What Is Progressive Onboarding? (+Examples)

Most definitions of progressive onboarding stop at "reveal features gradually". The harder part is deciding which lessons to hold back and what should bring each one out. The rule this guide uses: teach up front only what the user's first core task needs, and tie every other lesson to a trigger you can name, such as a first visit to a screen, a finished milestone or an empty state.

What is progressive onboarding?

Progressive onboarding is a user onboarding approach that helps people learn a product gradually by using it. Interactive elements and instructions appear as users reach the part of the product they explain, so users learn by doing instead of passively following a linear sequence, as they would in a product tour.

Progressive onboarding suits apps and products with complex workflows, many sections and a long feature list, on mobile and on the web. Because the lessons arrive one at a time, each step has to be simple and quick to follow.

The phrase has a second meaning worth knowing. In sign-up and identity design, "progressive onboarding" (or progressive profiling) means asking for the minimum data at sign-up and collecting the rest later. This guide is about the first meaning, product guidance, but the two often travel together: LinkedIn's example below does both.

Why onboard users progressively?

Progressive onboarding avoids the information dump. A function-oriented onboarding that introduces every feature at once asks new users to remember things they can't use yet, and most of it is forgotten before it matters.

Every onboarding approach shares one goal: help users find the product's value as quickly as possible. If first-time users don't get there in their first sessions, many never come back.

A progressive onboarding journey lets users decide what their next step is. Each lesson fires only when the user touches the related feature, so nobody sits through steps about features they'll never open. The approach also makes personalisation easier: users who never open a feature never see its lessons, and users who do get specific tips at the moment they need them.

How is progressive onboarding different from a product tour?

A product tour shows a fixed sequence when the user arrives; progressive onboarding spreads small lessons across sessions and lets the user's actions set the order. Most products use both: a short tour for the first core task, then progressive lessons for everything after it.

What should you show up front, and what can wait?

Show up front only what the first core task needs; everything else waits for a trigger. For each lesson, ask two questions. Does the user need this before they can finish their first core task? If not, which event shows they now need it? If you can't name the event, the lesson belongs in your help centre, not in onboarding.

A trigger has to be an event your product records. "When they're ready" isn't one; "the third time they rename a file by hand" is.

3 examples of progressive onboarding

These examples are from screenshots taken when this guide was first written; the products may look different today.

1- Evernote

Evernote's mobile onboarding, at the time of the screenshot, was four cards, each asking for one action: create a note, try the camera, save photos and articles from the web, and get Evernote on a computer. Each card confirmed the last action before asking for the next ("Nice! Now try the camera"), so users learned each feature by using it. The last step, syncing to a computer, had a "No thanks" option. Evernote carries the same idea into its empty states, which hold a call to action or a short tip each.

2- LinkedIn

LinkedIn's first-use onboarding directs users to its target actions one screen at a time: location, then a photo, then email confirmation. Each screen says why it's asking ("See people, jobs, and news in your area") and has a Skip link, so users can come back to a step after exploring the app for a while.

The progressive part continues after sign-up. On the profile, a "Profile strength" meter starts at Beginner and shows one card at a time, such as "Where do you currently work?", instead of a form with every field. That's progressive profiling and progressive guidance in the same screen.

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3- Tumblr

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Tumblr shows the last layer, feedback. Every so often a prompt on the dashboard asks "How do you feel about this here app?" with three faces. A sad face leads to "Tell us where you're having the most trouble", and, per our write-up of the same survey, only the happy face leads to a prompt to rate the app. The close button stays visible throughout.

Asking only after people have used the product a while tells Tumblr which features new users find too complicated or unnecessary, the things that slow down full digital adoption.

What are the best practices for progressive onboarding?

Five practices keep progressive onboarding from turning into a tour broken into pieces: use empty states, show one thing at a time, start from the user's job, save hidden features for later, and make every layer skippable.

1- Use empty states

An empty state is a screen where the regular content hasn't appeared yet because the user hasn't created any. Empty states set a user's first impression of a screen, and if people can't tell how to proceed, they leave.

Dropbox's Photos empty state has an illustration, one sentence ("Choose just a few or back up all the photos in your camera roll") and one button. That's all an empty state needs: a picture, a short description and a clear action. Adding several modals, videos or tips to the same screen leaves users unsure which step comes next. Asana goes further and uses empty states in place of tooltips. Save hotspots, tooltips and gamification for later layers.

2- Avoid cluttering information or features

A cluttered onboarding is the most common way progressive onboarding fails. Product teams are proud of what they built and want every new user to see every feature from the first day of the trial.

That instinct ignores what users want at that moment. If several tooltips fire at once, or a screen asks for multiple actions, users get confused and leave. A workable limit: one guidance element on screen at a time, and a dismissed tip doesn't come back in the same session.

Take one step at a time. If you ship several new features, queue them. Show the right content at the right time: nobody wants a tutorial video while they're in the middle of a task.

3- Start from the user's job to be done (JTBD)

Personalised and progressive onboarding work best together. A welcome screen after sign-up is a natural place to ask what the user wants to get done, and the answer decides which layer of lessons they see first.

The interface should then point users to the features that match their job, with clear calls to action. Checklists, hotspots and tooltips help users track their progress.

In UserGuiding's own onboarding, at the time of the screenshot, later checklist steps showed a lock until the earlier ones were done, and a second checklist ("Become a Champion!") held the advanced tasks. A checklist built this way is progressive onboarding in one widget: users see the whole path but can only take the next step.

4- Introduce hidden features

Once users know the core features, the next layer is the features they won't find on their own: shortcuts, uncommon gestures and settings that sit off the main path. Tooltips can point these out when they become relevant to what the user is doing.

In this Slack screenshot, a tooltip introduced direct messages with one sentence of explanation, a "Got it!" button and a "Click here to skip" link, while Slackbot started a conversation in the main window. The lesson sat next to the feature it explained and could be dismissed in one click.

5- Add skip buttons

Users interested in one feature may not care about the next, so every layer of progressive onboarding needs a visible way out. Leaving out the skip button locks users into an experience they didn't choose.

An X button or a "skip this step" link works, as long as it's easy to see. Reddit's AMA app showed four screens explaining how AMAs work, each with a Skip link, so a potential user could get the idea without creating an account:

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Decide what skipping means, too. A skipped lesson shouldn't fire again by itself, but users should be able to find it later, in a checklist or a help menu.

Is progressive onboarding right for your product?

Progressive onboarding fits any product with more features than a new user needs on day one. It centres the user's needs, drops long presentations and walkthroughs, and teaches through real use of the product.

Users stay in charge: they can skip steps, come back later and find hidden features along the way. Start with the layer table above, name a trigger for every lesson, and cut any lesson you can't attach to one. For timing lessons inside a single screen, see our guide to contextual onboarding.