Onboarding is easy to overlook, especially after drawn-out sales processes. But in reality, it is a strategic engine for success, and poor onboarding can fast-track you to failure. According to Forbes, 34% of companies that regretted a software purchase thought issues in onboarding prevented a successful implementation.
This points to the need for structured onboarding in software-as-a-service (SaaS).
SaaS companies need interactive experiences rather than just dull documentation to engage clients early and set them up for long-term retention. This usually means investing in a customer education platform rather than in-app guides or tooltips.
Below, we’ll explain what to look for in an optimal solution, compare top tools, and break down how to choose the best tool for your business.
What to Look for in User Onboarding Software
User onboarding processes in SaaS need to be dynamic and user-friendly. Many companies rely on outdated onboarding methods that frustrate new customers instead of guiding them, which only leads to user retention issues later on.
Some key features that every great onboarding tool should have include:
- Personalized onboarding: All individual users should be set on learning paths with materials tailored to their roles, goals, preferences, and more.
- Interactive product walkthroughs: Onboarding should guide new users through features with hands-on exercises rather than static explanations.
- In-app messaging and tooltips: Users should also have access to real-time guidance while using a product to avoid confusion.
- Gamification and progress tracking: To boost engagement, tools should include ways to track and celebrate small wins with badges or progress indicators.
- Multi-format learning: Information should be available across multiple formats, including video tutorials, assessments, and step-by-step guides.
- AI-powered analytics: Platforms should also track and provide insights into how users engage with onboarding to inform future adjustments.
- Seamless integrations: Onboarding should connect to customer support, robust analytics, and other enterprise technology all stakeholders use.
The best onboarding tools combine these features to enhance user experience right from the start of their journeys, maximizing retention and loyalty in the long run.
Best User Onboarding Tools for SaaS Companies
Reevaluating onboarding processes is critical to SaaS success, and utilizing the right tools for the job is the best place to start when restructuring.
To that effect, some of the best tools for specific use cases are:
- Thought Industries for scalable customer education
- Appcues for no-code product walkthroughs
- Pendo for data-driven analytics and user insights
- Userpilot for mid-sized SaaS needs and customization
- Whatfix for large-scale (i.e., enterprise) SaaS use cases
Let’s take a closer look at each.
1. Thought Industries: Best for Scalable Customer Education
Thought Industries is a leading learning management system (LMS) provider, and our LMS for software companies is the ideal solution for SaaS onboarding. It makes it easy for any SaaS firm to build a structured, scalable customer education program.
In particular, our platform differs from basic in-app walkthroughs in a few important ways. Unlike tooltip-based onboarding, we deliver a full-fledged external learning platform where customers can receive live and on-demand robust, dynamic support. This makes it ideal for SaaS companies that want to offer deep training and certification, creating power users who become loyal advocates for your brand.
In addition, Panorama Multi-Tenancy allows SaaS companies to create customized portals for different customer segments. Paired with artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics, you can automate customer onboarding processes, generate impactful insights, and optimize the overall user onboarding experience—even on the fly.
Thought Industries is best for any SaaS company that needs a structured, scalable user onboarding platform rather than a more basic solution like in-app prompts.
2. Appcues: Best for No-Code Product Walkthroughs
Appcues offers several solutions for SaaS customer satisfaction, but the provider shines in letting companies build in-app onboarding without any coding. Its drag-and-drop builder for tooltips, modals, and checklists allows SaaS companies to add these features to their existing tools with minimal effort.
This makes Appcues a great fit for teams that want to improve onboarding quickly without dedicating significant development resources. It’s great for startups and mid-sized SaaS businesses looking for an easy way to create guided product tours.
3. Pendo: Best for Data-Driven Onboarding & User Insights
Pendo goes beyond basic onboarding functionality with built-in analytics that gather key metrics related to user activity. In particular, it tracks user interactions to identify where they struggle during onboarding. This allows for immediate outreach to resolve issues and longer-term optimization to prevent them in the future.
Pendo has the potential to boost net promoter score (NPS) results. It gives SaaS companies tools to assess their onboarding effectiveness. It’s a strong fit for firms that need better analytics integrated throughout onboarding and other systems.
