How to Build Onboarding Checklists That Actually Work

Your new users are leaving.

75% of them quit within a week. Not because your product sucks. Because they got lost.

Here's the fix: a simple checklist.

Companies with good onboarding keep 76% more customers. Users who finish onboarding are worth 21% more over their lifetime. Even a small 25% bump in activation can boost revenue by 34%.

The best part? This is easier than you think.

What Makes Checklists Work

Your brain hates unfinished tasks.

There's a fancy name for this: the Zeigarnik effect. When you see "Your profile is 64% complete," your brain won't shut up about it until you finish. That tension drives you to complete the checklist.

Then there's the endowed progress effect. Show someone they're already 20% done and they're 82% more likely to finish. Even if you just gave them credit for signing up.

This isn't theory. This is how humans work.

Why You Need This Now

Time to value is everything. The average SaaS product gets users to their "aha moment" in 1.5 days. If you take longer, you're losing.

First week churn kills profit. Month one sees 10% churn. By month three it drops to 4%. Keep people past week one and they stick around. Lose them early and you never get them back.

Most features go unused. Average core feature adoption? 24.5%. Your users aren't finding the good stuff. A checklist surfaces it for them.

Users feel lost. 88% of customers say onboarding could be better. They want guidance. They're not getting it.

How to Build One (The Simple Version)

Step 1: Know What Success Looks Like

What's your activation metric?

For Slack, it's 2,000 team messages. For Dropbox, it's saving one file. For LinkedIn, it's 7 connections in 3 days.

These aren't random. They're the point where users stop churning.

Find yours. Look at your power users. What did they do in week one that others didn't? That's your activation event.

Now work backward. What 3-5 tasks must users complete to hit that milestone? Those are your checklist items.

Step 2: Keep It Stupidly Simple

3-5 tasks. That's it.

Research shows 3-step tours get 72% completion. 4-step tours drop to 45%. Go past 7 and you're toast.

Every task you add is a reason for users to quit. Be ruthless. If it doesn't directly enable activation, cut it.

Each task should take 2-5 minutes max. Any longer and you're asking too much.

Step 3: Front-Load the Easy Wins

First task: "Signed up ✓"

Give them credit for showing up. Then hit them with genuinely easy stuff. Upload a photo. Set a preference. Watch a 45-second video.

Early wins build momentum. They trigger dopamine. They make users want to continue.

Save the hard stuff for the middle (tasks 2-3). Never put it first or last.

Step 4: Write Like a Human

Bad: "Configure workspace parameters"Good: "Name your workspace"

Bad: "Integration setup"Good: "Connect your Google Calendar"

Each task needs:

• Action verb + specific noun (5-7 words max)
• Why it matters (15-20 words)
• Crystal clear next step
• Automatic check when complete

No ambiguity. No confusion. Just "do this, here's why, click here."

Step 5: Show Progress Visually

Progress bars work magic.

When users see "4 of 5 complete," they speed up to finish. Goal gradient hypothesis in action.

Add celebration moments. Confetti when they finish. A satisfying checkmark animation. These dopamine hits matter.

Intercom doubled engagement just by adding celebration animations.

Step 6: Measure Everything

Track these weekly:

• Start rate (target: 80%+)
• Completion rate (target: 30%+ initially, 50%+ optimized)
• Task-specific completion (investigate anything <60%)
• Time to complete (optimize toward <10 minutes)
• Activation correlation (do completers activate more?)

If task 3 shows 40% completion while others hit 80%, investigate why. Watch session recordings. Read support tickets. Fix the bottleneck.

Test everything. Number of tasks. Task order. Copy variations. Visual design. Run real A/B tests.

What to Include

Welcome screen: "Welcome, Sarah! Let's get your team aligned in 5 minutes."

Account setup: Only ask for info you'll actually use. Auto-fill everything possible.

Feature discovery: Show them the 3-5 features that predict retention. Not all 50 features.

Activation milestone: Make it the final task. "Send your first project update." Frame it as achievement, not obligation.

Help resources: Videos for complex stuff. Tooltips for quick questions. Chat for when they're stuck.

The Rules That Matter

Personalize it. Marketing managers and sales directors need different checklists. Add a 3-question welcome survey. Segment from there.

Mobile matters. Test on actual phones. Tiny tap targets kill completion.

Make it contextual. Show the checklist when users need it. Not constantly. Let them dismiss it and bring it back.

Update regularly. Your product changes. Your checklist should too. Review quarterly.

What Not to Do

Don't add 15 tasks because you're proud of your features. Keep it tight.

Don't use a static PDF checklist. Make it interactive or don't bother.

Don't hide it. If users can't find it, they can't complete it.

Don't make tasks vague. "Set up your workspace" means what, exactly?

Don't skip measurement. If you're not tracking it, you're just guessing.

Real Examples

Slack: 5 tasks. Join channels. Set up profile. Send first message. Install app. Configure notifications. That's it. Nothing else. They get teams to 2,000 messages fast.

Notion: Embeds the checklist in the product itself. Type "/" to see commands. Drag blocks. Click "+". You learn by doing, not reading.

Airtable: Wizard-style flow. What's your role? What do you want to build? Here's a template. Customize it. Create your first record. Done.

All three share the same DNA: short, action-oriented, focused on activation.

The Bottom Line

Most products lose 75% of users in week one because of bad onboarding.

A good checklist fixes this.

It doesn't require perfect execution. It requires starting. Build something basic. Track what happens. Fix what breaks. Repeat.

The companies winning at this didn't nail it on attempt one. They built version one, measured it, and iterated toward great.

Your move: Pick your activation metric. Write down 3-5 tasks that get users there. Build the checklist. Ship it to 20% of users. Measure the impact. Improve what doesn't work.

The users you save in week one become your best customers in year one.

Join Sunboard and start today.