13 people quit during onboarding in the last 2 weeks
Rethinking our onboarding at Bearconnect.
I’ve been getting feedback that our onboarding process has too much friction. And the numbers back it up - in the last 2 weeks, 13 people quit after step 4.
Here’s what the current flow looks like:
1️⃣ Enter email + password
2️⃣ Verify email
3️⃣ Log in again
4️⃣ Fill the onboarding form
5️⃣ Enter credit card details
6️⃣ Add LinkedIn account → finally in
That’s a lot of steps before seeing any value. And I don’t blame users for dropping off.
Here’s the new flow I’m considering:
1️⃣ Combine onboarding form with email + password
2️⃣ Verify email
3️⃣ Take the user straight to the dashboard (let them experience the wow factor immediately)
4️⃣ Ask for credit card details only when they decide to connect their LinkedIn account
The idea: show value first, ask for commitment later.
Whenever someone drops off, I connect with them on LinkedIn to learn about their experience. Their feedback has been clear: the process feels heavy.
Now my focus is on making it so smooth that users never have to feel that friction in the first place.
This usually happens when the signup flow demands too much commitment before showing any value. In your current sequence, visitors must verify an email, log in again, complete a form and enter payment and LinkedIn details before seeing anything, so it’s not surprising people drop after step four. What you’re seeing is less about them refusing to pay than about them not trusting that the product is worth their effort yet. Moving payment and LinkedIn until after they see the dashboard and combining the initial steps reduces cognitive load and lets them experience the product before committing.
Great insight 👏 I totally agree with the idea of showing value first and asking for commitment later.
The new flow feels much smoother especially delaying the credit card step until after the wow moment. Curious to see how your activation rates improve once you test this! 🚀
I will keep you updated on the activation rate.
Your new onboarding plan is a great move. Showing the value of your product first, before asking for a big commitment, is a much better approach. The friction you're seeing at Step 4 and beyond is a clear sign that users aren't motivated to complete the process until they understand what they're getting.
By letting users experience the "wow factor" of the dashboard right away, you're building trust and giving them a reason to stay. Combining steps and delaying the credit card and LinkedIn requests until they're invested will likely lead to a much higher conversion rate. Your focus on reducing friction and learning from user feedback is exactly what will make the process successful.
Thanks! The new onboarding went into effect today!
Nice choice, good luck.
Thanks!
I think your new flow sounds like a big improvement. How important is it that the user verify email before getting to the dashboard?
Yes, the new flow got active as of this morning. From security point of view, it's important that the user verifies his email. I hired a pen tester a while ago and he was particular about it.
Hi Mona, I have some interesting insights to share with you! But before I do, I’d love to know how many signups you received over the past two weeks. You mentioned that 13 new users left after the 4th onboarding step, "fill the onboarding form," but could you tell me the total number of signups you got during that period?
We got 7 signs up. These 7 people finished all the steps in our onboarding. Curious to hear what you want to share!
Does it mean that the total number of signups were 20 where 13 left the onboarding form and 7 finished all steps?
Yes correct
Okay, Mona. So, you got 20 signups, 13 of them drop after the fourth step because they didn’t want to provide their credit card details and 7 were serious enough to give you that information and proceed further exploring your product.
First, you shouldn’t think that friction is the only one thing you need to address and that those abandoned users you interviewed told your the truth. Therefore, try to score them, use your onboarding form and check if they were qualified prospects. If no, it’s the answer, not friction, if they were qualified, their motivation wasn’t enough to give you their cc details, maybe due to the trust to your business (your product is new) or indeed friction.
I would recommend to simplify the onboarding/registration process in full and test the following assumption:
Registration form with Social Signin (Google, Facebook, etc) buttons to avoid verification process and improve number of signups. You can detect the country automatically, no need to ask for that. Simplify your registration form.
Simple onboarding poll to score signups and check how many were qualified. Don’t spend your time on unqualified prospects,
Show the dashboard sample. Let them interact with it. Push them to change the LinkedIn account from sample one to theirs.
When they try to add their account, allow them to connect it in full.
At the end of the connection process, show them free trial paywall modal window on the compete dashboard background. Show them they are in the process and it’s only one step left, include social proof.
You push signups to see your product value, decrease friction by removing some steps and improve their motivation to proceed by showing real example of your product. Test it out and let me know the results.
Thanks Ihar! We simplified our onboarding effective yesterday. Now, the user has to fill a form and verify his email. I will speak with my tech team to have them verify via Google. After verification, the link takes them directly to the dashboard. I am hoping to increase my sign ups now.
Send me the new results in two weeks, thanks.
Will do.