45ck Onboarding Activation Audit
Use this skill when the user wants a structured review of first-time user experience, activation, and early value realization.
What this skill must produce
Always produce:
- Flow summary
- Target job / switching moment
- Activation model
- Friction audit
- Missing value-discovery audit
- Experiment ideas
- Instrumentation needs
- Prioritized action plan
Inputs to gather
Use any combination of:
- screenshots / recordings / Figma
- docs / product copy
- analytics notes
- onboarding emails / lifecycle messages
- signup form and first-session behavior
- product type (attention / transaction / productivity)
- whether the product is self-serve, PLG, or sales-assisted
If direct assets are missing, perform a heuristic audit from the available description.
Working rules
- Evaluate onboarding as behavior change, not just a UI tutorial.
- Start from the user’s motivating situation and desired progress.
- Separate onboarding from activation. Activation requires value found and value returned to the business.
- Focus on the fastest route to meaningful action.
- Reduce steps that are account-focused but not value-focused.
- Watch for friction that delays the aha moment.
Step-by-step method
Step 1: define the user’s switch
State:
- what situation they are trying to get away from
- what progress they want
- what they are "hiring" the product to do
Step 2: model activation
Break activation into:
- trigger / acquisition moment
- onboarding
- aha moment
- first value exchange
- early repeat use / ladder of engagement
Define a candidate activation event.
Step 3: map the current flow
Create a step map from arrival to first value.
For each step note:
- user task
- system response
- why the step exists
- risk introduced
- whether it moves the user toward value or only toward setup
Step 4: audit for friction
Inspect:
- unnecessary fields
- permission prompts too early
- unclear copy
- dead-end states
- empty states without guidance
- delayed feedback
- missing social proof
- poor defaults
- too many decisions before value
- account setup dominating doing-focused progress
Step 5: audit for missing value discovery
Inspect whether the flow:
- teaches the right behavior
- gets users to do something meaningful
- shows proof of benefit
- creates momentum toward a second session
- includes lifecycle reinforcement
Step 6: propose fixes
Provide fixes at three levels:
- copy / content
- product flow
- lifecycle / messaging
Step 7: define experiments
Translate fixes into minimum viable tests.
Step 8: define instrumentation
List the events and properties needed to measure the flow.
Output structure
Flow summary
- Product:
- User:
- Core job:
- Dominant motion:
- Current conversion target:
Target job / switching moment
- Old way:
- Frustration pushing the switch:
- Desired progress:
- What success feels like:
Activation model
- Candidate aha moment:
- Candidate first value exchange:
- Candidate activation event:
- Early retained behavior:
Current flow map
| Step | What the user does | Why this exists | Moves toward value? | Main risk |
|---|
Friction audit
| Issue | Severity | Why it hurts | Suggested fix |
|---|
Missing value-discovery audit
| Missing element | Why it matters | Suggested intervention |
|---|
Experiment ideas
| Experiment | Hypothesis | Success metric | Min viable test |
|---|
Instrumentation needs
List events, properties, and funnel stages required to measure:
- signup completion
- onboarding completion
- aha moment reached
- first value exchange
- second-session return
Prioritized action plan
- Now: 3 changes with the highest expected impact
- Next: 3 changes to validate through experiments
- Later: structural improvements requiring more work
Severity scoring
Use these severity levels:
- Critical: likely blocking activation at scale
- High: strong drag on conversion or value discovery
- Medium: meaningful but not fatal
- Low: polish issue
Special instructions
If the product is B2B SaaS:
- check whether onboarding optimizes for team rollout too early or too late
- inspect whether the user is armed with material to bring coworkers in
- inspect whether a product-qualified account signal should be defined
If screenshots or direct UI assets are absent:
- be explicit that this is a heuristic audit
- focus on logic, sequence, copy, and measurement