I’m here to share some insights on something super important for any product or service company: the onboarding text we use. That first impression, you know, it totally sets the stage. And when it comes to getting new users acquainted, that first impression is so often our onboarding text.
Think about it: this isn’t just about giving instructions. It’s truly a story, carefully crafted to guide new users from feeling a bit lost to fully understanding and using our product, from just being interested to being totally engaged. But you see so many companies that just don’t quite hit the mark. Their onboarding feels generic, maybe uninspired, or sometimes even downright confusing. So, what’s the secret to creating truly effective onboarding text? It’s not guessing or just assuming things. It’s all about systematically using user research.
This guide is going to dive deep into practical ways we can use user research to completely transform our onboarding text. We want it to be more than just an afterthought; we want it to be a real growth engine. We’ll explore how to discover what users really need, the language they use, and their pain points. Then, we’ll take those insights and turn them into text that’s clear, compelling, and builds confidence.
The Hidden Roadblocks: Why Onboarding Text Falls Short
Before we talk about solutions, it’s really important to understand the common issues that make onboarding text ineffective. Without user research, teams often make these mistakes:
- Assuming what users know: We might think users understand our industry jargon or specific terms for our product.
- Overwhelming them with information: Just dumping too much text or too many steps at once, which makes it hard for users to process everything.
- Not explaining crucial features enough: Leaving users wondering about the “why” or “how” of a basic function.
- Using internal-focused language: Describing features from our company’s viewpoint instead of how they benefit the user.
- No clear calls to action: Users are left unsure what to do next or where to click.
- Failing to meet immediate user needs: Focusing on advanced features before the user has even grasped the basics.
- Not considering different user types: Writing for one kind of “user” without realizing there are varying levels of tech skill or prior experience.
These failures really show a lack of true understanding of our users. User research gives us the tools to figure out these problems and then fix them.
Phase 1: Understanding Our User – Building Empathy
Before we write or rewrite a single word, we absolutely have to understand deeply who we’re writing for. This isn’t just about demographics; it’s about their psychology, what motivates them, what their pain points are, and how they already think about things.
1.1 Competitor and Industry Language Analysis
Here’s what we can do: Don’t just look at what competitors do; really analyze how they communicate.
- How to do it:
- Sign up for 3-5 direct and indirect competitor products or services.
- Take screenshots or write down their entire onboarding flow, paying close attention to the text.
- Notice common phrases, calls to action, their tone, and how much they assume users already know.
- Write down what you find clear, confusing, reassuring, or off-putting.
- Also, look at similar but non-competing products that our target audience might use. For example, if we’re building a project management tool, let’s see how popular consumer apps like Google Photos or Spotify onboard new users – they’re great at simple, intuitive guidance.
- Why this helps our onboarding text:
- Identifies standard industry terms: This stops us from inventing new, unfamiliar terms when common ones already exist.
- Highlights potential areas of confusion: If several competitors mess up a particular explanation, it’s a big hint for us to really focus on that for our own text.
- Uncovers opportunities for us to stand out: Where can our text be even clearer, more encouraging, or more direct?
- Reveals user expectations: Users come in with ideas based on other products. Aligning with these, or strategically diverging, can really affect how successful our onboarding is.
A real example: If competitors consistently use “dashboard” for the main user area, and we decide to use a unique term like “control hub,” our users might be confused for a moment. Research shows “dashboard” is the term people already understand. Our text should use that existing understanding.
1.2 User Interviews: Uncovering Real Insights
Here’s what we can do: Conduct structured, open-ended interviews with actual users (or people very similar to them).
- How to do it:
- Recruit 5-8 users from our target audience who haven’t used our product before (or who are struggling with it).
- Prepare a list of open-ended questions, making sure not to lead them to specific answers.
- Focus on their goals, challenges, and how they currently solve the problem our product addresses.
- Most importantly, ask them to describe their ideal result and what success looks like in their own words.
