Great SaaS Onboarding Software Solutions for Every Need

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Effective user onboarding is critical to the success of any SaaS product. User onboarding is the process of helping new users learn the ropes of your product, so they can get the most out of it, fully understand the value you offer, and (hopefully) become power users.

There are a number of different user onboarding software solutions on the market that can help you streamline and optimize your onboarding process. In this article, Nickelled will be introducing you to a few of the best!

But first…

What Is User Onboarding?

You’ve spent countless hours (and maybe even sleepless nights) working on your SaaS product. You know it like the back of your hand!

Your users don’t, though. They’re coming to your product with little-to-no knowledge of how it works, what it does, or even why they should even use it. User onboarding is the process of filling in these knowledge gaps as quickly and seamlessly as possibly to help new users get up-to-speed with your product.

Effective user onboarding should:

  • Introduce users to core features of your product. This could be done through a combination of written documentation, interactive elements, video tutorials, and/or in-app walkthroughs.
  • Show users how your product can solve their specific problem. For example, if you have a project management tool, you would want to show users how your tool can help them manage their projects more effectively.
  • Provide users with an intuitive experience. Your user onboarding process should be intuitive and easy-to-follow. If it’s not, you run the risk of losing users early on.

What is User Onboarding Software?

User onboarding software is any software solution that helps businesses carry out the onboarding goals we covered above. User onboarding software can come in a number of different forms, including:

  • Product walkthroughs and guided tours
  • Interactive guides and tooltips
  • On-screen messages and notifications
  • Live chat and support
  • Written documentation and how-tos
  • Video tutorials and webinars

Some software (Nickelled, for example) even bundle a bunch of these features together into easy-to-use onboarding platforms.

What Are the Benefits of User Onboarding Software?

There are a number of benefits that come with using user onboarding software, some of which we’ve highlighted below:

  1. Improved user retention. Having a great product isn’t enough to keep users satisfied. They also need to know how to use it. User onboarding software can help reduce churn by ensuring that new users have a great first experience with your product.
  2. Increased revenue. Businesses with strong retention rates make 2.5x more money than those with weak retention rates. According to many studies, reducing customer churn by just 5% can increase profits by 25-125%.
  3. Improved customer satisfaction. Onboarding new users doesn’t just reduce churn. It can also lead to increased customer satisfaction. When users understand the value of your product, they’re more likely to be happy with it (and recommend it to others).
  4. Reduced customer acquisition costs. It costs significantly less to retain a customer than it does to acquire a new one. By onboarding new users effectively, you can reduce your customer acquisition costs and reinvest that money into other areas of your business.
  5. Greater efficiency. User onboarding software can help you onboard new users faster and with less effort. At Nickelled, we’ve helped businesses like Klubmodul improve the efficiency of their support teams by as much as 100%—just by adding our user onboarding software to their stack.

As you can see, there are many reasons to invest in user onboarding software for your business. But with so many different solutions on the market, it can be tough to know where to start.

Not to worry—Nickelled will be introducing you to a few of the best! But first, let’s take a look at what you should be looking for in a user onboarding solution.

What to Look for in User Onboarding Software

When you’re evaluating different user onboarding solutions, there are a few key features you’ll want to keep an eye out for:

  • Ease of use. The best user onboarding solutions should be easy to set up and use. You shouldn’t need a degree in computer science to get your software up-and-running. It needs to be simple and straightforward.
  • Flexibility. Not all businesses have the same onboarding needs. Some might need a simple product tour, while others might need something more comprehensive (like live chat support). Look for a solution that’s flexible enough to meet your specific needs.
  • Scalability. As your business grows, so too will your onboarding needs. Make sure you choose a user onboarding solution that can scale with you as you grow.
  • Value for money. User onboarding software is an investment, so you’ll want to make sure you’re getting a good return on that investment. Look for a solution that offers a lot of features for a reasonable price.

Now that you know what to look for, let’s take a closer look at some of the best user onboarding solutions on the market today.

