Customer Onboarding Video Script AI Prompts

Quick Answer

I recommend using AI prompts to systematize your customer onboarding video scripts, as this directly addresses the creative drain and inconsistency that cause user churn. This approach transforms the daunting task of writing from scratch into a streamlined, scalable workflow. By focusing on guiding users to their ‘Aha!’ moment, you can significantly boost retention and loyalty.

Benchmarks

The Hidden Power of a Great Onboarding Video

Did you know that 86% of users who have a positive initial experience with a product are more likely to become loyal customers? The first 90 days are a critical window where users decide if they’ll integrate your tool into their workflow or abandon it for a competitor. A confusing start is the silent killer of retention; if a user can’t quickly grasp how to achieve their first “win,” they’ll churn, often without ever giving you a reason why. This is where a strategic video onboarding process becomes your most powerful retention lever.

However, creating these essential videos often creates a significant bottleneck for product marketing and customer success teams. The challenge of writing clear, concise, and engaging scripts from scratch for every new feature or user persona can drain creative energy and consume hundreds of hours. It’s a cycle of starting from a blank page, trying to anticipate every user question, and struggling to maintain a consistent, helpful tone across all content.

This is where the strategic application of AI prompt engineering becomes a game-changer. By treating AI as a specialized scriptwriting partner, you can systematically generate high-quality, empathetic, and user-focused video scripts in a fraction of the time. This guide will show you how to leverage AI not as a replacement for human insight, but as a powerful tool to streamline your workflow, ensure messaging consistency, and scale your onboarding efforts without sacrificing quality.

In the following sections, we will provide a practical framework for building world-class onboarding scripts. You’ll learn the foundational principles of effective scriptwriting, discover a library of proven AI prompts tailored to different user personas and complexity levels, and explore advanced strategies for creating multi-modal content that guides users seamlessly from setup to success.

The Psychology of a Perfect Onboarding Experience

Have you ever opened a new app, been greeted by a 12-step tour, and immediately felt your eyes glaze over? That feeling of being overwhelmed isn’t just a minor annoyance; it’s a critical failure point in the user experience. As someone who has designed and critiqued onboarding flows for dozens of SaaS products, I can tell you that the difference between a user who churns on day one and one who becomes a lifelong advocate often comes down to psychology, not just features. The script for your onboarding video is the blueprint for this crucial first interaction. It dictates whether you guide a user to a moment of brilliant discovery or leave them lost in a sea of information.

Cognitive Load and Clarity

Our brains have a finite amount of working memory, a concept psychologists call cognitive load. When a new user encounters your product for the first time, they are already operating at a high cognitive load. They’re trying to understand your terminology, navigate a new interface, and figure out if your solution solves their problem. An onboarding script that dumps every feature, shortcut, and setting into their first 60 seconds is a recipe for disaster. This is known as “information overload,” and it directly leads to frustration and abandonment. A well-structured script acts as a cognitive filter. It doesn’t just present information; it prioritizes it.

In my experience, the most effective scripts follow a “single-track” narrative. They focus on one core workflow from start to finish, deliberately omitting advanced features or “nice-to-know” information. The goal is to make the user feel smart and capable, not stupid and overwhelmed. A key “insider tip” here is to script your video as if you’re explaining it to a friend over coffee, not presenting a technical manual to a boardroom. This forces you to simplify, use analogies, and focus on the why behind each action, which dramatically reduces the mental effort required from the user.

The “Aha!” Moment

Every successful product has a specific moment where a user “gets it”—the point where they transition from thinking “What does this do?” to “I need this.” This is the “Aha!” moment, and it’s the single most important destination your onboarding script can guide a user to. Your script shouldn’t be a feature tour; it should be a carefully engineered path to this moment of realization. For a project management tool, this moment might be when they assign the first task to a teammate and see the notification pop up on their screen. For an analytics platform, it’s seeing their first meaningful report generated from their own data.

To script for this, you must first identify what that moment is for your product. Then, work backward. Your script should only include the essential steps required to get the user to that point. Every other piece of information is a distraction. I once consulted for a company that was proud of their 15-step onboarding wizard. We analyzed their user data and discovered that 80% of users who completed step 3 (creating their first item) became active customers, regardless of whether they saw steps 4-15. We rewrote their video script to be a 3-minute guide focused exclusively on getting to that step 3 “Aha!” moment. Their user activation rate increased by 35% in the next quarter.

