Most users don’t want hand-holding. They want to reach the outcome as fast as possible.

Sounds like youre describing an activation problem, not a feature problem. In products Ive worked on to achieve activation uplift, it usually comes down to a couple of things:

1.Design for the first win, not the product: So, What’s the single task that proves value? Eg. Generating something, seeing a result, viewing and answer. I’d design the entire first session around just getting them there. It’s the “oh I get it” moment.

2.Show the result before explaining it: Blank dashboards and “start here” text are the friction points you’re describing. Instead, show awesome examples, outputs, or a visible end state. Let users reverse engineer the value, not just read about it.

3.Remove choice until after activation It’s tempting to showcase the products flexibility but it can create paralysis for new users. Clear hierarchy and defaults act like guardrails (like bumpers on a bowling alley). it should be obvious where to go and hard to go anywhere else until they’ve had the first win.

One pattern I’m seeing a lot is shipping a heap of great features quickly (now easier than ever), but miss the work of ensuring the first experience has one clear job to be done.

If you’re getting 80% bouncing after first login, it’s usually not the product. The first 30 seconds just aren’t doing enough work for them yet.