ZoomInfo · Onboarding · 2025

What users say vs. what users do

Users said upload-a-list was their first task. Behavior said otherwise. We designed for the gap.

3×
upload completion (5%→15%)
+44%
overall feature adoption
50%
sample → upload conversion
25 → 5
say vs. do gap (%)

01Context

In research, ~25% of new Lite users said "upload a list" was their first task. In behavior data, only ~5% did. The flow itself was clean. The gap between intent and action wasn't.

02My Role

Team lead. Owned the call to extend the flow rather than streamline it, and the stakeholder conversation about adding steps in a PLG context.

03The Bet

Believe the behavior, not the words. The fix isn't taking users at their word.

04Decisions That Mattered

Longer flow, stricter paths.

Counter-intuitive in PLG. The dropout wasn't from too many steps — it was from too many optional paths. We extended and removed branches.

Sample-download intermediate.

Almost cut it. Felt redundant. Kept it. 50% of sample-downloaders converted to uploading. Turned out to be the bridge.

Accepted smaller uploads.

Average upload size went from 7 to 5. The trade was right: activation matters more than activation depth in early PLG.

05Outcome

Upload completion 5% → 15% (3× lift). Overall feature adoption +44% (0.9% → 1.3%). Heuristic now redeployed: when stated intent and behavior diverge by 3×, the design problem is the distance between them.

Said vs. did — and the lift after the rebuild

UPLOAD-A-LIST AS FIRST TASK · BEFORE REBUILD SAID IT WAS 25% ACTUALLY DID IT 5% AFTER REBUILD · STRICTER PATHS + SAMPLE-DOWNLOAD BRIDGE ACTUALLY DID IT 15% · 3× LIFT TRADE-OFF: AVG UPLOAD SIZE 7 → 5. 50% OF SAMPLE-DOWNLOADERS COMPLETED UPLOAD.
Beforefreeform flow · ~5% upload
Before — original ZoomInfo Lite onboarding upload-list flow
Original flow. Users could exit to the product without ever completing an upload — most did.
Afterstricter path + sample bridge · 15%
After — rebuilt onboarding with stricter path and sample-download bridge
Longer on purpose. Fewer branches, a sample-download bridge, and Reveal → Reach Out → See Results as the spine.
→ Click through the new upload-list flow · 11 screens

06What I'd Do Differently

We almost cut the sample-download step — it looked redundant on the flow diagram. Would have been a quiet, expensive mistake. Before cutting a step that feels redundant, look for what it's unlocking downstream.