- Ask about their understanding of industry terms and technical concepts.
- Record and write down what they say in these sessions.
- Why this helps our onboarding text:
- Reveals how users talk: Users will describe their needs and processes using their language, not our internal jargon. This is incredibly valuable for writing text that’s natural and relatable.
- Uncovers core motivations: Understanding why users want our product helps us explain its value directly in the onboarding.
- Identifies existing mental models: How do they usually do similar tasks? Our onboarding text can then bridge the gap between their current way of doing things and using our product.
- Exposes pain points and worries: Knowing these means our text can proactively address them, offering reassurance or clear solutions.
A real example: Interviewing a small business owner who’s using an invoicing app might reveal they often say, “I just want to get paid faster,” and “It’s a nuisance to keep track of who owes what.” Our onboarding text for the “Send Invoice” feature could then start with: “Ready to get paid faster? Let’s send your first invoice and easily track payments.” This directly addresses their main pain point and goal using their own language.
1.3 Surveys and Questionnaires: Measuring Perceptions
Here’s what we can do: Use surveys to collect broader data on user perceptions, challenges, and what they prefer.
- How to do it:
- Send out short, focused surveys to a larger group of our potential users.
- Include questions about how familiar they are with certain concepts, common challenges they face, and how they prefer information (e.g., “Do you prefer short bullet points or detailed explanations?”).
- Use scales (like “How easy or difficult is it to…”) for specific tasks.
- Add open-ended questions like “What’s confusing about X?” to get some qualitative nuggets of information.
- Why this helps our onboarding text:
- Confirms qualitative findings: It helps confirm that what we learned from interviews isn’t just isolated stories.
- Identifies widespread pain points: This helps us prioritize which parts of the onboarding need the most textual support.
- Measures perceived complexity: If many users find a concept “complex,” our text needs to simplify it a lot.
- Informs tone and style: A larger audience might have a clearer preference for a formal or informal tone.
A real example: A survey asking users switching to a new email client about their biggest fear might show it’s “losing old emails” or “not being able to find contacts.” Our onboarding text can address this preemptively with a message like: “Rest assured, all your existing emails and contacts are safely imported and easily searchable.”
Phase 2: Testing the Onboarding Journey – Finding Where Things Get Tricky
Understanding users is one thing; seeing how they interact with our specific onboarding text is another. This phase is all about putting our text in front of real users and watching what they do.
2.1 First-Click Testing with Text Prototypes
Here’s what we can do: Test early versions of our onboarding text even before the product is fully developed.
- How to do it:
- Create mock-ups or simple wireframes of our onboarding screens, filled with our draft text.
- Give users a task and ask them to do something specific (e.g., “You want to create your first project. Where would you click first?”).
- Watch where they move their mouse, what they click, and listen to what they say out loud.
- Crucially, notice hesitation – confusion often shows up before a wrong click.
- Why this helps our onboarding text:
- Identifies confusing calls to action: If users consistently click the wrong button after reading our instructions, the text or its placement is the problem.
- Reveals gaps in explanation: Do users understand what they’re supposed to do?
- Pinpoints unclear terms: Are there words or phrases that make users pause or ask questions?
- Optimizes how information is presented: Is the most important information immediately visible and easy to understand?
A real example: A first-click test for a “Create New Account” screen. If our button says “Initiate Profile Generation” but our text implies “Sign Up,” users might hesitate or click somewhere else. Research shows users expect “Sign Up” or “Create Account.”
2.2 Usability Testing with Live (or Near-Live) Onboarding Flows
Here’s what we can do: Watch users interact with our actual onboarding, specifically focusing on how the text guides them.
- How to do it:
- Recruit 5-8 new users (or users who can convincingly pretend to be new).
- Give them specific tasks to complete within our product, starting from the very first onboarding step.
- Encourage them to “think aloud” as they navigate.
- Pay close attention to:
- Where they get stuck.