11 Amazing User Onboarding Software Solutions for SaaS

Before we dive in, a quick note.

Onboarding is dependent on your business—your product, target market, and how you want to engage with your users all impact your onboarding processes. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, so we’ve included a mix of different software solutions to cater for different needs.

There’s a good chance that not every product will be a perfect fit for your business, but there’s bound to be something that’s a good starting point.

So without further ado, here are 11 of the best user onboarding software solutions for SaaS in 2022:

1. Nickelled – No-code interactive onboarding

Nickelled is a user onboarding platform that arms SaaS businesses with a suite of tools for increasing engagement, reducing churn, and driving adoption. Nickelled’s user onboarding software makes it easy to create and deploy interactive product tours, tooltips, on-screen messages, and more. 

Best of all: no coding knowledge required.

All of the content that Nickelled displays to users can be customized based on segmentation rules set by you. This means that you can target different messages to different users based on their behavior, location, device, and more.

Nickelled’s user onboarding software is designed to be intuitive and easy-to-use. It’s perfect for businesses that want to onboard new users quickly and efficiently.

Key Features

  • Guided Tours: Nickelled’s guided tours make it easy to create and deploy interactive product tours that walk users through important product features and processes step-by-step.
  • Hostspots: Nickelled’s hotspots make it easy to add interactive tooltips, on-screen messages, and other elements to your website or app.
  • Help Assistant: Nickelled’s help assistant is an on-screen widget that connects users with learning resources and documentation when clicked.

Pricing

Nickelled starts at $249/month. But if you need to create unlimited guides, you can always contact sales for a quote. Don’t worry, though—Nickelled has a 14-day free trial, so you can try before you buy!

2. Appcues – Frills-free onboarding flow

If you’re looking for user onboarding software that’s both easy to use and highly effective, Appcues can be an option.

Appcues makes it simple to create custom onboarding “flows” for your website or app, and their targeting features make it easy to ensure that your new users are getting the most out of your product.

These flows can be triggered by user actions (such as signing up for a free trial) or can be manually targeted to specific users. Appcues also offers an analytics platform, which gives you insights into how your onboarding flows are performing and where users are dropping off.

Key Features

  • Onboarding Flows: Appcues’ onboarding flows make it easy to create custom, interactive guides that walk users through important product features and processes.
  • Triggers: Appcues’ triggers make it easy to launch onboarding flows automatically, based on user actions or targeting rules that you set.
  • Analytics: Appcues’ analytics platform gives you insights into how your onboarding flows are performing and where users are dropping off.

Pricing

Appcues offers three pricing tiers. Essentials is the most affordable at $249/month. If your product has more than 2,500 monthly active users, you’ll need to upgrade to  Growth or Enterprise for $879+/month.

3. Zumvie – Clickable demos

Zumvie is a tool that allows you to create fully clickable demos of your SaaS products. This is a fantastic way to show potential customers what your product can do and how it works without requiring them to sign up.

With Zumvie, you can create product demos that are tailored to your specific audience. You can then embed these demos in blog posts, landing pages, and social media posts to show users how your product addresses their specific pain points.

Zumvie’s user onboarding software is perfect for businesses that want to create high-converting sales and marketing collateral. If you’re looking for a way to  increase conversion rates and close more deals, Zumvie is definitely worth checking out.

Key Features

  • Fully Clickable Demos: Zumvie’s fully clickable demos are a great way to show potential customers what your product can do.
  • Tailored to Your Audience: Zumvie’s demos can be tailored to specific audience profiles, so you can show users how your product addresses their specific pain points.

Pricing

For a quote, you’ll need to complete a 1-minute intake form.

4. ActiveCampaign – Onboarding messaging

ActiveCampaign is usually referred to as a marketing automation platform. That doesn’t stop it from being a powerful (and highly customizable) user onboarding tool, though!

With ActiveCampaign, you can create and deploy onboarding emails, SMS messages, and web push notifications. You can also use ActiveCampaign’s powerful automation builder to create onboarding workflows that are triggered by specific user actions.

