S6E14 - Building Habit-Forming Hybrid Onboarding: From First Value to Enterprise Success in B2B SaaS with Ramli John (“RJ”)

Struggling to turn new sign-ups into loyal, paying customers? You’re not alone, and the problem might not be your product, it might be your onboarding. In this episode of Grow Your B2B SaaS, we’re joined by onboarding expert and best-selling author Ramli “RJ” John to break it all down. Ramli exposes what most SaaS companies miss: onboarding isn’t a feature — it’s a full-blown business strategy. We explore how to craft onboarding experiences that form habits, boost user activation, increase retention, and drive revenue. Whether you're a scrappy startup or scaling toward $10M ARR, this episode is packed with real talk, actionable insights, and smart frameworks that will help you turn more free trials into forever customers.

Key Timecodes

• (0:00)-Introduction: Aha moment and onboarding as a business problem
• (0:49)-Episode Overview: Building habit-forming hybrid onboarding
• (1:03)-Guest Introduction: Ramli "RJ" John and his work
• (1:42)-Importance of Habit-Forming Onboarding
• (3:00)-Retention and Profit from Effective Onboarding
• (3:41)-Misconceptions about Onboarding
• (5:18)-The Promise Fulfillment Concept
• (6:52)-Common Mistakes in Onboarding
• (8:00)-Moments of Confusion and Delight
• (9:37)-Goals of Effective Onboarding
• (11:05)-Step-by-Step Onboarding Improvement
• (12:45)-User Case Understanding and Endpoint Focus
• (15:02)-Hybrid Onboarding for Enterprise Customers
• (18:35)-Challenges and Overcoming in Product Onboarding
• (20:49)-Technical Product Onboarding Suggestions
• (24:15)-Immediate Steps for Onboarding Improvement
• (28:21)-Habit Formation in Onboarding
• (30:23)-Future of Onboarding with AI
• (33:33)-Risks and Opportunities for SaaS Founders
• (35:24)-Best Advice on SaaS Onboarding
• (36:08)-Growing Early Stage SaaS from 0–10k MRR
• (37:47)-Scaling SaaS to 10 Million ARR
• (40:04)-Summary of Key Points
• (40:45)-How to Contact Ramli and Closing Remarks