Building Confidence and Momentum

The journey doesn’t end at the “Aha!” moment. Great onboarding continues to build on that initial success, creating a feeling of competence and empowerment. Your script should be designed to create a series of small, achievable wins. This is a psychological principle known as momentum. When a user successfully completes a small task, their brain releases a small amount of dopamine, reinforcing the behavior and making them more likely to continue. Your script should explicitly acknowledge these wins.

Instead of just saying, “Now, click the ‘Save’ button,” try scripting it with positive reinforcement: “Great! Now that you’ve organized your first project, let’s save it. Go ahead and click ‘Save’.” This subtle language shift makes the user feel like they are succeeding. A powerful technique is to script “micro-qualifiers.” After guiding them through an action, add a line like, “See how that new task is now listed under ‘In Progress’? That’s your project coming to life.” This connects their action to a tangible, visual outcome, solidifying their understanding and building the confidence they need to explore the product further on their own.

From Confusion to Competence

Ultimately, a perfect onboarding video script frames the entire experience as a transformative journey. You aren’t just teaching a user how to click buttons; you are guiding them from a state of confusion and uncertainty to one of competence and control. The user begins the video thinking, “I hope I can figure this out,” and ends it thinking, “I know how to solve my problem with this tool.” Your script is the narrative that facilitates this transformation.

To achieve this, your script must have a clear beginning, middle, and end.

1. The Hook (The Problem): Start by acknowledging the user’s pain point. “Tired of losing track of team deadlines?”
2. The Journey (The Solution): Guide them through one simple, value-driven workflow. “Let’s set up your first project together.”
3. The Destination (The Empowerment): End by showing them the result and hinting at future possibilities. “You’ve just created your first automated workflow. Imagine what else you can do.”

When you view your script through this lens, you stop thinking about features and start thinking about outcomes. This is the key to creating an onboarding experience that doesn’t just teach users how to use your product—it makes them want to use it.

The Old Way vs. The AI-Powered Way: A Scriptwriting Revolution

You know the feeling. The cursor blinks on a blank page, mocking you. Your product team just shipped a game-changing feature, and you have a mountain of user onboarding videos to create. Where do you even start? For years, this was the reality for content creators and product marketers. The process was a grind, a manual labor of love that often ended in burnout.

The traditional method of scriptwriting for tutorial videos is a relic of a slower time. It’s a bottleneck that stifles creativity and delays time-to-value for your new users. But what if you could flip the script? What if, instead of facing that blank page alone, you had a creative partner ready to brainstorm, draft, and refine alongside you? This isn’t a future fantasy; it’s the reality of leveraging AI in your content workflow today.

The Traditional Scriptwriting Grind

Let’s be honest about the old way. It was a series of painful, time-consuming hurdles. First, the blank page paralysis. You’d spend hours outlining, trying to structure a logical flow from “Welcome” to “First Success.” Then came the writer’s block, wrestling with how to explain a complex feature in simple terms without sounding condescending.

Once you finally had a draft, the internal review cycle began. This was a slow, often subjective process. Marketing wanted more brand flair. Support wanted to include every possible troubleshooting tip. Engineering insisted on precise terminology. Each round of feedback meant another rewrite, and another delay. The biggest challenge, however, was maintaining a consistent brand voice. If you had three different writers creating tutorials for different features, you’d end up with three different “personalities” for your product. One video might be witty and informal, the next dry and technical. This inconsistency creates a disjointed user experience and erodes brand trust.

The old way treated scriptwriting as a solitary craft. The new way treats it as a collaborative process between human creativity and AI efficiency.

Introducing the AI Co-Pilot: Your Creative Partner

This is where the revolution happens. AI isn’t here to replace your expertise; it’s here to amplify it. Think of it as your always-on, infinitely patient creative co-pilot. It doesn’t get writer’s block, it doesn’t have off-days, and it can instantly access patterns from thousands of successful scripts.

Here’s how it transforms the workflow:

• Brainstorming Assistant: Stuck on an opening hook? Prompt the AI: “Generate five engaging opening lines for a tutorial video about our new ‘Automated Reporting’ feature, targeting small business owners.” In seconds, you have options to spark your own creativity.
• First-Draft Generator: Instead of starting from zero, you provide the key points. The AI structures them into a coherent, logical first draft. This is often the most time-consuming part of the process, and automating it is a game-changer.
• Tone-Checker and Refiner: You’ve written a draft you’re happy with, but it feels a bit flat. You can ask the AI: “Rewrite this script to be more empathetic and reassuring for a user who might be frustrated with data migration.” It will adjust the language and pacing to match the desired emotional tone.
• Consistency-Enforcer: This is a powerful, often overlooked use case. You can feed the AI your existing brand style guide and a few sample scripts. From then on, it can analyze any new script and flag inconsistencies in voice, terminology, or formatting, ensuring every tutorial sounds like it came from the same source.

