Problem statement

How might we optimize onboarding to boost conversions, enhance user self-direction, and streamline the process for clearer communication and easier completion?

About Played

Role: User Experience Designer

Timeline: January - March 2023

Skills: UX Audit, User research

Played is a sports participation platform that enables sports providers to create their own digital storefronts to host activities online, manage bookings, communicate with customers, and track analytics.

Research and approach

Primary Research

  • Gathered data compiled by the sales team to understand user preferences and pain points to support research.

  • Observed screen recordings to get insights into user behaviours.

Secondary Research

  • As a part of secondary research, analysed the onboarding processes of competitor products in the same industry or niche by testing them to identify best practices.

  • Relied on UX theories from existing research conducted by established UX resources.

Why is onboarding important?

  • 63% of customers consider the onboarding period when deciding to subscribe to a service or purchase a product. (Wyzowl)

  • 74% of people will revisit your website if it's user-friendly, but 50% of customers will stop visiting your website if it isn’t (Think With Google)

  • 55% of people say they've returned a product because they didn't understand how to use it. (Wyzowl)

Customer journey map

Customer journey map was created based on user interviews conducted which helped to identify different touchpoints which required interventions. It was observed that creating storefronts as a part of onboarding process was a bit time-consuming as it required users to be quite attentive. This prompted the team to analyse the onboarding flow in order to make it smoother and less overwhelming.

Problems and pain-points

While new customers get a demo session of the platform before they sign up for the product, there are still some challenges faced by them when onboarding. User interviews and customer feedback sessions allowed the team to gather insights on user behaviour and pain-points.

Overwhelming Onboarding Experience: The onboarding process presents users with an extensive amount of information without a clear structure, leading to confusion and difficulties in keeping track of progress. It was observed from the screen recordings that about 67% of users find it challenging to navigate through the lengthy flow.

Limited Onboarding Flow Navigation: Users face a significant inconvenience when setting up activities and schedules, as they are unable to navigate back within the flow. Exiting the flow to make changes results in an irritating user experience and disrupts their journey, potentially deterring users from completing the setup. More than half the screen recordings showed this.

Sign-Up Errors: About 79% of recordings showed the lack of password visibility during the sign-up process often leads to users mistyping their passwords without being able to verify their input. This frustration leads to abandoned sign-ups, causing a loss of potential users and hindering the onboarding flow's efficiency.

Solutions

sign up - wireframe

Improved sign up page: To reduce user error during the sign-up process, offer a password view option, allowing users to see their inputted password. Additionally, include social sign-in options like Google or Facebook, enabling users to sign up quickly and effortlessly.

Success screens: Implementing success screens after completing key onboarding steps will provide positive reinforcement to users, motivating them to continue the onboarding process with a sense of achievement and avoid abandoning flow.

Tab with overview of onboarding progress: Adding a progress section on the top left of the Activities page will help users to easily navigate back to where they left off, in case the users leave the process midway.

Progress tracker: Introduce a progress tracker to help users understand their current stage in the onboarding journey. Grouping similar categories of information into sections prevents overwhelming users with lengthy forms, ensuring they remain focused and comprehend the required information clearly without causing confusion.

Preview mode: Implement a preview mode that allows users to visualize how their inputted information will be displayed in the platform. This feature helps users to confirm their selections and make any necessary changes before finalizing the onboarding process.

User flows

High level user flows show that information that was not essential was removed from the onboarding process and long form was broken down into smaller chunks of information to reduce cognitive overload.

Predicted outcomes

  1. Reduced User Errors: Streamlining and simplifying the onboarding process will decrease user errors, while descriptive microcopy will provide clearer instructions.

  2. Increase User Motivation: Success screens would make the onboarding process more engaging, encouraging users to complete the journey.

  3. Improved User Satisfaction and Retention: A positive onboarding experience leads to higher user satisfaction and improved retention rates.

  4. Enhanced User Onboarding Metrics: The improved flows result in higher completion rates and reduced drop-offs, positively impacting overall product success.