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name: enhance-onboarding description: > Activation pass: define the activation event, cut steps to first value, add templates, sample data, a short checklist, and signup → activated events. Use when "improve onboarding", "users sign up and leave", or "activation rate". license: MIT

enhance-onboarding — First session to first value

Degree of freedom: MIXED. Choosing the activation event and which patterns fit [HIGH freedom]; the event names, the new-user walkthrough, and the before/after step count [LOW freedom — run exactly].

Apply-now. The product already works; two-thirds of the people who sign up never see it work (median B2B activation 37%, Userpilot n=62). This skill shortens the path from landing to the first real outcome and proves it with events, not a tour.

This skill vs neighbors

Skill	Owns
enhance-onboarding (this)	Landing → signup → first value → habit, as one journey
enhance-web-ux	Any single route's flows and density
audit-ui-states	Empty / loading / error states audit (findings)
enhance-web-forms	Form structure, validation, a11y
audit-analytics	Whether events exist and fire after consent
enhance-web-conversion	Pricing, upgrade prompts — after activation
design-email	Day-1/3/7 re-engagement mail this skill may request
plan-gtm	Decides what activation means for the business; this skill builds it

Do not fire for "add a product tour" as stated — tours are a last resort here.

How to reason

1. Define — the activation event is the first outcome the user came for, not signup or tour-end
2. Measure — current steps and drop-off from landing to that event (instrument first if blind)
3. Cut — every field, screen, or decision before the event that can wait
4. Guide — what remains gets a template, sample data, a ≤5-item checklist, or one contextual hint
5. Verify — a fresh user reaches the event in fewer steps; events fire; nothing else regressed

Worked example

Define: a kakeibo app — activated = first transaction categorized, not account created. Measure: landing → 6-field signup → email verify → empty dashboard → "Add account" → "Add transaction" = 9 steps, verification email lost on mobile. Cut: OAuth + magic link; name/currency inferred from locale; verify later. Guide: empty dashboard becomes "Start with sample month" + "Add your first expense"; 3-item checklist ends at the activation event. Verify: 9 → 4 steps; activated fires on first categorized row; Playwright new-user path green; existing password login untouched.

Self-critique before reporting

• Event is value — activated fires on an outcome, never on signup_completed or tour end
• Steps counted — before/after step counts are in the report from a real walkthrough
• Nothing removed — every auth provider, setting, and route still exists; fields were deferred, not deleted
• Consent-gated — no event fires before the consent state the app already uses
• Right owner — pricing/upgrade → enhance-web-conversion; single-route polish → enhance-web-ux

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Procedure

1. Define activation [HIGH freedom]

Reforge order: Setup (must-have info) → Aha (core value once) → Habit (core action at its natural frequency). activated is the aha. Pick it by asking: what did they come to do, and when have they done it once? One event, written as activated plus the domain event that triggers it (e.g. transaction_categorized). Add setup_completed and habit_reached (e.g. 3 sessions in 7 days) so setup drop-off and retention are measurable too. When analytics already exist, prefer the event combination that best predicts 3-month retention; a valid activation event shows ≥ 2× retention for the users who hit it. Payment is never the activation event.

2. Measure the current path [LOW freedom — run exactly]

1. Fresh browser profile (or emulator) — walk landing → activation as a stranger.
2. Record each step: URL, fields, decisions, waits (email, verification, payment).
3. Pull funnel numbers if analytics exist; otherwise write unmeasured and add instrumentation in step 4 before any redesign is judged.

Benchmarks for judging (sources in plan-gtm/references/benchmarks-2026.md): median B2B activation 37%, good = p60 / great = p80 for the product type; time-to-value over 24 h → activation collapses below 25%; top quartile first value under 5 minutes; day-7 return ≥ 7% of a new cohort is top quartile. Checklist completion averages ~19% (engaged users finish ~5 items) — a checklist supports the path, it does not replace cutting it.

3. Cut and guide [HIGH freedom — choose; each pattern below is optional]

Do	Avoid
Try before signup when the value shows in one session (7% of self-serve products now lead ungated; value-before-signup lifts referred conversion 2–5×)	Signup wall in front of a demo
OAuth / magic link; password as fallback; one optional "how did you hear about us" field	6+ field forms, phone, company size
Infer locale, currency, timezone; ask firmographics after first value	Profile wizard before the product
Empty state = one primary action + "start from a template / sample data"	Blank screen with a "+" icon
≤5-item checklist, open by default, first item pre-completed, completion detected by real events, last item is the activation event	12-item tour of every menu
Guidance embedded in the UI (+20% engagement vs modals); tours only user-triggered and ≤4 steps (67% completion vs 31% timer-triggered; 7+ steps 16%)	Autoplay tours, modal stacks, welcome videos
Personalize with at most one JTBD question — and use the answer (65% collect it, 18% use it)	Role/industry quiz before value
Day-1/3/7 email nudges tied to unfinished checklist items (→ design-email)	Generic "welcome aboard" mail; sales outreach minutes after signup
Keep card-required trials only if plan-gtm chose that model	Payment before value by accident

Deferred fields move to settings or a later prompt; nothing is deleted.

4. Instrument [LOW freedom — names]

Use the app's existing analytics SDK and consent gate. Canonical events:

signup_started · signup_completed { method, source }
onboarding_step_completed { step }
setup_completed
activated { via: <domain_event> }
habit_reached { sessions, window_days }

Server-side where possible; same analytics project as the marketing site so page_viewed { utm, referrer } joins to signup. Reconcile naming with audit-analytics when a taxonomy already exists. No PII in properties. Fire nothing before consent.

5. Verify [LOW freedom — run exactly]

• New-user Playwright path from landing to activated — passes, step count ≤ target
• Existing login providers, settings, and routes — unchanged (regression pass)
• Events visible in the analytics debug view or test sink
• Report: steps before/after, TTV estimate, events added, files touched

Guardrails

• No dark patterns — no fake progress, forced card, hidden skip, or pre-checked upsell.
• Defer, never delete — collected data the business needs moves later in the journey.
• Do not invent numbers — funnel cells stay "unmeasured" until events exist.
• One journey — landing to first value; the rest of the app is another skill's.

Chains with

• plan-gtm → defines the business meaning of activation; this skill ships it.
• audit-ui-states → empty/loading/error findings feed step 3.
• enhance-web-forms → the signup form itself.
• enhance-web-conversion → upgrade prompts after activation.
• test-playwright → lock the new-user path.