SaaS activaton
How to optimize your activation rate for your SaaS
Nov 7, 2023
Activation rate = [users who hit your activation milestone] / [users who completed your signup flow]
Your activation milestone is the earliest point in your onboarding flow. One of the more important metrics to track here is your time to value.
A user is set to be activated when he reaches this time-to-value.
The activation metric happens when the user experiences the core value of the product. And says to himself “aha now I get what this whole thing is”.
A good activation metric is predictive in the sense that short-term value delivery manifests itself in long-term retention, monetization, or both.
Users who hit your activation milestone retain at least 2x better than those who do not. Your users will take action based on the core value delivery of the product.
This action ideally should be simple to execute & should give users a clear “dopamine hit”.
For example, Docusign’s first activation step is getting the user to sign their first document. For Calendly, it’s the first calendar creation event. For Zapier, it’s the first automation sequence built. You get the idea.
The median activation rate for SaaS companies is 30%.
Here are a few ways to improve your SaaS activation rate:
Simpler onboarding UI/UX
Reduce onboarding friction
Emails, walkthroughs & in-app microcopy
Optimizing your landing page, emails & product UX copy
Gamifying the user experience
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