# Activation Desk

> Paste what a new user meets after signup - the first-run steps, the welcome form, the checklist, the empty states, the tour and the onboarding emails - plus the activation event and the funnel numbers. The browser counts the steps before value and flags the onboarding mistakes for free; a paid audit decides what to keep, rework, cut or defer, and a paid design writes the activation flow, checklist, empty states and emails.

URL: https://activation-desk.skillsafe.ai/
API tutorial: https://activation-desk.skillsafe.ai/api.html
Model: gpt-terra (metered per run; the free scan needs no account)

## Who it is for

Founders, product managers and growth leads whose users sign up but do not stick: low activation, nobody completes setup, people never come back after the first session.

## What the free scan computes (in the browser, nothing uploaded)

- Every step of the walkthrough, classified: verify, form, invite, setup, tour, upgrade, empty state, value. The first value step and how many steps stand before it (the minimum path to value).
- The activation event as stated, and whether it is a vanity event (a login, a signup, a finished tour) rather than the action that shows value.
- The first-30-seconds approach (product-first, guided setup, value-first) and the activation model (freemium, free trial, paid trial, money-back, a sales call; card or no card).
- The five components the skill uses most: welcome form (questions before value), checklist (items, progress, dismiss, pre-completed step, first item a chore), empty states (dead ends), tour (steps, skippable, repeats), onboarding emails (count, timed or triggered by behaviour, one concept each).
- The funnel: the count at each step, the share kept from the start and from the step before, and the biggest drop.
- Against your last saved run of the same product (after you ship changes and paste the new walkthrough): what moved - steps before value, step count, components found, flags cleared or new, and the share kept start to end.
- Flags OB-01..OB-21: no activation event; 4+ steps before value (high at 6+); a form asking 4+ things before value; email verification locking the product; a tour that cannot be skipped; a tour over 5 steps; a checklist outside 3 to 7 items, without progress, without dismiss, or opening with a chore; a dead-end empty state; 3+ competing actions on the first screen; an upgrade or plan prompt before value; no emails and nothing for stalled users; every email on a timer; an email pushing several features; a tour repeating for returning users; a team invite before the user's own value; a vanity activation event; a signup form pasted instead of onboarding (out of scope); no step counts.

## The paid lanes (one JSON input with a `task` field)

- `audit`: the activation event (yes / vague / no, with a candidate to test), the first session, one verdict per step (keep, rework, remove, defer, pre-fill, make skippable), the five components (strong, weak, missing, not needed), issues as finding, impact and fix with severity, the funnel read and its biggest drop, stalled users, 3 to 6 fixes and a verdict (ship, fix first, rebuild, out of scope).
- `design`: the activation goal (event, metric, target), the first-30-seconds approach, a 3 to 7 step flow ending on the activation event in fewer steps than now, what moves out of the way and when it returns, a 3 to 7 item checklist opening with a quick win, 1 to 3 empty states with an action, 3 to 6 onboarding emails (welcome, incomplete-onboarding nudges at 24 and 72 hours, activation achieved), a stalled-user plan, metrics (always activation rate) and 2 to 4 experiments. The audit hands its result to the design with one button.

Every reply is checked against the input: quotes word for word, no invented count, rate, fraction or window, no blended lanes, and the lane-specific rules above.

## Sources

Derived from the agent skill @coreyhaines31/onboarding-cro (https://skillsafe.ai/skill/@coreyhaines31/onboarding-cro), published in its current form as @coreyhaines31/onboarding (https://skillsafe.ai/skill/@coreyhaines31/onboarding), by Corey Haines, in coreyhaines31/marketingskills (MIT): https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/tree/main/skills/onboarding - its principles, onboarding psychology, the ten-component toolkit, activation and the aha moment, the minimum path to value and its references (minimum-path-to-value.md, activation-models.md, experiments.md).

Part of SkillSafe: https://skillsafe.ai/