Why most product tours get skipped • Hacker News Board

Re: Why most product tours get skipped

#11

Post by drdaeman » Tue, May 05, 2026, 10:37 PM UTC

pancomplex wrote: post #7

michaelt wrote: post #6

It's pretty simple to understand - when a user opens a tool, it's because they want to do the thing that tool does, now. If someone opens my videoconferencing product 98% of the time it's they've got a scheduled call to join within the next 20 seconds . They're not going to be late for their meeting so they can read my release notes. If someone opens my PDF viewer, 99.9% chance they want to view the PDF they just ope…

100% - that's why it's so confusing why PMs/PMMs think they need to keep adding these to their products.

> so confusing why PMs/PMMs

Because their goal metric is number of tasks closed/features delivered (and this counts as one), not customers satisfied.

Plus, social parroting - a misconception that if it's popular and everyone does it it "can't be wrong".

Re: Why most product tours get skipped

#12

Post by kshri24 » Tue, May 05, 2026, 10:42 PM UTC

Instead of product tours I like how AWS has little info/help buttons that are placed right next to every informational/actionable element on their dashboard. Totally unobtrusive. If you want to understand something on the dashboard that is not obvious at first, you can click on the info/help button that opens a side panel with a lot more information about that particular element (and any associated topics). Most of the time, you just know what you are dealing with (or can guess what that particular topic might mean and you will probably be right).

Re: Why most product tours get skipped

#13

Post by jwilliams » Tue, May 05, 2026, 10:51 PM UTC

The other huge problem is you never tell the user what they'll get out of the tour. People will invest in a tour if they understand the reward (and "learning" can't be the reward).

Re: Why most product tours get skipped

#14

Post by foobar1726 » Tue, May 05, 2026, 10:54 PM UTC

kshri24 wrote: post #12

Instead of product tours I like how AWS has little info/help buttons that are placed right next to every informational/actionable element on their dashboard. Totally unobtrusive. If you want to understand something on the dashboard that is not obvious at first, you can click on the info/help button that opens a side panel with a lot more information about that particular element (and any associated topics). Most of t…

Incredible that tooltips were killed because braindead """designers""" couldn't figure out how to make them work on mobile.

They'll be reintroduced under a new name in a decade or two with endless self-congratulation. Same as physical car controls.

Here's a solution off the top of my head: have a dedicate "info" button at the OS level. Holding the button disables normal interaction, highlights all inspectable elements, and allows you to click on each one for a description. Like "inspect element" in the browser.

Re: Why most product tours get skipped

#15

Post by christophilus » Tue, May 05, 2026, 10:56 PM UTC

blanched wrote: post #10

Personally, I generally dislike product tours. On the other hand, I think it's interesting to compare the dislike in these comments (and elsewhere) to "RTFM" culture. What's the primary difference? That you can read the manual or use the product at your discretion? e.g. `ls` doesn't forcefully open the man page when you run it for the first time? (I'm aware of the goomba fallacy and that these are likely two differen…

The difference is TFM doesn’t pop up in my face without me asking for it while I’m trying to do something basic.

Re: Why most product tours get skipped

#16

Post by kshri24 » Tue, May 05, 2026, 10:57 PM UTC

foobar1726 wrote: post #14

kshri24 wrote: post #12

Instead of product tours I like how AWS has little info/help buttons that are placed right next to every informational/actionable element on their dashboard. Totally unobtrusive. If you want to understand something on the dashboard that is not obvious at first, you can click on the info/help button that opens a side panel with a lot more information about that particular element (and any associated topics). Most of t…

Incredible that tooltips were killed because braindead """designers""" couldn't figure out how to make them work on mobile. They'll be reintroduced under a new name in a decade or two with endless self-congratulation. Same as physical car controls. Here's a solution off the top of my head: have a dedicate "info" button at the OS level. Holding the button disables normal interaction, highlights all inspectable element…

> Here's a solution off the top of my head: have a dedicate "info" button at the OS level. Holding the button disables normal interaction, highlights all inspectable elements, and allows you to click on each one for a description. Like "inspect element" in the browser.

This is a really cool idea. Agreed! Wish something like this actually existed.

Re: Why most product tours get skipped

#17

Post by jappgar » Tue, May 05, 2026, 11:01 PM UTC

If your product needs a tour your product is badly designed.

Imagine you walked into a convenience store and the owner was like "Hey you need to take the tour first!"

Re: Why most product tours get skipped

#18

Post by wffurr » Tue, May 05, 2026, 11:04 PM UTC

debarshri wrote: post #9

michaelt wrote: post #6

It's pretty simple to understand - when a user opens a tool, it's because they want to do the thing that tool does, now. If someone opens my videoconferencing product 98% of the time it's they've got a scheduled call to join within the next 20 seconds . They're not going to be late for their meeting so they can read my release notes. If someone opens my PDF viewer, 99.9% chance they want to view the PDF they just ope…

Thats true for point solutions. You often dont find a guided product tour there. Guided tour does have its place where the product is a workflow, a platform offering, has bunch of features and you want to introduce the feature to them. If you are paying 10-25k USD per year, you expect some onboarding specialist who gives instructions on integrating ACH and payroll systems etc. It is very common for non-technical folk…

Actually I get interrupted by a tour or popup when using a "point solution" all the time.

Re: Why most product tours get skipped

#19

Post by pants2 » Tue, May 05, 2026, 11:06 PM UTC

I've never in my life seen a useful product tour. They're always blatantly obvious like "THIS IS THE SEARCH BAR. USE IT TO FIND CONTENT ACROSS OUR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES."

The best UX is using obvious and standard design, plus a searchable menu / command palette.

Re: Why most product tours get skipped

#20

Post by wffurr » Tue, May 05, 2026, 11:06 PM UTC

blanched wrote: post #10

Personally, I generally dislike product tours. On the other hand, I think it's interesting to compare the dislike in these comments (and elsewhere) to "RTFM" culture. What's the primary difference? That you can read the manual or use the product at your discretion? e.g. `ls` doesn't forcefully open the man page when you run it for the first time? (I'm aware of the goomba fallacy and that these are likely two differen…

You nailed the primary difference. If I want to just use the tool I can do that; if I need to learn how to use a complex feature, I can consult the help or do a web search for a how to.