Whatfix vs. Appcues: DAP Comparison

Samantha Rohn
Samantha Rohn
Whatfix vs. Appcues: DAP Comparison

Digital adoption has become a critical aspect of modern business, with studies from Accenture indicating that companies with effective digital adoption strategies experience 26% higher revenue growth rates than those without. As a result, organizations are increasingly turning to digital adoption platforms (DAP) to improve user onboarding, reduce churn, and drive higher engagement rates. 

As the competition heats up, businesses must carefully evaluate their options to determine which platform best meets their needs. In the words of digital adoption expert and consultant, Lisa Anderson, “The selection of a digital adoption platform is critical, as it can make or break a company’s digital transformation efforts.” Two such platforms, Whatfix and Appcues, have emerged as popular options for businesses. 

With Whatfix and Appcues both offering robust solutions, it can be difficult to decide. Both Whatfix and Appcues offer in-app guidance and user engagement solutions to help businesses improve user onboarding, increase customer retention, and reduce churn. 

How do you decide which DAP is best for your business?

In this comparison, we’ll take a deep dive into each DAP’s features, pricing, and customer support of both platforms to help you make an informed decision. 

Whatfix vs. Appcues: Comparing Key Features

Whatfix features

1. No-code editor for creating in-app guidance

With Whatfix, users can create in-app guidance and smart flows using a no-code editor. The editor is designed to be user-friendly, allowing anyone to create interactive tutorials, walkthroughs, and other forms of in-app guidance without any coding skills.

Through a visual interface, the no-code editor enables users to add steps, graphics, and other elements to their smart flows and customize them to their preferences. The editor also includes analytics and A/B testing features, allowing users to measure their guidance’s effectiveness and optimize it for better results.

Once created, the resulting guidance can seamlessly integrate into web-based applications, delivering a smooth user experience.

whatfix-no-code-editor

2. Self-service help and support

Whatfix offers a customer self-service help and support solution that allows end-users to access the information they require without contacting the support team. This feature is integrated into the in-app guidance and smart flows created using the platform’s no-code editor.

Users can easily find the information they need without needing support by providing context-sensitive information and assistance, such as step-by-step instructions, FAQs, and other helpful resources. The self-service help and support feature empowers users to resolve issues quickly and efficiently, reducing the load on support teams and improving the overall user experience.

self-help-gif

3. Product analytics and user segmentation

Whatfix provides a product analytics and user segmentation feature that enables organizations to obtain insights into how their end-users interact with in-app guidance and smart flows. The analytics offer information on user engagement and adoption, making it possible to measure the effectiveness of the guidance.

This data can be segmented based on various criteria, such as location, role, and device type. These segments can help uncover how different user groups engage with the guidance, leading to a more customized approach.

User segmentation also allows for the creation of custom segments based on specific user criteria, which can be analyzed to gain a deeper understanding of their needs. With Whatfix’s product analytics and user segmentation, organizations can make data-driven decisions to improve user engagement and adoption.

4. Feedback surveys

Whatfix offers feedback surveys that enable organizations to collect end-user feedback on their experience. These surveys can be conveniently integrated into the guidance flows and triggered at specific points in the user journey, providing valuable insights into the effectiveness of the guidance.

The feedback collected through rating scales, open-ended, and multiple-choice questions can be tailored to meet your organization’s unique needs. The impact of the surveys can be analyzed in real-time and segmented based on specific criteria, allowing organizations to improve the user experience through data-driven decision-making.

With Whatfix’s customizable feedback surveys and real-time analytics, organizations can continuously improve their guidance and enhance the overall user experience.

Whatfix-self-help-how-to-provide-feedback

5. Multi-format exporting

Whatfix’s multi-format exporting feature provides the flexibility to export in-app guidance and smart flows in various formats, enabling organizations to share and distribute the guidance in different ways.

The feature supports exporting guidance in multiple formats, including HTML, PDF, xAPI, and SCORM, allowing for easy embedding of guidance in web-based apps and use in training materials. The exported guidance can be customized with branding and other elements to ensure consistency across all formats.

