Some of the best customer onboarding tools help SaaS companies achieve high customer retention, lower churn rates, and ultimately improve their bottom line.
The thing is that there are plenty of such software solutions on the market.
Organizations need to know what to look out for in these tools, to get maximum return on their investment.
Now, the good news is …
Using customer feedback, we’ve nailed down the features to look for when choosing a SaaS onboarding tool and curated a list of the top ten SaaS customer onboarding tools.
In this article, we’ll be taking a closer look at:
- What SaaS onboarding tools are.
- Their benefits.
- Key features to consider when choosing one.
- The top SaaS onboarding software.
Disclaimer: The information below is accurate as of August 1, 2024. Please note that the solutions(competitors’/softwares’ features) we review may change over time. If you have updates or new features to share, let us know. This helps us keep our content accurate and up-to-date.
What is a SaaS onboarding tool?
SaaS onboarding tools are software solutions that companies use to introduce new users to their software-as-a-service products.
They help train customers on how to use the company’s products effectively and in the shortest possible time.
One of the main goals of SaaS customer onboarding is to get new users accustomed to specific product features able to resolve their pain points.
These tools can also highlight the benefits they’ll enjoy if they use them consistently.
SaaS onboarding platforms use features like interactive product tours, checklists, tooltips, video walkthroughs or tutorials, in-app messages, helpful popups, push notifications, or automated emails to achieve this goal.
Alongside some customer onboarding best practices, these tools help guide users to their “Aha! Moment” quickly and enable them to become active users.
With a comprehensive customer onboarding process and a professional onboarding tool to boot, companies can increase feature adoption and boost customer retention and user experience.
They can also lower churn and time-to-value, and even ensure long-term product adoption.
Before moving on, here’s something to take note of:
Some onboarding tools are comprehensive — they solve pretty much every problem related to onboarding.
Others facilitate just a specific aspect of the user onboarding process like recording videos, analyzing usage data, or serving as a repository for self-service customer education content.
In either case, using SaaS onboarding software brings several benefits to the onboarding process.
Advantages of using a SaaS onboarding tool
Every moment a customer spends trying to figure out the best way to use your product increases the risk of churn.
A customer who uses your product without getting value is one stroke of the key away from leaving you a negative online review.
This underscores the importance of using onboarding software to reduce users’ time-to-value or improve product experiences.
That said, here are other advantages of using SaaS onboarding tools:
Optimizes customer management
As the number of new customers increases, tracking the progress of each individual user becomes more difficult. There’s more data to process, more needs to attend to, and more customers to monitor.
It’s easy for any one customer to slip through the cracks in the middle of an unoptimized onboarding process.
And when this happens, a potential long-time customer may go looking for another solution to solve their problem.
Fortunately, many onboarding tools collate all customer feedback, product usage, and demographic data in one place, ensuring that nothing gets lost.
Plus, every team member involved in the onboarding process can know the position of the user in the onboarding flow and the task assigned to them.
Also, you can use the data onboarding tools aggregate to segment customers according to their unique needs, and deliver personalized onboarding experiences.
Improves customer conversion rate
Every customer is different. They come to you with a different pain point or problem they wish to solve.
So, it’s not advisable to put all of them through the same onboarding process, which may highlight use cases not relevant to their current challenge.
With onboarding tools, you can create and deliver personalized onboarding experiences to each customer per their goals and needs.
Plus, you can use the product usage data they provide to optimize your product tours and improve the user experience of your product.
Both help to increase customer conversion rates and the odds of product adoption.
Increases customer engagement
With onboarding tools, companies can include interactive elements, such as quizzes, games, and simulations, in their onboarding process.
This keeps their attention all through the onboarding process which reduces drop-off rates and boosts knowledge retention.
Key features to look for in an onboarding tool
The first step to choosing the right onboarding tool is to know the features that set great onboarding tools apart from others and help ensure a positive user onboarding experience.
That said, here are key features to look out for when selecting an onboarding tool.
Analytics and reporting
Creating user onboarding flows isn’t a one-off process. You always need to find ways to optimize.
But how can you track the performance of your user onboarding flow?
By using data and measuring customer onboarding metrics.
It’s advisable to pick an onboarding tool that collects data about in-app user behavior during the onboarding process.
This will reveal functionalities or areas of the onboarding flow causing friction. You can also use the data from the onboarding tool to decide on new features to prioritize.
