What are checklists?
Checklists are task lists that appear inside your application to guide users through a sequence of actions. They give users a clear, visual roadmap of what to do next — and a satisfying sense of progress as they check items off. In Userorbit, checklists are a core tool for structured onboarding and feature activation.
How checklists drive onboarding and activation
New users face a cold-start problem: they've signed up but don't know what to do first. Without direction, many will explore aimlessly, miss your product's core value, and eventually churn. Checklists solve this by breaking the onboarding journey into small, achievable steps.
The psychology is straightforward. When users see a checklist with three of five items completed, they feel momentum and want to finish. This is the progress effect in action — partial completion motivates people to reach the end. Teams that implement onboarding checklists typically see measurable improvements in activation rates and time-to-value.
Beyond onboarding, checklists also work for:
- Feature adoption: Introduce a set of related features as a checklist so users explore them systematically.
- Account setup: Walk users through configuration steps like connecting integrations, inviting teammates, or customizing preferences.
- Certification or training: Guide users through learning modules or qualification steps.
How checklists work in the widget
Userorbit checklists appear inside the in-app widget — the same widget that hosts tours and surveys. Users can open the widget at any time to see their checklist, check their progress, and pick up where they left off.
Each checklist item can be configured to complete in different ways:
- Manual completion: The user clicks a checkbox to mark the item done.
- Automatic completion: The item completes when the user performs a tracked event (e.g., "Created Project" or "Invited Team Member"). This is the most reliable approach since it reflects real actions.
- Link or action: Clicking the item navigates the user to a specific page or triggers a tour, making the checklist a launchpad for guided experiences.
The widget shows a progress bar or fraction (e.g., "3 of 5 complete") so users always know where they stand.
Completion tracking
Userorbit tracks checklist completion at the individual user level. From your dashboard, you can see:
- Overall completion rate: What percentage of users who started the checklist finished all items.
- Per-item completion: Which specific items users complete most and least often. Low-completion items may indicate confusing steps or unnecessary friction.
- Drop-off points: Where in the sequence users tend to stop. This helps you identify and fix bottlenecks.
- Time to complete: How long users take to finish the checklist, from first view to final item.
These metrics feed directly into your understanding of onboarding health and help you iterate on the checklist design over time.
When to use checklists
Checklists work best when there is a defined set of actions that lead to a meaningful outcome. If the steps are too vague ("explore the dashboard") or too numerous (more than seven items), the checklist loses its motivational power. Keep checklists focused: three to six concrete tasks that lead to a clear result, like a fully configured account or a completed first workflow.