🗞 What's New: Building a killer user onboarding flow

Onboarding is one of the most important aspects of your business:

• A good onboarding flow can help reduce churn, minimize support costs, increase lifetime value, and a host of other things. Here's how to create an onboarding flow that makes customers want to stick around!
• Maintaining fitness can be tough when you're on your computer for hours each day. Below, founders weigh in on how they prioritize health, both physically and mentally.
• Founder Michael Aubry's startup failed, and he's sharing the reasons why. From lack of clarity, to obsessing over the wrong things, he's warning others about the pitfalls to avoid.

Want to share something with nearly 115,000 indie hackers? Submit a section for us to include in a future newsletter. —Channing

🔀 Creating a Killer Onboarding Flow

by James Fleischmann

Onboarding is one of the most important aspects of your business. A good flow solidifies your product's value in the user's mind, and makes them more invested in the product. Most importantly, great onboarding sets your user up for success. If you do it well, they'll stick around!

That said, it's important not to burn too much time perfecting your onboarding, particularly for early-stage products. So, here's how to do onboarding right!

Why onboarding matters

Onboarding:

• Has a huge impact on churn.
• Increases conversions when you're using a freemium model or free trials.
• Increases user satisfaction and confidence in the product.
• Increases user success rates.
• Increases lifetime value.
• Increases word-of-mouth growth.
• Decreases support costs.

Onboarding opportunities

Here are some onboarding opportunities that will have long-lasting effects on your business:

• Targeted copy: Know what your user wants, and make sure your copy reflects that. Explain to them how each step brings them closer to their goals. Don't stop selling just because they've signed up!

• Effective typography: Your typography (fonts, sizes, colors, etc.) is one of the best ways to unobtrusively guide your users in the right direction.

• Compelling visuals: While copy is important, visuals might be even more so, since users rarely read. Use imagery to point people (literally) to where you want them to go. This can include hotspot animations or colors to show the next button in a flow.

• Social proof: How many people are using the product? What are they saying about it? Any big brand names you can drop? Add this wherever you can in onboarding, without cluttering up the flow.

• Progress meter: This is a big one. It's really important to show your users how far they've come, and how soon they'll be done. This can be done in the form of a progress bar or a step counter (X steps completed out of Y total).

• Checklists: There's a dopamine hit that happens when a to-do is checked off of a list. List all of the onboarding steps, and check them off as the user completes them. Make it exciting! Start with one item already checked off the list, like "create an account," so they see immediate progress. I know of at least one company that saw its conversion rates triple from doing this.

• Get meta with it: When possible, use your tool to onboard your users. For example, a to-do list app could start the user with a list of onboarding tasks. Basecamp does this well.

• Gamification: Some folks like to gamify their onboarding flows. For example, for each completed task on an onboarding checklist, you can offer an extension of the free trial, or a discount.

• Commitment checkbox: This one is a little odd, but I know of a case where this increased conversions by 11%. Consider adding a checkbox at the beginning of a flow. It should say something like "I'm ready to [achieve my goal]." Apparently, clicking the box reinforces the user's commitment and reminds them of their goals. This is best used for long onboarding processes.

• Tool tips: These keep things neat and minimalistic for those who don't need help, while providing answers for those who need them. You can add these in pop-up form to guide people through a flow, add them as a product tour, or just add them as discreet little help buttons.

• Product tours: Get the user to that "A-ha!" moment as quickly as possible by only including the key steps. Also, include the progress meter mentioned above. Product tours usually appear alongside a "skip" or "next" button, and they point out each step as you go.

• Add sample data: Landing on an empty screen when you start using a product can be daunting. Increase the likelihood of them using the product and converting by showing them what it'll be like. But, be careful not to make it seem like there's nothing left for them to do; graying out the sample data could be a good idea.

• Resources: Allow users to access resources, like FAQs, documentation, and video demos with a single click. Offer these resources in your emails, chatbots, and so forth.

• Guides: A knowledge base or content hub can be really helpful. Publish them in multiple formats (video, articles, etc.) so they're accessible to all learning types.

• Introductory articles: If some of your users are newbies to the subject matter, it's helpful to give them basic guides. For example, if you've got an SEO tool, explain not only your tool, but SEO itself.

