You’ve built a solid SaaS product and are signing users up for it. But it’s not a cakewalk for all users to start using it as intended.
For this, you’ll need to onboard customers as part of their crucial journey, which guides them from initial sign-up to full engagement with a product or service. Customer onboarding aims to quickly deliver value that helps foster product adoption and reinforces positive relationships.
A successful customer onboarding process sets the stage for long-term success, creating impacts beyond initial interactions. And one of the best ways to do this is to use videos. Create a product demo video that give users a real look and feel of the product before they start working on it.
As per the Hubspot study, 94% of marketers agree that videos are highly effective for creating product demos. It helps users quickly understand product features, benefits, and usability.
We’ve detailed three key tips for leveraging the onboarding videos for a better customer experience (CX).
Onboarding Users For Product Usage
Users can learn firsthand about using the product the way it is intended to. Also, the onboarding videos will have tutorials on product usage, key usage tactics for enhanced results, customer service details, and more.
Overall, onboarding videos can be anything from tutorials through simple screen recordings of your product to advanced product usage tips. Such positive and impactful onboarding can empower your customers with unmatched product knowledge.
To achieve this, you need to offer an onboarding experience to users who can navigate the ins and outs of the product. Leverage technologies like AI to create product demo videos that engage while educating users about your product. These videos guide users through the first few steps of using the product, enabling them to experience product features first-hand. Gradually, you can unpack more advanced features and tips for using it, which will help them build product mastery and confidence.
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For this, collaborate with your product team to design in-app training sessions, emphasizing the core tasks users need for success. Consider an example of a pop-up that could walk users through composing and sending their first email in an email app. Implement clear on-screen instructions and arrows to make it foolproof.
To further our example, chain these interactions—upon task completion, trigger emails or more pop-ups to introduce additional features. Adopting such a progressive approach helps deliver a structured learning experience that builds user confidence and drives engagement.
Here’s how you can use onboarding walkthrough videos to provide quick wins to users upon onboarding.
- Create the ‘Aha!’ moment: Recognize the core activities that make your product click for users (sending an email, creating a project, etc.). For this, create a step-by-step guide within your product to walk users through this initial task.
- Celebrate milestones: Provide positive reinforcement when users complete tasks. Such reward-based gamification can include a congratulatory message, unlocking a new feature, etc., to build a sense of accomplishment.
- Make it short: Keep the walkthrough short and engaging enough. It should be between 3-5 during the early onboarding phase. If you need to share more content, add a link to advanced content.
- Provide clear choices: Provide users with choices to skip or revisit the walkthrough, giving them full control over their learning experience.
Simplify Complex Product Concepts and Processes
Think of using onboarding videos to simplify complex concepts that users can process with easily digestible content. Engage new users by integrating visual and interactive elements.
Again, the product demo videos can be a great asset. It can be made interactive, using clickable links or quizzes to explain intricate product features. This enables users to quickly grasp essential information instead of plain text.
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The goal is to create onboarding videos that visually demonstrate product features so users do not get overwhelmed front up. They should find value in the product early on as engagement during the onboarding can reinforce learning.
Here’s how you can simplify complex concepts through onboarding videos
- Break it Down: Split complex processes into shorter, step-by-step segments. Focus on one concept or feature at a time in a single video.
- Visualize with Examples: Screencasts, animations, or real-world scenarios illustrate abstract ideas.
- Provide Context: Describe how each aspect, like a feature or concept, contributes to the overall user experience and the product’s value proposition.
- Offer Recap: To enhance retention, offer a concise overview of the core takeaways after each video.
Using videos in onboarding emails
You want your customers to get your product, love it to bits, and can’t stop talking about it to their peers. But let’s be real; sometimes, products can be tricky to grasp, and people are just busy getting things done.
How would you ensure that your product videos hit the right spot?
That’s where onboarding emails come in.
Onboarding video emails are a personal guide that walks your customers through your product. And guess what? Videos make onboarding emails even better! They’re more engaging and help people understand complex stuff in a snap.
Campaign Monitor found that video email marketing can increase click-through rate (CTR) by 65%.
Notion, a versatile project management software, effectively uses videos in their welcome emails.