The multi-format exporting feature allows organizations to deliver guidance in the format that best suits the user’s needs, promoting accessibility and usefulness. This approach can enhance user engagement and adoption over time, ultimately improving the overall user experience.

6. Multi-language translation

Whatfix’s multi-language translation feature enables organizations to translate their in-app guidance and smart flows into multiple languages, providing a localized user experience that can reach a global audience efficiently.

The platform’s built-in translation tools can easily translate guidance into various languages. It can also automatically detect the end user’s language, delivering guidance in their preferred language. The translated guidance can be reviewed, edited for accuracy, and updated in real time.

Multi-language translation improves user engagement and adoption by providing a personalized user experience that resonates with users, regardless of their language or location. It also reduces support requests over time by making guidance easily accessible to a wider range of users. By providing guidance in multiple languages, organizations can ensure their guidance is accessible and relevant to a diverse audience, ultimately improving the overall user experience.

salesforce-adoption-gif
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Appcues features

1. Visual editor

With Appcues’ visual editor, you can easily craft tailored user experiences without requiring any coding skills. This tool allows you to design and personalize tooltips, pop-ups, and banners, which can serve as guidance for users navigating your website or platform.

The editor provides a diverse range of design templates, colors, fonts, and images that you can choose from to create an immersive experience. You can enhance the experience even more by incorporating interactive elements like clickable buttons, videos, and animations.

A notable feature of Appcues’ visual editor is its real-time preview, which enables you to view the experience as you design it. This feature empowers you to make necessary adjustments and changes, ensuring the final product is perfect before going live.

2. Targeting and segmentation

Appcues offers a targeting and segmentation feature that allows you to create tailored user experiences by leveraging specific criteria such as user behavior, demographics, and preferences. By doing so, you can create personalized experiences for distinct user groups, potentially enhancing engagement rates and driving conversions.

With the targeting and segmentation feature, you can generate user segments using various criteria such as user behavior, location, and device type. This empowers you to target specific user groups with bespoke experiences that are customized to their unique needs and preferences.

3. Analytics and reporting

Appcues offers a comprehensive analytics and reporting feature that enables you to monitor and assess the efficacy of your experiences. This tool allows you to scrutinize user behavior, engagement rates, and conversion metrics, providing valuable insights into how users interact with your product.

Appcues’ analytics and reporting feature allows you to access a diverse range of metrics and data points, including click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and engagement rates. This empowers you to comprehend which experiences appeal to your users and drive the highest engagement and conversions.

Appcues’ analytics and reporting feature also provides detailed user behavior data such as user navigation, pages visited, and the duration of each visit. This data can help identify any areas that may be causing friction and enable you to optimize experiences accordingly.

4. Integrations

The integrations feature offered by Appcues aims to facilitate the seamless integration of experiences with other software and tools that businesses may already be using. This feature lets you link Appcues with third-party applications, such as email marketing tools and customer relationship management (CRM) software.

By leveraging the integrations feature, businesses can optimize user experiences and increase engagement rates by harnessing the power of their existing software stack. For instance, integrating Appcues with CRM software can allow businesses to personalize user experiences based on demographic data, purchase history, and other customer data points.

Integrating Appcues with email marketing tools enables the creation of personalized experiences that are triggered by specific email campaigns. This can foster engagement rates and drive conversions by providing users with a tailored and consistent experience across multiple touchpoints.

TIP: Explore the best Appcues DAP alternatives.

whatfix logo

Whatfix

Read 266 reviews on G2

appcues-logo

Appcues

Read 255 reviews on G2

Meets Requirements

88%
89%

Ease of Use

87%
84%

Quality of Support

98%
88%

Good Business Support

95%
91%

Audio/Visual Walkthroughs

87%
85%
Related Resources

Whatfix vs. Appcues: Use Cases

DAP usage can be classified into two main categories, namely employee experiences and customer experiences.

