Growth & Strategy
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Short-term (< 3 months)
OK, so here's a story that probably sounds familiar. Last year, I was working with a B2B SaaS client who had this elaborate onboarding video series - professionally produced, beautiful animations, clear explanations. Their team was proud of it. But here's the thing: most users were using the product for exactly one day, then vanishing.
The marketing team kept celebrating their "success" with trial signups going up, but I knew we were optimizing for the wrong thing. You know that feeling when something looks perfect on paper but just doesn't work in practice? That was this.
Now, most companies would have doubled down on making better videos, right? Instead, I suggested something counterintuitive: what if we're treating SaaS onboarding like an e-commerce product when it's actually a trust-based service? What if passive video consumption isn't enough when you're asking someone to integrate your solution into their daily workflow?
Here's what you'll learn from my experience:
Why video-first onboarding creates an engagement illusion
The psychology behind interactive vs passive learning in software
A step-by-step framework for building hands-on onboarding flows
When videos actually work (and when they become a conversion killer)
Real metrics from switching to interactive tutorials
This isn't about choosing sides - it's about understanding when each approach serves your users best. Let me show you what I discovered when I stopped following onboarding "best practices" and started testing what actually works.
Industry Reality
What every onboarding expert recommends
If you've read any onboarding guide in the last five years, you've probably seen the same recommendations repeated everywhere. The conventional wisdom goes something like this:
Videos are king - they're engaging, easy to consume, and users love them. Most experts will tell you to create a series of short videos explaining your key features, maybe 2-3 minutes each, with clear calls-to-action at the end.
Keep it simple - don't overwhelm users with too many steps. Show them the core value proposition through a guided tour, then let them explore on their own.
Reduce friction - anything that requires effort from the user is bad. Make everything as smooth and passive as possible.
Follow the giants - look at what Slack, Dropbox, or Notion do and copy their approach. If it works for them, it'll work for you.
Measure engagement - track video completion rates, time spent watching, and click-through rates from videos to features.
Here's why this advice exists: it's based on consumer app psychology. When you're downloading TikTok or Instagram, passive consumption makes sense. You want entertainment, not work. The onboarding should be quick, visual, and get you to that "wow moment" fast.
But here's where it falls short in practice: SaaS isn't a consumer app. You're not selling entertainment - you're selling productivity, efficiency, or problem-solving. Your users aren't looking to be entertained; they're looking to get work done. And work requires active engagement, not passive consumption.
The problem with following conventional wisdom is that everyone ends up with the same solution, creating more noise in an already crowded market. When every SaaS has the same video-first onboarding approach, you're not differentiated - you're just another pretty face in the crowd.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
So here's the situation I walked into. This B2B SaaS client had what looked like a textbook onboarding flow. Professional videos, step-by-step tutorials, even some gamification elements. The metrics looked decent on the surface - people were watching the videos, clicking through the flow, completing the initial setup.
But then I dug deeper into their analytics. That's when the real story emerged. Users who came through the video onboarding were dropping off after day one. Not day seven, not day fourteen - day one. They'd watch the videos, maybe poke around the interface, then never come back.
The client was frustrated because they'd invested heavily in these video tutorials. They'd hired a production company, scripted everything perfectly, even A/B tested different video lengths. But the fundamental problem wasn't the quality of the videos - it was the assumption that watching equals understanding.
What I noticed was fascinating: the few users who did stick around were the ones who ignored the videos completely. They were the "power users" who dove straight into the product, started clicking around, maybe broke a few things, but actually learned how it worked through trial and error.
That's when it clicked for me. We were treating SaaS onboarding like an e-commerce product demo when we should have been treating it like a skill-building workshop. When someone buys a physical product, showing them how it works is enough. But when someone adopts a SaaS tool, they need to develop new habits and workflows. That requires practice, not just observation.
So I proposed something that made my client uncomfortable: what if we made the onboarding harder, not easier? What if instead of showing people what the product could do, we made them actually do it themselves?