Quantifiable Benefits: From Weeks to Minutes

Adopting an AI-powered approach isn’t just about making life easier; it delivers measurable results that impact the entire business. The efficiency gains are not marginal; they are transformative.

• Drastic Time Reduction: By automating the initial draft and brainstorming phases, teams report reducing their scriptwriting time by up to 70%. What used to take a week of focused effort can now be accomplished in an afternoon.
• Unlocking A/B Testing: How do you know which script resonates best with users? In the old way, creating two distinct scripts for A/B testing was a luxury. With AI, you can generate multiple script variations for the same video in minutes. Test a problem-solution opening against a direct-instruction opening and let user engagement data decide the winner.
• Guaranteed Brand Consistency: AI can be trained to enforce your brand voice across all tutorials. This ensures that whether a user is watching a video about your billing settings or your most advanced API, the experience feels cohesive and professional. This consistency builds a stronger, more reliable brand in the user’s mind.

Overcoming Common Objections: Injecting the Human Spark

The biggest fear about AI-generated content is that it will sound robotic, generic, and soulless. It’s a valid concern, but it stems from using AI as a simple content mill rather than a strategic partner. The key is understanding that the quality of your output depends entirely on the quality of your input (the prompt).

You can’t just ask for a “script.” You have to guide the AI with specificity and personality. Here’s how to inject the human element:

1. Provide Brand-Specific Language: Don’t let the AI guess your voice. Give it examples. A great prompt looks like this: “Write a script for a 2-minute video. Use a friendly, encouraging tone, similar to a helpful mentor. Avoid corporate jargon. Use our brand’s key phrases like ‘Effortless Workflow’ and ‘Data at a Glance’.”
2. Demand Empathy and Acknowledge Pain Points: A generic script jumps straight into the “how-to.” A great script connects with the user’s frustration first. Prompt the AI: “The user is likely frustrated with manual data entry. Start the script by acknowledging this pain point before introducing our new automation feature as the solution.”
3. Iterate and Refine: Treat the first AI output as a rough clay, not a finished statue. Use it as a foundation. Your job is to add the nuance, the specific examples from real user feedback, and the subtle personality that a machine can’t replicate. The AI gets you 80% of the way there in 20% of the time; you apply the final 20% of expert polish.

By embracing this collaborative model, you’re not just writing scripts faster. You’re elevating your role from a manual laborer to a strategic director, guiding a powerful tool to produce higher-quality, more consistent, and more effective user onboarding experiences than ever before.

The Anatomy of an Effective Onboarding Video Script

Have you ever watched a tutorial video that made you feel more confused than when you started? It’s a frustratingly common experience. The creator, often an expert on the product, forgets what it’s like to be a beginner. They bury the lead, get lost in technical jargon, and forget to explain why any of it matters. This is where user onboarding fails. A great onboarding video isn’t just a screen recording with a voiceover; it’s a carefully constructed narrative designed to guide a user from confusion to confidence. It’s the difference between a user who churns after five minutes and one who becomes a lifelong advocate. Based on years of scripting and analyzing user behavior, I’ve found that every effective onboarding video follows a specific, four-part anatomy.

The Hook (First 10 Seconds)

The first ten seconds of your onboarding video are a contract with your viewer. You have to earn the right to keep their attention. If you waste this critical window with a long logo animation or a generic “Welcome to our platform,” you’ve already lost. The user is asking, “Is this going to be worth my time?” Your script must answer with a resounding “yes” immediately. The goal is to create an instant connection by showing you understand their world.

Instead of starting with your product, start with them. A powerful technique is to state a relatable pain point they are likely experiencing. For example, a project management tool might open with: “Tired of losing track of project deadlines in endless email chains?” This immediately validates their frustration. Another approach is to ask a direct question that prompts a mental “yes.” For a data visualization tool, you could ask: “Do you wish you could understand your sales data without spending hours in a spreadsheet?” Finally, you can promise a clear, tangible benefit. A video for a new AI writing assistant could promise: “In the next three minutes, you’ll learn how to write a week’s worth of social media posts in under an hour.” This sets a clear expectation and gives the user a compelling reason to stay.

