🚀 Introduction

Basecamp is a collaborative project management tool designed to help teams streamline communication, organize tasks and manage projects efficiently. As you go through the project, you will see that I have analyzed basecamp's onboarding experience with a user focused approach. I start by defining the ICP and identifying the key user goals. From there I used the jobs to be done frame work to understand the core JTBD of the product, conducted a detailed teardown of the onboarding process and hypothesized few activation metrics that might impact user retention the most. At every step applicable, I've proposed strategies to enhance Basecamp's onboarding.

👱🧔👩 WHO?

Our typical Basecamp users is someone who bears a title like - Founder, project manager, Freelance consultant and is around 40 or less of age. They are proud of what they have helped build. Apart from their core job skill set, they also are good communicators, they manage their time well for the most part, they adapt quickly with a focus on problem solving, they pay great attention to detail and are fairly tech savvy but may not fully qualify as a technical resource like the way software developers and network engineers do.

Core JTBD Analysis

Before we jump in, Lot of this data came from user calls (thanks you Fazal, Naveen, and Vikranth), few survey entries and many accounts of user reviews, feedback and testimonials from 10 different subreddits, from basecamp's own reviews page and few other open review platforms. A challenging task was to design the survey in a way that its easy for users to answer, does not lead them to a biased answer either by priming or by fear of judgement and also does not make them feel like I am asking them to do my work.

Here is what the survey looked like -> https://app.youform.com/forms/soo79xlz

🆘 Top problems users are solving using Basecamp

1. Have a central system of communication. Without having to deal with email overload or a large amount of chat group clutter. Basecamp is the single platform to discuss projects, share files, track tasks and have a record of all communications for all the teams.
2. Improving team collaboration and knowing who is doing what at all times - basecamp, through multiple features, allows visibility into project progress, tasks and deadlines. This also improves accountability as everyone is aware and reminded of their responsibilities. Less babysitting work for the team manager.
3. Managing communication and resources with clients - with a project based approach a lot of basecamp's users are finding it easy to separate different clients into different projects where all communication and associated files and resources of each of the client lives in their own dedicated project. Few other features also lets client know what tasks are prioritized and what and what subtasks are being completed when. The transparency also helps build trust with client.
4. Solving efficiency issues in remote work - A lot of basecamp users value the way they can streamline their project workflows in a common workspace with a high level of transparency. They find it very helpful to maintain a common source of truth across the company which eventually lets them work remotely across different time zones.

😍 Features in basecamp that get most user love!

1. Ease of use and simplicity - A lot of users started using or permanently moved to basecamp because of the clean interface and the ease of use. This also is the core value prop and narrative of the brand. avoid busy work and experience the calm work place. Having work in startups before, I will admit - I will pay attention to someone who is promising me a calm workplace.
2. To do lists and task management - The to do section of basecamp allows users to create, organize, assign and track tasks across multiple todo lists. In recent updates these same tasks could also be viewed as Kanban boards and time sheets (when tasks are created with clear deadlines). No more tasks falling through the cracks.
3. The notice board and campfire - every project in basecamp has a notice board that acts as a common source of truth and a campfire - which is essentially a group chat. All project wide updates and announcements are made on the noticeboard. And every post on the notice board comes with its own comment section. This means, when a team member needs clarification, its visible to everyone else. This also serves as a wiki for new members saving them time during catchup. No more email threads. The campfire is a group chat which means every project by default has its own group thus making it less noisy for other outside the project (similar to channels and threads within slack but by default organized as projects)
4. File sharing and document collaboration in the "Files and docs" section - every project gets a files and docs section - one place to store all files dedicated to the project. This section also has a document editor which means a word file could be created here and multiple people can work on it at once (google docs clone). Also, just like the notice board, each file comes with its own comments section (like a slack thread for a file) which serves as a discussion board for each of the file capturing any major changes. Again, no more emails and manual version tracking when sharing files.
5. Client collaboration - Basecamp allows users to invite clients to a specific project. Within the project, admin can control what sections of the project can the client see. maybe just the notice board while keeping the campfire (group chat) private. Or maybe only select files within the Files and docs section. This feature makes client interactions and account management very easy for basecamp users

⌚/💵 Time vs money considerations

Current users express overwhelming satisfaction with basecamp when it comes to improvement in communication, task management, and overall productivity thus suggesting they will continue to pay for the tool at the current price as long as they continue to experience these benefits.

