Practical "shift left" experiments

In this chapter, we’ll show you how to audit your own onboarding process and share insights from our own experiments to inspire you to deliver value before users even hit "sign up." Ready to roll up your sleeves? 

Auditing your current user onboarding

To "shift left", you'll need to review your onboarding strategy to refine your approach. Here's your 5-step guide to getting it right.

Step 1: What does your current onboarding look like?

Start by mapping out every touchpoint users have with your brand, from their first interaction to key product milestones.

  • Icons 300 Have you visually mapped your user onboarding flow?
  • Icons 300 How fast are users reaching their first "aha!" moment, where they experience your product’s core value?
  • Icons 300 Are there friction points (like account creation, integrations, or password setups) that are delaying that value?

Tip: Consider delaying or removing high-friction steps, such as account creation, password confirmation, or integrations, until later in the onboarding process. Let users explore the product first to build curiosity and confidence.

Step 2: Are you engaging users before signing up?

User onboarding starts before the user even hits the sign-up button.

  • Icons 300 What value are users getting upfront?
  • Icons 300 Are you offering interactive demos, ungated content, or product previews to spark interest?

Tip: Showcase your product earlier—use interactive demos or sandbox environments to let users experience the product firsthand before they sign up. This can be done on your marketing site and within empty states of your product.

Step 3: What does your data say about user behavior?

The numbers don’t lie. Dive into your analytics to figure out where users are falling off during onboarding.

  • Icons 300 Where are the biggest drop-offs in your user onboarding flow?
  • Icons 300 What do users say about their experience through feedback and surveys?

Tip: Use funnel analysis or friction logging to identify specific steps (like booking a demo or setting up integrations) where users are dropping off. Address these friction points to smooth the user journey.

Step 4: Is your onboarding content effective?

Content plays a huge role in user success.

  • Icons 300 Are your tutorials, emails, and tooltips clear and helpful?
  • Icons 300 Are you overwhelming users with too much information too soon?

Tip: Delay complex tasks like setting up integrations or inviting team members until users have had a chance to explore the core product value. Start small, build confidence, and then gradually introduce more advanced steps.

Step 5: Are you iterating on your user onboarding?

Onboarding is not "set it and forget it." You need to constantly experiment and refine.

  • Icons 300 Have you tested new flows, email sequences, or interactive demos to see what works best?
  • Icons 300 Are you tracking how changes impact key metrics like activation, retention, and time-to-value?

Tip: Continuously A/B test different onboarding variations—like removing steps or offering product tours upfront—to see which approach leads to better retention and faster activation.

Experiments we've run at Chameleon

After auditing your user onboarding, it's time to get creative. At Chameleon, we've run experiments that boosted engagement, refined onboarding and cranked up activation rates. By ditching hurdles like sign-up forms, credit card walls, and tricky setups, we made the user journey smoother. Here are five of our most impactful experiments:

🧪 Interactive Demos on User Activation

The Experiment: We wanted to see how interactive demos could impact user activation, specifically how many users would create an experience in our Builder. Activation rates for those users sat around 41.2%, but we knew there was room for improvement. In both setups, users had to sign up to use the product. Previously, we didn’t offer interactive demos during the setup process. Afterward, we encouraged users to play with Interactive Demos during the Get Started page (and in empty states) before they built anything in the product, and we saw much higher rates of users using our product when they had engaged with the Interactive Demos.

The Outcome: After rolling out interactive demos, users who engaged with an interactive demo before diving into the product activated at a rate of 50.85%—a ~24% increase over the original 41.2%. These users opened the builder and created an experience within seven days, showing that early engagement led to significantly higher activation.

Even more impressively, users who interacted with the demo published their first experience at a rate of 13.6%, compared to only 4.6% without the demo. This massive boost showed that giving users a hands-on preview without barriers created deeper engagement right off the bat.

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🧪 Impact of Interactive Demos on Paid Conversions

The Experiment: We also wanted to see how interactive demos affected free-to-paid conversion rates. Specifically, we tracked whether users who interacted with a demo were more likely to convert to a paid plan within the first 30 days.

The Outcome: Users who engaged with interactive demos converted to paid at a rate of 3.4%, compared to just 1.6% for those who didn’t. This doubling of free-to-paid conversions showed that giving users early access to product features helped them see the value and feel confident in making the jump to a paid plan.

🧪 Reverse Enterprise Trial

The Experiment: To remove friction from our enterprise trial process, we gave users full access to premium features without forcing them to talk to sales or enter a credit card. We wanted to empower users to explore on their own terms, free from the usual restrictions.

The Outcome: This change made a huge difference. Trial signups for our enterprise plan shot up, and the conversion rate from trial to paid users increased by 50%. Removing barriers like sales calls and payment details gave users the freedom to experience the value of our enterprise features firsthand, leading to faster and more confident decisions.

🧪 Front-Loaded Email Onboarding

The Experiment: We front-loaded our email onboarding sequence, thinking that by giving users all the information upfront, we’d speed up their time to creating an experience. Previously, 28% of new signups created an experience within seven days, and we aimed to push that number higher.

The Outcome: Surprisingly, front-loading the user onboarding had the opposite effect. The rate of users creating an experience dropped. Publishing an experience saw a very small lift, from 8.3% to 8.5%. Upon reflection, we realized that users were more responsive to in-app prompts and suggestions rather than receiving an overload of emails.

🧪 Creating a Sandbox Environment

The Experiment: We created a sandbox environment where users could explore Chameleon’s features without installing any code. This no-setup-required approach allowed users to experience the product in a risk-free, hands-on way.

The Outcome: The sandbox was a hit. Users who explored the sandbox reached key milestones 25% faster than those who had to install the code upfront. By lowering the technical barrier, we allowed users to experiment without pressure, leading to quicker engagement and faster time-to-value.

Our visions for the future of user onboarding

Picture this: interactive demos that know what you need before you do. They’ll adapt in real time, turning onboarding into a personalized experience that feels like it was made just for each user. 

Context-aware onboarding is just one example of how AI can step up the user onboarding game. Imagine using real-time data points like location, time of day, or device type to deliver the most relevant experience. If a user accesses your product or content during work hours, the onboarding flow could highlight productivity tools or integrations. On the weekend, maybe it shifts focus to quick, bite-sized features to explore on mobile. It’s AI using contextual data to give users the right info at the right time. In the future, onboarding won’t even feel like onboarding—it’ll just be a natural extension of how the user expects things to flow. 

Just like Amazon doesn’t send you what you want before you even click "buy"—because that would be a bit too much—future onboarding will need to use contextual data smartly without overstepping. The key will be using these insights to create a more natural experience, guiding users at the right moments without overwhelming them with how much the system knows. It’s about delivering helpful content in real-time, making the experience feel seamless and intuitive—without feeling intrusive.

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