Activation & onboarding review

MEMO To: Onboarding Squad From: Product Leadership Subject: Fixing the Onboarding Funnel

Team,

Looking at the last 90 days, the story is clear: getting users to their first chart is everything. Week-2 retention jumps from 11% to 62% once a user builds a chart.

Right now, we are losing 59% of signups before they ever connect data, and another 8% before they build that first chart. Why? Because our signups are PMs and marketers, yet we are forcing them through a data-engineer onboarding flow.

Here is where we are losing people and what we need to fix, in priority order:

1. Add a “Send to an Engineer” flow & Sample Data (Screens 5–6) * The Problem: 59% of users drop off before connecting data, and 41% of support tickets are “I don’t have database credentials.” PMs and marketers don't have Postgres passwords or understand SSL modes, and a 14-page guide won't help them. Because there is no skip option, they hit a hard wall. * The Fix: Add two buttons to Screen 5: “Explore with Sample Data” and “Invite an Engineer to connect data.” Let the PM experience the "aha" moment immediately with a sandbox dataset while their engineer handles the credentials in parallel. This also instantly fixes our low 9% teammate-invite rate by giving users a real reason to invite a colleague early.

2. Make data syncing asynchronous (Screen 8) * The Problem: We lose 8% of our total signups (nearly 20% of those who actually manage to connect data) between connecting a source and building a chart. A 20-minute progress bar that cancels if you close the tab is a conversion killer, and it's driving 18% of our support tickets. * The Fix: Move syncing to the background. Let users close the tab (or play with sample data) and email them the moment their data is ready. Also, replace the raw list of every database table (Screen 7) with smart defaults so non-technical users aren't overwhelmed.

3. Eliminate the "Empty Canvas" (Screens 9–10) * The Problem: A user picks a dashboard template on Screen 9, only to be dropped into a blank chart builder on Screen 10. Blank canvases cause analysis paralysis. * The Fix: Make the templates on Screen 9 actually populate pre-built charts on Screen 10 using their data (or the sample data). Give them a working chart immediately that they can tweak, getting them across that 62% retention threshold automatically.

4. Remove pre-value friction (Screens 2–4) * The Problem: We pause the flow for email verification and ask two CRM-style profiling questions before the user has seen the product. Every step here costs us momentum. * The Fix: Let users into the product immediately and require email verification later (e.g., before they can share a chart). Cut the “team size” question entirely, and only keep “role” if we use it to auto-select their dashboard template in Step 9.

Let's scope Item #1 for this sprint.

MEMORANDUM

To: Onboarding Squad From: Product Team Subject: Onboarding Funnel Analysis & Prioritized Fixes

Our last 90 days show 12,400 signups, but we face a steep 59% drop-off immediately after signup (reaching only 41% at data source connection), followed by a massive drop at team invites (down to 9%). Because week-2 retention jumps from 11% to 62% for users who build a first chart, removing friction before that milestone is critical.

Here is where we are losing people and the fixes, ordered by priority:

1. The Data Connection Blockade (Fix First)

• Where we lose people: We drop 59% of users right at the data connection step.² Support tickets confirm why: 41% lack database credentials, and 18% experience sync failures. Forcing product managers and marketers—who are not data engineers—to input host, port, SSL modes, and select from raw database tables while blocking the UI for up to 20 minutes is a conversion killer.
• What to fix:
• Add a pre-loaded Sample Data / Demo Workspace option so users can experience the product immediately without connecting a live database.
• Make data connection skippable or move it after the first chart experience.
• Simplify the CSV upload option or provide pre-built connectors with clear, inline tooltips instead of a 14-page setup guide.

2. The Premature Team Invite Wall (Fix Second)

• Where we lose people: Reaching a first chart drops to 33%, but inviting teammates plummets to 9%—a catastrophic 24-percentage-point drop right before value is fully realized.¹ Users are being asked to advocate for a tool before they’ve even proven its worth to themselves.
• What to fix:
• Remove the team invite step from the core linear onboarding path entirely.
• Relocate the invite prompt to the dashboard or settings menu once the user has successfully built and saved their first chart.

3. Redundant Survey Friction (Fix Third)

• Where we lose people: Screens 3 ("What's your role?") and 4 ("How big is your team?") add unnecessary micro-friction right after email verification.
• What to fix:
• Combine these into a single, clean optional screen or infer them from workspace setup later to streamline time-to-value.

Fixing data connection roadblocks and removing premature team invites will directly protect our week-2 retention (which hinges on reaching that first chart).

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.