So you’ve built a killer product. Honed your marketing message. Created the perfect website. Developed an amazing mobile app. Designed an outstanding advertising program. Honed a killer outreach message. You have a plan to get customers. And a system to keep them. But have you considered the onboarding process? They say you only have one chance to make a good impression and your onboarding program is the first impression your clients will have as members of your business family.

Creating a client for life starts with creating ensuring they get the most value out of your product or service. Your customers can’t become a brand loyalist if they don’t understand the brand. Building an amazing onboarding experience can get your client started on the right foot.

You should be considering your onboarding strategy across all touch points, from your email welcome series to the physical packaging you send with your product. Today, we will look for inspiration from mobile app onboarding. Everyone has downloaded an app from the AppStore, only to open it for the first time with no idea what to do. Usually, these apps will be buried in a folder, never be opened again, eventually being deleted when space is needed.

This is where the onboarding screens help set expectations and answer the why, what, and how of your app experience. These creative, simple steps ensure a user understands what the app does, why it is right for them, and gets them started using the app. These designs from some of the top designers can help inspire the onboarding strategy across every touchpoint of the new user experience journey.

Onboarding Cards

These colorful, simple cards combine clear messages and interesting icons to give their visitors expectations of what they will see in the app. See more from CreativeDash on Twitter or on their website here.

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App Onboarding

Walking through this onboarding series helps to set the stage and ensure new users understand what lies ahead. View more from RobLuke on Twitter.

Onboarding Illustrations

A colorful, fresh entry point to the app shows off features to look out for on the initial browse of the app. View more from Balraj Chana on Twitter.

App Welcome Slider

Simple and straightforward, this onboarding walkthrough shows each feature. View more from Kawen on Twitter.

On Boarding – App Welcome Slider

Another nice example of using icons and messaging to set first-time user expectations. View more from Michal Durys on Instagram.

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What strategies do you use for your onboarding of clients? Let’s continue the conversation in the comments.