• Templates: Where applicable, provide templates that will get your users started, with minimal work on their end.

• Welcome survey: After signup, put users on a welcome screen where you ask them one or two easy questions. It shouldn't take them more than a couple of clicks. Segment them accordingly. Only add this if it will actually improve the onboarding experience for the user.

• Segment users: It may be worthwhile to figure out a way to categorize each user. For instance, you could categorize based on user behavior, then set up a different onboarding flow for each segment.

• Welcome email: Welcome emails will probably be your most opened emails, so use them to show value, share helpful resources, and generally inspire further onboarding. Some indie hackers send personalized Loom videos to every new user.

• Email sequences: Send emails based on specific actions. Use them to nurture your new users, but make sure you are actually providing value!

• Set up a call: Automatically provide an option to jump on a call with you. I'd actually recommend including a Calendly link in your welcome email. It shouldn't be mandatory, and most won't do it, but make it an option. It shows that you're available, and willing to help.

• Killer customer service: Proactively reach out to help new users as they onboard. Keep track of what people are asking and where they get stuck in the flow, then improve those things. I wrote more about good customer service here!

• Chat widgets: Automate an early check-in to ask if they need any assistance.

• Offer free migrations: If users have to migrate a lot of data during the onboarding process, offer to do it for them. Once data is on your servers, they will be heavily invested in your product.

Onboarding best practices

• Be ruthless about cutting back on what you ask for from your users. Onboarding time is precious. Don't waste it. Whatever is included must provide immediate value in the journey to that "A-ha!" moment.
• Focus on core features first. The onboarding flow should be as quick as possible.
• Allow users to skip anything that you throw at them.
• Communicate benefits over features.
• Break steps up into stages to make lengthy onboarding flows more manageable. Better yet, shorten the flow.
• Personalize the flow as much as possible. Everything you show them should fully apply to them.
• Test and optimize. If something isn't working, fix it.
• Do things that don't scale. You've heard this maxim a hundred times before, but that's because it's an indie hacker advantage that should be used!

Ultimately, here's the main thing to remember: Reduce friction.

The worst onboarding advice

A lot of folks will tell you to keep your goals in mind when building an onboarding flow. It's super common advice, but it can lead you astray.

Why? Because what you really need is a successful customer. So, keep their goals in mind, not yours.

Need a little inspo? Check out some solid onboarding examples here and here!

Will you add any of these tips into your onboarding flow? Let's chat !

Discuss this story.

📰 In the News

from the Growth Trends newsletter by Darko

🌎 Twitter Blue has expanded to more than 20 countries.

📲 Customers are more likely to make a purchase after receiving a message via text or WhatsApp.

🤖 ChatGPT's API is here.

🛠 Google Ads is testing new designs to improve your workflows.

⌚️ Here are the best times to post on Instagram in 2023.

Check out Growth Trends for more curated news items focused on user acquisition and new product ideas.

🏋️‍♀️ Maintaining Physical Health as a Founder

by Justin Fan

I'm a fledgling indie hacker, and this is my first post in the community! I'm wondering how you keep yourself physically healthy and hold yourself accountable?

Would love to hear any tips, tricks, and systems that other indie hackers have found success with!

Don't skip the mental aspect

Lena Krzemieniewska says that physical health and mental health are intertwined:

With that in mind, step one for me is regular therapy. But, on the physical side of things, here's what I do:

• Hit the gym and lift heavy things three times a week.

• Always be in motion, whether it's taking the stairs, walking instead of driving, or taking the longer route.

• Pop my vitamins, especially vitamin D. This has been a game-changer for my immune system.

• Uninstall apps like Instagram and TikTok, which suck me into an endless scroll (it's also not great for my neck).

• Stop worrying about the "perfect" sitting position in front of my computer.

• Eat less meat and smaller portions, and avoid processed foods as much as possible. It's not easy, but I try to bring my own healthy snacks with me, and I also know my way around the grocery store.

DaveTheDev agrees, but expands on one crucial element:

Your work desk ergonomics make a huge difference if you spend 6-10 hours at a computer. You need to optimize your:

• Desk height.

• Screen height: The top should be aligned with your eyes. If you use a laptop screen, get a desk stand. This will save your neck.

• Good ergonomic mouse: After many mice, I've landed on the MX Master3S.

