Onboarding new users is a critical process for any SaaS (Software as a Service) business. It's like a first date; you want to make a great impression, showcase your best features, and, most importantly, ensure your date (read: user) comes back for more.

However, without the right user onboarding tools, that first date might not go as planned, leading to high churn rates and low user engagement.

In this article, we're going to dive deep into the world of user onboarding software. We'll cover everything from what user onboarding is, why it's important, and the top user onboarding tools you should consider for your SaaS business in 2023.

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What is User Onboarding?

User onboarding is the method of actively guiding users to find success with a product or service. In the SaaS world, this often involves a series of interactive tutorials, tooltips, and walkthroughs that help new users understand how to use the product and where they can find value.

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Why is User Onboarding Important?

User onboarding is crucial for several reasons:

• User Retention: A good onboarding experience can significantly reduce user churn and increase retention rates.
• User Engagement: Engaging users from the start can lead to higher product usage and greater customer satisfaction.
• Revenue Growth: The more users that successfully adopt your product, the higher your chances of converting them into paying customers, leading to increased revenue growth.

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Now that we understand the importance of user onboarding, let's delve into some of the best user onboarding software available in 2023.

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1. UserGuiding

UserGuiding is a powerful user onboarding tool that prioritizes ease of use. This no-code platform allows you to create interactive product tours, checklists, and tooltips to guide your users through your product.

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Key Features

• No-code design: Create onboarding experiences without writing any code.
• Segmentation: Create personalized experiences for different user groups.
• Analytics: Track the performance of your onboarding experiences.
• Net Promoter Score: Measure user satisfaction with built-in NPS surveys.

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Pricing

UserGuiding offers a starting plan at $69/mo for up to 2,500 monthly users.

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2. Userpilot

Userpilot aims to boost user adoption through behavior-driven product experiences. It's a great tool for building customizable and personalized onboarding flows.

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Key Features

• User Segmentation: Tailor experiences based on user behavior and persona.
• Contextual Hints: Provide users with real-time help and guidance.
• Data Analysis: Understand user behavior with in-depth analytics.

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Pricing

Userpilot’s pricing starts at $249 per month for up to 2,500 monthly users.

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3. Chameleon

Chameleon is a platform that enables non-technical teams to create user onboarding experiences without needing any coding skills.

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Key Features

• No-code Design: Build onboarding experiences without needing to code.
• User Segmentation: Personalize experiences based on user segments.
• Analytics: Measure the impact of your onboarding experiences.

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Pricing

Chameleon's prices start at $279/mo for up to 2,000 users.

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4. Appcues

Appcues is a no-code user onboarding tool that helps non-technical teams track and analyze product usage, publish in-app onboarding tours, and launch surveys.

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Key Features

• User Segmentation: Personalize experiences based on user behaviors.
• Analytics: Track and measure onboarding experiences.
• Surveys: Collect user feedback directly within the product.

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Pricing

Appcues’ pricing starts at $299/mo for up to 2,500 users.

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5. Userflow

Userflow is a tool that lets you build customized onboarding checklists and product tours tailored for your product.

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Key Features

• No-code Design: Build tours and checklists without any coding skills.
• User Segmentation: Personalize onboarding experiences based on user behavior.
• Analytics: Track the performance of your onboarding experiences.

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Pricing

Starting at $200 per month with a monthly payment for up to 3,000 users.

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6. Pendo

Pendo is a product experience platform that helps software product teams deliver the best user experience possible. It helps you understand which features customers are using and which ones they're ignoring.

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Key Features

• Customer Segmentation: Personalize experiences based on user behavior.
• Analytics: Measure and track user behavior and product usage.
• Feedback: Collect and analyze user feedback.

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Pricing

Pendo offers a free plan for up to 1,000 active users. Contact the vendor for paid plans' details.

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7. Walkme

WalkMe is a Digital Adoption Platform designed to help software product teams to deliver the best user experience possible. It helps you understand how your product is being used and where users may encounter difficulties.

