What should a new SaaS user do in the first session?

By José Antonio Mijares | 2026-10-02 | 6 min read

One thing. The action that makes the product worth coming back to. Everything else in onboarding either leads there or waits.

A new user signs up with one question: will this do the thing I came for?

Onboarding has one job. Get them to the moment the answer is yes. Everything else waits.

Find the activation moment

Every product has one action that separates users who stay from users who leave. A first project shared. A first invoice sent. A first report with their own data in it.

You find it in your own data, not in a framework. Take users who are still active after a month. Look at what they did in the first session that users who churned did not do. That action is the target.

If you have no data yet, pick the smallest action that delivers the value on your homepage. If the homepage says "send invoices in a minute," the target is a sent invoice.

Cut everything between signup and that moment

Walk the path as a new user. Count every screen, field, and decision before the activation moment. Then ask of each one: does the user need this now?

Profile fields. Ask for the job title later, or never.

Team invites. Valuable, but after the user has something worth sharing.

Product tours. Five tooltips pointing at the menu teach the menu. They do not deliver the value.

Empty states. An empty dashboard is a dead end. Fill it with an example, a template, or one button that starts the first real task.

Settings. Pick sensible defaults. Let users change them when they care.

Make the first result theirs

Sample data shows the product works. The user's own data shows it works for them.

Ask for the one input that makes the result personal: their site URL, a file, a connected account. Then show a real result on screen as fast as you can. If it takes time, show progress and send it when it is ready.

Measure the path, not the signup

Track three numbers: the share of signups that reach the activation moment, how long it takes, and where people stop on the way. Fix the step where most stop, then measure again.

Signups going up while activation stays flat is not growth. It is a bigger leak.

What not to buy

A tour builder before you know the activation moment. A longer welcome email sequence to rescue a first session that does not work. A redesign of the dashboard nobody reaches.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is an activation metric?

The share of new users who complete the action most linked to staying. It is specific to your product: a sent invoice, a shared project, a connected data source.

Q: Should onboarding be a checklist?

A short checklist helps when activation needs a few steps. Keep it to the steps that lead to the activation moment. A checklist of every feature is a tour with checkboxes.

Q: Should we ask users their role at signup?

Only if the answer changes what they see next. If every role gets the same first screen, the question is a cost with no return.

Q: How fast should the first result appear?

As fast as the product allows, ideally within the first session. If it needs processing time, show progress and notify the user when it is ready.

Q: Do onboarding emails help?

They help users who already started come back to finish. They do not fix a first session that never delivers a result.

Jamak designs and builds SaaS products, and runs its own. The product work is SaaS. The conversion work is CRO. Talk to us. No rate card.