Does onboarding questionnaire make sense? If yes, how much is too much?

Question

We have a demo dashboard when people sign up for our web app. This dashboard, filled with sample data, is supposed to help users discover the app's potential to solve their problems. The problem is, the sample data is very generic, often times, users need to go through several use cases before finding their relevant ones.

Is having a questionnaire as part of the onboarding process a good solution (skippable of course)? This insight will help us customize the demo dashboard so it feels more relevant for the user. How much is too much in a questionnaire.

Answer 1

The whole purpose of the demo as you have stated is to highlight the app potential. The use of sample data could translate to inconsistencies that could undermine this objective. Dashboards are prime example of how this might go wrong because they are intended to provide instantaneous, at a glance information.

So, I think its good to be transparent about how the demo works. This helps set expectations as well as justifying the need for a questionnaire which is obviously a risk but in this particular case would be worth taking.

Idea: Construct your questionnaire with most vital* Dashboard elements in mind and ensure that your questionnaire is short an and coupled with adequate messaging and support information.

*Elements that are more likely to attract your users attention!

Hope that helps