Product onboarding checklist that shows user progress

A product onboarding checklist is a short list of setup steps with a visible progress indicator, shown inside the product until the user finishes or dismisses it. The aim is to get a new user to the action that makes your product useful, such as sending a first invoice or inviting a teammate, and to show how close they are. It works when getting value requires several setup steps. When one click gets people to value, a checklist is extra clutter.

How to do it

1. Start from your activation event. Pick the one action that best predicts a user sticking around, then work backward to the steps needed to reach it. See key activation metric for finding it.
2. Write 3 to 6 steps. Name each by the thing the user gets, not the feature ("Import your contacts", not "Use the importer"). Put the quickest and most useful step first.
3. Make each step a link that takes the user straight to the screen where they do it.
4. Mark steps done automatically when the user completes the action in the product. Do not ask them to tick boxes.
5. Show progress as "2 of 5 done" or a simple bar. If the account setup the user just finished is a real step, count it, so the list does not start at zero.
6. Put the checklist on the home screen, and let users dismiss it and bring it back. Shopify's pattern for app developers puts the setup guide on the homepage or a dedicated onboarding page and supports a dismiss control.
7. Track it. Measure how many users finish the checklist, and whether those who finish reach your activation event more often than those who do not. Check whether the step with the biggest drop-off needs a rewrite, a default or removal. Add a small celebration when the list is complete.

Examples

• LinkedIn. LinkedIn has a profile strength meter. Its help page says "Use your profile strength meter to gauge the strength of your profile", and that a complete profile "will increase your discoverability and profile search appearances." The meter turns profile setup into a visible goal.
• Shopify. Shopify's developer documentation describes a setup guide pattern for apps: an interactive checklist with visual progress tracking, shown on the app's homepage or a dedicated onboarding page. Its example reads "0 out of 3 steps completed", and developers are told to mark tasks complete as merchants finish them.

What the data says

Userpilot's 2024 benchmark report, built on first-party data from its own customers, puts the average onboarding checklist completion rate at 19.2%. That is the average share of users who complete an onboarding checklist, so most people in that data did not finish. The right number depends on your product and your steps, so compare your own checklist over time rather than against that average.

On progress bars specifically, Userpilot summarizes a 2010 University of Michigan experiment on an online questionnaire: abandonment was 11.3% with a bar that moved fast early and slowed later, 14.4% with a constant-speed bar and 12.7% with no bar. That study measured survey abandonment, not product onboarding. It shows that a progress indicator does not always help.

When it backfires

• Too long. A twelve-item list makes the product look hard. Cut steps that are not needed for first value.
• Fake progress. Counting steps the user did not do, or freezing a bar near the end, makes people distrust it.
• Nagging. If the checklist cannot be dismissed, it blocks the screen for users who know what they are doing.
• Busywork. A step that does not lead to value, like "Watch a tour video", can be completed without making users better off. Measure whether finishing the list changes retention.
• Dark patterns. Do not pre-check steps or use guilt copy to push people through.

Sources

• LinkedIn Help: Create a good LinkedIn profile, read Oct 8, 2026
• Shopify developer docs: Setup guide, read Oct 8, 2026
• Userpilot: Product metrics benchmark report 2024, read Oct 8, 2026
• Userpilot: The psychology of progress bars in onboarding, read Oct 8, 2026