ON USER ONBOARDING — STEP 4: STREAMLINING THE PROCESS
Crafting a Seamless User Onboarding Experience: A Three-Step Roadmap
The art of mapping, evaluating, and finalizing your onboarding process for maximum user engagement and retention
The 7 steps approach to user onboarding
Step 0: From First Moments to Lasting Engagement
Step 2: Understanding the users
Step 3: Defining success and its milestones
Streamlining user onboarding for efficient and effective onboarding
User onboarding inefficiency is like driving a cluttered car; it slows you down.
Time is of the essence in the digital realm
Users have limited patience and even less time for complex onboarding procedures. Just as a sports car aims for speed on a clear road, user onboarding should provide the quickest path to value. It’s important to emphasize the “First Strike” in onboarding:
The need for users to swiftly perceive the product’s value
Great onboarding explores strategies to ensure this critical milestone is reached promptly.
Additionally, imagine a sports car without a clear track; it would never achieve its full potential. Similarly, assessing the path new users take during their initial interaction with your product is paramount in user onboarding.
The concept of “Shortest-Route” onboarding
“Shortest-route Onboarding” refers to the scenario where users take the minimum steps to achieve their “First Strike.” Many onboarding experiences are unnecessarily convoluted, resulting in user friction. Streamlining this process is essential for users to grasp the product’s value quickly.
Racing against time for Time-to-Value (TTV)
Reducing the TTV is a critical goal in user onboarding. TTV represents the time it takes for new users to realize the product’s value. A shorter TTV significantly increases the likelihood of user retention.
3 steps to crafting a seamless user onboarding experience
User onboarding is the gateway to your product’s success. It’s the critical process where first-time users transition into engaged and satisfied customers.
Step 1: Map out your onboarding path — The first step to excellence
The journey toward a successful user onboarding process begins with understanding the user’s perspective. To do this effectively, put yourself in their shoes by signing up for your product as if you were a brand-new user. This fresh perspective will allow you to assess each step of the user experience, long before they become fully engaged with your platform.
To gain comprehensive insights, go beyond the traditional sign-up form on your site. Take a holistic approach by studying the initial impressions users have of your product. This includes interactions via Google search, paid advertisements, blog posts, or email invitations.
To illustrate this mapping process, let's consider Instagram as an example:
- Initiating the journey: Imagine you are a user entirely new to the digital world, and your first impulse is to explore a popular social media platform. You start with a simple Google search, typing keywords like “social media platform” or “photo-sharing app.” Instagram, with its massive user base and recognition, effortlessly claims the top spot on the search engine results page.
- Entering Instagram’s realm: Upon clicking on Instagram’s search result, you’re transported to Instagram’s landing page. This is your first real encounter with the platform. Instagram, understanding the value of a seamless first impression, offers a glimpse into its world through captivating visuals, concise content, and user-generated posts.
- Visualizing the onboarding journey: Consider a scenario where you discovered Instagram via a friend’s post on another social media platform. This friend shared an engaging Instagram story. You click on the story, and it leads you to Instagram’s app page in your device’s app store. You downloaded the Instagram app, and in that instant, you became part of Instagram’s onboarding journey.
- Perceiving the value without signing up: What sets Instagram apart is its ability to deliver a “First Strike” without the need for users to complete the sign-up process. Even before you’ve provided your personal information, you can start exploring the platform, browsing through posts, and engaging with content. The value proposition is immediate and crystal clear — you’re here to discover and share captivating visuals.
- Navigating the onboarding path: As you dive deeper into Instagram, you’ll notice that the platform’s intuitive design and user-friendly features make it easy for you to grasp the basics. You can follow accounts, like posts, and start building your personalized feed — all without the pressure of immediate sign-up.
- The transition to full membership: Should you decide to take the plunge and create an account, Instagram has streamlined this process for users to opt for a simplified registration by linking accounts to Facebook credentials or proceeding with traditional sign-up using emails.
Instagram’s user onboarding journey is a testament to the power of simplicity and user-centric design. It demonstrates that by providing users with an immediate taste of value and a seamless, hassle-free experience, you can effectively guide them from their first interaction to full membership. In essence, Instagram’s onboarding strategy is designed to engage potential users from the moment they first encounter the brand, even if that happens outside of the Instagram platform. This approach is effective because it captures users’ interest and draws them into the onboarding process seamlessly, ultimately leading to higher user adoption rates.