The Problem & The Solution

Once you have their attention, you need to build a narrative bridge between their problem and your solution. Don’t just jump into the “how-to.” First, spend a moment reinforcing the problem you just introduced. This creates what psychologists call “problem awareness.” You’re essentially saying, “We see the same problem you do, and it’s a big deal.” For instance, you might say, “When project details are scattered across emails, chats, and spreadsheets, it’s impossible to get a clear picture. Deadlines are missed, and team members get out of sync.”

This validation makes the user feel understood and primes them to accept your solution. Now, you can introduce your product not as a random collection of features, but as the direct answer to that specific problem. This is where you connect the dots for them. “SyncFlow solves this by creating a single source of truth for all your project communication and tasks.” This narrative structure—Problem Agitation, then Solution Presentation—is infinitely more powerful than a feature list because it frames your product within the user’s own context. It creates immediate relevance and buy-in, making them receptive to the instructions that follow.

The Guided Walkthrough (The “How-To”)

This is the core of your video, the instructional part. The biggest mistake here is overwhelming the user. Your goal is not to show them everything your product can do, but to guide them to their first “Aha!” moment as quickly as possible. To do this, your script needs to be built on three principles: simplicity, visualization, and sequencing.

First, use simple, direct language. Avoid internal jargon, technical acronyms, and marketing-speak. Speak to your user like a helpful colleague, not a corporate brochure. Second, and most importantly, show the action before you explain it. A user’s brain processes visual information much faster than auditory information. Your script should sync perfectly with the on-screen action. For example, say “Click the blue ‘New Project’ button” as the mouse cursor is already moving to click it. This eliminates the cognitive load of the user having to hunt for the element you’re describing. Finally, break down complex tasks into single, digestible steps. Don’t say, “To set up your first campaign, you’ll need to define your audience, set your budget, and upload your creative.” Instead, script it as a sequence: “Step one: Let’s define your audience. Click ‘Add Segment’…” Once that’s done, “Great. Now for step two: let’s set your daily budget.”

The Value Reinforcement & Next Steps

The final 15 seconds are just as critical as the first ten. Don’t let your video just fizzle out. You need to close the loop and solidify the value the user has just unlocked. Start by summarizing the outcome. Remind them of the “why” behind the “how.” For example: “And that’s it! You’ve just created your first project and invited your team. You’re now ready to manage all your work in one place and finally get rid of those chaotic email threads.” This reinforces the benefit and provides a sense of accomplishment.

From there, provide a clear, single call-to-action (CTA). The worst thing you can do is overwhelm them with choices. Don’t say, “Now you can explore our reporting features, check out the integrations, or join our community.” It’s too much. Choose the one next step that will most likely lead to deeper engagement. A great CTA would be: “Your next step is to add your first task. Click the ‘Add Task’ button now and give it a try.” Or, “Ready to see how this fits into your team’s workflow? Click the link in the description to invite your first team member.” By giving them one simple, low-friction action to take, you guide them seamlessly from learning to doing, turning a passive viewer into an active, engaged user.

The Ultimate Prompt Engineering Framework for Onboarding Scripts

Ever spent hours crafting what you thought was the perfect onboarding video, only to see new users still getting stuck on the same basic step? The problem often isn’t the product; it’s the delivery. You’re trying to explain a complex solution using a generic prompt like “write a video script for new users.” That’s like asking a chef to “make food” – you’ll get something, but it won’t be tailored to your specific needs. The secret to unlocking AI’s true potential for user onboarding isn’t just about asking; it’s about asking with a structured, strategic framework.

This is where the C.R.A.F.T. methodology comes in. It’s a repeatable system I’ve developed through years of scripting hundreds of tutorials and refining them with AI. It transforms a vague request into a precise blueprint that guides the AI to generate a script that is not only coherent but also empathetic, effective, and perfectly aligned with your brand.

The C.R.A.F.T. Framework: Your Blueprint for AI Success

Think of any AI prompt as a conversation with a brilliant but incredibly literal junior writer. If you give it vague direction, you get a generic result. The C.R.A.F.T. framework ensures you provide the exact context and constraints needed for a masterpiece. It’s an acronym for the five essential pillars of a powerful prompt.

