I was working with a bootsrapped saas startup. This was the plan:
Validate the idea and get waitlist users, build the mvp and scale.
We did everything possible, ran ugc videos (made by us), outreaching potential users, and did Reddit marketing as well.
Got 4.5k+ waitlist users, we finally thought that was it. Made the MVP, emailed our users about the launch.
Got our app to the top 10 on Product Hunt, but guess what? Not even 1% converted. Many left midway through the onboarding process.
We thought it was a traffic problem, but it wasn't.
No matter how great marketing was, we reached out to users via email, but still, not even 1% conversion rate.
We thought our app might not be a good market fit, but our competitors were making 6-7 figures per year in ARR.
Then we reverse-engineered everything and made improvements. Our paid user conversion went up by 5x.
The problem was the onboarding screen. We made it too odd visually and onboarding-wise that many would leave midway.
So here's what we learned: Make your onboarding screen as quick and engaging as possible, see what's working in the industry, and don't reinvent the wheel. Onbaording screen can either increase the churn rate or increase your user base. There's a reason platforms like Mobbin exist.
Tip: If you're someone running an app, try to explore Mobbin with different screens and replicate them by vibe coding the design using OceanAI, then push it to Figma.
thank me later:)