ActiveCampaign’s user onboarding software is perfect for businesses that want to take a hands-off approach to onboarding new users. Once you’ve set up your onboarding workflows, ActiveCampaign will automatically engage with your users and guide them through the product.

Key Features

  • Email Automation: ActiveCampaign makes it easy to create and deploy onboarding emails without lifting a finger.
  • SMS Automation: ActiveCampaign’s SMS automation features let you send onboarding messages straight to your users’ phones.
  • Web Push Notifications: ActiveCampaign can send web push notifications to users as part of your onboarding process.

Pricing

ActiveCampaign has a flexible pricing structure based on contacts, along with four main pricing tiers: Lite, Plus, Professional, and Enterprise. If you don’t need many automation features or contacts, you can get access to ActiveCampaign for $9/month.

5. Ortto – Omnichannel onboarding communication

Ortto is a marketing automation tool (similar to ActiveCampaign) that offers powerful user onboarding features.

With Ortto, you can create and deploy onboarding emails, SMS messages, and web push notifications that are triggered by a range of actions and events. For example, you could set up an email to be sent to a new user when they first sign up, or an SMS message to be sent when they reach a certain milestone in your product.

Ortto also offers a range of pre-built templates and integrations with popular tools like Slack, Intercom, and Drift. This makes it easy to get started with Ortto and get the most out of your user onboarding.

Key Features

  • Email Automation: Ortto’s email automation features make it easy to send onboarding messages to new users.
  • Easy Integration: Ortto integrates with popular tools like Slack, Intercom, and Drift, making it easy to get started.
  • Pre-Built Templates: Ortto offers a range of pre-built templates that you can use to get started with your automations.

Pricing

Ortto offers four pricing tiers beginning at $29/month for the Campaign plan. If you send more than 8,000 emails per month, you’ll need to upgrade to a Professional, Business, or Enterprise plan beginning at $99+/month.

6. Mailchimp – Onboarding emails

Mailchimp is one of the most popular email marketing platforms on the market, and it’s also a great tool for user onboarding.

Mailchimp’s user onboarding tools let you send automatic welcome emails, educational emails, and other types of messages that help new users get acclimated to your product. You can also use Mailchimp’s powerful automation builder to create custom workflows that are triggered by specific user actions.

As with ActiveCampaign, Mailchimp’s user onboarding software is perfect for businesses that want to take a hands-off approach to onboarding new users. Once you’ve set up your onboarding workflows, Mailchimp will automatically engage with your users and guide them through the product.

Key Features

  • Automatic Welcome Emails: Mailchimp’s automatic welcome emails help you engage with new users and get them excited about your product.
  • Educational Emails: Mailchimp’s educational emails help new users learn about your product and how to use it.
  • Custom Workflows: Mailchimp’s automation builder makes it easy to create custom onboarding workflows that are triggered by specific user actions.

Pricing

Mailchimp has a fairly generous Free plan with great user onboarding potential. If you need to send more than 2,500 emails per month, you’ll need to upgrade, though. Luckily, paid plans start at $11/month!

7. Intercom – Interactive customer chat

Intercom is one of the most popular customer engagement platforms on the market. Over 25k businesses trust Intercom with their customer communication needs.

Intercom’s user onboarding software is designed to help you increase engagement, reduce churn, and boost conversion rates. How? By making it easy to send targeted, timely messages to your users.

With Intercom, you can create and deploy on-site messages, in-app messages, push notifications, and email campaigns. You can also use Intercom’s powerful Customer Data Platform to segment your users and target them with specific messages.

Key Features

  • Customer Data Platform: Intercom’s Customer Data Platform makes it easy to segment your users and target them with specific messages.
  • On-Site Messages: Intercom’s on-site messages are perfect for walking users through important features and processes.
  • In-App Messages: Intercom’s in-app messages are a great way to keep users engaged with your product.

Pricing

For most businesses, Intercom creates custom pricing packages. For very small businesses, Intercom charges $74/month.