4. Userpilot: Best for Mid-Sized SaaS and Customization
Userpilot allows companies to build onboarding flows that trigger based on user behaviors. This unique use of automation is suited to the needs of growing mid-sized SaaS companies. Its customization options include intuitive A/B testing, which allows teams to test and optimize onboarding experiences.
This platform is ideal for SaaS businesses with the flexibility (and risk appetite) for robust experimentation to ensure that onboarding flows are perfectly tailored—firms that need custom onboarding but want to avoid building it from scratch altogether.
5. Whatfix: Best for Large-Scale SaaS Enterprises
Whatfix offers advanced, AI-powered onboarding tools and multi-platform support for various onboarding journeys. It meets the target audience where they are across web, mobile, and desktop apps, with enterprise-grade security assurance, including seamless regulatory compliance across user-facing modules and systems.
However, these premium features come with a price, and smaller firms may not need everything on offer. This makes Whatfix ideal for larger, more mature companies needing the most comprehensive, scalable, and secure solution.
How to Choose the Best User Onboarding Software
When comparing SaaS customer onboarding program options, triangulate service provider offerings with your specific needs, means, and use cases.
In particular, follow these steps to determine what tool is best for you:
- Define your goals and what you need from onboarding
- Consider your tech stack, both now and into the future
- Match the tool to your company and its complexities
- Focus on analytical capabilities and optimization
Let’s dive deeper into each of these steps.
1. Define Your Onboarding Goals
The first and most fundamental step is asking your company what kind of user experience it wants to create. With that foundation, you can compare different options to see which is best suited to your specific goals.
If your goal is to get users up to speed as quickly as possible with in-app guidance, a solution like Appcues or Pendo might be the best option. However, if your goal is to implement comprehensive customer education to drive feature adoption and customer engagement, the Thought Industries platform is better suited.
At this stage, you should also seek to gather customer feedback through surveys or other means—testing a live demo would be ideal—to gauge interests and desires.
2. Consider Your Current and Future Tech Stack
It’s also critically important to consider your technology stack, ensuring that the onboarding solution you choose integrates with all your software and hardware. For example, it should speak to the customer relationship management (CRM) tools you have in place and any customer success teams’ particular tools.
It’s also essential to think about tools you may implement in the future but aren’t using at present. In practice, scaling customer onboarding might mean talking to client or partner systems with entirely different infrastructure. It also means syncing up with seemingly unrelated suites, like marketing automation tools.
SaaS companies using Salesforce, HubSpot, or other enterprise and marketing automation software should look for seamless integrations for onboarding.
3. Match Your Tool to Your Company Size and Complexity
Another key consideration is how well-suited a given onboarding tool is to your organization’s level of complexity based on your size and maturity.
Consider these differences in priorities and use cases:
- Startups and SMBs often have their onboarding needs met by simple, no-code tools like Appcues or Userpilot—but they might need more options later on.
- Mid-sized SaaS companies prioritize tools that offer both in-app guidance and analytics, preparing them for growth into large enterprises.
- Enterprises and mature SaaS companies often choose platforms with robust features, security, compliance, and multi-platform assurances.
One element that transcends company size is the need for different learning paths for unique user bases. Thought Industries is fully scalable and customizable to as many (or as few) use cases as you have. Just take a look at our work with CentralReach.
4. Focus on Analytics and Optimization
The best onboarding tools maximize access to data and actionable insights. This means seeking out platforms that have robust built-in analytics to capture user feedback and measure onboarding success. With this information, you can power impactful changes as conditions change.
In fact, AI-driven analytics is essential for data-driven decision-making because the powers of automation and machine learning unlock deeper insights at significantly faster speeds than human minds alone can accomplish. While AI needs to be paired with sound human oversight, leveraging this technology gets the most out of data.
In the context of SaaS customer education, the Thought Industries platform leverages AI to adjust learning paths based on insights into user engagement.
Choosing the Right Onboarding Tool for SaaS Success in 2025
While it might be easy to overlook, user onboarding is a make-or-break factor for SaaS success. Any SaaS company’s best onboarding tools will depend heavily on its specific needs. Newer, smaller firms will likely gravitate toward quick in-app guidance, while structured customer education is the better long-term option.
Thought Industries is the best choice for SaaS companies looking for a scalable, structured learning platform beyond tooltips and walkthroughs. Our platform powers impactful, engaging learning to keep customers coming back.
Ready to take your SaaS onboarding to the next level?
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