Webinar Recap: How to Build Product Tours That Don’t Suck

There are good intentions behind product tours—that’s why they exist in the first place. In a perfect world, they provide structured, guided experiences to help new users get the lay of the land while adopting your product’s features. But let’s face it—most product tours suck.

Instead of helping, they may overwhelm users with too much information, show up at the wrong time, or simply feel unnecessary. A truly effective product tour should be helpful, timely, and unobtrusive—like a useful instruction manual, not a flashy popup. Think LEGO instructions: clear, simple, and easy to follow.

Our recent webinar broke down why most product tours suck and introduced the SOMA framework for building better ones while sharing actionable tips for improving your user journey. Here are a few best practices from that webinar to get you on the road to better product tours.

Why most product tours suck

1. They steal the spotlight from the product

Your product is the star of the show—not the tour. Unfortunately, intrusive popups and over-the-top walkthroughs can distract from what matters most. Let’s go back to our LEGO analogy and say you bought a set. Would you rather follow the simple instruction manual that helps you build the model or get distracted by the overly designed box?

2. They’re too generic

One-size-fits-all tours miss the mark. Imagine a new user receiving a notification about a desktop app update before they’ve even completed onboarding—confusing, right?

3. They show up at the wrong time

Even helpful guidance can be frustrating if it arrives too soon or too late. For example, prompting users to “Create different endings” in a form builder when they haven’t even added their first question creates unnecessary friction.

4. They overload the user

Long checklists with endless steps overwhelm users. Information overload often leads to frustration and drop-off.

5. They don’t feel personalized

Experienced users don’t need the same onboarding as beginners. Companies like HubSpot get it right by tailoring product tours based on whether users are new to customer relationship management software or already familiar with it.

The SOMA framework: Product tours that work

To build better product tours, follow the SOMA framework:

• Single-use: Each tour or prompt should serve a specific purpose and only appear when relevant.
• On time: Display tours at the right moment in the user journey.
• Minimal: Provide only the necessary information—remember that less is more.
• At one person: Personalize the experience based on the user’s role, behavior, or context.

Example:

• Good: A user re-engaged by clicking on a lifecycle email link. You ask them why they took a break by providing a relevant and timely prompt. (SOMA: S = Gleaning one-time insights into the user’s return. O = A relevant tour without starting from scratch. M = Helping them start where they left off without overloading them. A = User data creating seamless re-engagement.)
• Bad: You push a product update feed when a new user signs up, distracting from the onboarding process. (This is not SOMA: S = Product update is irrelevant to new users. O = Updates don’t apply when users are just getting started. M = New users would get overwhelmed, leading to a high chance of abandonment. A = Immediate update prompts presume users are familiar with the product—far from personalized for new users.)

Actionable steps for better product tours

When designing product tours, it's crucial to balance guidance with autonomy. Here’s what to do (and what not to do) to create an effective and engaging experience.

What to do:

• Make product tours a choice—allow users to opt in and snooze or opt out.
• Use interactive steps that walk users through actions within the product. Clearly explain the benefit of each step.
• Show progress indicators to reduce drop-off.

What to avoid:

• Blasting new users with product updates instead of focusing on where they’re at in their journey.
• Overloading the interface with excessive popups.
• Presenting all information at once instead of offering gradual, contextual onboarding.

How to measure product tour effectiveness

To know if your product tour is working, track these key metrics, using their insights to refine and optimize your tour:

• Engagement rates: Monitor how many users complete the tour.
• Drop-off points: Identify where users abandon the tour.
• Rage clicks: Detect frustration by tracking rapid dismissals.
• User feedback: Survey users post-tour for qualitative insights.

Build better product tours today

A great product tour isn’t about forcing users through a rigid path—it’s about guiding them at the right time, with the right information, in a way that enhances their experience. By applying the SOMA framework and leveraging behavioral insights, you can create tours that feel helpful, not intrusive.

With Amplitude Guides and Surveys, you can take this even further, using real-time data to personalize onboarding, reduce friction, and drive meaningful adoption. Put another way, you don't have to bombard users with popups—you can deliver personally relevant experiences. With Amplitude, you’ll understand when users do (and don’t) need help.