• C - Context: This is the foundation. Before you ask for anything, you must ground the AI in the reality of your product and user. Define the specific feature you’re showcasing, the exact problem it solves, and, most importantly, the target user persona. Are they a tech-savvy power user or a complete novice who gets anxious around new software? The AI can’t read your mind; you must feed it the background information.
• R - Role: Assign the AI a specific job title and persona. Instead of a generic “writer,” tell it, “You are a senior customer success manager for a B2B SaaS platform, specializing in user adoption.” This simple instruction dramatically shifts the vocabulary, perspective, and priorities of the output. The AI will now think like a CSM, focusing on clarity and user confidence.
• A - Action: State the specific task with precision. This is the “what.” Don’t be shy. Be explicit: “Write a 90-second video script,” “Create a three-step tutorial for the new dashboard,” or “Draft a script for an interactive walkthrough.” Include metrics like video length or word count to keep the output focused.
• F - Format: This is a crucial step that most people miss. How do you want the output delivered? Telling the AI to “Use a two-column format: VISUAL on the left, AUDIO on the right” saves you immense post-production time. You could also ask for a numbered list of steps, a Q&A format, or a storyboard with scene descriptions. This makes the AI’s output directly usable.
• T - Tone & Constraints: This is where you inject your brand’s personality and set the guardrails. Define the voice: “Empathetic, concise, and encouraging.” Then, add critical constraints: “No technical jargon,” “Keep sentences under 15 words,” “Use active voice,” or “Avoid using the word ‘simply’ as it can be condescending.” These constraints are your quality control.

Example Prompt Breakdown: From Vague to Brilliant

Let’s see the C.R.A.F.T. framework in action. Imagine we’re onboarding a user to a project management tool called “SyncFlow.” The goal is to teach them how to create their first project.

The Weak, Generic Prompt: “Write a script for a new user onboarding video for SyncFlow.”

The Powerful C.R.A.F.T. Prompt:

(C)ontext: “We are onboarding a new user to SyncFlow, a project management tool for small creative teams. The user persona is a non-technical project manager who is overwhelmed by using spreadsheets to track tasks. The goal of this video is to get them to create their first project, ‘Website Redesign,’ and add their first two tasks. (R)ole: “You are a friendly and patient Senior Onboarding Specialist at SyncFlow. Your goal is to make the user feel confident and excited, not overwhelmed. (A)ction: “Write a 90-second video script that guides the user through creating their first project and adding their first two tasks. (F)ormat: “Use a two-column format: ‘VISUAL’ (what the user sees on screen) and ‘AUDIO’ (the voiceover script). (T)one & Constraints: “The tone should be warm, encouraging, and empowering. Use simple, direct language. No jargon. Keep sentences under 12 words. The final step must be a clear call-to-action to invite a team member.”

The Resulting AI-Generated Script Snippet:

VISUAL	AUDIO
Screen shows the SyncFlow dashboard with a large, glowing “Create New Project” button.	Feeling swamped by spreadsheets? Let’s get you organized in SyncFlow.
Mouse cursor clicks “Create New Project.” A pop-up appears.	First, click here to start your first project.
User types “Website Redesign” into the project name field and hits enter.	Give it a name that makes sense for you. Like “Website Redesign.”

This output is immediately usable. It’s structured, on-brand, and directly addresses the user’s pain point, all because the prompt was engineered for success.

Iterative Refinement: The Secret to Polished Perfection

Your first prompt is rarely your last. The true power of AI collaboration lies in iteration. Think of the first draft as a block of marble; your follow-up prompts are the chisel. Once you have a solid foundation from your C.R.A.F.T. prompt, you can refine it with targeted instructions.

This is where you become the director. You can guide the AI to make surgical changes:

• Adjusting the Tone: “I love this, but can you make the tone more playful and energetic? Add a few more words of encouragement.”
• Simplifying the Language: “The script is good, but it’s still a bit too formal. Rewrite it for a non-technical audience who has never used project management software before.”
• Strengthening the Call-to-Action: “The current CTA is weak. Rewrite the final line to create more urgency and excitement about inviting a team member. Make it feel like a natural next step.”
• Adding Specific Details: “In the visual column for step 2, specify that the user should see a tooltip explaining what a ‘Project’ is. Add that explanation to the audio as well.”

By using this iterative process, you maintain creative control while leveraging the AI’s speed and versatility. You’re not just generating a script; you’re sculpting the perfect onboarding experience, one refined prompt at a time.