Employee experiences strive to encourage employees to use internal applications such as CRM, ERP, and HCM. These use cases involve providing in-app onboarding, training, and continuous support based on employee roles to ensure seamless adoption.

In contrast, customer experiences aim to promote the use of customer-facing applications. Use cases in this category encompass solutions for user onboarding, customer support, and other use cases related to driving customer adoption.

Employee Experience (EX) Use Cases

 WHATFIXAPPCUES
Employee Onboarding
  • Utilize Whatfix to create a customized onboarding flow for new employees, ensuring they complete all necessary steps such as paperwork, system access, and orientation sessions.
  • Provide interactive walkthroughs to guide new employees through each step of the onboarding process. These walkthroughs can include instructions, resource links, and interactive demos of important programs.
  • Collect feedback from new employees using Whatfix to improve and refine the onboarding process for future hires.
  • Improve employee onboarding experience by creating interactive experiences that guide them through various aspects of their role, including company culture, policies, and procedures.
  • Personalize onboarding experiences with Appcues to cater to each new employee’s unique requirements based on their role, location, or other relevant factors.
  • Gain valuable insights into employee engagement and progress during onboarding with Appcues’ analytics and reporting feature. This data can help HR identify areas for improvement and adjust onboarding strategies accordingly.
Employee Training
  • Create a customized training program for employees that includes all necessary skills and knowledge, such as software applications, customer service protocols, and safety procedures.
  • Provide real-time assistance through Whatfix’s contextual guidance feature, which employees can access with a simple click or hover to guide them in performing their job functions.
  • Track employee progress with Whatfix’s analytics tools to identify areas where additional training may be necessary, providing valuable insights into employee learning and development for HR teams to tailor training programs accordingly.
  • Develop interactive training modules to teach employees about the most used software, tools, or procedures using engaging elements like videos, images, and quizzes.
  • Personalize training experiences by leveraging segmentation and targeting features to tailor the content to each employee’s skill level, department, and more.
  • Track employee engagement and progress during the training process with analytics and reporting, helping trainers identify areas for improvement and optimize training strategies for maximum effectiveness.
Performance Support
  • Create a library of interactive and personalized walkthroughs to guide employees through complex processes, such as using software applications, completing forms, or troubleshooting technical issues.
  • Enable employees to access the Whatfix library through a simple click or hover when they encounter challenging tasks or processes, providing them with detailed instructions, links to relevant resources, and interactive demos of essential systems and tools.
  • Provide real-time assistance to employees as they perform their role tasks through Whatfix’s contextual guidance feature, giving them immediate assistance and guidance when needed.
  • Utilize Whatfix’s analytics tools to track the most commonly accessed walkthroughs and identify areas of opportunity for HR teams to improve their materials.
  • Develop performance support tools, such as checklists, quick reference guides, and job aids, that can assist employees in accessing essential information or instructions when required.
  • Real-time in-app guidance can provide contextual tips, reminders, and guidance as employees navigate complex workflows or processes. These contextual nudges and tooltips can improve efficiency and reduce errors.
  • The analytics and reporting feature provides insights into employee usage of performance support tools and in-app guidance. These insights help trainers and managers identify areas where employees require further support.
