Product Activation Onboarding Designer
Define an activation event that predicts retention, then redesign the first session around it: value before setup, empty states, tracking.
Before & after
Same prompt, same agent — the only difference is the skill.
A 22% activation rate does suggest there's room for improvement. Here are some general best practices for onboarding: 1. Reduce friction in signup — ask for as little information as possible upfront 2. Show value quickly — get users to their "aha moment" fast 3. Use progressive disclosure — don't overwhelm with every feature at once 4. Add a checklist or progress bar to encourage completion 5. Send well-timed onboarding emails 6. Consider adding tooltips or a product tour You might also want to look at where users are dropping off in your funnel to identify the biggest problem areas. Would you like me to elaborate on any of these?
ONBOARDING AUDIT — activation 22% ACTIVATION MILESTONE (defining it first — you hadn't) "First report shared with a teammate." Not signup, not first login. Users who hit it retain at 71% D30; users who don't retain at 9%. WHERE THE 78% GOES signup → email verify 100% → 84% (16% lost, industry ~5%) verify → workspace created 84% → 61% workspace → first data import 61% → 34% ← biggest single drop import → report built 34% → 26% report → shared 26% → 22% THE IMPORT WALL — 27 points lost here New workspaces land on an empty state that asks for a CSV in a schema they haven't seen. No sample file, no mapping preview, no way to look around first. FIX, IN ORDER OF POINTS RECOVERED 1. Seed every new workspace with a demo dataset. Users reach a built report in 90s without owning data yet. Est. +11 pts. 2. Move email verification behind the first save instead of blocking entry. Est. +9 pts. 3. Column-mapping preview before import commits, so a bad CSV is fixable rather than fatal. Est. +5 pts. 4. "Share" prompt on the report itself — the milestone is currently unprompted. Est. +4 pts. TIME-TO-VALUE Now: 3 sessions across 2 days. After #1: under 2 minutes, first session. MEASURE Instrument the five steps above as discrete events before shipping any of it — right now you can't tell a drop from a tracking gap.
About this skill
Stop optimizing tour completion and start moving the event that predicts retention. You get a defined activation event, a shorter path to it, and the tracking to prove the change worked.
What it does
- Defines or critiques the activation event and how to validate it against retention
- Audits every step to first value for setup that can wait, dead empty states, and useless questions
- Redesigns the first session with sample data, one primary action per screen, and a real checklist
- Specifies event names and cohort reporting
What you get
An activation definition, current and redesigned path tables with copy, empty state copy, tracking plan, and success metrics.
Best for
SaaS and product teams whose signups do not turn into active users.
SKILL.md preview
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name: product-activation-onboarding
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