Mobile App First Time User Experiences — The Blog!

First impressions are everything, and that goes for mobile apps too. Especially in today’s market, when circulating stats show that apps lose a mind-boggling 80% of their new users within three days, most likely after only one visit!

Much has been said about the First Time User Experience and what it entails. Does FTUE refer only to an initial tutorial, walkthrough or video, which many commonly call “onboarding”, or does it go further within the app, including tips and feature demos, throughout the entire first visit?

We decided that the best way to truly understand what the market offers by means of FTUE, and to see how apps today treat this unique aspect of UX, is to look and learn. And so, The FTU Review was born. (Because like the premise behind a good walkthrough, the best way to learn is by example!)

The FTU Review will cover initial user experiences with various apps, from a new user’s point of view, and rate that FTUE by 4 criteria:

[1] FTU Recognition; Is an onboarding experience provided for new users?
[2] Clear & Concise; Is the experience clear, with a consistent tone?
[3] Prompt Approval; How is a new user prompted for permissions?
[4] Premise Delivered; Did we get what we were expecting?

(*You can read a more in-depth explanation about our rating system here.)

The latest app we reviewed was WonderBox, an educational app for kids, or you can start with shopping app Grabble or Wildcard for news curation.

Do you have an app you’d like us to review? Don’t be shy, send it over!

And let us know what you think of the blog, it’s still new so we’re open for suggestions! At the end of the day, we all have the same goal here — to deliver the best possible mobile app user experiences, and make sure that your/our/all apps make the most of their users’ first time experiences, turning them from one-time visitors to returning users!