{"id":82393,"date":"2024-08-06T16:39:45","date_gmt":"2024-08-06T15:39:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/?p=82393"},"modified":"2025-01-13T16:24:46","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T16:24:46","slug":"how-to-build-a-product-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/how-to-build-a-product-tour\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Build a Kickass Product Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As a Product Manager, you know your product inside out. You understand how it works, how all its features complement each other, and how to get the most out of it. Great, you<\/strong> don\u2019t need to take a product tour. But what about your new users?\u00a0

Anyone trying your product for the first time will be coming in with little understanding of how it works. Sure, they may have seen a demo or played around in a sandbox version, but their comprehension of your product is going to be low. If they can\u2019t figure out how to use your product quickly, they\u2019re gonna get frustrated. You don\u2019t want frustrated users, because frustrated users leave.\u00a0

Product tours help reduce the friction of figuring out a new product. They act as training wheels to stabilize your customers to ensure they don\u2019t fall off the bike and graze their knees while they\u2019re still learning how to steer. Product tours show new users around the core functionality of your product, giving them the basic knowledge to start performing the tasks they signed up for in the first place.\u00a0

These educational flows are really powerful and are an effective tool when looking to nail your overall product onboarding<\/a>. Not only are they beneficial for users, but they are useful for your team, too. A product tour can highlight the key features and value of a new product, showcasing to new visitors why your product is so good. This reduces the time to value (TTV)<\/a> and can help you increase your product adoption rate<\/a>.\u00a0

That said, to max out the effectiveness of your product tours, you need to make sure they\u2019re actually good. That\u2019s easier said than done, as there are a lot of pitfalls you can tumble down in the process. Here\u2019s all you need to know to build a product tour that kicks ass.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a product tour?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re likely already well-versed in what a product tour is. You experience them every time you open a new app or piece of software, and we\u2019re willing to bet that your product has some sort of tour or educational component already in place.\u00a0

In short, a product tour is an in-app tutorial that guides users through the key features and functionality of your product. They often focus on teaching how the user interface (UI)<\/a> works, what everything does, and where each feature is located.\u00a0

Product tours are designed to help users get up to speed with the product quickly and ensure they don\u2019t miss any hidden features that may benefit them. They\u2019re activated automatically, usually triggered when a customer uses the product or clicks on a new feature for the first time.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do you need a product tour?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Would you trip up a baby that\u2019s still learning to walk? Of course not. That would be horrible. Well, without a product tour, you\u2019re kind of doing the same to your new users. Without any help or guidance on how to best utilize your product, they\u2019re going to struggle to find the value in what you offer, and if they can\u2019t find value they\u2019re gonna look elsewhere.\u00a0

Well, including a product tour in your onboarding process improves the chance that customers stick around. It also gives you the control to show them what you want them to see first. This lets you create a logical education flow that builds upon the previous point, ensuring that by the end of the tour, there are no gaps in your user\u2019s knowledge.\u00a0

No matter how intuitive your product is, it will come with a learning curve, some steeper than others. The goal of a product tour is to make that curve feel manageable; like it’s a slight uphill incline instead of an unscalable cliff.\u00a0

Here\u2019s a look at some other benefits of adding a product tour to your onboarding process:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It encourages users to actually try your product\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You need a product tour in place for first-time users so you have a way of actually inviting them to stay! Product tours act as great initial call-to-actions to get new users to explore your product. It adds that sense of urgency which can be the difference between losing or retaining a customer. A good product tour doesn\u2019t just show a visitor how to use your tool, it should make them desperate to use it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It helps users reach their wow moment<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The wow moment<\/a> is the point in time when a new user realizes the value of your product and why they need it. It\u2019s the lightbulb moment that flicks a switch in their head from being a skeptic to a believer in your product. You want your new customers to have this realization as early as possible – a product tour that showcases key features and benefits is going to help customers reach this moment a hell of a lot quicker.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It drives customer success<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You want your customers to have a good time with your product, and you also want them to find success when using your product. That\u2019s why you went to the trouble of building it in the first place. A good product tour gives your customers the tools they need to succeed with your product and use it properly. This improves the customer experience and boosts satisfaction, making them more likely to buy, renew, or upgrade their plan and advocate for your brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It can breathe life into unused features<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Ever spent a lot of time on an amazing feature that no one is using? We\u2019ve all been there. Well, if engagement for a feature is low, you could try to direct attention to it with a product tour. See, product tours aren\u2019t just for new users, seasoned customers can also benefit from them when you highlight additions and changes. A tour is a far more engaging way to showcase a feature than an email or blog and could help you boost its performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you build a product tour?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no one way to build a product tour. Each product and app is different and will require different things from its onboarding experience. That\u2019s the beauty of building a tour – you can make it your own unique experience that best matches your product and overall brand.\u00a0

That said, we do think there’s one thing that every Product manager should do:

Use tools<\/strong>!\u00a0

We highly recommend that you use dedicated product tour and onboarding tools when building your flow. That\u2019s what we do here at ProdPad, and you\u2019ll find most of your competitors will too.\u00a0

Nothing is stopping you from making a bespoke, one-of-a-kind product tour from scratch in-house, we just think it\u2019s a lot of extra effort that you don\u2019t need to go through.\u00a0

For starters, building a product tour that way is hard. Unless you\u2019re an expert coder, you\u2019re going to need to rope in your Developers to build your tour in-app. This takes a lot of time and resources which could be spent on other things – such as progressing your product roadmap<\/a>!

The process of building a tour yourself will take much longer compared to using a tool, and you also sacrifice flexibility and control over the process. As Product Managers, we like to have control.\u00a0

Product tools provide no-code solutions, allowing you to build your flow, input your copy, and set up your automation easily. You can get on with it yourself without having to plan development time and you can make changes and edits on the fly. These tools allow you to move much faster and ship your product tour in less time.\u00a0

As well as this, dedicated tools give you:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n