What is an onboarding checklist?
An onboarding checklist is a short list of setup tasks shown to new users or customers, usually inside the product, that tracks what they've done and what's left before they get value from it.
What goes in a SaaS onboarding checklist?
A SaaS onboarding checklist holds the few tasks a new user must finish to get the first result, in the order they depend on each other. Everything else stays off it.
Here is one for a project-management product:
- Create your workspace (already done)
- Create your first project
- Import tasks from a spreadsheet
- Invite your team
- Connect Slack for updates
What makes it work:
- Three to six items. A long list reads as a chore and gets closed.
- Start with one item already done. Showing progress from the first screen makes the rest feel shorter.
- Every item is an action, not a lesson. "Create your first project," not "Learn about projects."
- Each item opens the exact place to do it. One click to the right screen, not to the help center.
- Items check themselves. Completion comes from the user's actions in the product, not a box they tick.
- It can be closed and reopened. The user decides when they're done with it.
What is a customer onboarding checklist?
A customer onboarding checklist is the account-level version used in B2B onboarding, and it's often shared between the vendor and the customer's team. Each task has an owner and a due date, and many tasks happen outside the product.
A typical one:
| Task | Owner |
|---|---|
| Kickoff call and success criteria agreed | Vendor and customer lead |
| Single sign-on configured | Customer IT |
| Admin roles assigned | Customer admin |
| Data imported and checked | Customer admin, vendor support |
| Core integration connected | Customer admin |
| Team trained or invited | Customer lead |
| First milestone reached and signed off | Customer lead |
This list usually lives in a shared project plan. The in-product checklist then covers each user's own setup once they're invited.
How do you improve checklist completion rates?
Measure completion per item, not only for the whole list. The overall rate tells you something is wrong; the item rates tell you what.
When one item stalls, it's usually one of three things: it needs someone else (an admin, an API key, IT approval), it's vague about what "done" means, or it asks for effort before the user has seen any payoff. Fix it by moving the item later, splitting it, or giving it a default the user can accept with one click. If an item doesn't predict whether accounts stay, remove it.
Can an onboarding checklist do the tasks for the user?
A checklist tells the user what's left. They still have to do each item, and the hardest ones (imports, integrations, permissions) are where lists stall. An in-product agent can do those items with the user when they ask. Foldspace's Product Agent works the list with the user in the product, running those items through the product's existing APIs as that user, with their permissions, so "Import tasks from a spreadsheet" becomes a request instead of a chore.