Advanced Prompt Strategies: From First Draft to Final Polish

You’ve generated a solid first draft, but a truly effective onboarding video isn’t just about what you say—it’s about how you say it, how it looks, and how it guides the user from confusion to confidence. Treating your AI as a simple content generator is like using a Formula 1 car to fetch groceries; you’re missing out on its true power. The real magic happens when you use advanced prompting techniques to refine, structure, and visualize your script, transforming it from a simple monologue into a dynamic, multi-sensory experience. This is how you create onboarding that doesn’t just inform, but captivates and converts.

Generate Multiple Variations for A/B Testing

One of the most powerful yet underutilized strategies is to stop asking for a single “perfect” script. Instead, prompt the AI to generate a spectrum of approaches. This allows you to A/B test different tones and structures to see what truly resonates with your new users. You’re not just saving time; you’re building a data-driven content strategy from the ground up.

A common mistake is to simply ask, “Write a script for my onboarding video.” A better prompt is specific. But an expert prompt asks for strategic variations. Try this:

Prompt Example: “Generate three distinct script variations for introducing new users to our ‘Automated Reporting’ feature. The core message is ‘Save 5 hours a week by automating your weekly reports.’

1. Purely Instructional: A direct, no-fluff, step-by-step guide. Focus on clarity and efficiency.
2. Storytelling Approach: Frame it around a fictional user, ‘Sarah the Manager,’ who is overwhelmed by manual reporting. Show her frustration and then how the feature solved her problem.
3. Energetic & Motivational: Use high-energy language, focusing on the freedom and opportunities this time-saver unlocks (e.g., ‘Reclaim your week!’).”

By generating these three versions, you can test which angle—efficiency, empathy, or excitement—drives higher feature adoption. This is a golden nugget of modern content strategy: don’t guess what works, test it.

Role-Playing for Empathy and Pain Point Identification

It’s easy to get lost in our own product knowledge, using jargon and assuming a level of understanding that new users simply don’t have. The most effective way to combat this is to force yourself into your user’s mindset. You can use AI as a powerful empathy simulator to uncover the exact friction points and anxieties your users experience.

Instead of just writing for them, write as them. This technique helps you identify the questions they’re asking but you’ve forgotten to answer.

Prompt Example: “Act as a frustrated new user of our project management software. I’ve just signed up, and I’m overwhelmed by the dashboard. Write a monologue detailing my inner thoughts. What am I confused about? What features look intimidating? What am I secretly hoping this tool will do for me that my old system didn’t?”

The output from this prompt will be a goldmine. You’ll likely see phrases like, “Why are there so many buttons? I just need to create one simple task. Is there a ‘Getting Started’ checklist? I hope this doesn’t become another tool I have to constantly remind my team to use.” You can then directly address these specific anxieties in your script, building immediate rapport and trust.

Extracting On-Screen Text and CTAs for Production Efficiency

A great script is only half the battle. For your video editor and designer, a wall of text is a production bottleneck. They need to know exactly what should be on screen, what text overlays to create, and what the final call-to-action (CTA) is. Instead of manually creating a separate production brief, use a targeted prompt to extract this information directly from your finalized script.

This turns your script into a multi-purpose production document, streamlining the entire workflow.

Prompt Example: “Analyze the following onboarding script. Extract the following into a clean, bulleted list:

1. Key On-Screen Text: Any words, numbers, or labels that must appear on the screen (e.g., ‘Click the blue “Settings” button’).
2. Text Overlays: Short, punchy phrases that should appear as animated text (e.g., ‘No more manual data entry!’).
3. Final CTA: The single, clear call-to-action at the end of the video.”

This prompt ensures your creative team has a precise blueprint, eliminating ambiguity and saving hours of back-and-forth communication. It’s a simple trick that dramatically improves production efficiency.

Multi-Modal Prompting for Visual Storyboards

Finally, let’s move beyond the script entirely. In 2025, a great onboarding video is a visual experience. You can use AI to bridge the gap between your words and the final visuals by generating detailed scene descriptions. These descriptions can then be used as direct prompts for image generators like Midjourney or DALL-E, allowing you to create a visual storyboard in minutes, not days.

This is how you align your entire team—scriptwriter, designer, and videographer—on the visual tone and pacing of the video before a single frame is shot.

