In this episode of In Demand, Asia and Kim take a deep dive into one of the most overlooked revenue levers in SaaS: activation. 

They walk through their activation playbook, breaking down how to define activation for your product and sharing tactical strategies for improving onboarding experiences. 

Whether you're PLG or sales-assisted, this episode offers clear steps to uncover where users get stuck and how to fix it.

Got a question you’d like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here.

Links: 

• DemandMaven
• UserInterviews.com 
• Respondent.io 
• Product-Led Onboarding by Ramli John
• Samuel Hulick 
• UserOnboard 
• Reforge

Chapters

• (00:00:55) - Why most founders overlook activation, and why that’s a huge mistake.
• (00:02:25) - What activation actually means and how to define it for your SaaS.
• (00:03:30) - Trial-to-paid is not the only way to think about activation, and may be missing a big part of the story.
• (00:06:15) - How to discover activation metrics using a new user retention report.
• (00:12:30) - Why session recordings fall short and what to use instead.
• (00:14:35) - The power of UX interviews and how to run them properly.
• (00:23:00) - What to watch for in interviews: pauses, furrowed brows, and “it was easy” lies.
• (00:25:55) - Looking for friction and where people get stuck.
• (00:27:30) - How to map your onboarding flow and prioritize product fixes once you've done UX interviews.
• (00:30:30) - Why valuable activation work can fail in organizations where there isn't a clear decision maker (avoiding the problems of compromise land)
• (00:33:45) - How does activation change in product led vs. sales led organizations?
• (00:38:15) - Onboarding for high complexity products.
• (00:43:45) - Book and other recommendations for mastering activation.
• (00:51:30) - A final reminder about survivor bias. Remember that just because your customers made it, does not mean that your onboarding activation is perfect.