Onboarding Flows

Every system in the study offers email-based account creation. 7 of 8 also offer Google SSO on the signup page, with Atlassian providing the widest SSO selection (Google, Microsoft, Apple, Slack). Notion goes further with passkey and SAML support. The consensus pattern is email field first with SSO options positioned below or as equal-weight alternatives.

Across all 89 onboarding instances, 'Continue' appears as the CTA verb in roughly 40% of steps. Notion, Slack, Figma, Linear, Asana, Airtable, and Atlassian all use it for progression. GitHub is the sole outlier, using 'Create account' and 'Sign in' instead. Final steps tend to shift to 'Get started', 'Open Linear', or 'Finish'.

Notion, Slack, GitHub, Asana, and Airtable require entering a six-digit code sent to the user's email. Linear uses a magic link by default with manual code entry as fallback. Figma and Atlassian skip separate verification entirely, handling it through SSO or inline. Slack and GitHub split the code into six individual input boxes; Asana uses a single text field.

Notion, Slack, Figma, and Airtable ask for just a display name during profile setup, keeping friction minimal. Asana adds a password field. Linear skips name entry entirely and asks users to choose a UI theme instead. Avatar upload is optional across all systems, with 3 of 6 auto-generating an initial-based placeholder.

Slack, Linear, and Atlassian are the only systems that ask users to name a workspace and configure a URL during onboarding. The remaining 5 systems create workspaces implicitly. Linear includes a region selector (United States, Europe) alongside the workspace URL. Atlassian pre-fills a subdomain from the user's email with a green checkmark confirming availability.

Notion, Figma, Asana, and Atlassian collect use-case data during onboarding. Figma asks the most questions across 5 separate screens (use case, job role, work setting, org size, prior experience). Asana consolidates three questions onto a single page using dropdowns. Notion uses a simple three-card selector ('For work', 'For personal life', 'For school'). Atlassian uses a 14-option icon grid.

Figma dedicates 5 onboarding screens to personalization: use case, job role (10 options), work setting (freelance, company, agency, other), organization size (5 tiers from 'Just me' to 'Over 5,000'), and prior Figma experience. Each screen uses pill-button options with a progress bar and back button. The canvas preview updates dynamically as users make selections.

Notion, Slack, Figma, Linear, Asana, and Atlassian include team invitation during onboarding. Every system makes it skippable. GitHub and Airtable skip the step entirely. The standard pattern is 3 email input fields with placeholder examples and a copy-invite-link alternative. Atlassian pre-generates the invite URL with a copy button.

Slack and Asana intercept skip attempts with a modal that discourages proceeding alone. Slack says 'To really get a feel for Slack, you'll need a few colleagues here.' Asana shows a tandem bicycle illustration with 'Asana is more valuable when you collaborate with your team.' Both modals offer a return-to-invite primary CTA alongside the skip option.

Notion, Slack, Figma, and Atlassian include plan selection as an onboarding step. All four offer a free tier or trial with no credit card required. Notion and Airtable use strikethrough pricing ($24 to $0, $20 to $0) to emphasize the trial value. Figma shows a three-tier comparison with a 'Most popular' badge. GitHub, Linear, Asana, and Airtable defer pricing conversations entirely.

Slack and Linear are the only systems with explicit tutorial content. Slack shows a 3-slide modal carousel introducing collaboration concepts, channels, and premium features. Linear dedicates 3 steps to its command menu: an introduction with keyboard shortcut illustration, an interactive demo with sample actions, and a 'That was easy!' confirmation. Both use dot pagination for positioning.

Linear's onboarding includes a hands-on command menu tutorial at step 3 of 7. Users see the Cmd+K shortcut illustrated as visual key caps, then try it with a live command palette showing sample issue NOR-1 'Set up Linear' with actions like Assign, Change status, and Add labels. A 'That was easy!' confirmation screen reinforces the shortcut after completion.

Linear, Asana, Airtable, and Atlassian all create sample tasks or data during onboarding. Linear generates 4 guided issues that double as a tutorial checklist ('Get familiar with Linear', 'Set up your teams'). Airtable's AI cobuilder generates 15 personalized records. Asana pre-populates 3 tasks across To do, Doing, and Done sections. Atlassian creates 2 sample tasks with status and priority columns.

GitHub has the shortest flow at 4 steps (signup, verification, sign-in, dashboard). Asana has the longest at 16 steps including its 8-step tooltip tour. Excluding tooltip tours, the median flow length is 10 steps. Figma has 13 steps with the most use-case questions. Systems that invest in longer onboarding (Asana, Figma, Atlassian) deliver more personalized first-run experiences.

The dominant sequence is: signup, verification, profile setup, use-case selection, team invite, then entry into the product. The main variations are where plan selection appears (Notion, Slack, and Figma insert it after invites; Atlassian places it before workspace creation) and whether workspace creation is explicit (Slack, Linear, Atlassian) or implicit (Notion, Figma, GitHub, Asana, Airtable).

The consensus signup page uses an email field with a 'work email' label (6 of 8 systems), Google SSO as the minimum secondary option (7 of 8), and 'Continue' as the CTA verb (5 of 8). Marketing opt-in checkboxes default to unchecked in 5 of 6 systems that include them. Legal agreements appear as inline text below the CTA in 7 of 8 systems.

GitHub is the only system that requires users to sign in with credentials immediately after creating their account and verifying their email. A green success banner confirms the account exists, but users must re-enter their username and password to proceed. Every other system auto-signs the user in after verification, maintaining forward momentum.

Notion (8 steps), Asana (16 steps), and Airtable (10 steps) show no progress indicator during onboarding. Users cannot gauge how much longer setup will take. Slack uses a 'step X of 4' label, Linear shows a 7-dot stepper, and Figma displays a progress bar. Progress indicators reduce abandonment by setting expectations for flow length.