How to Create a Product Tour in 5 Minutes (Without Code)

Creating a product tour used to mean weeks of work: writing specs, coordinating with designers, filing engineering tickets, and iterating through endless review cycles.

Not anymore.

In this guide, I'll show you how to create an effective product tour in 5 minutes using modern, AI-powered tools—no coding required, no CSS selectors to write, no engineering help needed.

The Traditional Way (And Why It's Slow)

Here's how most teams still create product tours:

1. Write a spec - Document every step, element, and copy (1-2 hours)
2. Identify CSS selectors - Find elements to target (30 min - 2 hours)
3. Build in the tool - Drag and drop each component (1-3 hours)
4. Review with stakeholders - Get feedback and iterate (1-2 days)
5. Test and debug - Fix selector issues and edge cases (1-2 hours)
6. Deploy - Push to production (30 min - 1 hour)

Total time: 1-2 weeks (if nothing goes wrong)

The bottleneck isn't the tool—it's the process. Manual building, CSS selector maintenance, and engineering coordination slow everything down.

The New Way: Record, Generate, Publish

Modern AI-powered tools flip this process:

1. Record your journey - Click through your app once (2-3 minutes)
2. AI generates the tour - Automatic tooltips, modals, selectors (instant)
3. Refine with AI chat - Tweak copy and flow in natural language (2 minutes)
4. Publish - Go live instantly (30 seconds)

Total time: Under 10 minutes

Let's walk through exactly how to do this.

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Step-by-Step: Create a Product Tour in 5 Minutes

Step 1: Install the Snippet (30 seconds)

Add one line of code to your app. This is the only technical step, and it's a one-time setup.

<script src="https://cdn.jelliflow.com/embed.js" data-token="YOUR_TOKEN"></script>

That's it. No npm packages, no build configuration, no framework-specific setup. Works with React, Vue, Next.js, or plain HTML.

Step 2: Define Your Goal (1 minute)

Before recording, decide what "success" looks like for new users. Ask yourself:

• What's the "aha moment"? - When does a user realize your product's value?
• What's the shortest path there? - What actions must they take?
• What can wait? - What features can they discover later?

Example goals:

• "User creates their first project and adds a team member"
• "User connects their data source and sees their first dashboard"
• "User sends their first message and gets a response"

Keep it focused. A good product tour has 3-5 steps maximum. You're not documenting every feature—you're guiding users to value.

Step 3: Record Your Journey (2-3 minutes)

Open the Chrome extension and click "Start Recording." Then simply click through your app as if you were a new user completing the goal you defined.

What gets captured:

• Every click and the element you clicked
• Form inputs and their labels
• Page navigations
• Element metadata (text, position, attributes)

What gets generated:

• Stable CSS selectors that work across frameworks
• Fallback selectors in case your primary one breaks
• Suggestions for tooltip placement and content

You don't need to think about CSS selectors. The AI handles element targeting automatically—including tricky cases like Tailwind utility classes and dynamically generated IDs.

Step 4: Let AI Generate Your Tour (Instant)

When you stop recording, AI analyzes your journey and generates:

• Tooltips pointing to each element you interacted with
• Modal welcome screen to set context
• Checklist tracking user progress
• Copy suggestions based on what you clicked

The AI doesn't just create components—it structures them logically. It knows a tooltip should point to a button before a user clicks it, and a success modal should appear after they complete the action.

Step 5: Refine with AI Chat (2 minutes)

Now comes the fun part. Instead of manually editing each component, chat with the AI assistant:

Example prompts:

• "Make the welcome message more friendly"
• "Add a tooltip explaining what the dashboard shows"
• "Remove the step about settings—that can wait"
• "Change 'Click here' to something more specific"

The AI understands your tour's context and makes changes across multiple components at once. No clicking through menus or editing fields one by one.

Step 6: Preview and Publish (30 seconds)

Preview your tour to see exactly what users will experience. Check:

• Do tooltips point to the right elements?
• Does the flow make logical sense?
• Is the copy clear and concise?

When you're happy, click Publish. Your tour is live instantly—no deployment needed.

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Best Practices for Effective Product Tours

Keep It Short

3-5 steps maximum. Every additional step increases drop-off. If users need to learn more, create separate tours for advanced features.

Research shows:

• Tours with 3 steps have ~80% completion
• Tours with 7+ steps drop to ~40% completion

Focus on Actions, Not Features

Don't tell users "This is the dashboard where you can see metrics."

Instead: "Click 'New Project' to create your first project."

Guide them to do something, not just see something.

Make the First Step Easy

Your first step should be almost impossible to fail. A welcome modal they just need to dismiss, or a button that's obviously clickable.

Early success builds momentum.

Celebrate Completion

End with a success state. A modal that says "You did it! You've created your first project" reinforces that they've accomplished something.

This isn't just feel-good UX—it anchors the value they've received.

Test Different Approaches

Use A/B testing to optimize:

• Copy: Does "Get started" or "Create your first project" convert better?
• Length: Do users prefer 3 steps or 5?
• Timing: Should the tour start immediately or after 30 seconds?

Small changes can have big impacts on completion rates.

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Common Mistakes to Avoid

Trying to Show Everything

Your tour isn't documentation. Users don't need to know every feature on day one. Focus ruthlessly on the path to value.

Using Generic Copy

"Click here to continue" tells users nothing. Be specific: "Click 'Create Project' to set up your first project."

Forgetting Mobile Users

If you have mobile users, test your tour on mobile. Tooltips that work on desktop might cover important elements on smaller screens.

Not Measuring Results

Set up analytics to track:

• Tour completion rate
• Drop-off by step
• Time to completion
• Activation rate impact

If you're not measuring, you're guessing.

Launching and Forgetting

Your product changes. Your users change. Review tour performance monthly and update accordingly.

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The Old Way vs. The New Way

| Aspect | Traditional | AI-Powered | |--------|-------------|------------| | Time to create | Days to weeks | 5-10 minutes | | CSS selectors | Manual identification | Auto-generated | | Copy writing | Write from scratch | AI suggestions | | Iteration | Edit each component | Chat with AI | | Engineering needed | Usually yes | No | | Updates | Redeploy or tool rebuild | Instant publish |

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What About Other Tools?

Different tools have different workflows:

Appcues, Userflow, Userpilot: Drag-and-drop builders. You manually select elements and write copy. Expect hours for your first tour.

Pendo: Analytics-first with onboarding features. Good if you need deep analytics, slower for quick tour creation.

Jelliflow: Record + AI generation. Fastest path to a live tour. Best if speed and PM independence matter most.

The right choice depends on your priorities. If you need enterprise features and have engineering resources, traditional tools work fine. If you want to ship fast without CSS selector headaches, AI-powered tools are worth trying.

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Start Building

Here's the truth: most product tours fail because they never get built. The process is too slow, too dependent on engineering, too easy to deprioritize.

AI-powered tools change the economics. When a product tour takes 5 minutes instead of 2 weeks, you can:

• Ship your first tour today
• Test different approaches quickly
• Iterate based on real data
• Own the process without engineering help

Ready to try it? Start your free trial → and build your first product tour in under 10 minutes.

No credit card required. No CSS selectors to write. Just record, generate, and publish.