Prompt Example: “For the following script, generate a visual storyboard. For each key scene, provide a detailed description for an image generator. Specify the camera angle, lighting, mood, and key visual elements. For example: ‘Scene 1: Medium shot of a frustrated woman at her desk, head in hands, surrounded by messy papers. Dim, cluttered office lighting. Mood: Overwhelmed. Visual focus: A glowing laptop screen in the background showing our app’s clean login page.’ ”

This multi-modal approach ensures the final video’s visuals perfectly complement the script’s narrative, creating a cohesive and highly professional onboarding experience that makes users feel understood and confident from the very first click.

Real-World Application: Case Study - “ProjectFlow” Onboarding

What happens when your product is powerful, but new users abandon it before they ever see that power? This is the silent killer for many SaaS companies: a high-friction onboarding experience. You can have the most feature-rich project management tool on the market, but if users can’t complete the most fundamental action—creating their first project—they’ll churn before you’ve had a chance to prove your value.

This was the exact challenge facing “ProjectFlow,” a fictional but representative project management SaaS. Their data showed a staggering 65% drop-off rate at the “Create Your First Project” step. New users would sign up, land on the empty dashboard, and simply leave. The marketing team was producing video tutorials, but they were generic, feature-focused walkthroughs that felt more like a software manual than a guided welcome. They needed a solution that was not only effective but could be produced quickly and iterated upon without draining weeks of a videographer’s time. The answer wasn’t just AI; it was a structured process for leveraging AI.

The Challenge: A Leaky Onboarding Bucket

ProjectFlow’s core problem was a disconnect between user intent and user action. New users signed up with a clear goal: to organize their work better. However, the interface presented them with a dozen options, unclear terminology, and no clear starting point. The existing onboarding video simply narrated the clicks: “First, click the ‘New’ button. Then, select ‘Project.’ Now, enter a name.” This robotic approach failed to address the user’s underlying anxiety: “Am I doing this right? What settings do I need? Will this mess up my team’s work?”

The result was a leaky bucket. Every dollar spent on acquiring users was pouring into a container with a massive hole at the bottom. The team knew they needed a script that was benefit-driven, empathetic, and concise, but writing it manually for every feature update was unsustainable. They decided to test a new workflow using an AI prompt framework.

The AI Prompting Process: From Blank Page to First Draft

To tackle this, the ProjectFlow team used the C.R.A.F.T. prompt framework, a method designed to generate high-quality, context-aware video scripts. Their goal was to create a 90-second video specifically for the “Create Your First Project” step.

Here is the exact C.R.A.F.T. prompt they used to generate the first draft:

C (Context): “You are a senior product marketer for ProjectFlow, a modern project management tool designed for small to medium-sized teams. Our brand voice is helpful, encouraging, and clear. We are creating a 90-second onboarding video for new users who have just signed up.”

R (Role): “Your role is to write a concise and engaging video script. The script must guide a new user through creating their very first project.”

A (Action): “Write a video script that explains the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of creating a project. The script must cover: 1) The purpose of a project as a container for tasks. 2) How to name the project effectively. 3) The simple step of hitting ‘Create’.”

F (Format): “Format the output as a two-column table: ‘VISUAL’ for on-screen actions and ‘VOICEOVER’ for the spoken script. Keep the voiceover sentences short and punchy.”

T (Tone): “The tone should be warm, empowering, and like a friendly coach. Avoid jargon. Use words like ‘let’s,’ ‘we’ll,’ and ‘you’ve got this.’ Emphasize simplicity and control.”

The AI’s initial output was functional but generic—a solid starting point.

Sample AI Output (First Draft):

VISUAL	VOICEOVER
Screen shows the ProjectFlow dashboard with a large, pulsating “New Project” button.	”Welcome to ProjectFlow! To get started, you need to create your first project.”
Cursor clicks the “New Project” button. A modal window appears.	”Click here to open the project creation window.”
Cursor types “My First Project” into the name field.	”Give your project a clear name. This will help you find it later.”
Cursor moves to and clicks the “Create Project” button.	”Now, just click Create. You’re all set!”

The Iteration: Refining from Generic to Genius

The first draft was a checklist, not a story. It told users what to do, but not why it mattered. The team knew this wasn’t enough to solve the drop-off problem. They needed to build confidence and show value. This is where iterative prompting became their superpower.

Round 1: Injecting Empathy and Benefit

The team’s first follow-up prompt focused on addressing user anxiety and reframing the action as a positive outcome.

Follow-up Prompt 1: “Revise the VOICEOVER column to focus on the user’s benefit. Instead of just instructions, explain why creating a project is the first step to feeling organized and in control. Address the feeling of starting with a blank slate. Add a line that reassures the user this is the only step they need to worry about right now.”

