How to Create Customer Onboarding Videos That Aren't a Snoozefest

A new user has just signed up for your product. They click on the onboarding video you and your team spent weeks perfecting, and within seconds, their eyes glaze over. The carefully scripted voice-over drones on about features they don't understand yet. The screenshots all start to look the same. An before you know it, they're reaching for the "Skip" button, more confused than when they started.

As a customer success professional, this is your worst nightmare. The primary job of these videos is to reduce time to value - helping users quickly understand and start benefiting from your product - and get to that crucial "aha!" moment.

But that begs the question:

Why do the most well-intentioned onboarding videos fail so spectacularly?

That’s because most onboarding videos fall into the same traps:

1. They're feature-focused instead of benefit-oriented
2. They overwhelm users with information instead of guiding them to quick wins
3. They're generic rather than addressing specific user pain points
4. They're often dry and uninspiring, and don’t motivate users to take action

The result? Slower user activation, a whopping number of support tickets, higher churn rates, and ultimately, missed opportunities for your business to grow.

An onboarding video is not meant to be a feature-dump. Instead, it should speak to customers’ problems, exhibit how your product solves them, and encourage intuitive exploration of the product.

In the short term, well-crafted onboarding videos will help a customer dive in and start realising value from the product right away. In the long term, they can be the difference between a customer who becomes a lifelong advocate and one who abandons your product before even getting started.

And this can only happen if the videos create a “narrative of value” at all stages of a customer’s onboarding journey and inspire them to take action.

Not just once, but consistently.

How to consistently create value with onboarding videos: Tell stories!

The human brain is hardwired for storytelling. Stories draw attention, evoke emotions, and make complex information more digestible and memorable. By framing your product's value proposition within a relatable narrative, you can help users connect with your product on a deeper level.

Donald Miller’s StoryBrand framework provides a useful structure for doing just that.

Miller’s framework is a powerful storytelling tool that helps businesses clarify their message. By using universal elements of storytelling, it helps you position your customer as the hero of the story and your product as the guide that helps them overcome challenges and achieve success.

Here’s how the StoryBrand framework is constructed:

And this is what it looks like when mapped to the customer’s journey:

This gives us a method for storytelling that connects with customers and their problems, positions your product as the ‘guide’, showing key actions to be taken to see value immediately, and beyond.

{{blog-cta}}

Adapting the StoryBrand framework for customer onboarding

While Miller designed the StoryBrand framework for overall brand narratives, it's highly adaptable for customer onboarding videos. And that’s because onboarding videos are a continuation of your brand story.‍

Onboarding videos are often the first time customers start experiencing the story your brand has been trying to build. They bridge the gap between your marketing promises and the actual product experience.

As such, not every onboarding video needs to contain all elements of the StoryBrand framework. Here's how you can apply it to different types of onboarding content:

Onboarding Video TypeStoryBrand Elements to UseWelcome VideoFocus on Character (user), Problem, and Guide (your product)Product WalkthroughEmphasise the Guide and Plan elementsGetting Started GuideConcentrate on Plan and Call to Action elementsFeature ‘How-to’sFrame features within Plan, Avoiding Failure, and Ending in Success elementsUse Case ScenarioShowcase all elements, emphasising SuccessTutorial SeriesBreak down the Plan into actionable lessons

The emphasis on different elements can vary based on the specific content and goals of each video, even within the same category. The key is to use the elements that best serve the video's purpose and help users understand and engage with the product effectively.

StoryBrand in action: Examples of customer onboarding videos

Welcome videos

• Slack’s ‘What is Slack?’

How Slack uses the Storybrand framework:

Slack's welcome video effectively uses the StoryBrand framework to introduce new users to their team communication tool. It positions the ‘new user’ as the hero - a team member struggling with fragmented communication. Slack presents itself as the guide, offering a solution to information silos and disjointed teamwork. Revealing Slack's digital realm, the video breaks down key Slack features in the order a customer is likely to use them. It starts by introducing the customer to the magic of channels, where productive conversations ‘live’. It explains how huddles can turn impromptu chats into collaboration sessions. And it highlights direct messages for quick, focused communication. It concludes with a clear call to action, encouraging users to get started with their Slack account. In just a few minutes, Slack's welcome video doesn't just introduce a tool - it paints a picture of a better, more connected work life.

StoryBrand elements used: Character, Problem, Guide, Plan, Call to Action

• MmHmm in 90 seconds

How MmHmm uses the Storybrand framework:

The video presentation app, Mmhmm, has always pushed the boundaries on talking head presentations. Their short introduction video starts by giving users a lowdown of the problem - the audience having to choose between looking at a presenter or their content. Designed using MmHmm, the welcome video then walks users through some of MmHmm’s key features like appearance, uploading presentations & PDFs, and connecting with video conferencing tools. Because it’s made on Mmhmm, the video also doubles up as a demo, giving users a taste of the kind of engaging presentations they themselves can make. It ends with prompting users to invite others for free, encouraging them to share their new presentations with an emotional kicker: ‘you & your ideas deserve to be understood’.