Document every step: The blueprint for success
Creating a seamless user onboarding process requires meticulous planning and documentation. You must detail every single step required for users to achieve “First Strike.” This entails listing all fields users need to complete and every button they must click. For added clarity and reference, consider taking screenshots of each step. This visual representation will prove invaluable in the later stages of the framework.
Step 2: Evaluate each step
User onboarding is a dynamic process that requires constant evaluation and optimization. By assessing the necessity, reorganizing for ease, and embracing simplicity, you can create an onboarding experience that not only helps users achieve their “First Strike” but also encourages long-term engagement and loyalty. The journey toward mastering user onboarding is an ongoing one that works toward creating a seamless and user-friendly experience.
- Assessing the necessity: In user onboarding, the fundamental question is: “Do all these steps matter?” We begin by assessing the necessity of each step in the onboarding process. The goal is to pinpoint which steps contribute significantly to users achieving their “First Strike,” the moment they grasp the product’s value.
- Identifying essential steps: Not all steps are created equal. Some are crucial, leading users directly to the core value of the product. These are the steps that should be marked with green labels. For instance, if you’re building a social networking app, having users create a profile might be a green-labeled step as it’s essential for connecting with others.
- Defining medium-priority steps: These are steps that can be delayed without impairing the user’s initial experience of the product. These might involve setting up advanced features or configuring preferences that can wait. They add value but are not prerequisites for the “First Strike.”
- Weeding out unnecessary steps: These are steps that don’t significantly contribute to the “First Strike.” They might be excessive data collection, additional personalization, or tasks that can be postponed. These should be carefully considered for removal to streamline the onboarding process.
Simplify, Streamline, and Delight
When it comes to user onboarding, less can often be more. In the quest for creating the perfect onboarding experience, it’s essential to ask yourself three straightforward yet profoundly impactful questions:1. Directness: Does it guide users towards their “First Strike”?
2. Personalization: Does it enhance and personalize the onboarding experience?
3. Delight: Does it excite users about your product?
Ease is the key to user satisfaction and retention. When users begin with smaller, manageable tasks, they’re more likely to agree to more complex requests later — users need to make small commitments consistently. This is very similar to how video games introduce new skills progressively as players advance.
- Sequencing steps: Consider reorganizing your onboarding steps from the easiest to the most challenging. Start with actions that are simple and require minimal effort. For example, if you’re designing a project management tool, beginning with creating a task might be easier for users than configuring integrations.
- Gradual complexity: As users become more familiar with your product, gradually introduce them to more intricate actions. This helps maintain simplicity for new users while empowering advanced users with additional capabilities. Using a project management tool as an example again, after users have mastered creating tasks, you can introduce features like setting dependencies.
Leveraging the Sunk Cost Effect for Smoother Onboarding
In the realm of user onboarding, simplicity is often the key to success. But what if we told you that making things a tad more complicated at the right moment could actually improve your onboarding process? It might sound counterintuitive, but bear with us as we explore a fascinating psychological concept known as the Sunk Cost Effect.The Sunk Cost Effect is a cognitive bias that reveals how humans tend to stay committed to something they’ve already invested time, money, or effort into. In essence, the more we invest in something, the more motivated we become to see it through. Now, let’s apply this intriguing principle to user onboarding.
Imagine this scenario: a user arrives at your online platform, enticed by the prospect of creating a stunning party invitation. They’ve chosen a template, poured their heart into filling in the party details, and customized it to perfection. At this point, they’ve invested not just their time but also their creative energy.
Here’s where the magic happens. Instead of hitting users with the account creation hurdle right at the start, why not introduce it after they’ve completed customizing their invitation? This strategic delay leverages the Sunk Cost Effect.
By investing effort in personalizing their party invitation, users are now more likely to create an account. Why? Because they’ve already poured a part of themselves into the process. It’s not just about making the account; it’s about protecting their investment, both in terms of time and creativity.
Balancing Act
Of course, there’s a balance to strike here. You don’t want to overcomplicate the process, causing frustration. The key is to introduce the account creation step at just the right moment — after users have engaged with the core features of your product and experienced its value.
- Simplify complex processes: Simplicity can make or break the onboarding experience. Even if some steps are inherently complex, you can apply strategies to simplify them.