IT Support
  • IT support can create an interactive and personalized library of walkthroughs that guide employees through complex processes, such as using software applications, completing forms, or troubleshooting technical issues.
  • Employees can access the Whatfix library anytime they encounter a technical issue or problem. The interactive walkthroughs provide them with step-by-step instructions, relevant resources, and thorough demos to resolve the issue.
  • Tack the most frequently accessed walkthroughs, identifying areas that require additional support. This gives the IT support team valuable insights into employee needs, enabling them to improve their support materials continually.
  • Whatfix’s engagement features make IT support more interactive and engaging by allowing the creation of interactive quizzes and simulations of real-life scenarios, enabling employees to learn and retain knowledge more effectively.
  • Interactive guides can be created by IT teams to assist employees in learning new software, tools, or systems. These guides can be tailored to various user groups or job roles and can be accessed at any time.
  • Troubleshooting guides can be created to assist employees in resolving common issues and bugs. These guides can incorporate visuals, animations, and interactive elements to create a more engaging experience, guiding employees through each step of the process.
  • Security and compliance policies and best practices can be communicated to employees through interactive guides, allowing them to easily understand and adhere to company policies.
Change Management
  • Identify the key areas of change and create a library of interactive walkthroughs to guide employees through the new processes and tools.
  • Access the Whatfix library to receive assistance for any change-related issues or problems. Interactive walkthroughs guide employees through each step of the new process and provide detailed instructions, links to relevant resources, and interactive demos of essential systems and tools.
  • Leverage Whatfix’s contextual guidance feature for real-time assistance as employees perform their new tasks. This feature can be accessed through a simple click or hover, making it easily accessible.
  • Track employee engagement and adoption rates of the new tools, systems, and processes using Whatfix’s analytics tools. This provides valuable insights into employee needs, enabling the change management team to continuously improve and refine their support materials.
  • Use Whatfix’s engagement features, including interactive quizzes, games, and scenarios, to make performance support more interactive and engaging. This facilitates better knowledge retention and motivates employees to learn effectively.
  • Develop interactive guides and walkthroughs that provide comprehensive explanations of changes, such as new processes, tools, or systems. These guides can be customized to meet the specific needs of different employee groups, ensuring that everyone receives the information they require to excel in their roles.
  • Offer real-time support and guidance to employees as they navigate new software, providing tooltips, nudges, and interactive walkthroughs that deliver valuable tips and information on how to use specific features effectively.
Digital Transformation
  • Integrate Whatfix with digital tools to create personalized and interactive walkthroughs that guide employees through their usage.
  • Engagement features, including tooltips, pop-ups, and interactive guides, provide employees with real-time assistance and support when using new systems.
  • Whatfix delivers contextual help and training materials to employees, such as videos, tutorials, and knowledge articles.
  • Monitor employee behavior, identify areas where employees struggle or encounter hiccups when using new digital tools, and continuously improve support materials.
  • Develop interactive tutorials and walkthroughs to guide employees through the transition to new tools or systems, making the process smoother and more efficient.
  • Use targeted messages to notify employees of changes or updates, ensuring everyone is up-to-date and on the same page.

