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."

Users frequently finish onboarding and land on a dashboard without a clear, immediate next step; they encounter data, navigation, and features but no actionable path. Teams often respond with tutorials, tooltips, or help centers, which fail to address the core issue. The essential solution is scaffolding: visible, contextual guidance on the dashboard that presents the next task, offers calls-to-action, supplies sample or prefilled content, and reduces friction. Proper scaffolding demonstrates value quickly, guides user behavior toward their original goal, increases engagement, and enables users to take meaningful actions from the moment they arrive.

Read at Medium