Trial Activation & User Engagement

SaaS Platform Onboarding

Intro

The trial experience was long and complex, especially for administrators setting up the platform for the first time. Many users dropped off before reaching the point where the product’s value became clear.

I worked across research, onboarding strategy and UX design to simplify the activation journey, reduce friction and help users reach meaningful outcomes earlier in their trial.

The Problem

The product served different user types with complex setup requirements. New administrators were being asked to make too many decisions too early, which slowed onboarding and delayed engagement.

The challenge was not only usability. Users needed clearer guidance and reassurance during the first few days of the trial, when uncertainty and drop off were highest.

My Contribution

I worked across research, onboarding strategy and UX design to improve how new users experienced the product during the trial period.

My focus was on understanding where users lost confidence, simplifying setup complexity and helping users reach value earlier through clearer guidance and behavioural onboarding patterns.

I also collaborated closely with product and engineering teams to validate improvements through event tracking and user behaviour data.

Approach

Rather than redesigning isolated screens, I focused on the overall activation experience and the moments where users were most likely to disengage.

Key changes included:

Simplifying sign up from three steps into one
Creating role based onboarding flows for different user types
Designing onboarding emails to support users during the first five days
Introducing progress indicators to help users understand where they were in the setup journey
Setting up event tracking to measure behavioural changes and validate improvements

Outcome

The updated onboarding experience reduced trial drop off by 10% and increased trial conversion by 17%.

More importantly, the work shifted onboarding from a technical setup process into a guided experience that helped users recognise value earlier and engage with more confidence.

Solution

Simplify the sign-up and setup process for administrators, making it intuitive and efficient to help new administrators experience 'AHA' moments.

Sign-up: condense the process from 3 steps into a single step to reduce drop-offs.
New user onboarding: create the role-based Intercom onboarding for all new users.
Email onboarding: support the new administrators during the first five days of their trial.
Data Validation: Set up new events tracking to validate the real-time change.
In-app Progress Visualization: provide visual progress indicators like completion percentages and achievement badges to show users their progress toward their goals

Results

Trial Dropout Rate ↘️: Successfully reduced trial dropout rate by 10%
Conversion Rate ↗️: leading to a significant 17% increase in trial conversion rate.
This improvement directly contributed to higher customer acquisition and revenue generation.