The First Impression on the Platforms

Introduction: In the article “The User’s First Impression with the product” we answered these questions:

- What is first impression?

- Why is it important?

- What can we do to improve this matter in our product?

The first impression is the first spot of the user’s journey over our product.

In this article, we will review the user’s first impression on some platforms and see what they’ve done accordingly.

Note this point for this article on end:

According to the data, the closer the user’s Time to active is to his first run, the more likely he is to return to the product in the next month. The first impression is one of the topics that affects the user’s TTA.

Briefly about Telegram:

A cloud-based instant messaging app with over 550 million active users; it would be interesting to know that Telegram has spent nothing on ads and its user base has expanded through the network effect. It is available in 13 world living languages. Telegram is known for its security, speed, infinite cloud space and accurate knowledge of its users.

Telegram Actions about the First Impression:

· Walkthrough: In 5 slides, briefly and clearly, it deals with its unique feature (the world’s fastest messenger), responds the user’s concerns and basic needs, and put their minds at rest.

In these slides, Telegram refers to speed, security, being free, unlimited cloud storage (being always available and unlimited).

· Profile: In order for the user to create and complete their identity faster in the product and to be recognized by their contacts quickly, it has included the adding profile picture in the user’s registration process.

The profile picture increases the probability of being seen or being found by the user’s contacts and receiving messages from them, and consequently the possibility of creating a conversion. As a result, the probability of the user being hooked increases too, which leads to an increase in the chance of the user retention.

· Information Architecture: The first page we encounter after the registration process displays a list of contacts. In a product which is based on messaging and communication, you see a list of friends, acquaintances, colleagues and people with whom you are somehow in touch and interaction. Think of seeing your best friends and contacts in this list; aren’t you encouraged to send a message and start a conversation?!

· Empty State: In recent actions, on the contacts chat page which a conversation has not been formed yet, it has created a number of animated stickers with correct spelling, which encourages the user to send these stickers and begin a conversation. In its recent actions, Telegram has attached great significance to empty states.

· Tooltip: In the first encounter with every single page, Telegram uses tooltips to guide and navigate the user towards the product features.

Briefly About Instagram:

The world’s fourth largest social network platform with more than 1.3 billion active users. This platform was bought by Facebook in 2012 with the aim of sharing photos and videos. I recommend that you listen to Instagram story podcast from BPlus.

Instagram Actions about the First Impression:

· Recommender System: Instagram has paid special attention to recommender system. In the registration process, it gets some information such as the date of birth from the user or provides Facebook account synchronization, and based on this information, performs a minimum of personalization for the user soon after entering the main page, so that the user engages with the product as soon as possible and then “hooks” to the program.

· Profile Picture: Once again in the initial registration process, it tries to get the user’s profile picture; this is not obligatory, but after the first deny, a message is displayed prompting the user to choose a profile picture. Although the lower Mental and Physical Interaction Cost of the user is much better, but that is not everything! Sometimes by rising interaction cost a little more, we create more value for the user and the business.

· Empty State: Upon entering the main page, the most popular pages on this platform are offered to the users so that they can follow them. As soon as the user follows some pages, depending on the topics the pages have, a number of suggestions are given to the user according to the followed topics. There is also a section at the top of the suggested list to sync your Facebook account and a section to sync with your mobile contacts.

· Tooltip: Tooltips are displayed to guide, introduce and persuade the user in a scheduled and detailed scenario.

· UX Writing: Both in the registration process and in the initial entry into the application, the user encounters clear, concise and persuasive writing.

Briefly About Tik Tok:

It was the most downloaded app in 2021 in AppStore and has about 1 billion active users. Most of Tik Tok users are teenagers. It is called Tik Tok because videos are supposed to be short, like tick-tock of clocks.

Tik Tok Actions about the First Impression:

· Sign up: You need to create an account to enter the program, but it has provided plenty of ways to do this; the user can complete the registration process using Facebook, Google, Twitter or phone number.

· Recommender System: In the next step it inquires the user’s interests in various categories and as soon as the user enters the main page of the program, he sees videos based on his interest. Interestingly, after watching a few videos, the user receives smarter suggestions for watching, like merging the selected favorites or displaying the video based on the preferences and geographical zones (by IP checking).

