When Onboarding Feels Like a Chore and How I’d Fix It

Too many apps treat onboarding like a checklist users have to earn their way through. Long tutorials, forced feature tours, and sign-up forms with ten required fields create frustration before the product even starts. It's like being greeted with a long set of rules when all you want is to peek inside.

Instead of helping users explore, these flows often feel like walls. Users are rushed through steps they don’t yet understand or forced to give information before they know why it matters. This approach may check boxes internally, but it rarely builds trust.

What I’d do instead: Let users explore at their own pace. Use progressive disclosure to surface guidance only when it’s needed. Consider offering onboarding that adapts to a user's confidence level: “Want help getting started?” is much friendlier than “Next. Next. Next.”

Offer skip buttons. Celebrate small milestones. Make onboarding feel like an invitation, not a task.