Built-in feedback systems
Aside from checking analytics, the second best way to know about the progress of your onboarding process is to ask the people it’s built for: the customers.
By actively listening to customers, you stand a far better chance of improving experiences and finding any bottlenecks that may exist.
For this reason, pick an onboarding tool that allows you to request feedback from users.
It could be through in-built forms, net promoter scores (NPS) or exit surveys.
This way, success managers or customer support representatives (CSR) can reach out to the customer to offer assistance before they churn.
You can ask for feedback at key locations throughout the customer journey, but make sure not to overdo it. There is such a thing as survey fatigue.
Time tracking
When onboarding several customers at once, it’s easy for customer reps to lose track of the time a customer has spent on the onboarding process.
Too long of an onboarding time usually means there’s a bottleneck somewhere and should raise some red flags.
When that happens for long enough, the customer may churn for not getting enough value.
The same thing can happen when reaching the time for contract renewal and never getting any value from the product.
To avoid these types of situations, it’s key for an onboarding tool to have a time tracker. Not just for the entire onboarding process but also for each task.
Many onboarding tools have such user onboarding progress–tracking capabilities.
Now let’s take a look at some of the best SaaS onboarding tools on the market.
10 Best SaaS onboarding tools
To collate this list, we examined each tool using the features mentioned earlier and scoured through third-party review platforms for feedback from other people who used the tool.
Tool #1: Docebo
Docebo is a scalable cloud-based SaaS customer onboarding learning management software that companies use to design and deliver e-learning courses.
With the help of its Extended Enterprise feature, customer success managers can design custom learning portals tailored to the needs of each customer, complete with their own branding, authentication, and admin.
This personalized learning experience makes customers feel valued and more likely to become loyal to the brand. It also puts all the necessary product knowledge at their disposal to maximize the potential of product and feature adoption.
The platform also includes a number of gamification elements like rewards, badges, leaderboards, and contests, to increase user engagement and retention.
You can also use the AI-powered content generator, Docebo Shape, to turn training and onboarding materials into short interactive content snippets called learning pills.
Also, its support for mobile devices empowers sales reps to access and share sales enablement content while on the go, with a client who’s stuck at any stage of the customer journey.
G2 rating
Top Features
- AI-powered content creation.
- Third-party integration with Salesforce and hundreds of applications.
- Social learning.
- Supports mobile learning with its interactive Go.Learn app.
- Unlimited cloud storage.
Pros
- User-friendly interface for administrators and learners.
- Easy segmentation based on audiences and customer divisions.
- Vibrant user community willing to assist with any challenge.
Tool #2: Zapier
Zapier is a digital automation tool that connects different applications and systems.
Companies can leverage it to automate repetitive onboarding tasks like sending welcome emails, links to extra resources, or rewards for completing tasks. This streamlines the onboarding process.
Companies also use it to track the progress of customers, with the help of pre-designed automated workflows.
These workflows are activated once a customer completes a certain task (the trigger).
When that happens, support staff receive a notification while the customer gets a pre-set message outlining the next step of the onboarding process.
Companies can also build custom AI chatbots without writing a single line of code. These chatbots can answer any questions customers may have as they go through the onboarding process.
G2 rating
Top Features
- Real-time integration with several third-party applications and systems.
- No-code app builder.
- AI-powered chatbot and workflow builder.
Pros
- Connects different applications to work as one.
- Easy automation setups.
- Available workflow automation templates.
Cons
- Lacks a mobile application.
- Some essential plugins/integrations are limited to paid plans.
Tool #3: HelpDocs
HelpDocs is a knowledge base–management platform that companies use to build and host self-service content.
These pieces of content answer questions that may crop up during the onboarding process and offer solutions to challenges customers may encounter while using the product.
HelpDocs has several pre-built templates, with custom CSS and Javascript.
But there are also fully customizable HTML templates if you prefer to create your own knowledge base.
To ensure easy navigation, HelpDocs users can separate their self-service content into categories. Plus, there’s a search bar anyone can use to find content to solve a specific problem.
G2 rating
Top Features
- Custom text editor with support for callouts, code blocks, headers, and custom links.
- Integrations for customer support and communication tools.
- Search engine–optimized templates.
- Custom CSS and JavaScript available on every plan.
