Hey — it’s Nico.

This is Behind Tactics 🧠, the Failory newsletter where I share the strategies behind the best startups.

This issue takes 7 mins to read. If you only have one, here’s what you need to know:

• AI-powered onboarding can help users reach their Aha! Moment faster by showing immediate results based on minimal input.

• The key to success is having the AI do the initial work for the user, providing a quick win that showcases the product’s potential upfront.

• This approach works best when the AI simplifies complex tasks, making the onboarding process seamless and reducing friction for new users.

• Once the Aha! Moment is reached, users are more likely to engage further with the platform and explore its deeper features.

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The Strategy

AI Onboardings

A few weeks ago, I talked about how Verse used AI and TikTok to drive users to their app through a viral side project. By connecting their Spotify accounts, users could instantly get a personalized “internet bedroom” based on their music tastes.

The brilliance wasn’t just in the personalization, but in how effortless the whole experience was. The AI did all the heavy lifting, so users didn’t have to figure anything out — they hit their Aha! Moment right away.

So, this got me thinking: in what other ways can SaaS leverage AI to make the Aha! Moments happen faster?

This weekend, I came across a tool called PamPam, which creates interactive, shareable maps. As someone who uses Google Maps to bookmark my favorite spots for coffee, dinner, and shopping, I’ve tried several tools like PamPam to organize and share my recommendations with friends. However, many of these products are overly complicated or require too much manual work, which usually makes me lose interest pretty quickly.

But I decided to give PamPam a try. The homepage was too good and it had a no-signup required interactive demo, so why not? The demo just required entering a one-line text prompt of the kind of map I wanted, so I went with: “The best places to have ramen in San Francisco”.

It loaded for a couple of seconds while I was becoming skeptical. Then boom, I got this map. The AI provided me with a shareable map of multiple restaurants, including the well-known Hinodeya and Marufuku. For each restaurant, it came up with an icon, a description, its location, and its Google Maps link. I said Aha!

Of course, it wasn’t perfect — it missed my top pick, Mensho Tokyo, and suggested a few places in the downtown area, which I prefer to avoid. But here’s where AI stepped in again. I simply clicked “Add with AI,” wrote my preferences in natural language, and the map adjusted accordingly. No hassle, no learning curve. I went from skepticism to delight in just a few moments, and that’s what great onboarding should feel like.

The Best Approach

There’s been a lot of talk about how AI can enhance onboarding, with many suggesting that AI’s role should be to guide users, acting as a chatbot or tutor to walk them through the platform.

However, I believe that apps like PamPam or Verse have shown us the better approach: Instead of AI teaching users step by step, it should focus on delivering the Aha! Moment as quickly as possible.

PamPam’s AI doesn't overwhelm users with instructions. Instead, it does the initial heavy lifting, showing users what they can achieve with minimal input. By generating a personalized result right off the bat, PamPam’s AI gives users that instant reward — the Aha! Moment — which sparks their curiosity and encourages them to dive deeper. After experiencing the value upfront, users are more likely to be motivated to explore the platform further and navigate any learning curves with more enthusiasm.

This approach doesn’t mean AI should handle everything for the user. Once they see what’s possible, users may need to tweak or customize the results, which naturally leads them to learn more about the platform. But that initial win, made possible by AI, is key. It’s not about teaching users the tool; it’s about showing them the value upfront and then letting them figure out how to get the most out of it.

This, to me, is the right way to use AI in onboarding: leveraging it to get users to their Aha! Moment quickly, making the platform’s value immediately clear, and setting the stage for deeper engagement.

Should I?

Why This Works

• Instant Aha! Moment: The moment a user understands the value of a product is critical, and this strategy accelerates that realization. By providing immediate results tailored to user preferences, PamPam demonstrates its value in a matter of seconds. Users don’t have to spend time navigating complex features or inputting tons of data to experience the payoff. This fast feedback loop makes the product feel intuitive and worth using, keeping users engaged from the start.

• Ease of Use: This strategy removes the complexity that often makes onboarding cumbersome. AI simplifies the process, so users aren’t burdened with learning a new interface or figuring out how to navigate the product. This immediate ease of use helps retain users who might otherwise be turned off by a steep learning curve.

• Low Friction Entry: The no-signup-required demo on PamPam’s homepage is very important. The barrier to entry is so low that users can engage with the product without the usual commitment of creating an account or providing personal details. This strategy encourages casual browsing and exploration, which increases the likelihood that users will try the product. Once they've experienced the Aha! Moment, they’re more willing to sign up and explore further.

• Personalization at Scale: AI enables deep personalization without the need for manual customization. PamPam’s ability to generate a map based on a single prompt makes the experience feel custom-built for the user, even though it’s automated. Users feel like the product ‘gets’ them, which creates a stronger emotional connection. This personalization also makes the product feel more valuable, as it adapts to individual needs with minimal effort.

How to Apply It

• Identify the Aha! Moment: Start by understanding the exact moment when users experience the true value of your product. This moment should be clear, impactful, and easy to define. For PamPam, it was when users received their personalized map. Once you pinpoint this moment, design your onboarding process around making it happen as quickly as possible, so users immediately see why your product matters.

• Use AI to Reduce User Effort: AI should eliminate as much manual input from the user as possible. Think about where users might struggle or lose interest due to complexity, and let AI handle those tasks. The goal is to make onboarding feel effortless, so users don’t feel bogged down by learning curves or tedious setup processes.

• Make it Low Friction: Remove any unnecessary barriers to entry, like mandatory sign-ups or long-winded tutorials. Consider offering a no-signup demo, similar to PamPam, where users can experience the product immediately. The faster a user can try your product without committing, the more likely they’ll stick around.

• Design for Quick Wins: Look for ways AI can deliver small, immediate victories for users as they explore your product. PamPam’s quick generation of a personalized map gave users an instant win. These “quick wins” keep users motivated and excited to continue using the product. You don’t need to solve all their problems upfront, but delivering small, tangible results early on helps build momentum.

Yes, But

• B2B Complexity: While AI-driven onboarding works well for B2C products like PamPam, applying it to B2B products can be more complicated. In many cases, B2B software involves multiple stakeholders, complex workflows, and high customization needs, which AI might struggle to accommodate in a single, seamless experience.

• Quality of AI Results Can Vary: AI is only as good as the data it has access to, and sometimes the results can be suboptimal. If PamPam had recommended low-quality or irrelevant restaurants, I might have immediately disengaged. When using AI for onboarding, ensure the data sources you rely on are robust and relevant to the user’s needs. Inaccurate or poor results can erode trust quickly, leading to users abandoning your product early on.

Keep Learning

Others Playing It

Glide, a no-code app builder, has integrated AI into its onboarding process to automatically generate a simplified prototype based on what the user is trying to build.

This is exactly the kind of AI onboarding I believe works best. In just a few seconds, the AI delivers a first version of the user’s concept, providing a tangible starting point. While it’s only a prototype and might be far from the final product, it’s enough to get users excited and motivated to explore the platform further. This approach sparks curiosity and encourages users to learn more about how to fully utilize the tool.

Senja, a tool for managing business testimonials, uses AI and web-scraping to automate the process of importing testimonials into their platform. This approach saves users significant time and streamlines the onboarding experience, making it much smoother and more efficient.

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That’s all for this edition.

Cheers,

Nico