{"id":9143,"date":"2024-08-01T18:28:15","date_gmt":"2024-08-01T18:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/userpilot.com\/blog\/app-walkthrough\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T17:32:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T17:32:58","slug":"app-walkthrough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/userpilot.com\/blog\/app-walkthrough\/","title":{"rendered":"App Walkthrough Best Practices For 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is an app walkthrough?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

An app walkthrough is a guided flow that walks your users through a small number of key features <\/strong>and helps them use these features to achieve their goals.<\/p>\n

Those are usually the specific features that a particular user needs to get acquainted with in order to derive maximum value from your product<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Once your user has finished their walkthrough, they will have experienced the value of your product in a first-hand, visceral way.<\/p>\n

This means that they have been activated<\/a>, making them significantly less likely to churn<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Given just how much activation correlates with retaining users<\/a> for a long period of time, activation should be the goal of your app\u2019s walkthrough.<\/p>\n

\"walkthrough
App walkthrough example from Kommunicate<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Your app\u2019s walkthrough is not a product tour!<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When some SaaS executives hear the word \u201cwalkthrough<\/a>,\u201d they start to think of an extensive, blow-by-blow guide to all the app features they offer.<\/p>\n

\"Get
Get a Newsletter product tour<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This type of guide is called a \u201cproduct tour<\/a>,\u201d and it\u2019s very different from an app walkthrough.<\/p>\n

Where a walkthrough is interactive, encouraging simple actions on behalf of your users, a product tour is passive.<\/p>\n

Put another way, the content of a product tour is determined by SaaS executives in advance. It\u2019s a top-down, linear process.<\/p>\n

Whereas, the content of an app walkthrough is based on the responses of your users and their actual actions.<\/p>\n

They are an active part of the process.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s essential that you understand the distinction between a walkthrough and a product tour<\/a> before we go any further.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t matter how pretty the design is: if your walkthrough is actually a product tour in disguise, no one will want to use it.<\/p>\n

\"product
Go for interactive app walkthroughs instead of product tours<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You have been warned!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n