Get users hooked from day one
Onboarding is where the SaaS user journey begins, and if it’s not handled well, it can also be where it ends. Many companies struggle with onboarding because users quickly feel overwhelmed by complicated interfaces and unclear guidance. Costumes are also looking for a more personalized experience as they get to know the platform. This leads to frustration, increased support tickets, and, ultimately, higher churn rates. Explainer videos provide clear, targeted guidance from the start. These videos help users find value in your product faster, leading to a smoother onboarding process and better long-term retention.
How do explainer videos help with onboarding?
Successful onboarding means ensuring users quickly see the value in your product, take advantage of key features, and stick around for the long haul. Here’s how explainer videos directly impact the most critical onboarding metrics.
1. Faster Time to Value (TTV)
Explainer videos walk users through essential functions in an easy-to-understand way, helping them reach that “aha” moment sooner. When onboarding drags on or lacks clarity, users lose interest, leading to a poor first impression that’s hard to recover from.
2. Higher feature adoption rates
Even the most feature-rich SaaS platform is useless if users aren’t taking advantage of its capabilities. When users are left to figure things out on their own, they often miss out on the product's most valuable features. Explainer videos highlight specific features, making them more accessible and easier to adopt. When users see how these features solve their problems, they’re more likely to integrate them into their workflows, leading to better product adoption and satisfaction.
3. Churn reduction
Churn is the enemy of SaaS growth. Users who don’t quickly see value in your product are likely to leave. By addressing common pain points and providing clear, actionable insights, explainer videos can reduce churn, keeping more users engaged and satisfied. Poor onboarding experiences—such as those that are too long, too complicated, or too generic—often lead to frustration and early abandonment.
4. Less support tickets
When users struggle to understand how to use your product, they naturally turn to your support team for help. Explainer videos preemptively address common questions and challenges, providing users with the information they need to resolve issues on their own. By guiding users through how to use your software, explainer videos can significantly reduce the number of support tickets, allowing your team to focus on more complex issues.
How to use explainer videos in your onboarding flow
To get the most out of explainer videos, they need to be strategically integrated into your onboarding flow.
Embedding videos in key touchpoints
The placement of your explainer videos can make or break their effectiveness. It’s crucial to embed them at key touchpoints where users are most likely to encounter challenges or need additional guidance. This could be within the product dashboard, integrated into the setup process, or included in email sequences that guide users through their first few days with your product.
Leveraging cross-platform compatibility
Your users are accessing your product across various devices—desktops, mobiles, tablets—and your videos need to perform seamlessly on all of them. Ensuring cross-platform compatibility means your explainer videos will deliver a consistent, high-quality experience regardless of the device or platform being used.
Providing Just-in-Time Learning
Explainer videos are most effective when they’re used to deliver just-in-time learning—providing users with the exact information they need right when they need it. This prevents overload, allowing users to absorb content at a pace that matches their onboarding journey. By placing explainer videos at critical junctures, you ensure that users can move forward with confidence, reducing the likelihood of frustration or abandonment.
Maintaining a dynamic video library
As your product evolves, so should your onboarding materials. Regularly updating your explainer video library gives users access to the most relevant and up-to-date information. Show users that your company is continuously improving and responsive to their needs.
Looking for SaaS Explainer Video Services?
At Purely Imagined, we understand that a successful onboarding process is crucial for SaaS companies. Our explainer videos are designed to engage users, simplify complex features, and ultimately reduce churn. With our experience in creating high-impact videos for leading brands, we know how to craft content that resonates with your audience.
Conclusion
If your SaaS onboarding process isn’t converting trial users into loyal customers, it’s time to rethink your approach. Explainer videos offer a powerful solution to the common challenges of user onboarding. By providing clear, engaging, and actionable content at every stage of the user journey, you can drastically reduce Time to Value, increase feature adoption, and cut down on churn. Don’t let poor onboarding hold your product back—invest in explainer videos that make an impact and set your users up for success from the start. Reach out to Purely Imagined today and take the first step toward transforming your onboarding process.
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