Diagnosing Onboarding: Psychological Shifts and Causal Chain

Hosted by John Gusiff and Krzysztof Czubak

56 students

In this video

What you'll learn

Why onboarding stalls — even when the steps look simple

Discover how hidden beliefs, uncertainty, and perceived risk cause users to hesitate, pause, or abandon onboarding.

Workflow Thinking vs. Causal Chain Thinking

Learn why optimizing steps and funnels often misses the real drivers of behavior — and how causal chain thinking reveals

The Psychological Shifts Behind User Progress

Understand the key shifts users must experience — from trust to fit, confidence, value, commitment, and reliance.

Auditing a Lovable Vibe-Coded B2B Onboarding Flow

A real onboarding audit using three core causal questions focused on feasibility, sequencing, and behavioral barriers.

Designing onboarding for psychological momentum

How intentional design interventions create confidence-building moments that help users feel progress, commit to product

Why this topic matters

Most onboarding doesn’t fail because steps are confusing — it fails because workflow thinking ignores how people decide under uncertainty. Users move forward only when key psychological shifts occur: belief the product will work and confidence the risk is manageable. Causal Chain Thinking reveals the beliefs and barriers shaping behavior. In this session, you’ll learn how to apply these methods.

You'll learn from

John Gusiff

Managing Partner, Customer Centric LLC

John is a Make It Toolkit–certified behavioral design strategist specializing in JTBD, GTM strategy, brand positioning, and experience design. He helps companies translate behavioral insights into systems that drive customer progress, advocacy, and loyalty.

Krzysztof Czubak

Founder UserMindful.Design and Behavior System Architect

KC is a Behavior Design Expert trained under BJ Fogg at Stanford’s Behavior Design Lab, with a strong focus on systems thinking and how human behavior operates within interconnected systems and business environments.

Go deeper with a course

Choosing the Right JTBD Framework for Growth, Product, and Experience
JOHN GUSIFF
View syllabus