 I think we can get started. Hello everybody. Next up, we have Sangita Raghu Poonati for who's going to be talking about user onboarding, get the user on board. Over to you, Sangita. Thank you so much. Hi everybody. Thank you so much for attending this session. Let's get started. So what what sells your product? So looking at when they actually choose your product. Product value. How does the product help? How is the product going to help the user? Is it going to help them achieve their business goals? How is the user experience? I mean how easy or difficult would it be for their employees to sort of adopt your product? And do you have user onboarding or tips and tricks to help that users get started? So in this session, we shall be looking at the what, how, why of user onboarding. As always, let's begin with the textbook definition. So Wikipedia says user onboarding is the process of improving a person's success with a product. So what it means is it means helping the users use your product without too much of effort. It means they don't have to go around looking for help when they're using your product. Rather, your product is intuitive enough or has enough help inside to keep them moving. It also means talks about the users reaching their aha moment. So what's an aha moment? It's a moment of sudden insight or discovery. The point at which your user is going to understand the value your product brings in. So if I want to convert a dog file into a PDF, the moment I convert it into a PDF, I have my aha moment. I know exactly how your product is going to help me. So let's break this up a bit. So when a user comes to your product, they come with a lot of apprehensions. Is this application going to help me? How do I get started? Am I going to achieve my goal? So every time we try something new, we have a lot of questions, we have a lot of fear. So an answer would be to make the journey more easier for the user, right? So the answer to all these questions is providing good user onboarding. So what does user onboarding actually do? It sort of provides a starting point for your users to use your software or your product. It helps the user get started. Imagine that a user is trying to use a trial version of the application and they just can't get started. So they're going to leave the product and go to some other product. So it's very important that we have good guidance or pointers to help the users get started. How do you get the user started? You could use messages, tool tips. You could use a combination of animated gifs, regular gifs, product tours to help the user get started. So before we get into the details of user onboarding, let's look at an example so that we all are on the same page. So this is the home page of an application called as Kanpa, which is used to create graphics. Now imagine I'm a first-time user and I come to the screen. I would be intimidated. I would be scared and I just don't know where to start. So what does Kanpa do? The screen that actually comes up once you log in for the first time in Kanpa is this screen. So if you see here, they have categorized according to the user personas or the user requirement. So if you're a teacher, what sort of graphics you can create, if you're a student, what kind of graphics you can create. So based on the persona, they have various templates available. So as a first-time user, it's easier for me to choose. So say I choose personal. So the next screen that comes up is this. So what is the onboarding statement that Kanpa is trying to tell us that we are going to help you create your first design. So that you understand how to use our application. And by the end of this, you have your first graphics or a design created. Now if I click presentation here, I come into this presentation space. And what Kanpa has done is to help the user understand their application better. They have created a product door. So a product door is actually a tour of your product. So on the click of next button, I'm going to go from one bubble to the next. And that's going to help me understand or navigate the UI. So by the end of this, end of this hand holding, I would have created my presentation. So now I know how to work with Kanpa. I know how the application looks like. And the next time I log in, I go back to the home screen, the first screen that I showed with with all the graphic images. But now I'm not scared. I understand the product better. And I can create my designs on my own. So how can you onboard the user? So you can onboard them in the application and you can onboard them out of the application. So within the application, you could use your welcome screens, your tooltips, product doors, some indicators on the UI to onboard the user. And out of the application, it's going to be more text. It's going to be a help topics, your promotional emails. So together, the in-app and the external onboarding artifacts should have a common goal of helping the user use, understand your application better, use your product in a better way. So in short, you have artifacts in your application. You have some amazing functionality in your application. So you're going to link these functionalities to the artifacts and have interaction with the users at regular intervals. For example, Kanba. So what did they do? They already had templates created and categories created. In the starting, they just added a new dialogue with these categories so that it's easier for the user to choose. They could have left the user on the home page, but they thought it would be a better way, easier for the users if they have a window that sort of shows off all the categories. So that's what we need to think, how we can link our application to our existing artifacts. So if you have web-based application, these are a list of some onboarding platforms. They are a combination of proprietary and open source. They have some really, really good onboarding. You can create really good onboarding artifacts. So all the artifacts that I'm going to be talking about today can be created by using these applications. The proprietary applications are available as browser extensions and the open source ones would require a little bit more of programming knowledge. So even if you don't want to like invest, maybe in these applications, do check out their trial versions because they give you a very good idea about what sort of onboarding artifacts you can create. So let's begin by understanding how do we create an onboarding strategy. So everything is going to begin with a business goal. So what business goal do you want to achieve with a particular onboarding strategy? For