- What questions they ask.
- What they skip over or don’t read.
- Whether they correctly understand instructions.
- Their emotional reactions (frustration, delight, confidence).
- Record these sessions to analyze later.
- Why this helps our onboarding text:
- Uncovers friction points caused by text: Is the wording too vague? Too technical? Too long?
- Identifies unread text: If users constantly scroll past a critical explanation, it’s either not needed or it’s in the wrong place or formatted poorly.
- Reveals misunderstandings: Users might read the text but interpret it differently than we intended.
- Highlights missing context: Does the text provide enough context for the action it’s asking for?
- Measures comprehension and flow: Does the onboarding text create a smooth, logical progression from one step to the next?
A real example: During usability testing for a photo editing app’s onboarding, several users struggled to find the “Save” button even though the text said, “Click ‘Save’ to apply changes.” Watching them, we might notice they’re looking for a floppy disk icon, while our interface uses a cloud icon with the text “Export.” Research shows the text needs to explicitly state “Click ‘Export’ (cloud icon) to save.”
2.3 Eye-Tracking Studies (If We Have the Resources)
Here’s what we can do: Use eye-tracking to pinpoint exactly where users are looking and what they are not seeing.
- How to do it:
- Specialized software and hardware track where users’ eyes go as they interact with our onboarding screens.
- This generates heatmaps and gaze plots showing areas of focus, how their eyes scan, and where they fixate.
- Why this helps our onboarding text:
- Reveals text visibility issues: Are users simply not seeing crucial text because it’s in an area they don’t look at?
- Exposes information overload: Are users skipping large blocks of text?
- Optimizes call-to-action placement: Are users looking at the prompt and then immediately at the corresponding button?
- Identifies visual distractions: Are other elements pulling attention away from the onboarding text?
A real example: An eye-tracking study shows users spending very little time on a paragraph explaining a core feature’s benefit, but their eyes quickly jump to the navigation bar. This suggests the benefit statement isn’t compelling enough, is in a bad spot, or is too dense. The text needs to be more concise, maybe even bulleted, and placed closer to the related action.
Phase 3: Analyzing and Synthesizing – Turning Data into Words
Raw data is just noise without smart analysis. This phase transforms observations and numbers into practical guidelines for our onboarding text.
3.1 Affinity Mapping and Thematic Analysis
Here’s what we can do: Group similar observations and insights from all our research methods.
- How to do it:
- Print out notes, parts of transcripts, and observations on individual sticky notes.
- Use affinity mapping on a whiteboard, grouping related issues, common phrases, and recurring pain points.
- Assign themes to these groups (e.g., “Confusion around pricing,” “Difficulty finding ‘add new’ button,” “Desire for quick wins”).
- Why this helps our onboarding text:
- Prioritizes text revisions: Clearly shows which areas of our onboarding text are consistently problematic.
- Surfaces user mental models: How do users think about tasks or features? This tells us the language we should use.
- Identifies “aha!” moments: What text cues or explanations finally clicked for users? Let’s use those!
- Exposes critical terminology gaps: If multiple users use a different term than ours for the same concept, we need to change our text.
A real example: Affinity mapping shows several users asked “How do I invite my colleagues?” and struggled to find the “Team” settings. This theme indicates our onboarding text needs to clearly guide them to “Invite Team Members” or “Manage Team” early on.
3.2 Create User Personas (Text-Focused)
Here’s what we can do: Develop detailed personas, specifically focusing on how they read and what information they need.
- How to do it:
- Beyond just demographics, create personas that include:
- Technical proficiency: Are they tech-savvy or easily intimidated?
- Time availability: Are they quick readers or do they prefer thorough explanations?
- Motivation for using the product: What’s their main goal during onboarding?
- Anticipated pain points: What specific frustrations might they bring to the onboarding experience?
- Preferred learning styles: Do they prefer text, visuals, or interactive elements?
