Keep, move or cut: sorting the steps in an onboarding flow
Members of the Growth work group sort steps into keep, move later and cut, then argue over how much testing the sorting needs.
Updated
Keep a step that helps the user reach a habit-forming use case or changes what happens next, move one that only makes sense after a first success, and cut the rest.
- Good friction stays. Brian Balfour would score every step on whether it raises the odds of reaching a habit-forming use case. Picking a use case or a template stays; Amplitude's step asking users to name their org at signup, next to a warning that it couldn't be changed, is one he would defer or default. Lauryn Motamedi would add steps that cut the effort of reaching value: Airtable's onboarding overhaul, built around a guided wizard, lifted activation by 20%, though she expects a wizard to work only for a complex product.
- Cut the steps the company built for itself. Lauryn would cut tooltips that announce a feature, like "This is Automations", or rewrite them around what the user gets.
- Keep questions whose answers change what happens next. Hila Qu would keep a signup question that customizes onboarding or gives sales a signal: "Team size: 50+" routing someone to a sales-assist path passes, "How did you hear about us" with nothing behind it goes.
- Some steps belong later in the flow. Brian suggests a third bucket: trigger a step off an event such as a first build or a first invite. Lauryn's breakdown of Airtable's week-4 multi-user metric shows where: if solo signups never invite anyone, the invite step belongs after their first build.
- Never do the core action for the user. Hila cites Jira, which pre-created the three tickets that defined its aha moment. The metric went up and retention didn't. She would allow guardrails like a wizard, and says automating the action fakes the aha moment.
- Judge a step by retention, segment by segment. Albert Cheng would read each result by segment, since a skill question that protects a Chess.com beginner annoys a 1500-rated player. Brian would have most teams test one or two steps a quarter, since few have Chess.com's volume. Casey Winters recalls Pinterest's friend-follow step, which people completed even when it showed a man wedding and recipe pins; asking for topics fixed the first feed.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do you choose a startup's first growth channel?
Pick a channel the product can feed, test it with one narrow segment on a set budget and date, and judge it by how many users reach value and come back.
What should a founder check first when growth stalls?
That the data is right, then cohort retention split by segment and channel. If curves trend toward zero in every slice, fix the product before spending more on acquisition.
How do you tell a growth problem from a product problem?
Bring in a small batch of users from one clean channel and read their cohorts. If they activate and return but there aren't many, it's distribution. If they leave within the first week, product owns the fix.
What moves activation in a new user's first few days?
Find where users drop, then match the lever: pre-answer setup for users who stall, make the first action an earned win for users who feel nothing, and bring back users who got value.
Who should own acquisition and retention, growth or marketing?
Most members would split near signup, with marketing on channels and the promise and growth on the path to first value. The line still has to follow the growth model, and both teams judge channels by the cohorts that stay.
Should a growth team report to product or marketing?
Wherever the biggest lever is. For most product-led companies that is product, next to core rather than inside it, and once paid spend matters too, one growth leader owns acquisition and activation.
Which lifecycle emails should a team build first?
The ones aimed at the steepest drop on the retention curve, usually the activation email. Depth and renewal emails come next, and win-back to fully churned users comes last.
How do you bring back signups who went quiet?
Watch a few try the next step and fix where they stall, then test the message with and without the fix against a holdout, and count retained use rather than opens.
When should a product-led company add sales?
A founder can start working accounts where usage is spreading and retaining. A sales team follows once deals need security reviews and procurement that self-serve can't handle.
Which self-serve accounts should a sales rep call?
Ones big enough to pay for a rep's time, with use spreading inside the company and a need self-serve can't meet. Hold some flagged accounts back to check that sales added value.
Which early action should count as activation?
Use two measures: an early action onboarding can move as the team's operating metric, and a later repeat action to check that those users came back. Randomize the onboarding change so motivated users don't skew the read.
What makes a good north star metric for an early product?
A retention measure built from how often the problem occurs, the action that solves it and the user it describes, with activation as an input. Drop it if the team can raise it without users getting more value.
Should a new marketplace build supply or demand first?
Whichever side gets a buyer to a completed transaction while giving the supplier a reason to stay. Start in one narrow market and track matches, supplier earnings and repeat buyers.
When can a marketplace copy its first city?
When service holds after subsidies come down, a new manager can run the launch playbook without the founders, and the team knows whether the channel behind market one's demand starts warm or cold in the next market.
How should you test a landing page?
Show visitors what they searched for before the ask, start with the page's first clear funnel drop, and count activated users per visitor alongside signups.
Should a startup with a few dozen users stop acquisition?
Stop broad acquisition but keep a small hand-picked flow from one segment, onboard those users live, and count only return visits nobody prompted.
How does a B2B startup find its first paying customers?
Have founders sell by hand to one narrow buyer, starting with warm intros and asking for payment early. Then check who actually paid, and at what price, before choosing a channel to scale.