Customer Experience (CX) Use Cases

 WHATFIXAPPCUES
Customer and User Onboarding
  • A customer onboarding team creates a library of interactive and personalized walkthroughs that guide customers through the key areas of the product or service that are likely to confuse new customers.
  • Customers can easily access the Whatfix resource library when they encounter a roadblock during the onboarding process. Interactive walkthroughs provide them with detailed instructions, access to relevant resources, and helpful explanations to resolve their issues.
  • Contextual guidance feature offers real-time assistance to customers as they use a product or service, providing immediate assistance and guidance right when needed.
  • Analytics tools can track customer engagement and adoption rates, enabling the customer onboarding team to gain valuable insights into customer needs and continuously improve their support offerings.
  • To make the onboarding process more interactive and engaging, Whatfix’s engagement features can be leveraged to create interactive quizzes, games, and realistic simulations for customers.
  • Develop interactive onboarding experiences to guide customers through the key features of your product, using step-by-step instructions, videos, and other engaging elements to help them get the most out of your offering.
  • Personalize onboarding journeys for different customer types based on their unique needs, preferences, and behaviors, tailoring the experience to ensure a seamless transition to your product.
Customer Self-Support
  • A customer support team can create guides that help customers navigate the most common roadblocks they encounter when using a product or service.
  • Contextual guidance offers real-time assistance to customers as they navigate the product or service, accessible through a simple click or hover, providing immediate assistance and guidance when needed.
  • Utilize in-app messaging to offer real-time assistance and customer support directly within your product. With targeted tips, answers to frequently asked questions, and relevant updates or changes, you can enhance the overall customer experience.
  • Integrate your existing knowledge base or support center within your product interface to provide customers with self-service support.
User Engagement Monitoring
  • Track user engagement and behavior on digital platforms, applications, and services by monitoring user activity, session duration, navigation patterns, and feature usage.
  • Identify areas where users may be struggling, encountering obstacles, or not engaging as much as expected using the insights gained from the analytics tools. Based on this information, refine and improve your digital platforms, applications, services, and support materials.
  • Utilize behavioral analytics to gain insights into customer engagement with your website or product, identify areas of confusion, and improve customer experience.
  • Segment customers based on common characteristics or behaviors to create targeted messaging and engagement strategies that address the specific needs of each group, improving customer satisfaction and retention.
Product Analytics
  • Identify critical product features you want to monitor and improve. For instance, you can look at new features, features with high usage, or features that often generate support requests.
  • Track user behavior, including the number of users who complete the walkthroughs, time spent on each step, and clicks on specific features.
  • Use insights gained from analytics tools to identify areas where customers may struggle with certain product features. This information can be used to refine and improve the product or service.
  • Track feature usage to identify popular and underutilized features, which can inform development priorities.
  • Perform funnel analysis to identify pain points and drop-off points in the customer journey, enabling targeted improvements.
  • Conduct A/B testing to compare the performance of different variations of your product with a subset of users, helping to optimize the user experience.
Customer and User Feedback
  • Gather customer feedback at various stages of the user journey using Whatfix’s engagement features, such as surveys, polls, and feedback forms.
  • Identify areas where customers are encountering issues when using your products or services by analyzing the feedback gathered. This information can be used to enhance the customer experience and improve user satisfaction.
  • Identify trends and patterns in customer behavior and preferences using the feedback gathered to make data-driven decisions and optimize your products or services accordingly.
  • Analyze the feedback data using Whatfix’s analytics tools and generate reports highlighting key insights and metrics, such as customer satisfaction and net promoter scores (NPS).
  • Use in-app messages or surveys to gather user feedback on their experience with the product, triggered at specific touchpoints. Analyze this feedback to make improvements to the product.
  • Set up in-app messages or automated email responses to acknowledge and respond to customer feedback in real-time, and inform customers of any actions being taken to address their concerns.
Digital Transformation
  • Integrate Whatfix with digital tools and platforms to create personalized walkthroughs that guide customers through their usage.
  • Utilize Whatfix’s smart tips and in-app guidance features to provide real-time assistance and support to customers using digital tools and technologies.
  • Deliver contextual help and training materials to customers, such as videos, tutorials, and knowledge articles.
  • Monitor customer behavior using Whatfix’s analytics and reporting features to identify areas where customers may encounter obstacles or experience issues when using new digital tools.
  • Design customized onboarding experiences for customers, providing them with the necessary resources and support to guide them through the digital transformation process.
  • Offer in-app guidance and training to customers, helping them learn how to use new features and tools as they become available and offering real-time support.
  • Keep customers informed and engaged throughout the digital transformation process by communicating product updates, changes, and other important information in real-time.

Whatfix vs. Appcues Pricing Comparison

Whatfix pricing

Whatfix’s pricing offers both free and paid plans for its pricing model. The free plan provides fundamental features, such as the ability to create and publish interactive guides, as well as access to real-time analytics.

On the other hand, the paid plans offer advanced features, including analytics and reporting, custom branding, and multi-language support. The pricing for the paid plans is determined by the number of end users and the level of support required. However, the exact pricing for the paid plans isn’t available to the public, and interested customers need to contact Whatfix to obtain a custom quote.

Appcues pricing

Appcues provides various pricing plans that cater to different levels of features and support required by users. They offer a free trial period that allows users to test the software before committing to a paid plan. The pricing plans are based on the number of monthly active users (MAUs) and can be billed either monthly or annually. The plans are divided into three tiers: Basic, Growth, and Enterprise, with each tier offering increased levels of features and support.

