Acquiring a new user is 25x more expensive than retaining an existing one (source: Amplitude). With that in mind, new user acquisition has only gotten harder as company budgets grow tighter. That's why it’s critical to engage and retain your best users through product-led marketing tactics.
We recently sat down with a handful of marketing leaders to learn how they drive product adoption. They shared key tactics to deploy across the customer lifecycle. Effective onboarding, campaigns, launches (and more) is critical – whether for a first-time user or managed account growth.
👋 Prioritize strong onboarding
User onboarding can make-or-break most product-led companies. First impressions matter – since many users who sign up for a free SaaS plan will use it once and never come back.
The first step to building a strong onboarding experience is to define an activation milestone. It acts as a leading indicator of long-term user retention. An activation milestone is usually described as “X event completed in Y hours/days.”
Common channels to improve activation
Onboarding emails are a go-to tactic for many marketing teams. The best onboarding emails provide paths to quick wins, getting started resources, and a point-of-contact in case the user has questions.
💡 Make sure each email has a single primary purpose or CTA. Ask yourself: do you really want them to watch an onboarding video OR check out your documentation?
Onboarding checklists are also a popular choice. They help kick things off the moment the user jumps into the product. The checklist items should be straightforward and include your activation milestone (e.g. Create a design).
💡 Make sure your checklists dynamically check themselves off after the user ends up doing the action. Positive user feedback like a completed checkbox is key to creating product stickiness.
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