- Fully customizable.
Pros
- Easy to add content to the platform.
- Delivers detailed reports on the most viewed, clicked, and searched content.
- Helps reduce the number of support tickets.
Cons
- The application sometimes refreshes unexpectedly.
- Language support is limited.
- Occasional performance issues.
Tool #4: Intercom
Intercom is a multipurpose customer messaging platform.
Businesses use it to give support to customers in a conversational and interactive manner. This ensures customers get the answers they need, at the time they need it.
With the help of its Product Tours function, businesses can set up interactive in-app guides for new sign-ups without writing a line of code.
They can also build advanced custom AI bots that can figure out the intent of a customer and direct them to the relevant product tour per their needs.
There’s also an AI-enhanced central workspace for connecting all inboxes, support tickets, and help center messages from the different support channels.
G2 rating
Top Features
- AI-enabled live chat.
- Customizable support bots.
- Interactive product tours built with a no-code visual builder.
- Data-reporting capabilities.
- User segmentation.
Pros
- Supports customer segmentation into different groups.
- AI-enabled messaging helps customer support teams respond quickly and easily to queries.
- Navigation is easy to understand.
Cons
- The capability of the SMS feature is limited.
- The application can occasionally lag or freeze.
Tool #5: Zendesk
Zendesk is a scalable customer service platform for facilitating interactions between customers and customer service representatives.
With the help of AI, the system can answer requests on its own, hand the customer over to the right customer experience agent, and suggest help articles related to a specific complaint.
In addition, you can use it to build smart knowledge bases for holding self-service articles that customers can consult if they get stuck while using the product.
Plus, customer service reps can forward them to clients as a way of resolving their complaints.
G2 rating
Top Features
- Fully customizable web help widget.
- AI-powered smart knowledge base.
- Centralized ticketing system.
- Voice capability built into each feedback channel.
- Community forum creation.
Pros
- Collates requests from customers across all channels.
- Ability to filter support tickets into different queues.
- The layout is easy to understand and customize.
Cons
- The search feature is sometimes difficult to use.
- The support team sometimes takes a long time to respond.
- Latency issues may occur.
Tool #6: Freshdesk
Freshdesk is a customer support software that helps customer service reps boost their clients’ experience while using the product or service.
It’s able to convert all incoming customer messages from different touch points like phone, chat, email, social media, etc., into tickets, providing a streamlined approach in a centralized location.
Freshdesk also includes an AI-based automation tool for ticket assignment and prioritization, assisting agents throughout the support process. It also includes predictive support, field service management, and detailed reporting and analytics capabilities.
It integrates with a variety of third-party sales enablement, communication, marketing, and customer support applications like Salesforce, Mailchimp, WhatsApp, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and more.
G2 rating
Top Features
- Ticket field suggester.
- Automated welcome emails.
- Multi-channel support.
- Automated reminders and other time and event-triggered automation.
- Intelligent ticket assignment.
Pros
- Helps reduce manual tasks, increase efficiency, and ensure timely responses to customer interactions.
- User-friendly and intuitive interface.
Cons
- Slow customer support response time.
- Can be glitchy sometimes.
Tool #7: Make (formerly Integromat)
Make is a software solution companies use to create workflows (known as scenarios) to automate various business operations and connect applications to work in concert.
With its simple visual drag-and-drop builder, anyone can create automated workflows without having to write a single line of code.
There are also several customizable templates to use in building automated workflows.
G2 rating
Top Features
- Visual drag-and-drop automated workflow builder.
- Uses an HTTP app to connect with any application or system with an API.
- White-label capability.
Pros
- Has a visually intuitive interface.
- Has great support for web hooks and APIs.
- Straightforward to use and UX-friendly.
Cons
- Customer service can take time to respond to complaints.
- Sometimes experiences lags when executing complex queries.
Tool #8: Mixpanel
Mixpanel is a product analytics tool that helps companies collect, analyze, and visualize data about users’ interactions with their products across devices.
Product teams can use this data to add or remove features and design onboarding flows that can improve the user experience and drive product adoption.
In addition, Mixpanel provides companies with the data they need to run A/B tests to select funnels with the highest product adoption rates (happy paths).
G2 rating
Top Features
- Onboarding event tracking.
- Data visualization without SQL.
- Third-party integrations with customer data platforms (CDPs).
- Data analysis.
