NoBull SaaS

What does Appcues do?

Tool: Appcues

The Tech: User Onboarding

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Their Pitch

Bring your best thinking to the moments that matter.

Our Take

It's a no-code tool that lets marketers build those step-by-step product tours and pop-up guides inside your app. Think of it as training wheels for your users, but without needing developers to code every tooltip.

Deep Dive & Reality Check

Used For

  • +**Your trial users drop off at 60% because they can't find key features** → Interactive tours guide them to the money features with tooltips and checklists
  • +**Support team gets 50 tickets/week asking 'where's the export button?'** → Self-serve guides show users exactly where to click
  • +**New feature launches and adoption is terrible** → Pop-up announcements and guided tours get people actually using what you built
  • +Multi-channel messaging - reaches users in-app, email, and mobile push when they ignore the first nudge
  • +NPS surveys with automatic follow-ups when someone gives you a low score

Best For

  • >Your users sign up but never discover the good features buried in your app
  • >Customer success team is drowning in 'how do I...' support tickets
  • >You need onboarding flows live this week and your dev team is booked until 2025

Not For

  • -Solo founders or tiny teams - starts at $879/month which is overkill when you have 12 users
  • -Mobile-heavy apps where push notifications feel spammy and intrusive
  • -Teams wanting advanced A/B testing or session replays - Appcues keeps it basic

Pairs With

  • *Heap (sends behavioral data both ways so you can target users who clicked specific buttons)
  • *Salesforce (syncs contact info and survey responses so sales knows who's unhappy)
  • *Segment (fastest setup - pipes in user properties without custom coding)
  • *Amplitude (for the advanced user analytics that Appcues doesn't do well)
  • *Intercom (for the actual support conversations after your guides fail)
  • *HubSpot (where your marketing automation lives since Appcues email is pretty basic)

The Catch

  • !You'll hit the limits fast - 10 tracked events and 5 custom user segments on the starter plan means you're upgrading within months
  • !Enterprise features like onboarding checklists are locked behind custom pricing, not the mid-tier plans
  • !Segmentation is pretty basic compared to dedicated analytics tools - 4 presets plus your custom ones

Bottom Line

Point-and-click onboarding tours that hit usage limits faster than you can say 'upgrade to Growth plan.'