SaaS Video Onboarding 101: How to Use Videos to Onboard Users

Video onboarding can be the solution you need when text-only tutorials are driving your users away.

Why?

Text-heavy onboarding flows can overwhelm new users, leading to increased support tickets and slower activation. But videos provide a more human way to guide and demonstrate how your app works, and drive customer retention.

In this article, we’ll show you how to use video content in your product management strategy to help users learn at their own pace. So you can build successful onboarding experiences that we know will increase user activation.

6 Ways to use videos in the customer onboarding process

Here are our best practices on how to use customer onboarding videos to improve user satisfaction.

1. Add videos to your onboarding email sequences to boost engagement

Embedding video thumbnails or animated GIFs in your onboarding emails can increase open and click-through rates by 65%.

How?

Our inboxes can easily become flooded with text, from newsletters to promotions. However, a video thumbnail of a GIF breaks that pattern, because it piques curiosity and motivates users to click.

We recommend these tips to complement your email content:

• Position the thumbnail in the hero section so it’s the first thing users see.
• Add a play-button overlay that signals interactivity at a glance.
• Compress your GIFs below 1MB so your content loads faster.

Loom’s onboarding email is an excellent example. It puts a video front and center, enticing new users to click and explore.

2. Create a welcome video to help new signups get started

We suggest you include a brief welcome video in your signup flow to guide users through core steps and prevent churn.

Immediately after a customer signs up, display a modal that plays a 60 to 90-second walkthrough. The modal should show how to set up a profile, adjust key settings, or launch their first project.

In our experience, this approach helps ensure that users never lose context during onboarding and easily understand how to interact with your product.

3. Use microvideos to provide contextual in-app guidance

Trigger microvideos (no longer than 30 seconds) based on user actions to help them understand features in real-time, without leaving your app.

We recommend adding these short, relevant videos when a user clicks a new feature or hovers over an icon. This contextual in-app guidance will help users navigate your app better and drive product adoption.

We implement this approach by embedding them into onboarding UX patterns such as modals and tooltips. For example:

• Modals: Launch a short tutorial video modal when users access a complex screen.
• Tooltips: Add hover-triggered GIFs or video snippets to explain feature details.

4. Embed tutorial videos in your resource center for self-serve support

Integrate videos to an in-app hub so that users can find answers when they need them.

Embedding them in your knowledge hub is a great way to expand their utility beyond onboarding.

For example, Userpilot’s resource center enables you to embed videos that provide visualized assistance. This approach empowers users to solve problems independently whenever they come across one.

Power Up Your Video Onboarding Strategy with Userpilot

Get a Demo

• 14 Day Trial
• No Credit Card Required

5. Host live or on-demand webinars to drive early success

You can host live or recorded webinars to help your customers learn more effectively and improve user activation.

Invite new users to your customer success team’s live sessions to:

• Demonstrate essential workflows.
• Answer questions in real time.
• Share best practices.

If they can’t attend the webinar, that’s fine. Record the session and share it as on-demand content for users to view at their convenience. That’s how we do it at Userpilot, with our webinars and interviews.

6. Centralize onboarding videos in a library for continuous education

We recommend creating a hub that acts as a one-stop learning destination. So, your users always know where to find video tutorials and feature walkthroughs.

Let’s say you’ve just rolled out a new user activation dashboard with advanced filters. Instead of hunting through help articles, your users can jump into the “dashboard” section of your video library and learn how to use your new feature.

Here’s an example of Loom’s library with videos on getting started:

Best practices for creating effective customer onboarding videos

Use our best practices to create great customer onboarding videos that help customers have a better user experience and engage with your product more.

Personalize SaaS onboarding videos for different customer segments

Tailor product onboarding videos to each user’s job-to-be-done so they see only what matters.

Your users have different tasks. Some may need to set up workflows, while others analyze data. With personalized onboarding videos, you make it easier for users to see how your product solves their problem and adopt it.

But how do you start?

Define customer segments, such as admins, marketers, and developers, using our customer segmentation feature. You can collect information during signup and use that data to target different types of users with onboarding videos relevant to each.

Then, embed personalized videos that are triggered based on the user segment within the app. For example, an admin can see a workflow setup video while a marketer sees one about campaign analytics.

Keep your user onboarding videos short and on point

Create onboarding videos under three minutes, focusing on one feature at a time to maximize clarity and user retention.

