Onboarding can be skipped and revisited later
Why it matters
Mandatory onboarding that cannot be skipped traps users who already know the product, already have an account elsewhere, or simply want to look around first. The user-experience taxon treats skippability as a respect-for-user-autonomy issue: forcing every new user through a linear wizard raises bounce rates among exactly the high-intent users who would otherwise activate quickly. Equally, onboarding that disappears forever once completed or skipped gives users no way to rediscover features they missed, turning onboarding into a one-shot tutorial instead of a persistent reference.
Severity rationale
Low because users who complete the wizard still reach the product, but trapping and unreachability cost activations at both ends.
Remediation
Add a "Skip for now" action to every onboarding step and expose onboarding as a persistent "Setup guide" entry in the navigation so users can return. In src/app/(app)/onboarding/[step]/page.tsx render a secondary Skip button alongside Continue, and add a navigation link in src/components/Sidebar.tsx.
<div className="flex justify-between mt-8">
<Button onClick={handleNext}>Continue</Button>
<Button variant="ghost" onClick={() => router.push('/dashboard')}>Skip for now</Button>
</div>
DetectionPro
The detection method for this pattern is part of AuditBuffet Pro.
The full method (what to look for, pass and fail conditions, and how results get reported) ships inside the Onboarding UX Audit. The pattern definition, severity rationale, and remediation remain openly licensed under CC-BY-4.0.
Taxons
History
- 2026-04-18·v1.0.0·Initial import from saas-onboarding·automated