- Their own language/jargon: Include words and phrases they used in interviews.
- Beyond just demographics, create personas that include:
- Why this helps our onboarding text:
- Tailors tone and complexity: Allows us to adapt our text for different user segments if needed (though generally, aim for universal clarity).
- Guides information density: Helps us decide if bullet points, short phrases, or detailed paragraphs are best.
- Focuses on relevant benefits: Ensures the initial benefits highlighted in the onboarding text resonate with each persona’s core needs.
- Establishes empathy: Writing for a specific “person” makes the text feel more human and less generic.
A real example: One persona, “Busy Sarah” (small business owner), is short on time and wants quick results. Another, “Diligent David” (new tech user), needs detailed explanations. Our onboarding text shouldn’t be too long for Sarah, maybe using concise phrases like “Get XYZ done in 2 clicks!” For David, we might offer optional “Learn More” links to detailed help articles, while keeping the main text easy to scan.
3.3 Map User Journeys with Text Overlays
Here’s what we can do: Diagram the typical path a user takes through our product, specifically noting where onboarding text appears and what its purpose is at each stage.
- How to do it:
- Visually map out each step of the user’s first interaction with our product, from signing up to their first success.
- For each step, note:
- The user’s likely emotional state (e.g., curious, confused, excited).
- The main goal of that specific screen/step.
- The role of the text on that screen (e.g., instruct, reassure, motivate, explain value).
- Any user questions or hesitations observed through research at that point.
- Why this helps our onboarding text:
- Ensures logical flow: Confirms the text guides users smoothly from one step to the next, avoiding jarring transitions.
- Optimizes text purpose: Prevents repetition and ensures each piece of text serves a clear function.
- Identifies “dead ends” or missing reassurance: Where does the user feel lost or abandoned by the text?
- Allocates appropriate textual load: Prevents overwhelming users at key decision points and offers more detail when needed.
A real example: A user journey map for a financial app might show users hesitating at the “Connect Bank Account” screen. Research reveals anxiety about security. The overlay text for that step would need to explicitly reassure users about encryption and data privacy, rather than just saying “Connect your bank.”
Phase 4: Crafting the Optimized Onboarding Text – Putting Research into Practice
Now, with all these deep insights, it’s time to write. This phase focuses on turning our research findings into actual improvements for our text.
4.1 Prioritize Conciseness and Clarity
Here’s what we can do: Be really strict about editing for brevity and clear language based on how easily users understand things.
- How research helps: Usability testing often shows users skip long explanations. User interviews highlight the need for simple, direct language. Eye-tracking shows users just skimming.
- How to apply this:
- Get rid of jargon and internal terms. Use the simple, common words users themselves used in interviews.
- Break down complex instructions into single, actionable sentences.
- Use bullet points for lists of features or benefits.
- Every single word must earn its spot. If it doesn’t add value or clarity, remove it.
- Read the text aloud to check for natural flow and simplicity.
- For example: Instead of “Leverage our robust, integrated API for seamless data synchronization,” write “Sync your data automatically.”
4.2 Speak in the User’s Language (Adapting Our Vocabulary)
Here’s what we can do: Incorporate the vocabulary, phrases, and mental models we discovered during user research.
- How research helps: This is a key output of user interviews and competitor analysis. Users feel understood when we speak their language.
- How to apply this:
- If users consistently refer to a “project” as a “task list,” consider using “task list” or explaining that a “project” is our version of their “task list.”
- Directly reflect their goals and pain points in our copy.
- Use common metaphors or analogies they’d understand, rather than abstract technical concepts.
- For example: If research shows users want to “get their forms done quickly,” use that phrase in our intro: “Welcome! Get your forms done quickly with [Product Name].”
4.3 Focus on Benefits, Not Just Features
Here’s what we can do: Frame every instruction and explanation in terms of “what’s in it for the user.”
