Software sales and adoption has a leaky bucket problem.  From awareness to conversion, from conversion to retention, there is a percentage of users that are lost through the stages.  Software providers spend significant effort in driving product awareness, qualifying those leads, and converting that awareness into purchase intent. 

The effort does not, nor should not, stop at conversion.  User onboarding is a critical success factor in driving retention.  User onboarding reduces user friction and confusion, ultimately leading to higher satisfaction, engagement, and retention.  For free trial and freemium models, the user onboarding process is necessary to demonstrate value and convert to paid.  Users much reach that “aha moment” in which they realize the key value that drives conversion.  Second to that is the time to value, the longer it takes a user the less likely they will convert to paid.

Addressing the Onboarding issue has persisted because:

Complexity of enterprise applications: Enterprise applications are often complex, with many features and functionalities that can be overwhelming for new users. As a result, manual demos, onboarding, training, and support have been the preferred method to help users navigate these complex systems.

Customization: Many enterprise applications are highly customizable, which means that every organization will use the application in a slightly different way. This makes it difficult to automate the training and support processes, as each organization will have unique requirements and configurations.

User preferences: Users prefer to have intelligent human interaction instead of user guides when they are learning how to use a new application or when they need support. For these users, manual processes are often the most effective way to provide the help they need as using in-software guides and manuals is slow & painful.

Versions and Updates:  New features or redesigns create changes to onboarding funnels that then require revisiting all of the prior documentation and structure to enable users.  For growing SaaS companies this is especially problematic and the product development cadence can be very fast.

We are very excited to lead the Funding round for Wiyse AI.  Their product roadmap demonstrates an ambitious endeavor to tackle one of the long-standing frictions that all software providers face in user onboarding.  The team’s domain expertise on both the technical and commercialization side is impressive for an early-stage startup.  We look forward to being part of the journey.