take many forms, each with unique benefits:

• Knowledge bases or FAQ sections provide quick answers to common questions.
• Live chat or chatbots offer real-time help for immediate issues.
• Direct support via email or phone is ideal for handling complex concerns and making users feel valued and heard.
• User communities let customers share tips and best practices, creating a collaborative environment.

Modern solutions, like embedded help wikis, take self-service support to the next level.

These tools integrate directly into your SaaS application, allowing users to search for solutions without ever leaving your platform.

This seamless experience can boost customer satisfaction and engagement.

5. Track Progress and Optimize Continuously

Regularly testing and refining your onboarding process based on both qualitative feedback and quantitative data should be a must-have in your strategy.

Keep a close eye on the important metrics we mentioned before—are they improving or getting worse?

To make the most of your onboarding improvements, focus on these key actions:

• Engage with your users – Collect valuable insights by sending surveys and having direct conversations to better understand their needs and experiences.
• Review and ideate as a team – Establish regular feedback loops to analyze user input and collaborate on improvements.
• Set review dates and act – Schedule dedicated times to review both data and feedback, then turn those insights into actionable updates for your onboarding flow.

7 Best Practices for Successful Customer Onboarding

1. Simplify Sign-Up to Reduce Friction

When creating a sign-up process, only ask for the essential information needed to deliver a great first experience.

If certain details don’t directly impact a user’s ability to start using your product, save those questions for later.

For example, focus on gathering just enough data to get users started seamlessly.

If you only need a name and email address, keep the sign-up form limited to those fields.

Other details, like job title or industry, can be collected after users have begun exploring your product and are more engaged.

2. Show Value Early to Hook Your Users

The quicker your product helps users solve their problems, the more likely they will stick with it.

By delivering early "quick wins," you build momentum and show users that your product is effective and easy to use.

Look at your data to find where users stop dropping off and begin sticking around—that’s where they find value.

For example, if your product is a content marketing tool, a quick win could be helping users create and schedule their first social media post or blog article within minutes.

Guide them through selecting a template, writing a headline, and clicking “publish” or “schedule.” 

Seeing their content live quickly gives them confidence in your tool.

3. Simplify Your Onboarding Process

A smooth and simple onboarding experience significantly boosts customer satisfaction. Focus on keeping guides and instructions concise.

Avoid overwhelming customers by trying to explain everything your product does all at once, as too much information at the start can lead to confusion and slow their progress.

In fact, 55% of customers will stop using a product or service if they feel it's hard to understand.

Instead, start onboarding by highlighting your product’s core features and showing how they work. 

For more complex products, break the process into sections, creating a separate onboarding journey for each part.

4. Create Personalized Onboarding Experiences

For 58% of customers, a personalized experience when interacting with a brand is essential.

Since each user has unique needs, offer tailored paths by asking their goals upfront and providing focused tutorials or walkthroughs.

Use the welcome screen to let users choose their path or create branching options in the onboarding flow. 

A bit of info collected during sign-up can help craft a semi-customized experience.

For example, you can ask users about their team size, industry, and primary goals during sign-up.

Based on these responses, provide tailored templates and feature recommendations, ensuring new users can quickly set up workflows that align with their specific needs.

5. Streamline Your Onboarding with Automation

Automating repetitive tasks is key to simplifying the SaaS customer onboarding experience.

Using automation, you can send personalized welcome messages, trigger contextual in-app help, and make the whole process smoother for your users.

Start by reviewing your current onboarding workflow to identify opportunities for automation.

For instance, automating the delivery of a product tour tailored to a user's role or preferences can save time and improve engagement.

Instead of requiring users to manually explore features, an automated product walkthrough can highlight the most relevant tools for their needs, ensuring they quickly understand the value of your software.

6. Keep Your Onboarding Material Fresh and Relevant

The SaaS industry changes quickly, and your onboarding materials should keep up.

Regularly updating your onboarding content ensures it stays effective and aligned with your product.

Whether you’ve added new features, redesigned the user interface, or expanded your offerings, your onboarding experience should reflect those changes.

Ignoring updates can confuse users and create a disconnect between what they learn and what they see in your product.

For example, if you introduce a new dashboard layout, update your onboarding tutorials and guides to walk users through the changes and help them get comfortable with the new design.

7. Celebrate Your Users’ Wins

Acknowledging your users' achievements can be a great way to keep them motivated and build their confidence.

It shows that you appreciate their efforts in mastering your product and highlights their progress. Simple gestures like a congratulatory email when they finish onboarding, hit key usage milestones, or explore advanced features, can make a big impact.

For example, if a user completes their first successful project using your software, you could send a personalized message celebrating their accomplishment and suggesting the next steps to enhance their experience.

Conclusion

Now that you know everything about creating a SaaS onboarding checklist, you can transform new users into loyal customers and improve retention rates.

By streamlining the onboarding process, focusing on user needs, and continuously optimizing based on feedback, you can create an experience that keeps customers engaged and reduces churn.

Remember, onboarding isn’t just a one-time activity—it’s the foundation for a long-lasting relationship with your users.

If you need help perfecting your SaaS onboarding strategy, Omnius is here to support you.

Schedule a 30-minute call with our experts and learn how to build an onboarding experience that drives growth.