5 UX Tips to Master Mobile App Onboarding

Hand-picked tips to improve your app’s first impression!

Agnieszka Cieplińska
10Clouds
3 min readFeb 6, 2019

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illustration by Igor Kozak for 10Clouds

User’s permanent relationship with the product is one of the toughest things to achieve for product creators. Despite all their efforts, sometimes the journey with the app may end up being even shorter than a one-time date. Data reveals a merciless truth:

1 out of 4 people who downloaded an app never return to it after first use

Of course, stats don’t paint the whole picture, but they appear to reveal some insights about users’ first impressions of apps. The onboarding process is crucial when creating the initial experience. It starts right after user launches your app for the first time. It is a perfect place for you to show your product key features and its value.

However, overwhelming users with information is a great way to annoy them. If you want to lose them in a few seconds, poorly designed onboarding will be a good choice.

But hey! Well-designed onboarding experience increases the likelihood of users’ returns to the app. How to find a golden mean?

hello gif from giphy

Do you want to make users fall in love with your app at first sight? Follow these tips ⏬ ⏬

1. Less is more

This means reducing screens and effort from users. Show the most crucial features, not all of them. Sometimes 5 screens or less is enough. More screens may overwhelm users.

It’s not a secret knowledge — we’ve all been guilty of mindlessly taping dozens of “next” at the speed of light. That’s why you should reduce user inputs to an absolutely necessary minimum. Not everything is important on the entry level.

design by Daniel Tkachenko

2. Users’ value

Focus on users needs. Tell the audience how your app will improve their lives. Show what brings them the biggest value. They’ve already downloaded it — ensure them that they search for a perfect product is over.

Pocket app perfectly shows users’ benefits

3. Let’s play

Encourage users to interact. A series of actions get them engaged. It’s also an easy way of initial user personalization. Gather the most crucial information about the user at this point but in an interactive way.

interactive onboarding from Habitify app

4. “Are we there yet?”

Only a few of us prefer neverending journeys over the feeling of progress. Users may drop the app when the ending of the onboarding is unknown. Just show the progress bar to give them a hint when the process will be over.

design by Dreamworks

and last but not least…

5. Hello!

Welcome your users! It’s as easy is it says. The hello message makes them feel more welcomed to an application.

various welcome screens

Try to follow some of these rules to make the perfect first impression on users. Let’s keep them hungry for the value that you will deliver to them by your product.

Be sure to check out all of our design articles. If you’re looking for a design team based in Poland, visit our website! And if you enjoyed reading, clap to show appreciation 👏

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