- Reduce choices and options: Hick’s Law states that the more choices users have, the longer it takes them to make a decision, potentially leading to frustration or abandonment. Even if many fields are necessary, consider implementing progressive disclosure. Initially, shows users only the essential options, revealing more advanced settings upon request. This streamlines the initial experience, making it less overwhelming.
- Breaking complex forms: Complex forms, with numerous fields, can be daunting. The solution is to divide them into multiple pages. Each page should present only a few fields related to a specific aspect of the user’s setup or profile. For instance, during registration for an e-commerce platform, start with essential information like name and email, and then move on to more detailed business information. This makes the process feel more manageable and prevents users from feeling overwhelmed.
Simplifying sign-up: The power of fewer choices
In the fast-paced digital world, simplicity is often the key to success. When it comes to user sign-up processes, Hick’s Law, a fundamental principle of design psychology, reveals an intriguing insight: as the number of choices increases, the time users take to make a decision grows exponentially. In essence, more choices can lead to user overwhelm and, ultimately, abandonment of the sign-up process.Imagine encountering a sign-up form with an overwhelming array of fields — let’s say, more than 20 of them. Would you be eager to sign up for such a product? Chances are, like most users, you’d hesitate. This hesitation stems from the well-documented phenomenon known as choice overload.
When users are presented with a plethora of options, they often find it challenging to make a decision. Each additional choice increases the cognitive load, making the decision-making process more complex and time-consuming. Consequently, users may opt to abandon the sign-up altogether, seeking simpler alternatives.
The Simplicity Solution
To combat choice overload and streamline the sign-up process, consider the power of simplicity. Rather than bombarding users with an extensive list of fields, focus on essential information collection. This approach aligns with the concept of progressive disclosure.Progressive disclosure involves displaying only a few critical options initially, with more advanced or less crucial choices available upon request. It’s akin to guiding users through the sign-up journey one step at a time. This approach ensures that the information presented is contextual, relevant, and immediately necessary.
Step 3: Finalizing the onboarding process — A collaborative approach
The essence of great Onboarding involves identifying the essential steps users must take to experience your product’s value within the shortest amount of time. By focusing on these steps, you streamline the onboarding process, making it more efficient and user-friendly.
When you feel you have the process worked out, it’s time to collaborate and finalize this list with your entire onboarding team.
- The Collaborative Onboarding Workshop: i) Collect and present the core path that users must follow to grasp your product’s value. ii) Involve everyone, ensuring that every team member within your organization has a say in finalizing the onboarding process. Each perspective is valuable, as it reflects different aspects of user interaction with your product. iii) Encourage open dialogue and ask your team members questions like: Do they agree with the necessity of each step for users to achieve their desired outcome? Are there steps they believe should be added back into the process? Are there any steps they would remove, even if you’ve initially marked them as necessary? Your collaborative efforts in finalizing the onboarding path serve a crucial purpose. They ensure that your entire team is aligned with the user’s journey and that each member understands the significance of each step.
Crafting the perfect onboarding experience is an ongoing process. Regularly revisit and refine your onboarding with the insights and feedback from your team. By doing so, you’ll not only optimize your product but also enhance user satisfaction, setting the stage for long-term success.
Segmenting your user onboarding: A tailored approach for success
User onboarding is often the first point of contact between your customers and your product. It’s an opportunity to leave a lasting impression and set them on the path to success. However, treating all users the same during onboarding can lead to confusion and disengagement.
Segmenting your user onboarding is essential for accommodating diverse user needs and ensuring a tailored, effective onboarding experience. By segmenting users, you can enhance user engagement and guide them toward their “First Strike” moment more successfully.
The Restaurant Analogy: Crafting a Personalized Onboarding Menu
Think of a restaurant with a single fixed menu, offering the same dishes to all customers, regardless of their culinary preferences. It sounds absurd, doesn’t it? Yet, this is precisely what happens when a generic, one-size-fits-all onboarding approach is applied.
Just as a restaurant tailors its menu to accommodate a wide range of tastes, your onboarding should adapt to different customer jobs.
Your customers come from various backgrounds, with different goals and expectations. Ignoring these differences can lead to frustration and abandonment during the onboarding phase
Tailoring onboarding: Serving customized experiences
As your product evolves and attracts diverse users, a tailored onboarding approach becomes indispensable. Similar to a restaurant offering a variety of dishes to suit different tastes, your onboarding process should adapt to cater to various customer jobs.
