Onboarding friction happens when new users encounter obstacles that prevent them from smoothly understanding or using your product. These hiccups can appear at any point in the user's first-time experience – from signing up to completing a key task. Even small issues, if left unresolved, can cause users to abandon the product before they see its value.

Understanding common sources of onboarding friction is the first step to removing them. While the exact problems will vary by industry, product, or platform, many digital teams run into similar friction points during user onboarding:

1. Confusing or Overloaded Interfaces

Too many features at once, unclear navigation, or visual clutter can overwhelm users, especially when they’re just getting started. If your interface doesn’t guide them intuitively – without requiring a manual – they’ll likely disengage.

2. Unclear or Missing Instructions

When users don't know the next step or misunderstand what they’re supposed to do, they’re more likely to hit a wall. Poor instructions or hidden calls-to-action are often the culprits behind early drop-off.

3. Too Much Too Soon

Some onboarding flows try to explain everything upfront – a mistake that leads to cognitive overload. Instead of familiarizing users gradually, these experiences create confusion and reduce motivation to continue.

4. Gated Access or Long Sign-up Requirements

Asking users to commit too early – through account creation, payment, or permissions – can cause friction. Delaying the 'aha moment' makes it harder for users to build early trust and momentum.

5. Lack of Personalization or Feedback

When onboarding feels generic or ignores user context, engagement drops. Likewise, when users take actions without positive reinforcement or guidance, they’re unsure if they’re making progress.

These friction points are often revealed through usability testing or user feedback, but many teams miss them because they’re too close to the product. That’s why using tools like UserTesting – paired with expert research interpretation – is key to improving your onboarding experience.

UserTesting is a powerful DIY research tool that lets product teams observe real people interacting with their product. But getting the most value from it – especially for diagnosing early user onboarding friction – requires more than just setting up a test. You need the right mix of preparation, observation, and interpretation.

Start with a Clear Onboarding Flow to Test

Begin by identifying a specific journey you want to test – for example, signing up, completing a first task, or discovering a core feature. Keeping your test focused on a defined experience will make it easier to diagnose meaningful onboarding problems.

Craft Your Tasks and Scenarios Thoughtfully

The way you ask users to complete tasks matters. Provide realistic scenarios that mirror motivations your real users would have. For example: “You’ve just signed up for [product]. Find a way to create your first project.”

Know What Signals to Watch For

While watching the recorded sessions, look out for these telltale signs of onboarding friction:

• Users pausing or saying “I’m not sure what to do next”
• Repetitive clicking, hesitating, or backtracking
• Mistaken assumptions about how features work
• Explicit frustration (“Why is this happening?” or “I don’t get this”)

Beyond what users say, watch for what they do. For instance, some may rush through steps and then misinterpret the outcome, which signals your guidance wasn’t clear enough.

Analyze, Don’t Just Observe

This is where many teams get stuck. UserTesting provides the data, but connecting the dots back to behavioral triggers, emotional cues, or cognitive errors often requires experienced synthesis. That’s where support from insight professionals – like SIVO’s On Demand Talent – can increase the ROI of your testing by translating observations into actionable improvements.

For example, our On Demand Talent might reframe a user’s confusion in completing onboarding not as a design issue alone, but as a communication gap in product copy. Or they might uncover a pattern of abandonment at a repeated point across testers – evidence that your setup flow needs simplification.

Leverage the Tool – But Don’t Rely on It Alone

UserTesting excels at surfacing firsthand reactions, but it doesn’t replace the need for skilled insight analysis. DIY research platforms are powerful allies – especially when paired with professionals who can:

• Design higher quality studies that stay on objective
• Distill qualitative video feedback into core themes
• Coach internal teams on using future data more independently

That’s the value of SIVO’s flexible On Demand Talent: experienced researchers who can plug into your team, elevate your findings, and deliver clarity – without slowing you down.

DIY research platforms like UserTesting have revolutionized how teams gather user feedback. They offer speed, accessibility, and cost-efficiency – making usability testing and user onboarding research more agile than ever. But while gathering data has gotten easier, interpreting it still requires trained expertise. This is where many companies hit a wall.

Conducting user onboarding tests on a platform like UserTesting is only as helpful as the actions you take from the results. Without experience in structuring tests, interpreting qualitative feedback, or identifying behavioral patterns, teams risk misreading the signals. You might think a sign-up drop-off is due to button placement, when it’s actually a messaging issue. Or, you may hear “confusing” in a video response but not uncover *what* was confusing or *why* it mattered.

