The problem it solves
In-app tours interrupt a user who is trying to do something. Help docs require them to know the word for what they want. Both fail the same way: they arrive after the user is already stuck. A demo agent runs beside the product, where the user can watch the whole flow end to end, ask what they missed, and then go do it.Where to put it
The welcome email
A shareable link that opens the flow for the thing they signed up to do.
Empty states
“Not sure where to start? Watch it work.” A demo agent explains an empty dashboard better than illustration and copy.
Your help centre
Beside the article, so someone who could not follow the text can watch and ask.
The upgrade page
Show the feature behind the plan, rather than describing it in a comparison table.
Set it up
1
Capture the real path to first value
Not a feature tour — the actual sequence a new user has to complete. Record it with the Chrome extension, signed in as a new user would be.
2
One storyline per outcome
“Send your first invoice”, “Connect your calendar”. Named for what the user gets, not for the feature.
3
Ground it in your help content
Point knowledge docs at your existing help pages. The guide can then answer the question the article was written for.
4
Send personalized links
Every demo asks for an email at the welcome screen. For existing users you already have the address, so mint a contact — the field disappears and the guide greets them by name.
Reading the results
Where people interrupt the guide is where your onboarding is confusing. Where they go off-path is what they actually wanted to do first, which is often not the step you put first. Both are in the session transcript and timeline, and both are far more direct than a funnel chart.Related
Storylines
One outcome per storyline.
Sessions
Where they got stuck.