Activation & onboarding review

Onboarding: where we lose people and what to fix first

Sep 25, 2026 · @Martin Slaney

To: Onboarding squad

Bottom line

Onboarding works for people who reach a first chart: 62% of them are still here in week 2, against 11% of everyone else. Two-thirds of signups never get there, and most of those stop at "Connect your data", where we ask product managers and marketers for database credentials they don't have.

Where we lose people (last 90 days, 12,400 signups)

• Signup → connect data: 59% lost (\~7,300 people). The biggest leak by far. The top support ticket (41%) is "I don't have the database credentials."
• Connect → first chart: \~990 more lost, a fifth of those who connected. Syncs take up to 20 minutes, die if you leave the page, and "my sync failed" is the second-biggest ticket (18%).
• First chart → invite: 33% → 9%. Real, but downstream of the first two.

Caveat: we have no step-level data for screens 2–8, so we can't split the 59% between verification, the two questions and the connection form. The ticket data points hard at the form.

What to fix, in order

1. Let people reach a first chart without their own data. Add a sample dataset and a skip on screen 5, and land them on a ready-made chart. Why: it goes around the step that loses most people, and the first chart is the moment that predicts retention.
2. Let them hand off the credentials step. "Ask a teammate to connect" sends an engineer a secure link to fill in the connection form. Why: it answers the 41% ticket directly and turns the blocker into an invite.
3. Make syncing forgiving. Run it in the background, keep it going when they leave, email them when it's ready, and load a small sample of rows first so a chart appears in minutes. Show plain-language errors with a retry. Why: a 20-minute wait that punishes leaving the page is where connected users die, and it's the 18% ticket.
4. Don't start from an empty canvas. Use the role answer from screen 3 to suggest two or three templates instead of twelve, and draw the first chart automatically. Why: we already ask the role and do nothing with it; a blank builder is hard for non-analysts.
5. Trim the steps before connecting. Let people in before they verify their email (verify within a day), and drop or defer the team-size question. Why: cheap to do, but unmeasured, so instrument first rather than assume it's a big win.
6. Move the invite prompt to after value is shown, such as when someone saves or shares a chart. Why: people invite colleagues to something useful, not to a setup screen.

How we'll know it worked

• Instrument every screen, 1 to 11, before shipping anything.¹
• Judge fix 1 by how many sample-data users go on to connect real data and are retained in week 2, not by first-chart rate. A chart of sample data can lift that metric without anyone sticking around, so don't assume the 62% carries over.

To: Onboarding squad Subject: Fix access and sync before optimising chart creation

Our biggest measured loss is before data connection: 59% of signups, roughly 7,300 people, never connect a source. We ask PMs and marketers to complete a database setup that many cannot do themselves, then make a lengthy sync depend on keeping a page open.

Another 8 percentage points disappear between connection and first chart: about 20% of those who connect. Teammate invitations fall to 9% of signups, but we should establish whether collaboration is necessary for value before treating that as our next bottleneck.

First-chart users have much higher week-2 retention, 62% versus 11%. That makes chart creation a promising activation milestone, but does not prove that pushing everyone through a chart will cause better retention.

Fix in this order

1. Give users a route forward without database credentials. Offer a clearly labelled sample-data experience and make CSV upload a prominent alternative.¹ Add a setup hand-off that lets users ask a colleague to connect the source, then resume when it is ready. Replace the generic setup guide with short, source-specific instructions.

This addresses the largest measured loss and the strongest support signal: missing credentials account for 41% of onboarding tickets. That is a share of tickets, not signups, so we cannot yet quantify how much drop-off it explains. Sample data should demonstrate value while preserving a clear path to the user’s own data.

2. Make syncing durable and recoverable. Run syncs in the background so closing the page does not cancel them. Show meaningful status, explain failures and allow retries without repeating setup. Notify users when their data is ready.

A 20-minute foreground wait is a fragile requirement. Sync failures generate 18% of onboarding tickets and can waste the effort users have already invested.

3. Turn connected data into a useful first chart. Help users identify relevant tables instead of presenting every table equally. Use their chosen template to produce an editable chart from compatible data, with guided choices where mapping is needed. Do not finish template selection with an empty canvas.

This targets the roughly one in five connected users who never reach a chart. Measure whether they produce something useful, not merely whether a chart renders.

4. Remove avoidable preliminary work. Defer role and team-size questions unless their answers immediately improve setup. Review whether email verification must block exploration, retaining verification where required for account security.

These steps add friction before value, but we lack evidence that they drive the main loss.

Measure alongside delivery: instrument each screen, connection method, error and return visit. Test changes against first charts using customers’ own data, week-2 retention and trial-to-paid conversion. Track sample-data charts separately. Revisit invitations once we understand whether users need collaboration to succeed. To: Onboarding squad Subject: Fix access and sync before optimising chart creation

Our biggest measured loss is before data connection: 59% of signups, roughly 7,300 people, never connect a source. We ask PMs and marketers to complete a database setup that many cannot do themselves, then make a lengthy sync depend on keeping a page open.

Another 8 percentage points disappear between connection and first chart: about 20% of those who connect. Teammate invitations fall to 9% of signups, but we should establish whether collaboration is necessary for value before treating that as our next bottleneck.

First-chart users have much higher week-2 retention, 62% versus 11%. That makes chart creation a promising activation milestone, but does not prove that pushing everyone through a chart will cause better retention.

Fix in this order

1. Give users a route forward without database credentials. Offer a clearly labelled sample-data experience and make CSV upload a prominent alternative. Add a setup hand-off that lets users ask a colleague to connect the source, then resume when it is ready. Replace the generic setup guide with short, source-specific instructions.

This addresses the largest measured loss and the strongest support signal: missing credentials account for 41% of onboarding tickets. That is a share of tickets, not signups, so we cannot yet quantify how much drop-off it explains. Sample data should demonstrate value while preserving a clear path to the user’s own data.

2. Make syncing durable and recoverable. Run syncs in the background so closing the page does not cancel them. Show meaningful status, explain failures and allow retries without repeating setup. Notify users when their data is ready.

A 20-minute foreground wait is a fragile requirement. Sync failures generate 18% of onboarding tickets and can waste the effort users have already invested.

3. Turn connected data into a useful first chart. Help users identify relevant tables instead of presenting every table equally. Use their chosen template to produce an editable chart from compatible data, with guided choices where mapping is needed. Do not finish template selection with an empty canvas.

This targets the roughly one in five connected users who never reach a chart. Measure whether they produce something useful, not merely whether a chart renders.

4. Remove avoidable preliminary work. Defer role and team-size questions unless their answers immediately improve setup. Review whether email verification must block exploration, retaining verification where required for account security.

These steps add friction before value, but we lack evidence that they drive the main loss.

Measure alongside delivery: instrument each screen, connection method, error and return visit. Test changes against first charts using customers’ own data, week-2 retention and trial-to-paid conversion. Track sample-data charts separately. Revisit invitations once we understand whether users need collaboration to succeed.