More about SaaS, marketing, and product management on http://boostcompanies.com/ Basecamp's user onboarding experience is an example of slick way to onboard your new users. Basecamp 3 offers a nice user onboarding experience that focuses on inviting your team to the SaaS application. Activation is key in SaaS. This example of onboarding process illustrates how to smoothly encourage users to invite their team and become active users. This SlideShare aims at inspiring other product managers who are working on improving the user onboarding experience of their SaaS product.

1. User Onboarding
Experience for SaaS
Inspirations from Basecamp 3
by Guerric de Ternay

2. Building expectation (like in a movie)

3. Give the choice to try a sample version before setting up the real workspace

4. Here is a sample version

5. A smart way to
promote one of
Basecamp’s side
projects

6. Introduce the 6
main features
of Basecamp 3

7. Once I have played
with the sample
version, I start with
the real onboarding
process.

8. 4 steps: I know how
long this will take

9. Name your workspace

10. The onboarding process
shares some use cases

11. Oh. Here is the
name I gave to my
workspace

12. First thing: I’m asked to
invite my team

13. The onboarding experience focuses on helping the user to set up
his account in order to make the most out of using Basecamp.

14. Ask for Name and Email

15. Step 2

16. A Yes-No question
that defines how
the workspace will
be set up

17. Once again, the onboarding experience focuses on helping the user
to set up his account (and choose a pricing plan).
Working with Clients is a central feature in Basecamp 3.

18. If I am not sure about the answer,
I can get a quick look at the help
guide

19. In step 2, Basecamp’s onboarding process still focuses on inviting
people.
That’s a key success factor for a SaaS product that helps teams.

20. If I am not sure
about the answer, I
can get a quick look
at the help guide
Step 3

21. If I am not sure
about the answer, I
can get a quick look
at the help guide
Wow. In step 3, Basecamp’s onboarding experience is still focusing
on the users.
It really shows that users are key to Basecamp’s success.

22. If I am not sure
about the answer, I
can get a quick look
at the help guide
I did not add anybody to my workspace so it skipped the 4th step.

23. Et voilà. I’m back on Basecamp’s workspace.
It looks the same than the one I played with, except
that I’m starting from a blank page.

24. Thanks for the
welcoming messages

25. A recommendation what feature I
should do first.
It is still focusing on interacting with
other users.
That’s a nice way to encourage the
activation of a new user.

26. A quick description of
what Basecamp is.
That’s useful if I’ve been
invited by one of my
colleagues.

27. There is a guide, just in case I don’t
find the user interface interactive
enough.

28. And I’m encouraged to
reach out the support
team, when needed.

29. Basecamp 3 is good source of inspiration for your
user onboarding process.
The company has been involved in building SaaS
products for years.
@GuerricdeTernay

30. Basecamp 3 is the 3rd iteration of their most
successful SaaS product. You can imagine that the
user onboarding experience has been the result of
hours of work and more than 15 years of
experience in SaaS.
There is definitely something to learn from
Basecamp’s user onboarding experience.
@GuerricdeTernay

31. Follow me on Twitter: @GuerricdeTernay
And on SlideShare.
Interested in SaaS?
Read this short guide:
Designing a Pricing Strategy for SaaS: Why You
Can’t Overlook Value Metrics