- Single Sign-on (SSO) is enabled on the Enterprise account.
Pros
- Allows companies to track behavior of individual users on a granular level.
- Provides user activity data at the exact time the event is happening.
- Integrates with several marketing tools, providing insights for more effective marketing campaign creation.
Cons
- Exporting raw data to other tools can be difficult.
- Has a bit of a learning curve, especially for non-technical users.
- The numerous features available can overwhelm new users.
Tool #9: Heap
Heap is a digital adoption platform for tracking user behavior and interactions on digital platforms.
It shows relevant website or application visitor data, such as their demographics, IP addresses, and the type of device.
Companies can also view what users click on and the paths they’re taking as they learn to use the product.
The tool also uses heatmaps to show exactly which portions of a digital platform are causing friction and contributing to churn.
It also has session replays integrated into its analytics reports, cued to the exact moments where friction happens.
G2 rating
Top Features
- Automated user tracking without the need for manual coding or tagging.
- A range of data-visualization tools.
- Integrations with a variety of tools.
- Collaborative workspace.
- Segmentation of customers using demographics and event data.
Pros
- Support team is very responsive.
- Facilitates the creation of custom dashboards.
- There’s no need for devs to create tags.
Cons
- User interface can be hard to navigate and understand for people new to data analysis.
- Behaves clunkily when processing large amounts of data.
- Lacks surveys and feedback widgets.
Tool #10: Typeform
Typeform is a no-code form builder SaaS businesses use to collect user feedback. Such feedback gives insight into the challenges users are facing as they’re using the product.
You can also design surveys, forms, or questionnaires, and provide personalized onboarding experiences.
It includes integrations with over 100 third-party systems like Salesforce, Hubspot, Google Sheets, Slack, or Google Analytics, and provides General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance for enhanced customer data security.
G2 rating
Top Features
- Intuitive form builders (no coding skills required).
- Embeddable forms.
- Fully customizable form designs.
- Product feedback and research survey templates.
- Integrations available for other platforms like Hubspot, Salesforce, and Zapier.
Pros
- User-friendly interface and navigation.
- Forms have eye-catching designs.
- Responsive across all digital devices.
Cons
- There’s limited customization available for individual form slides.
- Lacks support for multiple languages and complex conditional logical statements.
Choosing the right onboarding tool for your organization
Each business has different requirements an onboarding tool must meet before they decide to use it.
Maybe it’s integration with their current stack of customer relationship management (CRM), sales enablement, or email marketing tools.
It could also be their budget or a specific set of features to cater to their needs.
That said, below are some key things to help you choose a SaaS onboarding tool.
Is it suitable for your use case?
Because customer onboarding processes are different across industries, the onboarding tool must fit your business use case.
For example, the onboarding process for a financial services company requires users to submit know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) documents.
But that’s not the case for manufacturing, healthcare, or even edtech.
So, any onboarding tool chosen must include features that allow you to meet your industry’s standards and obligations, as well as cater to your target audience’s own pain points.
Do its features satisfy your needs?
Your business’s onboarding needs and current challenges are another thing to consider when picking onboarding software.
Let’s say you discover few users go past a certain point or use a certain feature.
That means any onboarding tool you choose should have a session playback feature you can use to find the issue users are having. Gamification elements can also help engage and retain users throughout the onboarding process.
Is it a scalable solution?
Any onboarding solution you choose should be able to crunch increasing amounts of data without crashing or slowing down.
Otherwise, the onboarding process can turn into a nightmare for customers and employees alike.
Does it offer good support?
As with any technical tool, there are times you’ll need the assistance of the customer support team.
Say, you’ve just started using a part of the product with a bit of a steep learning curve and your own customers are beginning to complain of downtime.
Or you’re looking for ways to maximize the tool’s potential.
Whatever the case may be, you need a customer support team that will always be available to answer and resolve your complaints.
So, go through online reviews to discover what people are saying about the support team. Or ask industry peers who have used the tool and see what their experience was.
Now over to you
Onboarding tools are key to improving product adoption, retention, and customer time-to-value. But that’s only possible if you choose the right one to suit your specific requirements.
Assess your current customer onboarding needs, research the different tools available on the market, and then choose one that best solves your onboarding needs.
Even better, you could schedule a demo with Docebo and see how it can satisfy your onboarding needs.