Appcues also offers the option of custom pricing plans to meet specific requirements of customers. For an additional fee, users can also access add-on features, such as the ability to translate user flows into multiple languages and personalized training sessions.

Whatfix vs. Appcues: What Do Customer Reviews Say?

 whatfixappcues
Capterra

4.7 out of 5 stars

“The tool itself is excellent – it gives us the means to easily, effectively, and unobtrusively communicate to our users – but the excellent support from Whatfix in helping us make the most of the tool is unparalleled. They take the time to work with us on our own implementation, rather than some boiler-plate customer care that you’ve seen from other organizations.”

4.8 out of 5 stars

“The installation is difficult/impossible without the intervention of a developer. It seems to be a very ‘American’ business in that there’s an assumption that creating experiences in English is enough for most people, support for multilingual flows/checklists/NPS is an enterprise feature – which I find bizarre.”

G2

4.6 out of 5 stars

“Guided user flows have got to be the best feature of the solution. From a multi-country standpoint – the auto-language translation feature not only is uncannily accurate but also saves dollars spent on translation & maintenance avenues.”

4.7 out of 5 stars

“Even though the app features are extensive, the learning curve is also a bit steep for colleagues who are not familiar with apps like this. Also depending on the flow you’re creating, some aspects of the segmentation need a lot of manual work (such as alerts, event tracking, and goals) which can be a blocker, but overall I’m very happy with the level of support they offer.”

Gartner Peer Insights

4.6 out of 5 stars

“Whatfix makes it easy to create end-user documentation and deliver it to them in dynamic ways that meet various users’ learning styles. The user experience both for documentation creators and documentation consumers is drastically improved from pre-Whatfix days!”

No reviews or ratings available

GetApp

4.7 out of 5 stars

“I think overall it is a very good tool, very easy to set up (which impresses customers), has enough degree of customisation to please customers, really unparalleled customer service.”

4.8 out of 5 stars

“The onboarding of Appcues itself was difficult. It took me a lot of sessions with the Appcues staff to get it setup properly on our site.”

TrustRadius

9.1 out of 10 stars

“Whatfix is THE best vendor I’ve ever worked with when it comes to supporting their customers. The support team is friendly, helpful and always willing to listen to your suggestions and ideas. This also applies to the Engineering team who I’ve spent several hours on calls with debugging a few of the more challenging scenarios we have in place. Nothing is ever too much trouble for Whatfix and they are truly best-in-class when it comes to their support model.”

8.6 out of 10 stars 

“Appcues works well for building in-app walkthroughs, modal windows to pop up information to users, and collect feedback from users. It’s very easy to use, but it can be cumbersome at times and you do run into roadblocks that force you to create workarounds. For more purposes Appcues works great.”

Analyze, build, and deliver better products with Whatfix, the #1-rated DAP

In today’s digital age, businesses need to automate their processes and achieve digital adoption to remain competitive. While both Whatfix and Appcues are powerful tools for achieving this goal, a detailed comparison reveals that Whatfix is the better choice for businesses looking to optimize their digital processes.

Whatfix is a comprehensive solution for businesses seeking to optimize their digital processes and achieve digital adoption. Its advanced analytics, customizable branding options, a wide range of integrations, and user-friendly interface make it the ideal platform for organizations that want to streamline their workflows and achieve their digital transformation goals. By choosing Whatfix, businesses can gain a competitive edge, improve productivity, and ultimately succeed in today’s dynamic business landscape.

Discover how Whatfix provides a powerful and intuitive platform that can assist your organization in accomplishing its digital transformation objectives today.

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What Is Whatfix?
Whatfix is a digital adoption platform that provides organizations with a no-code editor to create in-app guidance on any application that looks 100% native. With Whatfix, create interactive walkthroughs, product tours, task lists, smart tips, field validation, self-help wikis, hotspots, and more. Understand how users are engaging with your applications with advanced product analytics.

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