Adoption Instrumentation Baseline (Onboarding)

Adoption Instrumentation Baseline (Onboarding)

1. 01

   Freeze the client's activation definition in writing before any tour is built

   Pick the single event that separates a signed-up user from a working user, such as first successful export or first invited teammate, and get the client to sign off on that definition in the kickoff doc.

2. 02

   Pull 90 days of event data and segment by plan tier and signup cohort

   A flat activation rate hides the story. Split free, trial, and paid cohorts so the baseline reflects the users the client actually wants to move.

3. 03

   Map the three screens where new accounts stall

   Use session recordings or funnel drop-off data to name the exact routes, not a general claim that onboarding is confusing. Chameleon and Userflow both trigger guidance off real product signals, so the trigger points must be named routes and events.

4. 04

   Inventory existing guidance already shipped by the client's product team

   Product-led clients often have partial tours, empty-state copy, or tooltips live. Duplicating them creates conflicting prompts and erodes trust in the new layer.

5. 05

   Agree on two primary metrics and one guardrail metric with the client

   Typical pairings are time-to-first-value plus feature adoption rate, with support ticket volume as the guardrail so gains are not bought by burying users in prompts.

6. 06

   Document the instrumentation gaps that block measurement

   If the client cannot emit the activation event, that gap is a scoped deliverable, not an assumption. Appcues and UserGuiding both depend on clean event streams to segment and target experiences.

7. 07

   Set the review cadence and the decision date for the first iteration

   Book a 30-day checkpoint where the baseline is compared against post-launch numbers, and name who on the client side owns the call to keep, change, or kill each experience.