Additionally, some users have also explicitly mentioned that they like how basecamp doesn't charge per user basis like the way every other b2b SaaS tool charges. One license, unlimited users, teams, projects and clients. all features are accessible. But its good to note that more users have highlighted the amount of time they save rather than the amount of money they save.

❗ Here is where a distinctive split happens in our ICPs. Basecamp targets the underdog, the start-up and the small business but startups that are bootstrapped, or freelancers who are yet to find meaningful volume of work or really small teams (of 2 or max 3) find basecamp too expensive. They feel they might never add the thousands of users basecamp is processing to support under one single subscription. They want something free or cheap for just 2 or 3 projects and a hand full of people. Basecamp used to have a free version which users found restrictive in terms of the features it offered and the number of projects they could spin on it. It looks like basecamp replaced it with free trial extensions when they encourage should the user reach out through a support channel. Time rich teams and freelancers might not be ICPs for basecamp in the longrun.

👶The need vs the want

The overarching need of the user of basecamp is to organize their workplace, either for themselves or for their teams, in a way that they are time and money efficient and get more work done (both in volume and quality) in a day/week/month/year (The tool should work now and 1 year from now)

Swaddle the user in a comfy blanket and you will see what their WANT is - what they are really hoping for - is calm and chaos free workplace. A workplace where they are in control of all moving parts. Where they experience lesser anxiety than they do now. This is a want and they are willing to wait for it. This is why they are willing to try the tool. To get past the learning curve and also rally their team mates into using the tool. In the customer journey map and onboarding, we will see how basecamp is able to bring in messaging around this core want and able to hold the user until the activation metric is met.

In my observation the top features sufficiently align with the top problems the users are trying to solve for. In all the cases the users are trying to be more efficient with work, time and money as an Organization. The JTBD of the product here is functional.

Secondary JTBD that don't make it.

1. A secondary financial goal could be observed among users who either say they are saving a lot of time using basecamp or who directly say they are saving a lot of money through basecamp. This however is not considered when determining the JTBD of the product. Pricing is dynamic and eventually as the tool evolves and scales, these secondary financial goals will alter too.
2. Given that basecamp enjoys a strong WOM marketing within the community, users who recommend basecamp might be bragging about the gains they made in quality of time and work at their workplace. This is a social goal. A referral design team within basecamp should certainly dive deeper into this and make the most out of it.

Customer Journey Map

Before we jump into the onboarding teardown, here is a typical journey a user at basecamp would take before and during conversion to a paying customer.

A look at this customer journey is important to understand how the different sections of the onboarding and activation effect the user. It takes into account a user who has limited exposure to such tools and is generally aware of the problem at hand.

Here is a link of the FigJam file incase the image isn't clear.
https://www.figma.com/board/JjKDJxnHSXXGw4x83i5h9D/Basecamp-customer-journey-map?node-id=0-1&t=vJwLEhoIq85VgtQ2-1

👑 All rise for The Teardown!

Here is my take on what is happening on the basecamp website and what could be made better.

🔗 Link to the teardown PPT (Google slides link with viewer access)

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1zUHZUoL2_CFZaQHFcQAQfDk1MduJsflatxbBNx4VE7Q/edit?usp=sharing

📂 PDF file of the Presentation

Basecamp - Onboarding - Arindam.pdf

Eating X 🦋 bugs in Y minutes makes you a 🐸Frog

Lets stick to this format to hypothesize few activation metrics..

Hypothesis 1

Create 2 projects within the 1st week from signing up for the free trial.

Reasoning

Setting up projects represents foundational action where users start organizing their work in basecamp. This action ensures that they have seen all the tools within basecamp given that all primary tools are only accessible from a project page. While the first project could be treated as a test project where the user is exploring the tools, the second is more likely to be created with more intent to organize work and leverage the full potential of the tool

To add to this, Basecamp nudges you to do the same on day 2.

Hypothesis 2

Add 3 people to any project within the first 7 days of free trial.

Reasoning

Inviting team members / Clients shows commitment towards using basecamp for real collaborative work rather than for test purpose. This action familiarizes users with the communication and collaboration features and also does two important things in the account. First, it creates teem dependence on basecamp, increasing the likelihood that the team would want to continue using basecamp. And second, the primary user is forced to familiarize self with tools enough that they are now able to explain it to others. A trainer has been trained in the particular account. This is a big win for basecamp.