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Key Features

• User Segmentation: Personalize experiences based on user behavior.
• Analytics: Measure and track user behavior and product usage.
• Automated Steps: Automate onboarding steps to guide users through the product.

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8. Hopscotch Product Tours

Hopscotch is a simple user onboarding tool for SaaS startups to streamline the process of building interactive product tours.

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Key Features

• No-code Design: Build tours without any coding skills.
• User Segmentation: Personalize onboarding experiences based on user behavior.
• Analytics: Track the performance of your onboarding experiences.

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Pricing

Hopscotch offers a starting plan at $99/mo for up to 3,000 monthly users.

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Video Onboarding Tools

Video tutorials can help users understand your product better and faster. Consider using one of these video onboarding tools:

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9. Wistia

Wistia is a video hosting platform for B2B marketers. It allows you to create user onboarding videos easily.

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Key Features

• Video Hosting: Host and share your onboarding videos.
• Lead Generation Tools: Collect leads from your videos.
• Analytics: Track video performance.

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Pricing

Wistia offers a free plan for up to ten videos. Paid plans start at $19/mo.

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10. Vidyard

Vidyard is a video platform for businesses. It allows you to record and share videos for varying purposes, including user onboarding.

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Key Features

• Video Creation and Hosting: Create and host your onboarding videos.
• Screen Recording: Record your screen to create tutorials.
• Video Management: Manage and share your videos easily.

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Pricing

Vidyard offers a free plan with limited features. Paid plans start at $19 per month.

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Email Onboarding Tools

Emails are an essential part of the user onboarding process. You can use them to welcome new users, provide helpful resources, and guide them through your product.

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11. Customer.io

Customer.io is a marketing automation platform for sending automated emails, push notifications, and SMS messages to engage your users.

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Key Features

• Direct and Third-party Integrations: Integrate with your existing tools.
• Advanced Audience Segmentation: Segment users based on their behavior.
• Automated Emails: Automate your email campaigns.

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Pricing

Customer.io's prices start at $150/mo.

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12. Drip

Drip is a marketing automation platform that allows you to automate your email campaigns and engage your users.

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Key Features

• Behavior-based Automated Email Responses: Send automated emails based on user behavior.
• Email Personalization: Personalize your emails to improve engagement.
• A/B Testing: Test different email versions to optimize your campaigns.

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Pricing

Drip's price plans start at $39/mo for up to 2,500 contacts.

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User Behavior Analytics Tools

Understanding how your users interact with your product is crucial for improving your onboarding process. Here are some of the best user behavior analytics tools:

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13. Mixpanel

Mixpanel is a product analytics tool that allows you to track product and behavioral user experience for web and mobile applications.

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Key Features

• Custom Event Tracking: Track custom events to understand user behavior.
• Real-time Reporting: Get real-time insights on your product usage.
• Segmentation: Segment users based on their behavior.

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Pricing

Mixpanel offers a free plan for up to 100K monthly tracked users. Paid plans start at $25/mo.

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14. Hotjar

Hotjar provides you with insights to understand how users really experience your site, visualize it, see what they see, get feedback from them, and more.

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Key Features

• Heatmaps, Session Replays, Monitoring: Understand user behavior with heatmaps and session replays.
• Surveys: Collect user feedback directly within the product.
• Click Tracking: Understand where users click and interact on your site.

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Pricing

Hotjar's price plans start at €32/mo.

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15. Fullstory

Fullstory is a similar tool to Hotjar. Both have features like heatmaps and session replays to see through your customers' experiences with your product or website.

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Key Features

• Heatmaps, Session Replays, Real-time Monitoring: Understand user behavior with heatmaps and session replays.
• Click Tracking, Mouse Movement, Frustration Tracking: Track user interactions to understand their behavior.
• A/B Testing, Error, and Bug Tracking: Test different versions of your product and track errors and bugs.

