How To Create A Positive Onboarding Experience For New Users

First impressions count.

Studies show 25% of people will abandon an app after first trying it out, so you have one chance to get it right and hold their attention. You might think that getting users to download the app in the first place is a milestone, but that’s just the start of a process that you really have to nail down for them to stick around.

If you talk a big talk to get new users to your app, you have to walk the walk with a strong onboarding experience that delivers on your promises. In fact, further research from ProfitWell has shown that customers with a positive onboarding experience are far less likely to give up on it within the first few weeks

“Customers with a positive perception of their onboarding experience are far less likely to churn within the first 21 days of using a new product”

Your onboarding process should follow the 80/20 rule. Your primary focus should be teaching people how to use the % of features they’ll use the most, and you also need to explain the benefits of these features to hold their interest during this process. The easier the onboarding process, the more users are likely to continue to use your app. This also leads to better reviews, higher engagement, and even more downloads.

After the completion of your onboarding process your users should be well-versed in the following:

• Your user interface (UI)
• Navigation and gesture patterns
• Core features of your app and their benefits

For example, in Buckets.co our users can quickly create an account with just a few clicks and then follow our short guided tutorial which gets them started on trying out each functionality from the very start.

Start With Baby Steps

Although you don’t want to take too long to get users familiarized, you also don’t want to make them feel like it’s too much of a bother to get set up. Go through a few basic setup steps and then let the user get started with guidance to learn as they go. Remember to back up introductions to any new features or actions with an explanation of how they will benefit the user.

Have A Clear Onboarding Goal

You need a way to measure the success of your onboarding process and having a clear goal makes it easier to do so. Keep it simple and remember to be realistic in your expectations, e.g. “we want 70- 80% of users to reach the end of the onboarding process.” You can keep track of this by monitoring each step along the way, e.g. “reached stage 1, dropped out at stage 2”. This also gives you valuable intel to work on adjusting your process if it’s not hitting the mark.

Don’t Just Tell: Do

Keeping the onboarding process interactive is essential to holding the interest of the user. This brings us back to the tutorials we use in Buckets that encourage the user to try each feature out for themselves before moving on to the next. By learning as they go, the process feels much less like additional “work” and they quickly grow familiar with the UI.

Another good example of maintaining interest in this regard is Slack, which uses the “Slack bot” to introduce users to key features such as activity and threads and explains how these features will function once the user is up and running.

Quickly Get From A to B

It’s important to carefully consider the number of steps in your onboarding process to ensure that it doesn’t take too long for users to reach that point where it all just clicks. A good onboarding process will get your users there within just a few steps and also ensure that users are kept informed along the way about how long the process will take. There’s nothing worse for a user than trawling through a bunch of clicks with no idea when you’re actually going, to get to that “AHA” moment where you can just get going!

Maintain A Strong Focus on User Benefits

It’s natural to be more focused on the technical side of the onboarding process which then leads you to highlight the features above all else. But don’t forget that users also need to be aware of the benefits and returns of learning how to use a feature. Give them a reason to want to figure it out, and they will.

A few good questions to ask yourself in this regard are:

• Why is your app relevant to your customers?
• How does each feature and functionality help them to complete their goals?
• How long will it take them to use each feature to complete those goals?

Make It Fun!

Teachers all around the world have been making learning fun for 100s of years for a reason; it makes people a lot more interested in putting in the work it takes to get the end result! At Buckets we love using Gamification to liven up the onboarding process for our users. When our users get started, they start using the app right away and can compete against themselves or others in their team collecting trophies and points along the way as we continue to guide them through the various features available to them.

In a recent study on the effects of specific game design elements on the fulfillment of primary psychological needs, it was established that gamification systems can be “a powerful solution to address motivation problems… as long as they are well designed and built upon well-established implementation models.”

Don’t Overwhelm The User

Hicks law states that the more options available to a person, the more difficult it is for them to make a decision. If you overwhelm new users with various options and a barrage of information all at once then they are likely to struggle with decision making, lose sight of the bigger picture, and stop using the app. Minimalism is key here; make the UI flow as simple as possible to follow so that it doesn’t alienate less savvy users, but maintains the interest of existing users adapting to a new process. Be strict about your functionalities and watch out for any roadblocks that might be impeding users from moving forward.

Remember: Simple Navigation and Communication Is What Matters Most

Overall, you need to get straight to the point from the outset, use simple language, and make your customers feel involved in the process. You might have got them to download the app but you still need to gain their trust and reassure them that it was the right decision! Once you get to the point where users are moving through the process, keep an eye on it and use data insights and insights for future improvements.

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