Exploring new experiences
Summarize
Summary of Exploring new experiences
Onboarding modals in ServiceNow® Adoption Services provide interactive, wizard-like overlay windows that guide users through new experiences and applications within the Next Experience interface. These modals deliver contextual help at key moments using multiple content types such as text, images, videos, and interactive questions, while automatically adapting to the instance’s theme (dark, light, or coral) for a consistent user experience.
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Key Features
- Flexible triggers: Modals can launch automatically on first login, upon accessing specific applications, or programmatically via custom business logic, offering full control over user onboarding timing.
- Rich content support: Incorporates text, images, video links (YouTube and Vimeo), and interactive questions to engage users and facilitate learning.
- Theme compatibility: Ensures visual consistency by aligning with your instance’s theme.
- Interactive guidance: Supports question steps that collect user inputs for tailoring content or analytics.
Benefits
- For users: Reduces onboarding time through step-by-step guided workflows.
- For all users: Provides a consistent, visually integrated experience aligned with your instance’s theme.
- For administrators: Enables flexible deployment via programmatic triggers and customizable content tailored to your applications and user roles.
Implementation Guidance
To implement onboarding modals effectively:
- Review pre-configured onboarding modals available under Adoption Services to understand default functionality.
- Plan your user journey by identifying key learning points and deciding the optimal information sequence and user input points.
- Create new guidance modals by configuring name, type, roles, and scope, then build step-by-step content using supported layouts.
- Configure modal launch mechanisms via UI client scripts, event dispatching, or automatic triggers based on application access patterns to control when users see onboarding content.
User Experience Flow
Users encounter onboarding modals typically when they first log in, access new applications, or trigger custom business rules. The system evaluates eligibility based on user role and prior interactions. Modals present information progressively with navigation controls, allowing users to move through steps at their own pace. Interactive questions collect user input which can influence content flow or be used for analytics. Upon completion, users receive confirmation, and interactions are recorded to avoid repeated displays unless reset.
Onboarding modals introduce you to new ServiceNow® experiences through wizard-like interfaces in Next Experience. Learn about capabilities, benefits, and implementation approaches for effective user onboarding.
Overview to Onboarding modals
Onboarding modals are part of ServiceNow® Adoption Services suite, designed to introduce users to new experiences and applications through interactive, guided workflows. These modals appear as overlay windows that walk users through features, providing contextual help at critical moments.
Onboarding modals support multiple content types including text descriptions, images, video links (YouTube and Vimeo), and interactive questions. The modal interface adapts to your instance's theme (dark, light, or coral), ensuring visual consistency across the user experience.
Modals can be triggered automatically on first login, when accessing specific applications, or programmatically through custom business logic, giving you complete control over when and how users receive guidance.
Benefits
Onboarding modals provide benefits across different user populations:
| Benefit | Feature | Users |
|---|---|---|
| Reduce onboarding time | Step-by-step guided modals | All users |
| Consistent user experience | Theme-aware interfaces | All users |
| Flexible deployment | Programmatic triggers | Administrators |
| Customizable content | Multiple content types | Administrators |
Get Started
Begin using onboarding modals by following this implementation sequence:
- Review default modals: Navigate to to examine the pre-configured onboarding modal included with Next Experience. Test the user experience to understand baseline functionality.
- Plan your content: Map out the user journey for your application or feature. Identify key concepts users need to learn, optimal sequence for information delivery, and decision points requiring user input.
- Create guidance structure: Navigate to . Configure the guidance form with appropriate name, type (Modal), roles, and application scope.
- Build guidance steps: Add individual steps using the Help Guidance Steps related list. Choose layouts (Text, Video, Image and Text, Image and Question, or Question) and define the presentation order.
- Configure launch mechanism: Implement the programmatic trigger using UIB client scripts and event dispatching, or leverage automatic triggers based on application access patterns.
User Journey
The typical user journey with onboarding modals follows this pattern:
Initial trigger: User logs in for the first time, accesses a new application, or triggers a custom business rule. The system evaluates whether to display an onboarding modal based on user profile, role assignments, and previous interaction history.
Modal presentation: The onboarding modal appears as an overlay, presenting the first guidance step. Users see the title, content (text, image, or video), and navigation controls (Next, Previous, or custom action buttons).
Progressive disclosure: Users navigate through subsequent steps at their own pace.
Interactive elements: Question-based steps collect user input through radio buttons (single answer) or checkboxes (multiple answers). Responses can inform subsequent content or be recorded for analytics purposes.
Completion: Upon reaching the final step, users receive a completion confirmation and return to the application. The system records the interaction, preventing duplicate displays unless the modal is explicitly reset.