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BUILD WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS IN MIND

Test onboarding flows before you ship

Onboarding testing examines whether a new user can move from arrival to a first useful result. Dori uses synthetic participants to explore signup and setup flows, showing where instructions, decisions or interface states may create friction.

THE SHORT ANSWER

How can synthetic customers test onboarding?

Give a participant a realistic first-use goal and let it work through the browser flow. Review the choices, pauses, errors and expectations along the way. The useful output is a supported explanation of what made the journey harder and a specific change to test next.

When to use it

Use this approach when you are building or changing registration, account setup, workspace creation or a first-run experience. It is especially useful before you invite new users to a product or ask people to evaluate a prototype.

How to approach the test

  1. Define the first useful result

    State what the participant should accomplish: create a workspace, understand a setup requirement or reach an initial result. Do not treat account creation alone as proof of a successful onboarding experience.

  2. Describe the starting context

    Specify what the visitor knows, why they arrived and how familiar they are with similar tools. Keep the task neutral so it does not reveal the path you expect them to follow.

  3. Inspect each transition

    Review labels, required fields, error messages, progress cues and the moment after setup. Look for uncertainty about what to enter, why it is needed and what happens next.

  4. Prioritise and retest

    Choose a supported source of friction, revise the copy or flow and repeat the same goal. Follow up with human testing and analytics to assess the effect on activation.

ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE · NOT A LIVE TEST RESULT

From an observation to a product change

task
Create a workspace and reach a first useful result.
participant
A new user who has not used the product before.
observation
At the company URL field, the participant tries a social profile because the form does not explain which URLs are supported.
evidence
Illustrative sequence: read field label → enter social URL → see validation error. A real report should capture the entered value, error state and subsequent action.
interpretation
The input requirement is unclear at the point where the user needs to decide.
change
Explain the supported URL type beside the field and provide an actionable error message.

What to look for

  • Signup and setup instructions
  • Required fields and validation errors
  • Progress, loading and recovery states
  • Clarity of the first useful result

What this test can and cannot tell you

Synthetic onboarding tests can identify candidate friction, but they do not measure human activation or conversion rates. A participant may also be blocked by CAPTCHA, multi-factor authentication or inaccessible interfaces. Treat an automation limitation separately from a usability problem and use human testing for those steps.

Common questions

Can Dori predict onboarding conversion?

A synthetic test does not produce a measured human conversion rate. Use it to identify hypotheses, then evaluate changes with real users and analytics.

Should participants receive step-by-step instructions?

Give the outcome and enough context to attempt it. Detailed navigation instructions can hide the confusion you are trying to discover.

How do I compare two onboarding versions?

Keep the task and participant context consistent, compare supported observations and investigate material differences. Confirm the outcome with human research or a properly designed experiment.

Build a better next version.

Explore Dori and create your account. Test execution depends on current availability and account access; check your account before planning a study.

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