Personalization vs Standardization for User Onboarding Experiences

As businesses strive to deliver personalized experiences, data models have emerged as valuable tools for enhancing the user onboarding process, allowing product leaders to move away from standardized workflows that introduce new users to their products.

Standardization forms the backbone of any efficient onboarding process. Through consistency, it establishes a scalable onboarding framework for user interactions, ensuring that customers receive a reliable and predictable experience.

However, excessive standardization can lead to a one-size-fits-all approach that may not cater to the unique needs and preferences of individual users.

Personalization is rapidly becoming the go-to instrument for product leaders who want to solve this problem for their users, as it is firmly believed that the enhancement of onboarding experience through personalization would enable better onboarding for users, and would go a long way for a product’s engagement and user retention metrics.

Yet, it is imperative to note that, too much personalization can lead to a fragmented and inefficient onboarding process.

• If one user experiences the product so differently that they are unable to re-apply their knowledge to help another user in their product usage journey, it might lead to a perception that it is a complicated product for new users.
• Too much personalization will lead to a heavier product backlog, as with scale, newer personalization requirements would emerge for every other new user.
• As users evolve with time, their needs from the product evolve too, and the personalization elements that once delighted them might make their life difficult now.

Therefore, businesses should carefully evaluate and decide which areas require personalization and which ones can benefit from standardization. Some companies might end up noticing that a blend of both is what they’d need to make their product successful.

When this happens, data models can help accelerate this decision-making process, enabling businesses to keep the onboarding process consistent for a broader set of users, making the onboarding process scalable.

Here are a few use cases demonstrating how data models can improve user onboarding for B2B products and help product leaders decide what would work better, and qualitatively analyze the benefits of personalization vs standardization in each of them:

1. Role-Based User Onboarding: Personalization is crucial in role-based onboarding as different users have distinct organisational responsibilities and objectives. By tailoring the onboarding experience to specific roles, businesses can provide users with the relevant workflows, information and resources they need to excel in their job functions. However, it is essential to maintain a certain level of standardization to ensure consistency and avoid creating silos between roles. Balancing personalization with standardized onboarding elements enables businesses to deliver role-specific guidance in their products while maintaining a cohesive user experience across the organization.
2. Industry-Specific User Onboarding: Industry-specific onboarding requires a careful balance between personalization and standardization. Each industry has unique workflows and compliance requirements that must be addressed during onboarding. Personalizing the onboarding experience to align with industry-specific needs helps users understand how the product applies to their specific industry challenges. However, certain standardized elements, such as general navigation and basic functionalities, can be consistent across industries. Combining personalized industry-specific guidance with standardized foundational elements ensures that users receive tailored onboarding while benefiting from a cohesive product experience.
3. Feature-Based Onboarding: Personalization plays a significant role in feature-based onboarding, as different users may require different sets of features based on their specific needs. By leveraging data models to identify user preferences and behaviour, businesses can guide users through the most relevant features during onboarding. However, it is crucial to strike a balance to avoid overwhelming users with excessive personalized features, as sometimes users might be seeking simple and quick solutions. Providing a standardized introduction to essential features ensures that users have a solid foundation while allowing room for personalization based on user preferences and requirements. This also promotes the self-serviceability of the product and empowers the users to utilize the product workflows independently.
4. Progress-Based Onboarding: Progress-based onboarding necessitates a flexible approach to personalization and standardization. Data models can track progress in user journeys and identify areas where users may be struggling, enabling businesses to provide targeted assistance. This personalized approach ensures that users receive the support they need to overcome challenges. However, some aspects of onboarding, such as essential setup tasks, may benefit from standardization to ensure users complete critical steps consistently. Balancing personalization with standardized checkpoints helps users progress smoothly while addressing their specific needs.
5. Contextual Onboarding: Contextual onboarding requires a thoughtful combination of personalization and standardization. Taking into account factors such as language preference, geographical location, and time zone enables businesses to deliver a more tailored experience. Personalizing the onboarding process based on these factors ensures that users feel understood and supported. However, maintaining standardized onboarding elements, such as core navigation and fundamental functionalities, ensures consistency and familiarity across different contexts. By striking the right balance, businesses can create a user-friendly and inclusive onboarding experience that respects individual contexts while maintaining a cohesive product experience.

In each of these use cases, finding the optimal balance between personalization and standardization is crucial.

While personalization enhances user engagement and satisfaction, standardization ensures consistency, scalability, and ease of implementation.

By analyzing the specific needs of each use case, businesses can strike the right balance to deliver effective and efficient user onboarding experiences.

Using data-driven insights, businesses can customize the onboarding experience to meet the specific needs of their users, leading to higher user satisfaction, faster adoption, and ultimately, a long-term success in the B2B SaaS market.