Our fastest onboarding was a 40-second video with no sound.

We tested 6 onboarding formats with 5,200 new users.

Interactive product tour: 34% completion, 41% activation

Text walkthrough: 28% completion, 38% activation

5-minute narrated video: 19% completion, 36% activation

40-second silent video with captions: 58% completion, 52% activation

No onboarding: 100% "completion," 29% activation

Documentation link: 12% completion, 33% activation

The 40-second silent video won on both completion and activation. Users watched it without sound, often at work, often in a browser tab next to something else. The 5-minute narrated video lost them in the first 30 seconds.

We had been making onboarding that required attention. Our users had none to give. The silent video could be watched while doing something else, and it still worked.

What onboarding are you making that requires more attention than your users have?