→ Your growth practice

Enable your new SaaS users to customize their (work)space, project, or dashboard before or while creating their free plan/trial account.

→ Quick explanation

💥 Problem(s)

People must sign up with their email to access a new platform. The entire process takes two steps maximum, allowing the new users to get their hands on the platform.

Once they’ve accessed the space, though, they’re let to their device with a bunch of onboarding tips that, in most cases, guide them to:

• Create a new project, (work)space, document, link, or something else
• Introduce or upload data
• Explore the platform and its functionalities
  

As a result, the following challenges may arise:  

• Low engagement with the product after creating a free trial account.
• Low first session length after signing up.
• A quick loss of interest in the platform after signing up.
• (A complex SaaS product) Delay in adjusting the platform to the specific use case the user is searching for.
  

💡 Solution

To keep this from happening, engage your new users immediately by offering a customizable signup experience. Allow them to personalize their (work)space, project, or dashboard before or while signing up to access the platform.

When entering the personalization process, ask them to choose elements such as:

• Brand customization: for example, you can allow users to add their colors or choose between different dashboard or workspace designs.
• A specific use case: imagine you’re offering an events platform. In this case, you can get them to choose between different event types.
• Use case elements: if your software allows personalization, you can ask users to choose between different options. Going back to the previous example, you can ask your users to select the number of event attendees.

This way, you’ll involve your users off the bat, creating a micro-commitment. After all, once they’ve personalized the platform to signup, they’ll be more interested in exploring it.  

→ Definition

📓 Generic signup: A signup experience that requires people to introduce their email, giving them access to a generic dashboard that lacks any personal elements

📓 Customization/Personalization: The action of modifying a SaaS (work)space, project, or dashboard, to suit individual needs or preferences.

→ Types of signup experiences

• Regular: A straightforward signup that requires people to create an account by introducing their email (and other quick details).
• Interactive: Guiding the new users through a series of signup questions to get more details about their profile and needs.
• Customizable: Letting the users personalize certain aspects of the product (work)space, project, or dashboard before signing up.
  

→ Your growth opportunities

• Start onboarding your users even before they’ve signed up.
• Keep your users interested in testing your product after creating their account.
• Get your users committed to trying the product once they’ve signed up.
• (In case you have a complex product) Make sure the users choose the best use case that fits their current needs.
• Improve the product engagement rate.
• Increase the first session length or get your users to spend more time on your platform.
  

→ Case example

>> Gather, an online space for meetings and communities

Gather provides a free plan, allowing people to access the platform immediately.

Before creating an account, though, people are encouraged to personalize their space.

First, they have to choose between different use cases, such as:

• Set up an office or team social
• Organize an event
• Explore social experience

If people select the option “Organize an event,” they have to choose between different answers to questions, such as:

❓What type of event are you planning?

❓What category does your event fall into?

❓Is this an internal or external event?

❓How many people are you expecting to attend?

❓Would you like to create a new Gather space?

Next, people can add up to 10 virtual rooms to their space. They can choose between:

• Talk rooms
• Breakout rooms
• Lounge rooms
• Game rooms
• Booth rooms
• Poster rooms

After adding rooms, they have to name the event and choose the event dates and hours.

People can sign up and create a Gather account after customizing the space and clicking on Create Event.

► Quick note: The customization game continues after signing up to the account, as people can personalize their avatar and other space-related elements.

→ What to consider?  

Questions:

• Does my platform allow customization?
• What customizable elements can I offer?
• Can I enable my users to customize their experience by choosing a use case while creating an account on my platform?
  

Requirements:

• For PLG companies only. It works when offering a free trial or plan.
• Your product has to allow the customization of the (work)space, project, or dashboard.
• Your platform provides quick, intuitive, and hassle-free customization.
• Providing multiple use cases is unnecessary, as you can enable users to customize elements of the (work)space, project, or dashboard. But if you provide different use cases, it’s best to allow people to choose between them.
  

→ Your action framework

✅ Add a (work)space, project, or dashboard (depending on your platform) personalization workflow to your signing up process.

✅ Although companies such as Gather take new users through a complete personalization experience, you can make your workflow shorter and include two or three customizable elements (depending on your software). Here’s an example from InfluenceKit, an influencer marketing reporting platform: 

👉 Step 1.

👉 Step 2.

👉 Step 3.

✅ Choose the customizable elements you’ll include. If you want to keep it simple, you can encourage your users to personalize their (work)space, project, or dashboard by adding:

• A name
• A logo
• Colors
• Font
  

✅ If your platform offers multiple use cases, you can ask people to choose which one best suits their needs. It’s worth noting that it’s not always necessary to change the platform experience based on the use case.

► Quick note: Going back to our previous example with an event management software, it’s worth noting that people will access the same platform, whether they’re running a conference or a networking event. However, choosing a use case gives users a sense of control over their experience. Also, it helps you gather more data about the people signing up to try or use your software.

✅ To make things easier for your users, ask them to sign up with their email only.

✅ The personalization experience can continue even after signing up, as you can ask people to customize their profile or other platform-related elements.