- How research helps: User interviews reveal core motivations. Users don’t care how a feature works until they know why they need it.
- How to apply this:
- Instead of “Click ‘Add New Record’,” write “Add your first record to start tracking your progress.”
- Connect each onboarding step to a tangible outcome or value proposition.
- Highlight the immediate payoff of completing a step.
- For example: For a financial tracking app: Instead of “Input your expenses,” write “Track your expenses to see where your money goes and save more.”
4.4 Provide Context and Reassurance
Here’s what we can do: Anticipate user worries and questions, and address them proactively in our text.
- How research helps: Usability testing reveals points of hesitation and confusion. User interviews expose fears and uncertainties.
- How to apply this:
- For sensitive actions (e.g., connecting financial accounts, granting permissions), explain why it’s needed and assure security/privacy.
- Set expectations about the next steps. “This might take a moment” or “You’re almost there!”
- Offer clear ways out or “skip” options if appropriate, reassuring users they can come back later.
- Explicitly state what happens after a button click.
- For example: “To connect your bank, we use bank-level encryption. Your details are secure and never stored.”
4.5 Guide Towards the “Aha!” Moment
Here’s what we can do: Design the onboarding text to systematically lead the user to experience the core value of our product as quickly as possible.
- How research helps: User journey mapping identifies key milestones. Usability testing quantifies how long it takes to see value.
- How to apply this:
- Identify the absolute minimum steps a user needs to take to achieve their first success with our product.
- Align our onboarding text to facilitate these specific actions.
- Avoid distracting users with advanced features or irrelevant information at the start.
- Celebrate small victories. “Great job! Your first project is live.”
- For example: For a task management app, the “aha!” moment might be seeing a task successfully moved from “To Do” to “Done.” The text should guide them through signing up, creating a first task, and then clearly showing how to mark it complete.
4.6 Leverage Visual Cues and Placement
Here’s what we can do: The visual design and placement of text significantly impact how effective it is.
- How research helps: Eye-tracking shows where users look. Usability testing reveals what they ignore.
- How to apply this:
- Chunking: Break large blocks of text into smaller, readable paragraphs or bullet points.
- Hierarchy: Use headings, subheadings, and bolding to guide the eye to the most important information.
- Proximity: Place instructions close to the elements they refer to (e.g., “Enter your email” directly above the email input field).
- Call-to-Action Contrast: Make buttons and actionable text visually prominent.
- Leverage imagery/icons: If text says “Click the gear icon,” make sure the icon is very easy to see.
- For example: Instead of a paragraph, use a bolded header “Confirm Your Email,” follow with a concise sentence, and place it directly above the email verification input.
4.7 Iterate and Test Continuously
Here’s what we can do: Onboarding text is never truly “finished.” It’s a living part of our product that needs ongoing refinement.
- How research helps: Product changes, new features, and changes in user behavior mean we constantly need to re-evaluate.
- How to apply this:
- Implement A/B tests for different versions of key onboarding text elements (e.g., headline, button copy).
- Monitor onboarding completion rates and how quickly users get to their first valuable experience.
- Gather ongoing feedback through in-app surveys or user interviews specifically about the onboarding experience.
- Regularly review customer support tickets for recurring questions about initial setup – these are direct signals about unclear text.
- For example: Test two versions of our welcome message: “Ready to Create?” vs. “Let’s Build Your First Project.” Track which one leads to higher engagement with the creation feature.
To Wrap It Up
Using user research for our onboarding text isn’t a luxury; it’s absolutely essential. It turns the onboarding experience from a potential barrier into a powerful tool for user success and product adoption. By systematically understanding our users, testing their interactions with our text, carefully analyzing what we find, and then applying those insights to our writing, we create text that doesn’t just inform, but actually empowers, guides, and delights.
The onboarding journey is the pathway to our product’s value. We want to make that pathway clear, inviting, and completely smooth, all thanks to the invaluable voice of our user.