Key challenges when interpreting DIY usability tests include:

• Lack of research objectivity – teams may unintentionally introduce bias when reviewing familiar products
• Difficulty distinguishing noise from signal – not all user comments carry equal weight, and knowing which ones truly reflect systemic issues requires training
• Misalignment with goals – teams often launch tests without crystal-clear objectives, leading to scattered insights that don’t ladder up to decisions

Even with AI tools that transcribe and spotlight trends, the human lens remains critical. Automated summaries can miss subtle emotional cues, inconsistencies, or contradictory feedback across sessions. These nuances are often where real onboarding friction lives – in the gray areas between intent and interpretation.

That’s why combining DIY research tools with expert analysis leads to stronger outcomes. Seasoned research professionals understand how to set up usability tests purposefully, ask unbiased tasks, and extract learnings that align with business goals. Whether testing product onboarding, mobile apps, or digital flows, their input ensures that the signal in the data isn’t drowned out by noise.

In essence, gathering data is no longer the bottleneck – understanding and activating it is. In a fast-moving landscape, investing in expert interpretation bridges the gap between what users say and what your business needs to know.

When teams hit roadblocks in understanding user behavior during onboarding, On Demand Talent offers a precise, flexible solution. These are not freelancers or entry-level testers – they are experienced consumer insights professionals who know how to turn user testing sessions into actionable, strategy-aligned insights.

Onboarding diagnostics often require a deeper layer of synthesis than basic task success metrics. It's not just about whether a user clicks the right button, but how confidently they do it, how clearly they understand the flow, and what happens when expectations are not met. On Demand Talent can see the full picture – patterns, hesitations, workarounds – and help teams focus on what matters most.

Here’s how they add value to DIY usability testing tools like UserTesting:

Rapid Gap Identification

Seasoned researchers are trained to spot friction points quickly. They observe when a user seems uncertain, note tone shifts during narration, and recognize signals like backtracking, missed cues, or overconfidence that later leads to errors. These moments help create diagnostic maps pinpointing where the onboarding flow loses users – insight many teams miss in surface-level reviews.

Aligning Tests with Outcomes

Many DIY platforms leave testing design to the in-house team. On Demand Talent can step in to ensure that test scripts, tasks, and success definitions are aligned to product KPIs – such as trial completions, feature activation, or subscription starts. This precision ensures each test sheds light on the specific barriers impacting engagement or growth.

Coaching for Capability Building

One unique benefit of working with On Demand Talent is that they don't just fix problems – they elevate your team. They help internal stakeholders learn how to structure better onboarding tests, interpret behavior effectively, and act on insights faster. This allows teams to future-proof their approach while still moving quickly today.

Whether you’re preparing for a product launch or refining a digital flow already in market, SIVO’s On Demand Talent provides critical expertise without long hiring cycles. They operate as an extension of your team – providing expert diagnostics, offering collaborative solutions, and helping your consumer insights function stay strategic when speed and quality both matter.

Once you’ve identified onboarding friction through UX testing platforms like UserTesting, the next step is to solve it – thoughtfully and strategically. Whether you're facing unclear instructions, confusing navigation, or content overload in your product's early user journey, small research-led adjustments can deliver big user experience gains.

Below are evidence-based tips grounded in what expert researchers consistently uncover during onboarding usability tests:

1. Simplify First Steps

First impressions matter. Users typically expect simplicity in the first few screens. If tasks feel too complex or unstructured early on, they may abandon quickly. Use your testing feedback to clarify instructions, reduce form fields, and eliminate jargon. A smoother path increases conversion and engagement.

2. Replace Guesswork with Guidance

When users hesitate or get stuck during testing, it often reveals missing direction. Where should the user go next? What button should they click? In many cases, a small indicator – like progress bars, tooltips, or checklist prompts – can ease cognitive load and help users feel more confident.

3. Prioritize Visual Hierarchy

Testing sessions often highlight when users scan rather than read – especially in onboarding. Ideally, your product should present one clear call-to-action per screen or step. If you see users wavering between options or misinterpreting button functions, revisit your layout and visual cues.

4. Test Updates Iteratively

Solving onboarding friction isn't a one-time action. With tools like UserTesting, you can run targeted follow-up tests on revised flows to confirm whether issues have been addressed. Keep tests focused, with clear success criteria, and compare against original findings.

5. Ask the Right Questions

Post-test surveys can reveal valuable emotional insights if crafted properly. Instead of only asking “Was this easy?”, consider prompts like “What information would have helped you?” or “What part of this process surprised you?” These often uncover blind spots not visible in behavior alone.

Ultimately, the most successful onboarding experiences are informed by data and human understanding. With help from experienced insights professionals, your research can shift from reactive fixes to proactive design. Whether you're using DIY research tools or full-service solutions, putting the user first – and validating each choice with authentic feedback – is the most reliable guide to reducing onboarding friction.