• Decent keyboard: The right model depends on whether you use touch typing.

• Good chair: This was a big improvement in my case, after sitting on a $200 chair in my home office for nearly two years. I got an Aeron with lumbar support, and my back problems disappeared. Best investment of my life. A new one is $1.5K, or you can get it secondhand for ~$500. Problem solved! No need to worry about the perfect sitting position, just adjust the chair properly (which can actually take weeks of trial-and-error).

Walk the talk

QSLIndie has a simple routine:

• Start work early, finish early, then walk at least six miles.

• Try to walk in woodlands, on hills, or near water, if you can. I'm lucky in that I have all three in walking distance from my desk. Avoid city walking.

• I don't listen to podcasts while I walk, especially not tech or business podcasts. Instead, I listen to music.

• Eat normally and sensibly. Avoid fads.

• Read.

• Sleep.

• Repeat.

Find something you love

Georgy Glezer recommends finding a sport or activity that is fun for you:

I work as a full-time developer, then work on side projects in my free time. I also make time for physical health.

I think that finding a sport you love will make it easy for you to be consistent with it. I'm currently playing tennis at least three times a week, one or two hours per session, and I feel great after each session! It also gives me the extra motivation to work harder.

How do you stay physically fit as a founder? Share your tips below!

Discuss this story.

🧠 Harry's Growth Tip

from the Marketing Examples newsletter by Harry Dry

Make your customer the hero.

Go here for more short, sweet, practical marketing tips.

Subscribe to Marketing Examples for more.

👀 Why Michael Aubry's Startup Failed

by Michael Aubry

Hey, indie hackers! I'm Michael Aubry, and I used to be quite active on here a few years ago. Now, I am back, and I have lots of wisdom and scars.

My startup failed, and I'm here to share why. Hopefully, this helps other founders!

Too many features

I built an online video editing tool, and that was a problem. A video editor has an endless set of features, and when I entered this space, I thought that I could win by building the most features.

The problem with this was that I got trapped in an endless spiral of technical debt. Since I was running it solo, I had no time to market. So, I was literally under a rock the whole time, solving a problem that I didn't even validate.

What I should have done was talk to users first. I should have written down a few persona types, and identified where I could find them. This could be on Instagram, LinkedIn, other platforms, or even places in real life. Next, I should have started a conversation to get their attention, as part of a larger strategy to collect unbiased data.

Lack of clarity

I knew the video market was hot, and I knew I wanted to build a challenging product. I knew there was something here, but I was not clear on the market. I could see it every day while scrolling social media, but I didn't understand the market like I thought I did.

Simply observing is not enough. It's important to actually talk to users in the market that you're targeting, and figure out the core problem they are facing. From there, focus only on them, and on one feature. Ideally, you do this manually in the early days, and solve the problem.

You will learn so much more this way. You will see all the details that go into solving the problem, in a fraction of the time that it would take to code everything ahead of time.

Not obsessing over the right things

The only thing you should obsess over in the early days is product-market fit. I wrote more about my thoughts on product-market fit, and why it's so important, here.

I was obsessed over proving to myself that I could build a video editor, and I went down an engineering rabbit hole. While I was extremely proud of myself for building such a thing, I was obsessed about the wrong thing.

I don't have regrets, because this was a good lesson. It also helped me to become a much better engineer. Now, I have an unfair advantage when it comes to engineering, and I am glad I'm breaking the spell of coding.

The important thing is to rewire your brain to obsess over the right things, like product-market fit!

Final thoughts

This is just a brief summary of why Motionbox failed. I could go on for hours, and I'm happy to chat with anyone who wants to avoid the mistakes I've made.

We're taking the product and pivoting to a video sales tool. We're currently taking a step back from engineering, and taking time to talk to users. We're focused on creating the customer's desired outcome first (starting manually, then slowly adding basic scripts), before building any software!

Discuss this story.

🐦 The Tweetmaster's Pick

by Tweetmaster Flex

I post the tweets indie hackers share the most. Here's today's pick:

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Special thanks to Jay Avery for editing this issue, to Gabriella Federico for the illustrations, and to James Fleischmann, Darko, Justin Fan, Harry Dry, and Michael Aubry for contributing posts. —Channing