User On-boarding done right, tips & thoughts!

User On-boarding is the process of increasing the chances that new users become successful when adopting a product. It’s about confirming to them that your product is the solution to the problem that motivated them to find you in the first place.

The goal of a successful user on-boarding should be simple, and gets the user to achieve the value of using the app almost immediately.

It is not uncommon for users to uninstall within the first 30 seconds if they can’t quickly understand the value of your app/product, coupled with the fact that nearly 1 in 4 users abandon an app after one use.

A lot more than just great UX or a product tour is needed to keep users. You also need to understand your customer, and nudge them to take the appropriate next steps.

Every product is unique, and how you handle on-boarding will come down to what you know about your users and their needs, how they learn, and what makes them stick to your product.

On-boarding tutorials are NOT meant for every app as there is no one solution that fits all. It is not valuable if it doesn’t lead the user to the ultimate goal, as immediate value is paramount.

A few best practices

Interview Users
Interview current users and ask what brought them to your app/product? you can introduce questions early on to determine and optimize the user experience based on a user’s specific needs.

This information will give you a solid understanding of your user’s motivations and help design the actual on-boarding flow.

Reduce the friction
It can be tempting to ask a new user to create an account right away and verify their email, but is it absolutely necessary in every case?

Can social signups be used to make it easier for a user to get started?

Can they get value before they even create an account, as you can always ask for that information later.

Show User Progress
Showing a user their progress is another way to keep them motivated throughout the entire flow, as this can also help supercharge your on-boarding process.

When we don’t know how long a process is going to take, it’s hard to commit to seeing it through. However, if we feel like we only have to take 3 more steps to complete our on-boarding, we’re going to do it.

Add some personality
The purpose of sending emails is to keep users engaged and informed. Also use your emails to show the user that they can relate to you and trust you to improve their experience.

Even though users know this, it doesn’t mean that your emails have to feel robotic and impersonal.

Sending an email without a profile picture makes the content seem less personal, as emails feel more personal when recipients can put a face to a name, an easy fix is to add an avatar to your emails.

Its a work-in-progress
However, on-boarding is a continuous process, as your product evolves and your users grow your on-boarding has to adjust with it. And, perhaps even more importantly, how you teach and engage them will have to evolve as well, you’ll also learn more about what works and what doesn’t.

Your thoughts?