There's a trend today among the Web's experience optimization mavens - improving the way in which new users are introduced and exposed to the product or service - and it (onboarding) is yielding very positive results.
Any responsible for the acquisition and retention of users will tell you that one of their biggest challenges is converting the "new" into the "active." The practice of "onboarding" as it is commonly referred to exposes the product's value by guiding them through the most important features of your website (or application).
The result is lower support costs and increased revenue (since those users know exactly what to do since they've been educated on the essential processes), which is something most - if not all - are certainly going to be quite interested in.
There are plenty of high-powered solutions on the market today which specialize in technology exclusively for the purpose of onboarding. Companies including AppCues, WalkMe, Tutorialize, WalkHub, TourMyApp, Nickelled, Iridize and others provide very powerful services at a range of price points suitable for most brands - be they small or large. For those without access to funds for an onboarding initiative, consider the followign incredibly useful free solutions for engaging in a campaign to optimize the new user experience.
HopScotch: Another really easy-to-implement framework for adding product tours to pages.
TourTip: A small and simple library for creating an interactive visual guide to elements on Web pages.
Joyride: (EDITOR'S PICK) A really easy (and free) way to implement jQuery plugin from Zurb for creating a cross-browser compatible feature tour.