Test your blank workspace before new users give up
Analytics shows where users drop off. It does not show what a new user tried in your blank workspace before giving up. Tessary runs AI personas through your empty product with zero context, and surfaces where first-time users stall.
Most activation gaps start before the checklist.
Median SaaS activation rates sit between 15 and 20 percent. Teams attribute the gap to onboarding design. The blank session that comes before any checklist is a different problem, and it is almost never tested.
- 15–20%
median SaaS activation rate — teams attribute the gap to onboarding design while the blank session before any checklist goes untested (productgrowth.in, 2026 onboarding benchmarks)
- Zero
existing users who can replicate first-run friction: they already have context, history, and a non-blank workspace
- Most teams
skip blank-state testing entirely, running usability studies on existing flows and assuming the first session is close enough to guided onboarding they have already reviewed
Blank-state testing is not onboarding testing.
Most usability studies run on existing flows with existing users who already have context. The first-run session requires someone who has genuinely never seen the product. Your own users cannot replicate that state. Generic research panels do not filter for first exposure to your specific product type. The result: most teams skip this test entirely, assuming the guided onboarding they have reviewed is close enough. The blank-state session is often a separate problem that has not been tested at all.
Different
state than guided onboarding: no tooltips, no checklist, no prior data
Untested
in most SaaS products, despite being the first impression after signup
Four friction classes blank-state testing surfaces.
These are not questions that guided onboarding flow testing answers. A user who has completed a walkthrough is not in the same state as a user seeing a blank dashboard for the first time.
First action in an empty workspace
Does the user understand what to do first when the product offers no data, no history, and no familiar state? Tessary surfaces whether the primary action is clear or invisible in a blank dashboard.
Path to the first-value moment
Do they reach the moment that makes the product worth continuing, before they disengage? First-run testing maps the full navigation path from blank state to first value.
Unannounced prerequisites
Many B2B SaaS products require an import, a connection, or a team invite before showing anything meaningful. Existing users completed this during setup and do not register it as friction. A new user encounters it cold and stalls.
Configuration assumptions
Setup steps that assume product familiarity the new user does not have, and first-value moments buried behind configuration they are not yet motivated to complete.
Analytics vs. first-run testing.
Analytics tells you where new users drop off. It does not explain why. A first-run experience test fills that gap: you see the reasoning behind the abandonment, not just the exit event.
Analytics alone
Activation tracking without behavioral context
- Shows where users exit, not what they attempted
- Cannot explain blank-state confusion
- No visibility into unannounced prerequisites
- Cannot identify missed first-value moments
- Requires real user volume to surface patterns
Tessary first-run testing
Behavioral findings from zero-context navigation
- Navigation path with decision reasoning at each step
- Hesitation points and failed actions in the blank workspace
- Unannounced prerequisites caught before they reach activation data
- Whether the first-value moment was reached or missed
- Results in minutes, not weeks of recruiting
From blank workspace to findings in four steps.
No recruiting, no scheduling, no waiting weeks to learn where your blank dashboard loses new users.
Configure a zero-context persona
Set the persona role, goals, and product familiarity level that matches your new-user profile. No prior knowledge of your product or workspace.
Paste your live URL or staging link
Tessary runs in a real browser on your live product URL or staging environment. You can test first-run flows before they go to production.
The persona navigates your blank workspace
The AI persona navigates your empty workspace without any prior session context, making decisions the way a genuine first-time user would encounter each screen.
Structured findings arrive in minutes
Where the persona hesitated, what it tried that did not work, and what it missed entirely. Navigation path, decision reasoning, and specific friction points.
Common questions
Run a persona through your blank workspace today.
Configure a persona with zero product familiarity, paste your live URL or staging link, and read the findings before standup tomorrow.