Podium · Self-serve onboarding · 2022–2023

I owned Podium's first onboarding end to end, from the ad to activation, and beat a 75% activation goal with 85%.

RoleLead designer, Growth team

TeamPM, EM, engineer, UX writer, product designer

Timeline8–12 months, two major launches

Funnel stageAcquisition → activation

Results

25% → 85%New users reaching 10 interactions in 14 days. The goal was 75%.

29% → 90%Webchat set up during onboarding

10% → 85%Integrations connected

Version 1 onboarding screens: local social proof, a with-Podium vs without-Podium review projection, and a reviews preview

The problem

Podium was growing through people: sales reps, onboarders and support. That worked, but it didn't scale. New and trial users struggled to see value fast enough to activate on their own.

The product was hard to learn, and a med spa runs nothing like a plumber. Customers needed to feel Podium was built for their business.

What I shipped

Podium's first onboarding, for self-serve and sales-assisted users. Mobile-first, personalized by industry, and built to show value before setup: real local proof, a projection of what Podium could do for their reviews, and a few high-value setup steps. I owned the whole path, from the ad and website through onboarding to the in-app homepage and activation.

About 40% of net-new traffic came from mobile, so every screen was designed for a phone first.

From users

“I had no idea I wanted this”

Podium customer, user research

The full story is password-protected

Why the MVP fell short, how Version 1 fixed it, the funnel end to end, the psychology behind it, and how I decided when to stop.

Need the password? Email me.