example, Kanwa, their onboarding strategy was to help the user create their first graphic. So how do you analyze? So once you've decided the user goals, you're going to see for that goal, what are the user personas? So what are your user personas? What are your user? What is the user journey for those personas? What is the technical level of your users? So once you have this data, you're going to sit together and think which user persona and which user journey is going to require onboarding. So for example, say you have admin tasks and you have end user tasks. So for an administrator, which tasks do you think are going to require onboarding strategy? What functionality or what use case would a user require help with? So you're going to sit back, think about it. If you have analytics, you could use analytics to decide the functionalities where you want to create onboarding strategy. Say your users are churning out at a particular functionality, you create a strategy around that. So once you have your onboarding strategies in place, discussions with your stakeholders, you create the strategy, publish it. But you keep reviewing your onboarding strategy because every time you have a new feature or a new release out, you may have to change it. So we will be talking about the shelf life of onboarding artifacts as well. So let's look at the type of users that you can address. So typically in an application, you're going to have three types of users. First time users are the users who come into your application for the first time. So an onboarding strategy here would be to help them get started. The basic users, the onboarding strategy here would be to make them into power users. And of course, applications might have power users. And here the onboarding strategy would be to help them discover more complex features and help them use the product even better. So once a user decides to use a particular application, they are always in a hurry to get started. So if we continue with the example of wanting to create a PDF from a dog file, I go to the internet, I search for an application, I download it. And now the next thing I want to do is just create my PDF. I don't want to waste too much of time filling in forms or trying to configure it. So most applications these days use single sign-on. So you can use your Google account or your Facebook account to sort of get into any application. So the strategy here would be to give access to your product as soon as possible. So once the user has access to your product, the first screen that they're going to see is the welcome screen. And a lot of times, you know, we can sort of ignore the welcome screen or the welcome dialog box. It's just like welcome to product ABC version one, two, three. No, you could probably do a little more with your welcome screen. Let's see how. So as I said, this is the first interaction user is going to have with your application. A lot of emphasis these days is on personalization. So you could welcome the users with their name. So reiterate the product value because that sort of helps the user makes the user more sure of, you know, what this product does. So give a line that that actually tells you what is it that what is the business goal you can achieve with this particular product or the USP of your product. List a couple of more functionalities of your product. So say I have come to your product to do a particular task. And if you list, say I can do B and C as well as a user, it sort of helps me realize that, okay, I can use this product for doing these other tasks as well. You could use a combination of image and text really good micro copy use the voice and tone of your organization. So everything in the welcome screen should talk, talk about your product as your product would speak to the user. And in the welcome screen, you can actually split the users the onboarding based on user persona or user journey. For example, admin tasks versus end user tasks. So this split the same way. You could do it in your welcome screen. So let's look at some examples. So this is the welcome screen from Dropbox. So what they have done is they have used floating windows or scrolling windows. And they also have added an animated gift insight to sort of show how the application works. So they have a problem. They have the functionality listed up there. They have good graphics. And they also have given a link to the intro video. So you don't have to actually go and create a video. If you have an existing marketing video that would work as well because the user here just wants to know how to get started and just understand what is it that your product brings in their organization. So once you click the get started button, you're going to get into the Dropbox application. So what does Dropbox do to help you further? They have a new for you window here and this window slides out only on the click of an arrow. So it's not going to interfere in their actual application. And here they have listed whatever is new in the release. They don't stop there. They also have used animated gift to actually show how you want to achieve that. And they have a call to action buttons that actually start that actually start that functionality. So you can actually download Dropbox from here or you can actually create a shared folder from this window as well. So they don't expect you to sort of go and search for share a folder button or command in the application. Rather you can get started just right here. So that's a very good example of onboarding the user just in time in the place where they are right now. This is a screen from that hat. So when you get into the insights dashboard, you can see that you have a couple of lines that tell you what does insight actually do. And it also helps the user get started. So they tell you if you want to begin. These are the commands that you need to use. And if you need some more information, here is a link to our getting started documentation. So this pattern that I have used in my presentation shows what you can do after you go back. So for if welcome screens, what can you do better in your welcome screens? Add what value your product brings in. Use some good text and images, good micro copy to create the function, the value that your product brings. List a couple of functionalities. As I said, you could use a given link to your video so that it's easier for the users who don't want to sort of go and read through all the text. You could give a link to the product or we're going to see that next. And wherever possible, always give a link documentation or your learning management system, because