· UX Writing: Tik Tok explains how to use the product in a short, simple and clear way. The user swipes and will see amazing results.

The fact that the user sees their favorite content by swiping, and not only this result does not weaken by repetition, but also gains more power, is a behavioral design which created by Tik Tok through Gamification. The process of achieving this simplicity has been complicated!

Briefly About Pinterest:

An image search engine with about 450 million active users, to search for different ideas in different categories containing billions of pins (ideas). Based on his interests and needs, the user can see different ideas and immerse himself in ​​ideas and contents.

Pinterest Actions about the First Impression:

· Sign up: Now that registration is important for the business, it doesn’t have the user over a barrel, i.e. it can enter this program via email, Facebook and Google account.

· Recommender System: In the initial entry Tik Tok asks about the user’s gender, geographical zone and preferences so that it can surprise or at least hook the user in the first impression, and of course it achieves this.

About recommender system, a number of principles and rules must be observed by the designer so that technical knowledge and data can provide smarter suggestions to the user. Getting the minimum required data from the user with product actions is one of these principles.

· UX Writing: In the writing, Pinterest explains what it is about very briefly and clearly and also it explains obviously why it has used the word “Pin” which may be unclear to the user in this program.

· Empty state: On pages that do not have any contents yet, it guides or persuades the user to perform an action by using a minimal illustration and a UX writing.

Briefly About Bale:

One of the platforms which has paid special attention to the first impression is the banking messenger “Bale”. It has 9 million users in Iran and in addition to various financial and messaging services, it offers features such as card-to-card money transfer without the need for the destination card number, sales content by content producers through banking gateways and gift envelopes to its users.

Bale Actions about the First Impression:

· Profile: In the registration process, the user chooses a profile picture, which can be either a cartoon avatar or can be selected from the gallery or by taking a photo by the cellphone camera.

As I’ve just said creating a profile picture increases the user’s probability of being seen in their contact list and the rest of the story!

· Recommender System: Yes! It has started the system recommender recently; in the registration process, the system asks the user “What service do you need?” And after selecting the preferred option, the user will be navigated to a service for which he entered “Bale”. In fact, it helps the user to reach his goal faster.

There is also a section in the initial login to the main page where the user sees his contacts in this application and encourages him to send a message to his contacts using UI and UX writing. So where is the hidden intelligence behind it?! This is that the priority of displaying people in this list is based on their last presence! It increases the chance of the user’s receiving a response faster, and consequently the probability of being hooked and then the likelihood of returning to the product. Can’t beat that!

· Tooltip: In the first entry to the main page, there are sections which are described by tooltips; these (tooltips) are displayed over time based on their own scenarios, at the proper time.

· Empty State: For empty peers (empty chat pages), it has designed some Empty States that, in addition to beauty, encourage the user to take action which results in forming a conversation and increasing the chance of the user’s being hooked.

· UX Writing: During the registration process and in the initial entry to the main page, it helps the user to engage with the product using clear, concise and persuasive writing. Also, in the first entry and in order to use the different services of each product, it is required to have access to some part of the mobile phone. For example, in messaging applications, if the user wants to send a voice message, the app needs microphone access permission. With an appropriate writing, “Bale” explains the reason for getting access permissions, which both informs the user of the reasons and prevents possible concerns.

Material design says: Encourage your users to take actions which increase engagement and retention in the first 7 days.

After user’s first impression with the product, we have “onboarding”, which overlaps with the first impression. User onboarding is the process of guiding new users to start using the product, and also navigating the user to the purpose for which he entered the product.

Finally, the first impression is not an issue to be discussed only once; it needs to be learned, improved and developed. Also, the first impression is not everything, but this is the first thing in the user’s first interaction with the product. We have a rule called “Peak-End Rule” in user experience design. According to this rule, the user’s judgment about his experiences often depends on the peak and end point of that experience. The first impression is one of these peak points. But what can we care about the end point? …

Sources: Nielsen Norman Group, Material design, Saas Scout