# Floating onboarding checklist in a trial: +187% activation

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Onboarding (SaaS)
- Elements: Onboarding checklist
- Test run by: [AURUM](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/aurum/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://wingify.com/success-stories/aurum/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/aurum-astrea-onboarding-checklist/

Adding a floating next-steps checklist to the trial dashboard raised activation by 187%, with two key setup events up 21% and 25%. AURUM ran this test on Astrea, its legal practice software, and it was published as a VWO case study. It went out as a controlled rollout rather than a strict A/B split.

## Result

**+187% activation**

- Activation rate: +187%. Here activation meant completing all setup steps and reaching the clipping stage.
- Conversion across two key setup events rose 21% and 25%.
- This was a controlled rollout, not a strict A/B split, so the comparison is less clean than a normal test.

## Control

The trial dashboard gave users no guided next steps after the first setup screens.

## Variant

A floating checklist in the bottom-left corner guided users to add a task, process a clipping and add a fee. The existing 'First Steps' progress indicator was updated to track those actions, with a confirmation when done.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- A checklist turns an open dashboard into a short to-do list, so users know what to do next.
- Each item pointed at an action linked to paying later, not just a tour of features.
- Ticking items off and seeing progress gives a small reward that keeps people going.

## Caveats

Rolled out gradually as a controlled rollout rather than a strict A/B split. No sample size, duration or confidence level was shared.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we add a short checklist of the three actions most linked to paying, then more trial users will activate because they always know the next step.
- Primary metric: Trial activation rate (users completing all checklist actions)
- Guardrail: Trial-to-paid conversion
- Guardrail: Checklist dismissal rate
- Guardrail: Early-session errors or drop-offs
- Who should test it: SaaS trials where users land on an empty or busy dashboard and don't know what to do first. It adds less if the product already walks users straight to value.

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Credit: AURUM ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/aurum-astrea-onboarding-checklist/).
Usage: Free to use, quote and build on, with credit and a link: name the practitioner or organization that ran the test and link to its LiftArchive page. The results belong to the practitioners who ran and shared them; the summaries and commentary are LiftArchive's.