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Pricing

Fullstory offers a free plan with limited features. Contact the vendor for paid plans' details.

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16. UserTesting

Unlike Hotjar and Fullstory, UserTesting is an on-demand human insight platform that delivers a first-person understanding of your product.

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Key Features

• Surveys, Video Snippets, Video Interviews: Collect qualitative user feedback.
• Recruitment Pool: Recruit users for your tests.
• Analytics: Analyze the results of your tests.

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Pricing

Contact the sales team for pricing details.

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17. Optimizely

Optimizely is a platform that optimizes your conversion rates by running A/B tests, server-side testing, or multivariate tests.

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Key Features

• A/B Testing: Test different versions of your product to optimize your conversion rates.
• Targeting: Target different user segments to improve personalization.
• Multichannel: Test across different channels like mobile and web.

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Pricing

Contact the sales team for pricing details.

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18. Heap

Heap powers businesses to analyze user experiences, pinpoint where users struggle, and make improvements to the customer experience.

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Key Features

• Fix Broken Workflows: Understand where users get stuck in your product.
• Pinpoint User Behaviors: Understand user behavior to improve your product.
• Optimize Your SaaS Product's Features: Understand which features users are using and which ones they're ignoring.

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Pricing

Heap offers a free plan for up to 10,000 sessions per month. Contact the vendor for paid plans' details.

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User Feedback Tools

Collecting user feedback is an essential part of the user onboarding process. Here are some of the best user feedback tools:

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19. Feedier

Feedier is an all-in-one feedback management platform for collecting user feedback about your application, product, in-app experiences, or user onboarding processes.

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Key Features

• Interactive Surveys: Create interactive surveys to collect user feedback.
• Collect Digital Feedback: Collect feedback from your website or in-app.
• Real-time Analytics: Analyze the results of your surveys in real-time.

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Pricing

Feedier offers a free plan for limited features. Contact the sales team for paid plans' details.

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20. Typeform

Typeform is a popular online survey and form builder tool. It helps you collect customer feedback quickly and understand where they run into roadblocks.

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Key Features

• Surveys: Create interactive surveys to collect user feedback.
• Custom Branding: Personalize your surveys to match your brand.
• Multilingual Surveys: Create surveys in multiple languages.

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Pricing

Typeform's price plans start at $25 per month.

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Customer Support Tools

Customer support is an essential part of user onboarding. Here are some of the best customer support tools:

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21. Freshdesk

Freshdesk is an omnichannel customer service software designed to enable businesses of all sizes to deliver smoother customer experiences.

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Key Features

• Ticketing System: Manage customer inquiries efficiently with a ticketing system.
• Live Chat and Chatbots: Provide real-time support with live chat and chatbots.
• Automated Responses: Automate responses to common inquiries.

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Pricing

Freshdesk offers a free plan for limited features. Contact the vendor for paid plans' details.

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22. Zendesk

Zendesk is a customer service and engagement platform that provides all-in-one customer support across all your channels.

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Key Features

• Live Chat and Chatbots: Provide real-time support with live chat and chatbots.
• Integrated Help Center: Create a help center for users to find answers to their questions.
• Ticketing System: Manage customer inquiries efficiently with a ticketing system.

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Pricing

Zendesk offers a starting plan at $49/mo for limited features.

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23. Olark

Olark is a live chat software that helps your new customers clear their doubts and questions following the onboarding process.

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Key Features

• Live Chat: Provide real-time support with live chat.
• Automated Responses: Automate responses to common inquiries.
• Real-time Reports and Metrics: Track the performance of your support efforts.

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Pricing

Olark's full-featured live chat starts at $29 per month.

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Wrap Up

User onboarding is a critical process for any SaaS business. With the right tools, you can create an onboarding experience that not only delights your users but also dramatically increases user retention and engagement.

Remember, the best user onboarding tools are those that fit your business needs and budget. So take the time to explore different options, try out their free trials, and choose the one that works best for you.