Frustration-less User Onboarding
Great onboarding book by Intercom summarized:
A successful onboarding flow is not about cheap and quick wins like changing the colour of a button but about enabling the user to experience the magic moment faster. That is what turns them into loyal customers.
Understand functional personal and social goals. Onboarding is not a one time function but a continuous process throughout lifecycle of the product.its about changing people’s behaviour. Your users are frustrated doing something & are hoping to do it better,make sure you show that.
Competencies: 1. UI design patterns: don’t just show a list of favourite features, drive towards success 2. Contextual content: where, what and how customers encounter content is critical. 3. Contextual communication: communication/in app messaging skills be well timed.
Framework: once a customer signs up, show them the value ASAP. Paying you is not deriving value, value is your core proposition to user. Be proactive in retaining customers. Expand their usage to other products.
Interviewing is the best way to understand their frustration and emotions deeply. Understanding what ticks your budget holders can help ensure things move swiftly.
Do content led onboarding. Narrative is the structure you put in place that dictates the story of your product. Bad narratives focus on the product. characteristics include as lack of clarity, too abstract or detailed, no structure, too long, doesn’t deliver on promises.
Great narratives focus on the users’ needs. People don’t buy products, they buy better versions of themselves. Elements: 1. Set Situation & context 2. Comment on motivation to user the product 3. Write actions taken 4. Write desired outcomes & proof points.
Elements of effective onboarding: 1. A welcome mesage 2. Identity for the company/product 3. A problem to be solved 4. At least 1 value proposition 5. How to use product 6. Call to action Use voice and tone that shows personality of the product.
Buyer’s model AIDA Attention-interest-decision-action For digital it’s AIAD instead because companies try to sign you up for free trial before conversion.Focus on the job the users want to do, show not tell and remove the non essential. Let’s say you have 15 seconds to show value.
UI design patterns: Welcome message should be front and center.Empty state should not be empty but guide the user to action with tips.Tooltips are text labels when you hover.Use them sparingly. Interactive tours are great at helping users know your product,get over disorientation.
Strengthen the pull towards the product by showing benefits. Understand the push by understanding the pain points. For products with multiple stakeholders, make it useful for all. Highlight features relevant to each separately.
Onboarding groups is fundamentally different from onboarding individuals. Series of steps can break easily for groups of people. Maybe different people do different tasks. Provide escape hatches. Identify an onboarding leader and empower them.
Make onboarding components modular and consistent. Identify a single team to take responsibility. This team had the responsibility of working with every single team on building the onboarding process.
Onboarding never stops. Gradually exist features over time. Anticipate the next needs of your engaged users. Activate reluctant users and help them form useful habits by integrating with many platforms. Reactivate dormant users with one time deals etc.
Lastly, customer retention is the new conversion. High retention is based on great onboarding experiences. Know when to optimise and when to redesign. Always go back to your users’needs.