that's that's where the users are going to get more information. So let's look at a demo for product or first and then we'll talk about it. So product or actually guide the users in your application and you can actually ask the users to interact with your application in a product or so that by the end of it, they have achieved a goal. So in this video, we're going to see how to create a task in Gmail. So if you see here, the user is actually expected to click the icon. So the instructions that are given to the user are click the task icon. So once the user clicks the task icon, the application is of course invoked in Gmail because that's what it does. And then the user is asked to click the add add a task button. After that, actually write the task that you want to want to add to the list. And after that, we have further gone and show them how to complete a task as well. So and at the end of this, you can also ask feedback if the store was good or bad. So I created this tool using Warfix, which is the proprietary software. But in short, you can actually use product tools to help the users interact with your software. So with product tools, you can provide guidance on how to use your application. They are action oriented because at the end of it, you would have achieved a user goal. So in the example that we saw, we actually created a task. So that way, if you have any functionality that you want the user to complete a business use case, you could actually create a product tool to help the users achieve that particular goal. And you could create it for your first time users, basic users, different personas. So if you use the onboarding platforms, you can actually list all the product tools in a window and sort of display it in your application. A common use of product tools is to highlight new features because it's new. The users haven't seen it before and having a product tool where you actually guide them, the clicks and the configurations on your UI would help them understand the functionality better. And with product tools, don't try to make it too complicated. Stick to that one user goal that you want to achieve because sometimes you can do two, three things and that's only going to confuse your user. So what do you do after you go back? So if you decide to invest in the platforms or you decide to use some coding knowledge to create product tools, definitely have a Getting Started Tool product tool. So Getting Started Product Tool is a tool that's automatically invoked the first time the user comes into your application. So it's going to take the user around your application and sort of show the different features that are available. If you don't want to invest in product tools, you could use animated GIFs the same way as Dropbox did. So you record a small animated GIF and when the user invokes a particular functionality, you could open up this window so that the animated GIFs keeps playing and the users can use that as a reference to sort of navigate in your UI. You could keep that optional as well. You could ask the user that do you want to see an animated GIF. So you know, it's totally up to you how you would want to do it, but you could use animated GIFs to sort of guide your users as well. Tool tips, you know, you have any onboarding artifact tool, but tool tips are a must have because they are the best guidance that you can provide for the users. And if you use product tools, if you use the applications listed, you could link videos, documentation, everything in that product. So the third artifact that we're going to look at is task list. So nowadays, if you see every time you log in to a new application, they have a getting started short list. So these are lists of tasks which you are expected to complete so that you better understand the product. And as you complete that, you can see you get a check mark and you get a percentage. So this is nothing but a list of tasks which at the back end is actually linked to your existing functionality. So let's look at how we can use task lists. So these are tasks that you list sequentially. The hope is that the user would follow those tasks in a particular sequence, but not necessary. So you keep them in a sequence, but they should not be like interdependent on each other. And the user should have the flexibility of beginning with whichever task they want. So what we are trying to do by creating a task list is sort of giving the users a direction as to how to use the product. You're trying to show them the best way of using your product. Since you are expected to use these to run these tasks as soon as they log into your software, don't keep them very complex. Keep them simple. And show completion status because as humans, we love to see a tick mark and 100%. So use that as a motivation for the users to complete the tasks. Give them small rewards for completion of tasks. Need not be something big and applause or a balloon or a clap also makes us happy. So just keep them motivated so that they complete their task list because then it will help them understand the product better. And as with all onboarding artifacts, you should be able to just cross and not worry about the task list. So onboarding artifacts, you've got to take it with a pinch of salt. Sometimes the user may or may not use it, but when they need help, you have to be around. So that's like a help documentation as well. So they might not go and read it every day, but when they need help, they go to your documentation. So what can you do after you go back? You could use counters in your installers and login screens because then it gives an idea as to how much time more do I need to invest to actually finish the installation. So if I want to go for lunch, do I wait for the installation to get over or I come back and do it? So it kind of helps the user make the mind. Task list, good to have because it's going to give the users a direction and it's easy to create because you already have your existing functionality. You just need to figure out what needs to go into the task list. Progress bars you could use to either track the completion rate of your task list or if you have if you want the users to give them to give you more information about themselves, their profile. You could use a track path to track those details as LinkedIn does it says your profile is 50% complete. So you know, sort of motivate the users. So numbers always motivate us. So you use it to our advantage. And as always videos and documentation is something you can always add. So in short, what can a simple onboarding example look like? So you have a welcome screen, you