For example, a clip that shows only how to set up your user flow, without also covering analytics. This keeps your customers’ attention and reduces cognitive load so they can easily progress along their user journey.

Creating separate videos for each concept helps you ensure users only see the guidance they need. For duration, we recommend aiming for 1-3 minutes per video.

Host onboarding videos natively to avoid user friction

Embed interactive videos in your app so users stay focused since they don’t have to take detours to external platforms. It helps to reduce the chances of drop-offs in onboarding.

You can use our flow builder to add videos directly in modals, tooltips, or sidebars, without coding. Because these videos load in place, users never lose context and complete flows faster.

Focus on highlighting the benefits over the features

Instead of listing features, create videos that demonstrate benefits and results. Use your video to show how your app solves real problems that users care about.

In practice, you never just rattle off a checklist of capabilities. Rather, illustrate how a specific feature improves workflow.

For example, instead of saying “Our segment builder filters by user attributes,” you could show Sara, a product manager, creating a cohort in seconds so she can launch targeted campaigns before lunch. This concrete scenario helps users envision using the feature in their daily routines.

Here, we recommend scripting your video around common user pain points, such as onboarding new team members or reducing support tickets. Then, highlight how your app resolves those challenges.

Measure the performance of your onboarding process and iterate

Track user engagement metrics and user feedback to continuously refine your videos.

Monitor video engagement metrics, such as watch time, drop-off points, and completion rates. Let’s say you notice high drop-offs a few seconds into your video, because of filler or confusing content. You can tweak the video to cut out those seconds or make it more straightforward.

After every tweak, monitor the same metrics for improvement.

You can also collect feedback with in-app surveys at the end of each video to learn what’s working and what’s confusing. Combining both approaches will help ensure that your onboarding videos are helpful and relevant to users.

3 Best video onboarding tools for user engagement

In a crowded marketplace, you have lots of tools to choose from when it comes to SaaS video onboarding.

But which will give you the most bang for your buck?

Here are three we recommend for seamless integration, personalized experiences, and measurable user engagement.

Userpilot for creating a multichannel video onboarding process

Use Userpilot to build multichannel SaaS video onboarding by embedding videos in emails, in-app UI patterns, and a resource center. You can trigger these relevant videos based on user behavior and attributes, so the right users get the right content.

In this regard, our key features include:

• Email sequences: Automate video emails based on specific events, such as sign-ups or feature trials. Just upload your video, set the trigger, and personalize by segment.

Here’s an example:

• In-App UI patterns: Embed 15–30-second videos in modals, tooltips, or hotspots that appear when users click a new feature or hit a milestone. And you can configure it in minutes.

Like this:

• Always-On resource center: Create a searchable video hub where users can browse interactive tutorials on demand. You can also organize videos by topic.

Synthesia for AI-based video onboarding

Synthesia’s AI video software enables you to create customer onboarding videos with a camera or editing crew. You simply paste your scripts and choose customizable avatars and lifelike voiceovers in over 140 languages.

Beyond basic clips, you can adjust backgrounds, add captions, and incorporate interactive elements, like clickable CTAs. It helps you cut video production time.

As a bonus, it’s simple to integrate with Userpilot. Simply host the videos on a CDN or in your CMS, then embed via URL in your Userpilot flows. So, you can create more personalized, consistent onboarding videos without logistical headaches.

Loom for easy screen recording videos

Loom’s one-click recorder makes filming and sharing onboarding tutorials instant, which enables you to embed product walkthroughs easily. It’s great for making explainer videos. You can also use it to send messages to team members, e.g., to show a bug or a difficult-to-use flow via video.

Like Synthesia, you can easily integrate Loom with Userpilot. After recording, you get a shareable link and embed code. Simply paste the URL into the video module in our flow builder.

Power up your video onboarding strategy with Userpilot

Your SaaS video onboarding strategy is essential for higher product adoption. And with Userpilot, you get everything you need in one platform. By embedding videos across email, in-app modals, tooltips, and your resource center, you can reduce time-to-value, increase activation rates, and slash churn.

Again, Userpilot enables you to:

• Host clips natively so users never leave your app or inbox.
• Trigger the right video at the right moment, based on behavior and user segment.
• Measure impact with user analytics on watch time, drop-offs, and completion rates.

Ready to transform your onboarding? Book a demo with our team and see how Userpilot improves your processes to get more conversions.

Build Your SaaS Video Onboarding Strategy with Userpilot

Get a Demo

• 14 Day Trial
• No Credit Card Required