Stage 3 — Grow
Onboarding & activation
Get new users to their "aha" moment before they disappear.
- 01
Define your activation event
The single action that, if a user does it once, they're likely to come back. Not "signs up" — the moment they experience the core value. Everything in your onboarding points here.
Tip: If you can't name it in one sentence, you don't have one yet. That's the first thing to fix. - 02
Map and shrink the flow
Count the steps between sign-up and the activation event. Remove every step that doesn't directly contribute to that first experience. Target: ≤ 3 decisions, < 3 minutes.
- 03
Welcome email — day 0
Send immediately on sign-up. One sentence on what to do right now with a direct link — not to the dashboard. Under 150 words. One CTA only. "Reply to this email" at the end.
- 04
Fix every empty state
Every empty state needs: an icon, a one-sentence explanation of what goes here, a CTA to fill it, and an example of what it looks like when full. Never a blank page or "No data yet."
- 05
Day-3 follow-up for non-activated users
"Did [Product] actually help?" — targeted at users who signed up but haven't hit the activation event. One question, direct link to the exact step, offer to answer questions.
Use this in your AI agent
Every step above is baked into the /onboarding-activation agent skill. Install shipping-skills and type /onboarding-activation to run the full playbook interactively for your product.