split them by person or say admin and end user and say I click admin task admin. So for an admin you have a task list ready where then you have four or five tasks which you expect them to complete. And you can link actually you can actually you create product tours and list them as tasks or you could use tooltips to guide the user. So if that's too confusing, just create a task list. Let's look at some other onboarding artifacts that are available. So you can you if you don't have anything else you could use overlays. So I'm sure all of us have seen this sort of an overlay. So it's like a transparent screen on top of your application. And the overlay is going to just point arrows to the various commands or functionality that's available in your user interface. Tooltips as I said your best friends are always always have them hot spots are these the spot that keeps flashing. So wherever you want to get user attention, you could use this. You could also use this to indicate a new feature in your UI because that sort of gets lost. And you you write it in your health documentation but you know the user needs to see the icon match it in the UI and then understand hey this is something new. So instead of that you could use a hotspot to indicate new features or new functionality in your application. And in the app. In the app messaging is something that we already see a lot of upgrade related information or updates are pushed by various organizations with this with these with the pop up windows that you see coming up in your application saying that hey the product has been upgraded. We don't support this Java. So those sort of messages could be sent by in app messaging. So we have been looking at how to onboard the user within the application. Let's see how we can do it outside the application. So as I said this is going to be more text based. So you could use your promotional and triggered emails to help your users understand your product better. So what are triggered emails so triggered emails are emails that are triggered because of a user action. So say I have subscribed to your newsletter. So the triggered email would be and welcome email that comes to my mailbox. So in your promotional and triggered emails have your customer testimonials some use cases so that it helps your could be users or your prospective users understand how your product is going to help solve their business problems. All organizations send out product release email. So list what's new in the release. Give information. Be elaborate. Don't expect them to go back and see your documentation because sometimes users make a decision based on, you know, based on one artifact sometimes. And if you have link if you have created videos or tutorials for those new health features, try to add them in your in your product release emails because then every all the information related to that release is available at one place. Say for the sales manager or the CDO to sort of see see everything in one place. Health documentation is used as pre sales for pre sales research. So if an organization is trying to decide which product to use or which product to invest in, they're going to look at everything that's available in the market. So then say there are 10 products. So it's humanly impossible to download 10 products and see what features are available. Right. So which is the easiest place where you're going to see a list of all the features that are available. Of course the health documentation. So ensure that you put in a little bit of thought and effort in your health documentation because that's also something that's going to help you sell your product. And and a pointer is from from all of these external onboarding artifacts. Have a call to action button to your download page because you know, maybe the user would be motivated to at least look at your trial version. And this is my last slide. So as promised, we're going to look at the shelf life of onboarding artifacts. So they're going to be some permanent artifacts like your tooltips are not going to change. If you have a getting started tour, unless you have added something really important or something that you want to showcase your getting started tour is more or less set your basic task list. More or less is not going to change. So these could be some of your permanent deliverables. Now, based on your product adoption rate, based on your support analytics, you may have you can change certain existing onboarding artifacts. So for example, product doors. So if you have if you have product adoption rate is pretty quick. So release on release, you can create product doors for new features and remove the product doors of the previous releases. But say your product adoption rate is a little slower. So you cannot remove all the product doors from the previous releases, you may want to retain some important ones. So it's your product, you know, your end users based on that decide where what artifacts fits best what content fits best. So if you think that you can onboard or guide your users with tooltips, then just do it with tooltips. If you think that an additional window with an animated gift is going to help the user think if that you know you could add in there. Can you categorize or make it easier for the users to choose between different categories? Can you create a window with different category options? Makes it easier for the users to choose. So give it a thought. I'm sure by now you would have realized that user onboarding cannot be an afterthought. So you will have to start thinking about user onboarding when you start doing your product documentation. So I hope that you know you have some ideas about what you can do after you go back. These are some of the references. All the onboarding platforms that I spoke about have got really good material to check them out. I did a presentation on micro copy and animated gifts. So if you want to like look check them out, I'll be happy. And I'm ready for Q&A if you have any questions. And thank you so much for listening. Thank you for the amazing talk, Sangeeta. Guys, please feel free to drop in and chat with any questions that you have. Thank you. If you don't have any questions, they're good. I think everything was very clear for the audience. There is also a breakout room link, which I'm just going to post in the chat. So please feel free to hop in there even after this talk if you want to directly reach out to Sangeeta. I hope you can hang out there for a couple of minutes. And yeah, thank you so much for the talk again. Thank you so much for all your coordination and help. Thank you everybody.