How to design a Tour

The Tour is a step-by-step sequence of cards where you are navigating users among your app.

It's probably THE feature you want for your app adoption, BUT it will only work well only if you really consider all its key aspects and see it as just one part of the product adoption toolbox.

Tours best practices

Don't start your onboarding design with complicated Feature tours

-> Feature tours can be a bit more complicated from a technical standpoint. Start with Welcome Tour, then add a few Hints, and only then create your first Feature Tour.

Use Hints

-> With Tours you are taking the user's steering wheel and not all users like it. Do not overuse tours, use Hints instead.

4-5 cards are optimum

-> Users tend to cancel a Tour that is too long. Consider also single-card Tours.

Provide users with the option to replay the tour

-> Some users cancel the tour, but sooner or later they would like to see it. Give them an option to replay the tour, when they are ready. Life Ring is an ideal tool for that.

Don't rely on Tours only

Tours are just one tool in our onboarding mix. They won't do the magic if you will not also implement Hints, Feedback, Life Ring, and Announcements. Game-changing onboarding is always based on the utilization of all our onboarding tools.

Welcome Tour

Don't start by guiding new users immediately when they arrive for the first time in your app. Welcome them. Be friendly. Give him some time to accommodate in the app.

The purpose of the Welcome Tour is not just welcome but to excite the user. They just arrived at your app, and you want to assure them that they are at the right place and that you know how to solve their problems.

The typical setup is 3-4 cards: A welcome card, Summarising your USPs, a Youtube video, or a Testimonial.

Feature Tour

With Feature Tour you are guiding the users in your app. The purpose of the Feature tour is to teach users how to use your app. Don't create a long tour, try to stick to 3-5 cards, if you really need a longer tour, cut them into shorter chunks.

Here are a few more tips for the Tours

Link the Tour from the Hint

Provide basic help from the hint and offer users to start the tour from the button to get more information and guidance.

Link the Tour from Life Ring

You want to give your users an option to replay the tour when they are ready. Life Ring is an ideal place for that.

Cut long tours into shorter chunks

The too-long tour is the single biggest reason why users are canceling the tours.

If you really need a long tour, consider cutting it into shorter chunks that form a logical sequence. We call these chunks "minitours". A minitour typically consists of no more than 3 cards. If a user cancels such a minitour, she can still continue with the next minitour.

Analytics

Check the Product Fruits Analytics on how users are interacting with your Tour. Don't expect all of them will see the tour till the end; that's not its purpose. Some users need just the first card, some want to be guided through the whole tour, and some don't need that tour at all. The tour is seen by users who need to see it.