8. Zendesk – Help center

Zendesk is a platform that helps businesses provide support to their customers. And yes, customer support is a big part of user onboarding.

Why? Because when new users have questions or encounter problems, they need to be able to reach out to your support team for help. With Zendesk’s user onboarding software, you can create a seamless support experience for your users.

Zendesk’s support software is designed to help you manage all your customer support channels in one place. You can use Zendesk to create a knowledge base, manage customer tickets, and track support KPIs.

Key Features

  • Knowledge Base: Zendesk’s Knowledge Base helps you store and organize all your support documentation in one place.
  • Customer Tickets: Zendesk’s customer ticketing system helps you track and resolve customer issues.
  • Support KPIs: Zendesk’s Support KPIs help you track the performance of your support team.

Pricing

Intercom offers three pricing tiers: Team, Growth, and Professional. Team starts at $49/month and plans top out around $99/month.

9. Vimeo – Video-based onboarding

Vimeo is a video hosting and streaming platform. And while you might not think of video as a user onboarding tool, it can actually be a great way to engage and educate new users.

With Vimeo’s user onboarding software, you can create and host educational videos that teach new users about your product. You can also use Vimeo’s video player to embed videos on your website or in your app.

Plus, Vimeo’s Pro plans come with a number of features that are perfect for user onboarding, including call-to-action overlays, lead capture forms, and email capture forms.

Key Features

  • Educational Videos: Vimeo’s educational videos help new users learn about your product.
  • Video Player: Vimeo’s video player makes it easy to embed videos on your website or in your app.
  • Call-To-Action Overlays: Vimeo’s call-to-action overlays help you engage with new users and get them excited about your product.

Pricing

Vimeo’s plans start at $12/month for the Starter plan. If you need to host more than 60 videos, you’ll need to upgrade to a Standard, Advanced, or Enterprise plan.

10. Wistia – Onboarding playlists

Wistia is a video hosting and streaming platform that’s specifically designed for businesses. And like Vimeo, Wistia’s user onboarding software is all about creating engaging, educational videos.

With Wistia, you can upload and host videos, create playlists, add calls-to-action, and track engagement metrics. You can also use Wistia’s Turnstile feature to capture email addresses and turn viewers into leads.

Key Features

  • Video Hosting: Wistia’s video hosting helps you store and organize your videos in one place.
  • Playlists: Wistia’s playlist feature helps you keep your videos organized and easy to find.
  • Calls-To-Action: Wistia’s calls-to-action help you engage with new users and get them excited about your product.

Pricing

Wistia offers a great Free plan with a 10 video limit. Beyond that, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan, which start at $19/month.

11. Rocketlane – High-ticket, personalized onboarding

Rocketlane helps businesses create personalized, engaging onboarding experiences and plans for their users—specifically high-ticket users.

With Rocketlane, you can easily work with leads and users to develop a personalized onboarding plan that’s tailored to their needs. You can also use Rocketlane’s software to automate key pieces of your user onboarding process.

All of Rocketlane’s features are stored in a shared portal, so you and your team can access everything you need to create a seamless user onboarding experience.

Key Features

  • Personalized Onboarding Plans: Rocketlane helps you create a personalized experience for each user.
  • Automated Onboarding Processes: Rocketlane’s software helps you automate key parts of your user onboarding process.
  • Shared Portal: Rocketlane’s shared portal helps you and your team access everything you need to create a seamless user experience.

Pricing

Rocketlane’s Professional plan will cost you $19/month and comes with many of the features you’ll need. If you need advanced features like custom fields and integration, you’ll need to upgrade.

Upgrade Your User Onboarding Process with Nickelled

If you’re looking for a user onboarding solution that will help you increase engagement and boost conversion rates, you should check out Nickelled.

Nickelled is a user onboarding platform that makes it easy to create and deploy engaging, interactive guides. With Nickelled, you can create on-site tours, in-app messages, tooltips, and more.

Ready to take your user onboarding to the next level? Get started with a 14-day free trial of Nickelled today!