Onboard

Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/pbakaus/impeccable/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

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Purpose

• Initial product onboarding flows
• Feature discovery and adoption experiences
• Empty states that guide users
• Contextual tooltips and tutorials
• Interactive walkthroughs
• First-time user experiences

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Parameters

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When to Use

• New users struggle to get started
• Features have low adoption rates
• Users don’t understand core concepts
• Drop-off rates are high in early experience
• Empty states feel like dead ends
• Users need guidance without hand-holding

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Workflow

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1. Assess Onboarding Needs

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Identify the Challenge

• What are users trying to accomplish?
• What’s confusing about current experience?
• Where do users get stuck or drop off?
• What’s the “aha moment” we want users to reach?

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Understand the Users

• What’s their experience level?
• What’s their motivation?
• What’s their time commitment?
• What alternatives do they know?

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Define Success

• What’s the minimum users need to learn?
• What’s the key action we want them to take?
• How do we know onboarding worked?

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2. Onboarding Principles

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Show, Don’t Tell

• Demonstrate with working examples, not just descriptions
• Provide real functionality, not separate tutorial mode
• Use progressive disclosure—teach one thing at a time

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Make It Optional (When Possible)

• Let experienced users skip onboarding
• Don’t block access to product
• Provide “Skip” or “I’ll explore on my own” options

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Time to Value

• Get users to their “aha moment” ASAP
• Front-load most important concepts
• Teach 20% that delivers 80% of value
• Save advanced features for contextual discovery

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Context Over Ceremony

• Teach features when users need them, not upfront
• Empty states are onboarding opportunities
• Tooltips and hints at point of use

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Respect User Intelligence

• Don’t patronize or over-explain
• Be concise and clear
• Assume users can figure out standard patterns

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3. Design Onboarding Experiences

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Initial Product Onboarding

• Clear value proposition (what is this product?)
• What users will learn/accomplish
• Time estimate (honest about commitment)
• Option to skip (for experienced users)

• Minimal required information (collect more later)
• Explain why you’re asking for each piece of information
• Smart defaults where possible
• Social login when appropriate

• Introduce 1-3 core concepts (not everything)
• Use simple language and examples
• Interactive when possible (do, don’t just read)
• Progress indication (step 1 of 3)

• Guide users to accomplish something real
• Pre-populated examples or templates
• Celebrate completion (but don’t overdo it)
• Clear next steps

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Feature Discovery & Adoption

• What will appear here
• Why it’s valuable
• Clear CTA to create first item
• Example or template option

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• Appear at relevant moment (first time user sees feature)
• Point directly at relevant UI element
• Brief explanation + benefit
• Dismissable (with “Don’t show again” option)
• Optional “Learn more” link

• Highlight new features when they’re released
• Show what’s new and why it matters
• Let users try immediately
• Dismissable

• Teach features when users encounter them
• Badges or indicators on new/unused features
• Unlock complexity gradually

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Guided Tours & Walkthroughs

• Complex interfaces with many features
• Significant changes to existing product
• Industry-specific tools needing domain knowledge

• Spotlight specific UI elements (dim rest of page)
• Keep steps short (3-7 steps max per tour)
• Allow users to click through tour freely
• Include “Skip tour” option
• Make replayable (help menu)

• Interactive > passive (let users click real buttons)
• Focus on workflow, not features
• Provide sample data so actions work

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Interactive Tutorials

• Users need hands-on practice
• Concepts are complex or unfamiliar
• High stakes (better to practice in safe environment)

• Sandbox environment with sample data
• Clear objectives (“Create a chart showing sales by region”)
• Step-by-step guidance
• Validation (confirm they did it right)
• Graduation moment (you’re ready!)

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4. Empty State Design

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What Will Be Here

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Why It Matters

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How to Get Started

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Visual Interest

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Contextual Help

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Empty State Types

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5. Implementation Patterns

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Technical Approaches

// Track which onboarding steps user has seen
localStorage.setItem('onboarding-completed', 'true');
localStorage.setItem('feature-tooltip-seen-reports', 'true');

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6. Verify Onboarding Quality

• Time to completion: Can users complete quickly?
• Comprehension: Do users understand after completing?
• Action: Do users take desired next step?
• Skip rate: Are too many users skipping?
• Completion rate: Are users completing?
• Time to value: How long until users get first value?

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Key Principles

• Force users through long onboarding before they can use product
• Patronize users with obvious explanations
• Show same tooltip repeatedly (respect dismissals)
• Block all UI during tour (let users explore)
• Create separate tutorial mode disconnected from real product
• Overwhelm with information upfront (progressive disclosure!)
• Hide “Skip” or make it hard to find
• Forget about returning users

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Usage Examples

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Example 1: Design Initial Onboarding

/onboard

1. Analyze product and identify core concepts
2. Design welcome flow with minimal friction
3. Create first success moment
4. Implement progress tracking
5. Add skip options for experienced users

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Example 2: Improve Empty States

/onboard dashboard

1. Find all empty states in dashboard
2. Transform blank spaces into helpful guides
3. Add value propositions and CTAs
4. Include visual interest (illustrations, icons)
5. Provide templates and examples

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Example 3: Feature Adoption

/onboard reports-feature

1. Design contextual introduction for reports feature
2. Create tooltips for first-time users
3. Implement progressive disclosure
4. Add interactive examples
5. Track adoption and completion

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Philosophy

“The best onboarding is invisible—users accomplish their goals without realizing they were being taught.”