StoryBrand elements used: Problem, Guide, Plan, Call to Action, Success

Product walkthroughs

• Trello’s productivity dashboard

How Trello uses the Storybrand framework:

In this walkthrough, the project management tool introduce themselves as the ‘productivity dashboard’. The video targets enterprise teams managing multiple projects as the heroes, tackling disorganised tasks and broken collaboration. It takes the customer through Trello’s visual approach to work management, zooming in on key features - boards, lists, and cards. Using a sample dashboard designed to mimic one for enterprise teams, it explains common use cases for them. From housing documents, collaborating in real-time with colleagues, and working on external apps or other Atlassian tools, the video shows how it all comes together in one place in Trello. By the end of the video, a customer has a virtual mental model in place for what their own Trello dashboard could look like!

StoryBrand elements used:  Character, Problem, Guide, Plan, Success

Getting started guides

• Figma’s guide for beginners

How Figma uses the Storybrand framework:

Figma’s beginner's guide hits the ground running by explaining everything Figma can be used for, positioning itself as the guide for design teams looking to collaborate better. This explainer video seamlessly uses a mix of animations and screen recordings to present a step-by-step process for getting started on the app. From creating the initial wireframes to producing an interactive prototype, it follows through with clear calls to action at every step (setting up the account, inviting team members). It also addresses potential failures by showing how Figma prevents miscommunication with it’s version control feature. A collaborative review session for a design project is the highlight of the video, really bringing Figma’s value home: your team, synced in perfect harmony, dropping comments and suggestions in real-time.

Storybrand Elements used: Problem, Guide, Plan, Avoiding Failure, Call to Action, Success

Feature ‘How-to’ videos

• Personio’s ‘Performance Review Cycles Builder’ feature

How Personio uses the Storybrand framework:

Let’s look at how HR management tool, Personio, spotlights their Performance Review Cycle Builder -  a feature designed to manage complex performance reviews. The video positions HR Managers as the heroes, grappling with the time-consuming tasks of creating individual reviews and following up with reviewers. We're guided through the Cycle Builder, learning how to create and manage entire review cycles in one place, from selecting participants and choosing review types. The video introduces key sub-features like customisable due dates and explains how different review types (Manager, Self, Peer, and Upward) work. It also addresses privacy concerns by outlining who can see which reviews and when. For HR admins, it showcases a dashboard for monitoring review progress, adding or removing employees from cycles, and duplicating cycles for future use. With this bird's-eye view of the entire review process, Personio shows HR Managers can make review cycles more manageable, and get better insights into employee progress.

StoryBrand elements used: Character, Problem, Guide, Avoiding Failure, Call to Action, Success

{{blog-cta2}}

Use-case scenario videos

• Airtable

How Airtable uses the Storybrand framework:

Airtable uses this video to construct a scenario for product managers building their roadmap at a Language Learning App. The tour outlines a comprehensive plan, demonstrating how to create bases with multiple tables for features and product areas, customize fields, and link related information without cluttering the view. It also addresses potential failures by showcasing how it prevents data clutter, missed deadlines, and communication gaps. For instance, it introduces advanced features like custom forms, filtered views for focused work, and in-app messaging. A call to action encourages product managers to customise Airtable for their specific needs. At the end of the video, the success scenario is plain as day: a product team with all project information in one place, efficiently building features, meeting deadlines, and collaborating seamlessly.

StoryBrand elements used: Character, Guide, Plan, Avoid Failure, Success

• Monday’s marketer playlist

‍

How Monday uses the Storybrand framework:

Monday.com's tutorial series takes their hero - marketers - on a journey from chaotic campaign management to streamlined success, clearly illustrating the before and after. Addressing the challenge of coordinating campaigns across team members, the series starts out with an overview video which contextualises the different task buckets & campaigns for a typical marketing team - from creative requests to videos to social media to events.  The series then breaks down each of these campaigns into individual videos, providing a clear path for how marketing teams can get started on Monday. The workflow demonstrated in each video in the series displays a successfully managed campaign from start to finish, emphasising both the Plan and the Success elements of the StoryBrand framework.

StoryBrand elements used: Character, Problem, Guide, Plan, Success

Some other best practices to keep in mind for customer onboarding videos

Before you start working on your onboarding videos, here are a few more things to consider:

1. Keep it concise: Aim for 3-5 minutes to maintain engagement. For longer videos, consider breaking them down into series.
2. Inject personality: Let your brand voice shine through - be it through colours, illustrations & graphics, using mascots, or even humour.
3. Optimise for different platforms: Create versions for various touch points your audience is likely to watch the video on. This could be in-app or on your product Help Centre.
4. Include captions: Captions make your videos accessible to all users, improve comprehension for non-native speakers, and make viewing possible in sound-sensitive environments.
5. Add translations: Allow users to consume your videos in their preferred languages. If you’re already thinking about this, check out 1-click translations on Clueso!

Remember: In your product’s story, the hero is your customer.

Your product is the tool, but your customer is the one wielding it to overcome challenges and achieve their goals. When you’re create customer onboarding videos, you're not just introducing your product; you're inviting customers into a narrative where they can imagine themselves and their success.

As you work on your own onboarding videos, keep your customer at the centre of it all. Show them not just what your product can do, but what they can accomplish with it. With that, you'll create onboarding experiences that resonate, engage, and ultimately drive product adoption and customer success.

‍