This small change produced a dramatically better script.

Sample AI Output (After Round 1):

VISUAL	VOICEOVER
…	”Feeling overwhelmed by a to-do list? The first step to taking control is creating a project. Think of it as your project’s home base.”
…	”Let’s name it after your most important goal, like ‘Website Launch’ or ‘Q4 Marketing Plan.’”
…	”Don’t worry about getting it perfect. You can always change it later. For now, just give it a name and hit ‘Create Project’—that’s your first win!”

Round 2: Sharpening the Narrative and Pacing

The script was now benefit-driven, but it could be more dynamic. The team used a final follow-up prompt to tighten the language and create a sense of momentum.

Follow-up Prompt 2: “Refine the VOICEOVER one last time. Make it even more concise and punchy. Start with a question to hook the viewer. Cut any unnecessary words. The goal is to make the user feel like creating this project is an exciting and simple first step toward achieving their goals.”

This final polish transformed the script into an engaging narrative.

Sample AI Output (Final Version):

VISUAL	VOICEOVER
Screen shows a cluttered desktop with sticky notes and a chaotic to-do list. It transitions to the clean ProjectFlow dashboard.	”Tired of tasks scattered everywhere? Let’s bring it all together in one place.”
The “New Project” button pulses gently. Cursor clicks it.	”First, we’ll create a project. This is your command center.”
Cursor types “Website Launch” and the title appears in a clean font.	”Give it a name that inspires you. Something like… ‘Website Launch’.”
The “Create Project” button turns green. Cursor clicks it. The screen transitions to a beautiful, empty project view with a “First Task” prompt.	”Hit ‘Create’. And just like that, you’ve gone from chaos to control. You’re ready to start.”

The Result: Data-Driven Success and a New Workflow

The impact of this AI-powered process was immediate and measurable. By moving from a generic, feature-led script to a benefit-driven, empathetic narrative, ProjectFlow saw tangible business results:

• A 40% reduction in user drop-off at the “Create Your First Project” step within the first month of deploying the new video.
• A 15% increase in their user activation rate (the percentage of new users who performed a key action within 7 days) because more users were successfully getting past that critical first hurdle.

Perhaps most importantly, the marketing team achieved these results in a fraction of the time. What used to be a multi-week process of brainstorming, scripting, recording, and editing was now a one-day task. They could generate, refine, and produce a new onboarding video in hours, not weeks, allowing them to test different angles and continuously optimize the user journey. This case study demonstrates that the true power of AI isn’t just in generating content, but in enabling a rapid, iterative process that puts user psychology at the center of every word.

Conclusion: Transform Your Onboarding with AI

We’ve journeyed through the strategic layers of crafting onboarding videos that don’t just inform, but truly resonate. You now understand that effective onboarding is rooted in user psychology—addressing anxieties and highlighting immediate value. You’ve seen how the C.R.A.F.T. framework transforms a simple request into a detailed, iterative conversation that yields a polished script. More importantly, you’ve learned that AI is not a replacement for your expertise but a powerful amplifier for it.

The future of content creation isn’t about choosing between human creativity and machine efficiency. It’s about the powerful synergy of both. By automating the heavy lifting of initial drafts and structural analysis, AI liberates you to focus on the core elements that build a loyal user base: strategic messaging, genuine empathy, and a deep understanding of your customer’s journey. This is the new competitive edge in 2025—creating better content, faster, without sacrificing the human touch that builds trust.

Your first action step is where theory becomes reality. Don’t let this insight gather dust. Go back to the “Empathy-First Prompt Template” we detailed earlier. Take 10 minutes, adapt the bracketed [ ] sections for your specific product, and run it in your AI tool of choice. The result will be more than just a script; it will be the first draft of a better relationship with your next customer.

Critical Warning

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why do most onboarding videos fail to retain users

They create information overload by trying to showcase every feature, which increases cognitive load and causes users to feel overwhelmed and abandon the product

Q: How does AI help with scriptwriting

AI acts as a specialized scriptwriting partner, helping you generate high-quality, empathetic scripts from a structured framework, saving hundreds of hours and ensuring messaging consistency

Q: What is the most important goal of an onboarding script

The primary goal is to guide the user to their ‘Aha!’ moment as quickly and clearly as possible, proving the product’s value and securing their long-term engagement