How to Write an Onboarding Tooltip That Names the Next Click
An 8-minute website skill to write an onboarding tooltip that names the next click. One control, one sentence, skip path. Ban get started here. ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini.
Anyone shipping a first-run flow can write an onboarding tooltip that names the next click in 8 minutes: one control, one sentence, one honest dismiss path. Run it in ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini before Get started here trains people to hunt for a button the spotlight never named.
An onboarding tooltip is a pointer, not a tour script. If the tip says Explore your workspace, you never named the click. Exact control label beats a vague welcome every time.
This is not a landing hero in one sentence. A hero sells before signup. This tip sits after login and points at one control. It is not empty-state copy when a table is empty. An empty state is zero rows with a next action. This tip overlays a live screen. It is not a micro-confirmation after form submit. A confirmation names a save that finished. This names a click that has not happened yet. It is not a password-reset email that names the next click. That mail lives in an inbox. This tip lives on the product. It is not a 404 page with two useful next clicks. A 404 offers recovery after a miss. This tip offers one first action on a successful first run.
What you need
The exact UI label of the first useful control, the screen where the tip fires, ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini, and eight minutes. A cold first-run pass on a phone with a teammate who has never seen the product.
Banned before you start: Get started here, Click here, Explore, Discover, Take a tour, Learn more, Welcome aboard with no control name, Tap anywhere to continue, Next with no noun, Step 1 of 12 essays, and spotlight poetry that never quotes the button text.
Write an onboarding tooltip that names the next click
1. Paste the real control label. Do not draft Get started here
Ask product or design for the literal string on the first useful control. New project. Invite teammate. Import CSV. If they shrug, write UNKNOWN and stop. Do not invent a friendlier noun the screen does not show.
Instruct ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini: "Do not draft Get started here. Do not draft a tour. Name the next click I paste as the exact control label. If I did not paste a label, write UNKNOWN and stop. No Click here. No Explore. No Discover. No Welcome aboard. Then stop."
Good: "Click New project." Bad: "Get started here." Here is fog with a spotlight.
Paste brand voice only as "plain, adult, no slang," not as a witty coach that delays the label.
2. Force one action and one sentence
Wire the real control name before you polish adjectives. A witty tip on the wrong button is still a lie.
One sentence is the default. Shape: Click + exact label. Optional short why only when it names a user outcome in under eight words ("to save your first draft"). No second sentence that starts a feature tour. No tip stack of five callouts on first paint.
Instruct: "Output one tooltip sentence: Click + the exact control label I pasted. Optional one short why clause. Examples shape: Click New project. Click Invite teammate to share this board. No Get started. No Click here. No Step 1 of 12."
Good: "Click New project." Bad: "Explore your workspace to unlock productivity." Explore is a brochure.
If engineering cannot name the control, write UNKNOWN. Invented labels are how people hunt for New project when the button says Create workspace.
Keep the tip on one control
Anchor the tip to one hotspot. If design wants three spotlights on first login, cut to the single highest-value click and move the rest to a later empty state. Three first-run tips is a tour costume.
3. Ban the trap words, then force a dismiss path
Generate both languages with the same control label as it appears in that locale. Do not let one language keep Explore while the other names New project. Align casing with the button: quote New project, not NEW PROJECT.
Tell the model: "Ban Get started here, Click here, Explore, Discover, Take a tour, Learn more, Welcome aboard, Tap anywhere, and Next with no noun. Require a visible Skip or Got it dismiss control. Do not force a five-step coach mark chain."
Good: "Click New project." with a Skip link. Bad: "Welcome! Let's take a quick tour of everything." Tour is a hostage situation with arrows.
Name the dismiss affordance in the handoff (Skip, Got it, X). A tip with no exit is how people rage-click the overlay.
4. Cap the stack, then stop the model
Reject progress rails (1 of 8), tip carousels, "pro tip" second bubbles, and related-features walls.
Hard cap: one sentence, one named control, one dismiss path. No hero paragraph. No newsletter gate. No video inside the tip.
Tell the model: "Output the tooltip sentence only, plus a one-word dismiss label if I asked for one. If a banned phrase appears, rewrite that line only. Do not add step two. Do not invent a second hotspot."
ChatGPT will add "You're going to love this" before the click. Claude will soften into "You might want to try starting here." Gemini will invent a help URL you do not have. Cut all three unless you pasted real facts.
5. One human pass as a stranger on first run
Have one teammate who did not write the tip do a cold first login on a phone. Authors forgive their own Get started here. Strangers do not.
Log the final sentence next to the engineering ticket with the exact control label and dismiss string. Ambiguity at handoff is how Click New project becomes Explore in production.
Open the draft on your phone. Count to five. You must know which control to tap and how to leave. If you only see a spotlight and a smile, you failed.
Check these traps: Get started here, Click here, Explore, Discover, Take a tour, no Skip, Step 1 of 12, Welcome aboard. Fix to Click plus the real label. Then send edits back: "Replace only the words I changed. Do not re-expand. Do not add Get started here."
One pass. Ship as draft copy to engineering. If Get started here still sits on the hotspot, you never wrote an onboarding tooltip that names the next click. Stop.
What good looks like
Trigger: You are about to ship Get started here, Explore, or a multi-step coach mark because the spotlight looks polished.
Input: Exact control label from the live UI, screen name, ChatGPT/Claude/Gemini, cold first-run phone pass.
Output: One sentence with Click plus the exact label. Optional short why. Visible Skip or Got it. No tour. No Get started here.
Stop: After one five-second stranger first-run. No Step 1 of 12. No Explore.
Takeaways
- Name the exact next control. Then stop.
- Get started here and Explore are fog. Click plus the real label is the job.
- UNKNOWN if product cannot name the control. Do not invent it.
- Always ship a dismiss path. A tip with no Skip is a trap, not onboarding.
- Tours are optional later. Naming the first click is the job.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I keep a playful tip if the sentence names the control?
Yes, as tone only. If the joke replaces the control label, cut the joke. The named click does the work.
What if product wants a five-step coach mark on first login?
Ship one tip that names the highest-value first click. Move the rest to later empty states or settings. A five-step first-run tour burns the session.
Should I use ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini for this?
Any of the three works. Claude is strict with the one-sentence cap. ChatGPT is fast at control verbs. Gemini is fine. All three will write Get started here unless you ban it.
How is this different from empty-state, confirmation, password-reset, hero, or 404 copy?
Empty state is zero rows. Confirmation names a finished save. Password-reset names a click in email. A hero sells before signup. A 404 offers recovery. An onboarding tooltip names one first-run control on the live UI.
Do I need a Skip or Got it control?
Yes. A tip with no dismiss path traps people under the spotlight. Name Skip or Got it in the handoff and keep it visible.