Hypothesis 3

Set up a to-do list within a project and assign tasks to 2 other team mates within the first 10 days of free trial

Reasoning

The to-do list is at the core of basecamp's capabilities. When users start actively assigning tasks with deadline, they see how basecamp helps distribute work and track project status and responsibilities. This clearly shows the platforms value in maintaining accountability across the team. Additionally, the fact that the users has a to-do list and has assigned tasks to 2 other team members means they have take the crucial steps of creating a project, exploring tools and adding people. All this helps align basecamp with their daily work needs and increasing stickiness. (To do lists is also mentioned in their welcome email. A subtle nudge and another reason for this to make it to the activation metric)

Hypothesis 4

Post 2 announcements on the notice board and send 10 messages in the campfire within the first 14 days of free trial

Reasoning

One of the primary promises of basecamp is to free its users from the communications overhead created by email back and forth. When users begin to utilize the notice board to send out team wide communications and use the campfire to have lighter, more casual conversations, the overall engagement of the team on the platform goes up. Communication creates direct social pressure for everyone in the team to use the platform. Its important that the user posts 2 announcements as the first on could be project details or a welcome/test message. Users will quickly see how basecamp serves as a single communication hub and how it promotes communications to be more actionable by merging it with tasks. All this makes basecamp's value apparent and solidifies its role in the team collaboration

Hypothesis 5

Upload and share 4 files with the team within the first 10 days of the free trial.

Reasoning

File sharing is a fundamental feature for any project management tool. By sharing files through basecamp, users are sharing and collaborating on the same platform where they are communicating and assigning work to each other. All this contributes towards removing friction in work. An Aha moment hits later entrants into the project when they see all relevant files for the project are already waiting for them at one single place within the project. Additionally, company data is guided by internal data policies and are usually not shared over low trust channels. Thus, files upload to basecamp shows user's trust in the platform and improves likelihood of converting.

Hypothesis 6

Adding a significant chunk of users (more than 10) within a 4 day window in 70 days from free trial start.

Reasoning

This one is interesting. Initially I titled it as Time to value in the metrics to track section but realized its too important to not make it to activation metric. Basecamp users might convert with a short term commitment (Like a monthly plan or trusting cancellation policy) based on the potential they see within the trial period but this doesn't mean they have truly experienced the value of the product for their business/workplace. When this really happens, they would do something to embrace the platform completely. In this hypothesis, they pull in their entire department into it. Or their entire client list into it. Eg: the head of marketing tested basecamp with the content team for 2 months before pulling in seo, performance marketing, ATL,BTL, Field agents, etc

📊 Metrics to track

Onboarding and more importantly, activation is a retention exercise.

UD

Retention rate

This is the flip side of churn rate. The question being asked here is, How many users am I able to retain in 31 days (Longer than my trial period). This metric is directly impacted by the onboarding quality. A sub metric of this is free trial vs retention ratio or more simply the free trial conversion rate. This could be monitored at different time frames to get a narrow snapshot of conversions and detect instances of early conversions. Additionally, a 61 or a 91 day retention could also be tracked for those users who are on monthly plan. This is essentially repeat booking/purchasing rate.

Onboarding completion rate

This is the total number of users who have completed the checklist in the getting started project card. This signifies a major milestone for the user in understanding what the platform is capable of. Observing this metric helps basecamp understand how clear and intuitive the onboarding process is until the point when the user is asked to use the platform for their own core workflow.

DAU and MAU

Basecamp is best understood when its used. The more active a user, the more features they are using on basecamp. And this is only possible if they know how to use basecamp which eventually means their onboarding was fruitful and smooth. Thus. DAU. DAU/MAU to expose churn/drop off risks or weakness in onboarding early.

Feature Usage rate

It is important to constantly track the core feature usage rate across the platform i.e. campfire, messaging board, files and docs, time tracking sheets, kanban boards, check-ins, to-do lists, calendar and the comment sections of all these features where applicable. The obvious reason is to measure user engagement at different features and understand if low adoption is due to usability issues or education issues. Also, having an avg feature adoption rate provides benchmarks for new features to be added and finally, a failure in microservice should be detected early and not wait for support tickets to flood in.

Number of onboarding support tickets /day

This gives us how many users are struggling to finish onboarding and are forced to ask questions. The damage if any would usually be a number much higher than the number of support tickets. Tracking this number will quickly expose any gaps in the onboarding flow that is preventing the onboarding from being intuitive and anticipatory.