The classic onboarding video is a long walkthrough of everything the product can do, recorded by someone who knows it too well. New customers open it, watch the first minute, and close it. Then they get stuck on step two of setup and email support.
Onboarding videos work better as a small set of short clips, each tied to one moment where people hesitate. Here are the seven we would make first. Most products need all of them, in roughly this order.
1. Welcome: what you can do here (60 seconds)
Not a tour. One minute that shows the result a customer will get, then the two or three steps to get there. It answers "what do I do first?" and sets expectations about how long setup takes. Put it in the welcome email and on the first screen after signup.
2. First setup (1 to 2 minutes)
The one configuration step without which nothing works. Connecting a domain, choosing a workspace name, setting the timezone and currency, installing a snippet. If your product has a setup checklist, this video belongs next to that step.
3. Getting your data in (1 to 2 minutes)
Most SaaS products are empty until the customer brings something: contacts, products, files, an integration. This is where many trials quietly die. Show the import or the integration from start to finish, including what a successful import looks like. Place it in the empty state of the main screen, where people see "no data yet".
4. Invite your team (under a minute)
In B2B, an account with one user is fragile. A short video showing how to invite colleagues, and what each role can do, helps the person who signed up bring others along. Link it from the members page and from any "share" moment in the product.
5. The core job (1 to 2 minutes)
The thing people bought the product for, done once, start to finish, with realistic data. Sending the first campaign. Publishing the first page. Closing the first ticket. This is the video most likely to get a customer to their first real result, so make it with care. It overlaps with your product demo video, but it is slower and more practical.
6. The setting everyone trips on (under a minute)
Every product has one. Permissions that hide a menu. A billing setting that blocks exports. A toggle that has to be on before the feature appears. Your support team knows exactly which one it is for your product. Make a short video for it and link it from that settings page and from your help center.
7. Where to get help (30 seconds)
Show where the help center is, how to search it, and how to reach a human. It sounds trivial. It saves real frustration in week two, when the onboarding emails have stopped and the customer is on their own.
Where each video goes
| Video | Place it | When it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Welcome | Welcome email, first screen after signup | Day 0 |
| First setup | Setup checklist step | Day 0 to 1 |
| Getting data in | Empty state of the main screen | First session |
| Invite your team | Members page, share dialogs | First week |
| The core job | Checklist, day 2 email, help center | First week |
| The tricky setting | That settings page, help article | When they get there |
| Where to get help | Help menu, last onboarding email | End of week one |
Let support tickets set the order
Pull every ticket from customers in their first 30 days and tag it by topic. The biggest pile is your first video, whatever it is. If half of new customers ask how to connect their calendar, that video matters more than the welcome. Repeat the exercise every quarter.
Beyond video
Not everyone wants to watch. Pair each video with written steps on the same page, and for the steps inside your product, consider guidance that runs on the real screen instead of a recording of it. Our customer onboarding guide template covers the written side, and best customer onboarding software compares tools for the in-app side. If you serve customers in several languages, read how to translate product videos before you record.
Steperly is built for exactly this set. Record each task once and get a short narrated video, a clickable version, and written steps on one page. Put them in your help center, in a widget inside your app, or link them from emails and empty states.