This is not as negative a post as the title may suggest.
But it is true. Especially for feature-rich solution-oriented plugins – like membership, courses, or eCommerce plugins. No one wants to set up your plugin.
They want it to work. They want the results.
But they don’t know what every checkbox means. They don’t know the consequences of making one selection over another. It is highly unlikely that they’ll get it correct on their first time. And that means they’ll likely feel some friction.
No One Likes Friction
When people experience friction they start to second-guess their decision to use your plugin. Maybe they picked wrong.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t have a multiple-tab settings area or multiple menu configuration area. That’s not what I’m suggesting. You likely need it for your powerful solution.
Here’s What I Am Saying
The best experts in the world, when it comes to your plugin is you. Your team. Not your customer.
So if you have already experienced this, if you know this to be true, you have two seriously great options.
The first option is to provide a more customer-facing onboarding sequence to help customers get started. One of my favorites is what GiveWP has done.
The other option is to provide a “Done For You” installation service. My friends at Digital Access Pass offer this and it’s brilliant. They’ll talk with you for 30 minutes (if you buy the right plan) and then have their own team configure everything for you.
Either way, the result will be customers who never start they’re experience with the friction of not knowing if they picked the right plugin to begin with.