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Here's exactly what we implemented, step by step. Instead of replacing everything at once, we ran this as an A/B test - half the users got the traditional video flow, half got what I called "learning by doing."
Step 1: The Confidence Builder
Instead of a welcome video explaining features, we started with a simple task: "Create your first project in the next 60 seconds." No explanation of what projects are for, no feature tour - just a clear instruction with a timer. This immediately put users in an active mindset rather than a passive one.
Step 2: Progressive Skill Building
Each subsequent step built on the previous action. "Now invite a teammate to your project." "Add a task and assign it to yourself." "Mark that task as complete." Every interaction was hands-on, requiring the user to actually perform the core workflows they'd need to succeed.
Step 3: Context-Sensitive Micro-Videos
Here's where we didn't completely abandon video - we just used it differently. Instead of upfront explainer videos, we embedded 15-30 second micro-videos that appeared exactly when users needed them. Stuck on a specific feature? A tiny video would pop up showing just that one interaction.
Step 4: The "Real Work" Challenge
By step four, we asked users to complete a task using their actual work. "Create a project for something you're actually working on this week." This transition from fake demo data to real work was crucial - it's where the product either proved its value or lost the user.
Step 5: The Success Amplifier
When users completed their real work task, we celebrated it and immediately showed them the next logical step. "Great! Now that you've created your first real project, here's how to set up automated notifications so your team stays in sync."
The key insight was this: instead of explaining the product's capabilities, we were building the user's capabilities. Every interaction increased their confidence and competence with the tool.
Immediate Engagement
Users stayed active because they were doing, not watching
Progressive Mastery
Each task built confidence for the next challenge
Real Work Integration
Switching from demo data to actual projects created genuine value
Selective Video Use
Micro-videos at point-of-need rather than upfront explanations
The results were honestly better than I expected. After running this A/B test for 30 days, the interactive onboarding group had significantly higher engagement and retention.
Day 1 return rate: 78% vs 45% for the video group. Users who actively completed tasks were much more likely to come back the next day.
Day 7 retention: 52% vs 23%. This was the big one - users who learned by doing were more than twice as likely to still be using the product a week later.
Trial-to-paid conversion: The interactive group converted at 34% vs 18% for the video group. This made sense - users who had already integrated the tool into their real work saw immediate value.
But here's what surprised me: the completion rate for the interactive onboarding was actually lower - 67% vs 89% for videos. Some people dropped out when faced with actual tasks. But the people who did complete it were much more likely to become successful long-term users.
The client was initially concerned about the lower completion rate until I showed them the revenue numbers. Would you rather have 89% of people watch a video and disappear, or 67% of people learn the product and stick around to pay?
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
Here are the key lessons I learned from this experiment:
1. Completion rates are a vanity metric. High completion doesn't mean successful onboarding if users don't stick around. Focus on meaningful engagement, not just getting through the flow.
2. Friction isn't always bad. The users who were willing to put in effort during onboarding were the ones who saw real value. A little friction can actually filter for your ideal customers.
3. Context matters more than content. Those micro-videos worked because they appeared exactly when needed, not because they were better produced than the original videos.
4. Real work beats demo data every time. The moment users switched from playing with fake data to using their actual projects, engagement spiked dramatically.
5. Active learning creates ownership. Users who built something themselves felt more invested in the outcome than those who just watched someone else do it.
6. Progressive complexity works. Starting simple and building up confidence prevented users from feeling overwhelmed while still teaching advanced features.
7. Know when to use each approach. Videos are great for emotional buy-in and complex concept explanation. Interactive tutorials are better for skill building and habit formation. The best onboarding uses both strategically.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS products specifically:
Start with a confidence-building task users can complete in under 60 seconds
Design each step to build real competence, not just feature awareness
Transition users from demo data to their actual work as quickly as possible
Use micro-videos for specific interactions, not general overviews
For your Ecommerce store
For E-commerce businesses:
Interactive product configurators work better than static product videos
Guide users through their first purchase step-by-step rather than explaining the entire catalog
Use interactive size guides and fit tools instead of sizing videos
Implement hands-on product comparison tools for complex purchases