activation-onboarding-playbook
Skill13 starsChanged 4 months agoMITView on GitHub
Activate when: signups don't turn into active/paying users; 'people sign up but don't stick', designing onboarding, improving activation; aha moment, time-to-value. Do NOT activate when: the problem is acquisition (no signups) or long-term retention of already-activated users (different lever). More: deciqai.com/s/activation-onboarding-playbook
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The file
We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent
1 rule. About 0 are common, 1 is distinctive, and 0 are very specific to this project.
≈0
Common · estimate
Many files like this have a rule of this kind.
≈1
Distinctive · estimate
This author's own choices. Worth a look.
0
Very specific
Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.
- Common
- Distinctive
- Very specific
- Distinctive: line 32
No activation metric or funnel instrumentation.
≈ “Common” is an estimate: at least 1 in 5 of the 350,495 skill files we read have a rule of the same kind, not the same words. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.
Files
Activation & Onboarding — Get to First Value Fast
Overview
Activation is the moment a new user first experiences real value — the "aha moment" — and the single biggest lever on retention and revenue for most products/services. Onboarding's job is to shrink time-to-value: get the user to that moment as fast as possible, removing every step that isn't required to feel the win.
The Process
- Define the aha moment — the specific action correlated with retention (e.g. "invited a teammate," "sent first invoice," "got first result"). Gate: no defined activation event = you're optimizing blind.
- Find the setup moment(s) — the minimum steps required to reach aha; everything else is optional.
- Design the shortest path — sequence only the must-do steps to first value; defer configuration.
- Remove/relieve friction — pre-fill, sensible defaults, do-it-for-them (concierge/agent) where possible.
- Nudge to the milestone — timely prompts/emails toward the aha, not generic "welcome" noise (pairs with an onboarding-sequencer).
- Measure activation rate and time-to-value; iterate the biggest drop-off. Gate: adding onboarding steps without measuring drop-off usually lowers activation.
When to Use
- High signup, low activation/stick
- New onboarding flow or high-touch service onboarding
- Trials that don't convert to paid
Applying It Well
- Deliver a win before asking for full setup.
- One activation metric; instrument the funnel to it.
- Doing the setup for the user (concierge/AI) often beats teaching them.
Red Flags
- Long setup wizard before any value.
- Generic welcome emails not tied to the aha.
- No activation metric or funnel instrumentation.
Verification
- Aha moment defined and measurable
- Minimum path to first value mapped
- Friction removed / setup assisted
- Activation rate + time-to-value tracked, drop-offs iterated
Part of deciqAI Knowledge Skills — 253 open-source thinking skills that make rigor executable for AI agents. The same skills power every deciqAI agent, which runs them autonomously to operate your company. See it run → https://www.deciqai.com/s/activation-onboarding-playbook · Built by deciqAI · github.com/deciqAI · Contributions welcome.
Agents: latest version & machine-readable metadata → https://www.deciqai.com/s/activation-onboarding-playbook.json
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