Your users don't need training. They need scaffolding.

"I had a client recently whose biggest issue was that users would get to the product dashboard and just... not know what to do. This is one of the most common problems I see in my consulting work, and it's almost never what the client thinks it is. They assume users need tutorials. They need tooltips. They need a help center with FAQ articles. What they actually need is scaffolding."

"Here's what typically happens. A user signs up for your product, presumably because they want something it offers. They complete onboarding. They land on the dashboard. And then... nothing. They see data (or worse, no data because they haven't done anything yet). They see navigation options. They see features. But they don't see a next step. They don't know what action to take right now, in this moment, to move toward the goal that brought them to your product in the first place."

New users frequently arrive at product dashboards after onboarding and face uncertainty about what to do next. Dashboards often display data, navigation, and features but lack a clear immediate action for the user to progress toward their goal. Clients commonly assume that tutorials, tooltips, or help center articles will solve the problem. The actual requirement is scaffolding: contextual guidance that directs the user to the next step and enables progress. Effective scaffolding reduces confusion, increases user engagement, and converts initial interest into meaningful product use by providing actionable, moment-specific direction on the dashboard.

Read at Medium