Instead of a single onboarding path, customize the process for each customer job
For instance, new users with distinct goals should receive unique guidance and information during onboarding. This personalization empowers you to lead users more effectively toward their desired outcomes, just as a restaurant provides tailored dining experiences to patrons with different culinary preferences.
Targeting User Needs
When it comes to user onboarding, a one-size-fits-all approach often falls short of meeting the diverse needs and expectations of your user base. A strategic framework of work is to segment users based on their “jobs-to-be-done,” tailoring your onboarding to specific user needs and preferences, ensuring a more effective and personalized experience.
To do this:
- Segment based on JTBD: Segments your user base based on the specific “jobs” they aim to accomplish with your product. These “jobs” represent their goals, needs, and expectations.
- Tailored guidance for each segment: Tailored paths guide users down their chosen onboarding lane effectively. This will help you to cater to these diverse needs, you provide specialized conversational and product guidance. This could include customized tutorials, feature highlights, and relevant content that speaks directly to their objectives.
The benefits of the tailored approach
By applying tailored onboarding paths to your user onboarding, you unlock several key advantages:
- Ensuring users learn what they need, capturing their attention: Tailored onboarding experiences provide that users grasp what’s essential to extract value from your product.
- Offering detailed product guidance: Different user segments often require specific features or functionalities to achieve their goals effectively. A tailored approach allows you to provide detailed product guidance that demonstrates precisely how your product can assist users in accomplishing their individual objectives.
- Increasing user motivation: One of the significant benefits of segmenting your onboarding process is the ability to send targeted messages. By understanding each user segment’s primary goal, you can send personalized messages and notifications that speak directly to their motivations. This tailored approach enhances user motivation, encouraging them to engage more deeply with your product.
Planning for detours: Navigating user onboarding challenges
While segmenting your user onboarding is crucial for providing tailored experiences that cater to diverse user needs, it’s equally important to plan for detours. Users are not always predictable, and their journeys may take unexpected turns. By implementing “bumpers” both within your product and in your support ecosystem, you can address these detours effectively, ensuring that users stay engaged and ultimately reach their “First Strike” moment with your product.
Much like a restaurant that not only offers a diverse menu but also attentive waitstaff to assist diners with special requests or preferences, your product should be ready to accommodate users’ unique paths and provide the necessary support when they encounter detours. This comprehensive approach will lead to a more successful and user-centric onboarding experience.
Understanding detours in user onboarding
Detours are the unexpected deviations that users may take during their onboarding journey. These detours can happen for various reasons:
- User hesitation: Users might pause during onboarding due to uncertainties, questions, or concerns about your product.
- Technical issues: Glitches, slow loading times, or other technical problems can disrupt the onboarding process.
- Changed priorities: Users may change their minds about their initial goals or jobs they want to accomplish with your product.
- Information overload: Some users might feel overwhelmed by the amount of information or options presented during onboarding.
- External distractions: Users could be distracted by external factors like notifications, emails, or interruptions while onboarding.
The Role of “Bumpers”
To address these detours and keep users engaged and on the path to success, consider implementing what we’ll refer to as “bumpers.” These are strategies, features, or resources that help users navigate around obstacles, get back on track, or even explore new paths without feeling lost or disheartened. Here’s how bumpers can assist:
- Real-time Assistance: Provide users with real-time chat support or access to a knowledge base to address their questions and hesitations. Having a knowledgeable guide can ease their concerns and uncertainties.
- Progress tracking: Implement a progress tracker that shows users where they are in the onboarding process. This helps users understand what’s left and how far they’ve come, reducing the feeling of being overwhelmed.
- Personalized recommendations: If users deviate from their original path, use algorithms and user data to offer personalized recommendations. This can help re-engage them with features or content aligned with their goals.
- Flexibility in onboarding: Allow users to skip certain onboarding steps or revisit them later if they encounter difficulties. Providing flexibility caters to different learning paces and preferences.
- In-app tips and reminders: Use in-app tips and reminders to gently guide users back to the primary onboarding path or suggest alternative routes if their goals have shifted.
- Post-onboarding support: Detours may also happen after the initial onboarding process. Offer ongoing resources, tutorials, and user assistance to help users continue their journey even after they’ve started using your product.
Hope you found this article useful!
If so, then:
- Follow me on Medium
- Become a Medium Member
- Subscribe to hear more
- Let’s connect on LinkedIn
