Most people don’t want to talk to support. They just want to figure it out.
But if a product makes that hard, they bounce.
Mark Hedley at adeus understood this before he even launched. Digital wills and legacy planning are deeply personal. If the experience feels complicated, people abandon the most important planning they’ll ever do.
So Mark did something most founders skip: he talked to 150-200 potential customers first. The insight was clear. Some people need lots of guidance. Others just want help when they ask for it. As a non-technical founder, Mark needed control over the customer experience without waiting for development sprints. He wanted to update onboarding in minutes based on feedback, not weeks.
Here’s what actually worked: he built a two-layered in-app support system. No live chat. No hand-holding. Just guidance built into the product.
Now 70% of users onboard themselves within 24 hours. And the support team still has zero headcount.
In the video below, Mark walks through the system in action and shares the principles behind it.
The system handles complex user guidance while feeling effortless.
Mark built this system from day zero. Before adeus even launched, Product Fruits was integrated as the foundation. The target was clear: self-paced users who prefer to inform themselves.
The first layer is built around five key tools, all inside the product:
While the Life Ring Button widget with Hints creates an initial layer of support, allowing users to find the information they need, adeus recently implemented AI Copilot, named Ady, delivering an active, conversational support layer for users directly from the Life Ring Button.
adeus didn’t scale support. They scaled the system.
Here’s what actually happened:
Support starts before users even log in.
One of the top drop-off points was email verification. So the adeus team added a simple Hint that tells users to check their spam folder. That tiny prompt cleared a path most teams miss.
Once inside, Hints respond to user actions. They offer context for adeus’s two main products, Digital Will and Digital Vault, helping users understand what they’re seeing.
Here’s what actually works:
Expanded Hint (Tooltip) with video tutorial and embedded feedback card.
When users need help, they don’t go hunting for it. But they will click a button that’s right in front of them.
The Life Ring Button sits across every screen and acts as the central help center. It’s where users go when they’re stuck, curious, or need quick answers without leaving the product.
Inside the widget:
“More than 50 % of wills are completed on mobile. Life Ring Button scales beautifully on smaller screens.” — Mark Hedley, COO, adeus
Expanded Life Ring Button (Help Center) widget on the right
The Knowledge Base is the backbone of self-serve onboarding at adeus. It’s accessible in two places: from a “FAQ” link in the website navigation panel and within the Life Ring Button help-center widget
It covers the essentials:
The interface is simple. From the Life Ring Button’s search bar, users can enter keywords or browse by topic. AI-generated summaries preview each article before users click, cutting down on guesswork and keeping them focused.
At the end of every article, a quick “Was this helpful?” prompt captures user feedback. Those signals flow back to the team, creating real-time feedback loops that continuously refine and improve the content.
“Based on article feedback, I can update and publish a new article in minutes, improving our Knowledge Base quality almost instantly.” — Mark Hedley, COO, adeus
Knowledge base article
In the “Ady Chatbot” tab of the Life Ring Button, Ady Copilot transforms passive search into an intelligent conversation. Unlike the Knowledge Base or Life Ring search bar—which only summarize internal articles—Ady also draws on external resources, including adeus’s website and blog, to deliver users broader, more contextual help across multiple topics.
Ady’s Key Functionalities:
“I’m not technical, yet I implemented Ady in minutes. Integrating our website and blog was seamless, now Ady delivers truly contextual help.” — Mark Hedley, COO, adeus
Ady’s Key Benefits:
Ady Copilot can be reached from the “Ady Chatbot ” section in the Help Center widget
adeus proves you can scale support without scaling headcount, but it requires upfront investment in the right places. The tradeoff is real: you invest time building robust self-service systems upfront to avoid hiring support staff later. But if your knowledge base is incomplete or poorly organized, AI will amplify those problems. The result: 70% of users activate within hours of signing up and enjoy a seamless, self-reliant experience. Self-serve doesn’t mean hands-off. It means well-built.
In the video, Mark shares his thoughts on the in-app support strategy
adeus is a digital-first platform that helps users manage their legacy – both real world and digital – through it’s legacy planning platform. adeus currently offers two core products, Digital Will and Digital Vault. The platform offers a free tier, followed by flexible paid subscription plans. More at adeuslife.com.
Ready to build your own Copilot? Talk to one of our onboarding specialists to explore your options.
