User Activation: Your Guide to Mapping, Measuring, and Improving Activation Flow

User activation is a crucial part of user onboarding strategy. It refers to the moment when new users complete the set of initial onboarding steps for the first time, and involves a series of steps or predefined milestones that need to be completed. The activation rate is a key metric used to measure this process. To improve user activation, it's essential to create personalized activation flows based on user personas and their specific journeys. This can be achieved by using storyboarding techniques to outline the events frame-by-frame and keep track of users' thoughts, expectations, challenges, frustrations, and needs during each activity. Additionally, tactics such as creating effective onboarding product tours, using onboarding checklists for an interactive flow, asking for feedback early on, leveraging in-app feature announcements, and making offers that users can't refuse can help increase activation rates among new and existing users.