# In-app pin instead of slideout: 49% to 88% workflow completion

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Onboarding (SaaS)
- Elements: In app guidance, Tooltip
- Test run by: [Zywave](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/zywave/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://www.appcues.com/customer-stories/how-zywave-increased-feature-adoption-by-80-by-a-b-testing-in-app-patterns
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/gap-zywave-pin-vs-slideout-onboarding/

Zywave replaced a slideout onboarding flow with a small persistent pin that shows a tooltip on hover, and the share of insurance agents completing the carrier-connection workflow rose from 49% to 88%. Zywave's instructional design team ran the change, and it was published as an Appcues customer story. The pin went live after the slideout, so this is a before-and-after comparison, not a split test.

## Result

**49% to 88% workflow completion**

- Workflow success rate: 88% with the pin versus 49% with the slideout, as reported by Appcues.
- Completions: the number of agents finishing the workflow nearly doubled in under a week.
- Reach: the pin averaged about 1,700 views a day, which suggests many agents were stuck at this step.
- No sample sizes, significance figures or test dates were shared.

## Control

A slideout flow appeared to guide insurance agents through connecting their preferred carriers so they could pull quotes. Engagement with the slideout was low.

## Variant

A persistent pin (a hotspot) sat next to the carrier-connection feature. Hovering over it opened a tooltip with the same step-by-step guidance.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- A pin waits for the user to ask for help, so it lands at the moment of need instead of interrupting.
- Slideouts are easy to dismiss without reading. Once closed, the help is gone.
- Placing the guidance right beside the feature removes the step of mapping instructions onto the screen.
- The pin stays visible, so agents who return to the step later can still find help.

## Caveats

Appcues calls it a test, but the pin replaced the slideout over time, so this reads as a before/after comparison and other changes could have played a part. Vendor-published, with no sample size or dates.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we replace an interrupting slideout with a persistent hover pin next to a hard setup step, then more users will complete that step because help appears in context when they want it.
- Primary metric: Completion rate of the targeted setup workflow
- Guardrail: Support tickets about the step
- Guardrail: Time to complete the workflow
- Guardrail: Engagement with other onboarding flows
- Who should test it: SaaS products with one known friction step in setup, especially for repeat or expert users. It is less likely to help if users never notice the step at all, since a pin relies on them looking for help.

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Credit: Zywave ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/gap-zywave-pin-vs-slideout-onboarding/).
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.