Onboarding and activation

Updated May 12, 2026

Product-level onboarding

Description

Onboarding begins the moment someone enters the Sage ecosystem, starting right after they sign up on sage.com. It’s our chance to welcome them, show they’re in the right place, and deliver an engaging experience.

Warning

Choose the right pattern Limit custom components and patterns for onboarding or when migrating existing users to another Sage app. Use digital components for anything that is not fully product related. This includes product onboarding from a website. For example, when coming from sage.com to a new product, the product overview tour uses the digital look and feel. But a more detailed tour of product features uses the product look and feel. Use an empty state for anything that is fully product related. This includes first-time use of a feature, online help, and in-product discovery.

Onboarding considerations

Onboarding guidance can be used to reinforce the setup tasks introduced in Sage Home. It can also be surfaced contextually to support the user's current need, reducing reliance on external tools like Pendo.

When choosing an onboarding experience, consider where the user first encountered Sage and what they are trying to do. For example: using a product or feature for the first time.

Examples of different onboarding experiences include:

Product tours
Feature videos
Contextual prompts

Examples

A small business owner signs up for Sage Small Business Standard and lands in Sage Home. A curated list of setup tasks invites them to engage by highlighting key outcomes such as getting paid faster.

Setup tasks in Sage Home

From Sage Home, they move into Accounting to create and customise their first invoice.

When their first invoice is ready to send, they can use Sage Copilot to draft the email message for them. Before sending, they are contextually prompted to connect to Stripe.

Email invoice dialog with contextual prompt and Draft with Copilot

When exploring a feature within the product, their first interaction is with an empty state which highlights the benefits of the feature and prompts them take an action to start making use of it.

Empty state for first-time feature use

Through a structured onboarding experience, they've learned how to use core features that will save them time and build their confidence.

User engagement

Use any of the following to create a big impact when onboarding new users:

Celebration of small wins or achievements
Gamification badges awarded to the user when they complete tasks
Micro-interactions and animations to show users how to interact with a website or product
Illustrations
Animated loaders

Best practices

Personalize onboarding flows based on user persona, role, or intent.
Highlight key features that demonstrate immediate value.
Highlight the value to the user (save time) rather than a feature's functionality.
Make steps simple and lightweight to reduce friction.
Keep onboarding flows focused on user needs.
Reinforce that the product is designed for them.
Use an empty state for simplicity.
Make sure onboarding elements align with brand guidelines.
Prioritize content and make sure it aligns with our brand tone of voice.
Let users skip onboarding and easily return to it later.