Exploring new experiences
Summarize
Summary of Exploring new experiences
Onboarding modals in ServiceNow® Next Experience are interactive, wizard-like overlays designed to introduce users to new features and applications. Part of the Adoption Services suite, these modals deliver contextual help at critical moments using multiple content types such as text, images, videos, and interactive questions. They adapt visually to your instance's theme (dark, light, or coral) and can be triggered automatically, on application access, or programmatically, providing full control over user guidance delivery.
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Key Features
- Multi-format content support: Use text, images, videos (YouTube, Vimeo), and questions to engage users effectively.
- Theme-aware interface: Ensures visual consistency by matching your instance's theme.
- Flexible triggers: Automatically display modals on first login, application access, or via custom business logic.
- Interactive guidance: Step-by-step navigation with interactive elements like radio buttons and checkboxes to gather user input.
- Progress tracking: Records user completion to avoid repetitive displays unless reset.
Benefits
- Reduces onboarding time: Guided workflows help users quickly learn new features.
- Consistent experience: Theme adaptation delivers a uniform look and feel.
- Flexible deployment: Administrators can customize content and control launch conditions programmatically.
Implementation Steps
- Review default modals: Examine pre-configured onboarding guidance under Adoption Services to understand baseline functionality.
- Plan content: Define the user journey, key information, and decision points for your application.
- Create guidance: Use the Create Guidance form to configure modal settings including name, type, roles, and scope.
- Build steps: Add guidance steps with varied layouts and define order using the Help Guidance Steps list.
- Configure triggers: Implement programmatic triggers through client scripts or use automatic application access triggers.
User Journey
The onboarding modal process typically begins when a user first logs in, accesses a new application, or triggers a custom rule. Based on user profile and history, the modal presents guidance steps sequentially with navigation controls. Interactive questions collect user input for tailored experiences or analytics. Completion marks the end of the modal, records the interaction to prevent repetition, and returns the user to their task.
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.