Reducing time to value through a streamlined onboarding experience
Context
Some time ago, FinCompare evolved from an internal tool for in-house financial advisors into a SaaS platform for external advisors. This shift introduced a new user group with different levels of financial expertise, lower usage frequency, and a much stronger need for guidance and clarity early in the product experience.
My responsibility was to rethink onboarding to support this new audience and enable fast, independent adoption without relying on manual onboarding by internal teams.
Problem
The platform had been designed for expert users who worked with it daily. As a result, onboarding reflected internal workflows rather than first-time user needs and introduced too much complexity too early.
Key issues included:
Finance-heavy forms with many “just in case” questions
Long onboarding flows that delayed access to core value
Mandatory 1:1 onboarding with internal advisors
Internal teams frequently completing tasks on behalf of users
This led to low user independence, slow time to value, and high operational effort.
Solution
I approached onboarding as a product system rather than a single flow, optimizing the experience around early value instead of completeness.
Core product decisions:
Defined mission-critical steps required to reach first value
Removed or deferred non-essential inputs and edge cases
Introduced a clear entry point with a focused empty state and primary CTA
To support first-time users without overwhelming them, I designed a contextual onboarding experience:
A guided tour that introduces the most critical actions step by step
Progressive disclosure to surface complexity only when relevant
A smart checklist to visualize progress and completion
Persistent access to guidance and help content within the product
Selected onboarding solutions
Welcome email
Sets expectations early and directs users to the most valuable first actions through personalized content and links to key product moments.
Welcome pop-up card
Reinforces the product’s core value at first login and guides users toward the next best action without interrupting their workflow.
Contextual onboarding tour
Guides users through the critical steps required for success directly in the application, reducing uncertainty and accelerating independent task completion.
Challenges
Designing onboarding for a finance-heavy platform required careful trade-offs between regulatory complexity and usability. The main challenge was deciding what not to show upfront, while still ensuring users felt supported and in control.
Aligning stakeholders around removing “nice-to-have” inputs in favor of faster activation was also a key part of the work.
Impact
This specific onboarding flow was not released within the project timeline. However, related onboarding initiatives based on the same principles delivered measurable improvements:
Higher task completion without advisor intervention
Reduced reliance on 1:1 onboarding support
Faster progression to meaningful actions in the product
The work established a scalable onboarding foundation aligned with product focus the SaaS adoption and independent users.
Want to learn more?
This case study shows a condensed version of the project. If you’d like to dive deeper into my process, contributions, or the value delivered, feel free to get in touch — I’m always happy to share more.