Like me, most of us had the task of creating forms as an assignment in our first programming class. At that juncture, the teachers aim to equip you with programming foundations, not design foundations. Unfortunately, I picked up the habit of developing with little regard for the user experience assuming templates are the holy grail of how everything was meant to be, It's safe to say I had a sign-in form that partially worked. In hindsight, I can understand the disconnect it had from the user and the pain points it created.

When creating a product for the digital space, a first impression is the most important

In this article, I hope to help non-designers and newbies understand the onboarding process on any platform, with a focus on mobile applications.

All about user onboarding

User onboarding is the process of teaching users how to use your product, thereby assisting them in achieving their goals. The process begins the moment users step into your digital product. Their experience interacting with your user interface creates a relationship between them and your product.

Some designers commonly confuse a product tour with an onboarding process. Technically, they are not wrong; however, for clarity, a product tour is a type of onboarding pattern. For now, it is important to understand that the onboarding process has to achieve the following:

1. Give the user an understanding of your product’s value.

2. Equip the user with the necessary information needed to achieve their goal.

3. Create a good first impression.

When creating your product, it is important to determine the overall effectiveness of an onboarding process for the overall product flow. For instance, if you are building a recipe website, would you require first-time users to log in first before setting up an account? The answer would probably be no. This takes the user away from the site. What would be the reason one needs an account? However, when returning users want to bookmark their favourite recipes, it makes sense to have them set up an account for easier access.

Factors to consider when creating an onboarding process

In addition to the one mentioned above, there are other considerations you can make when curating the onboarding process.

Understanding the user behaviour

What is the typical environment your user would be exposed to, and how would that affect how they interact with your product? Does it take away their attention?

Product constraints.

Understand the natural constraints associated with your product. For instance, when comparing onboarding on the web and mobile, each of these platforms has its own downsides. With mobile, you have to consider the manner in which you structure the information on a smaller screen in a manner that is not overwhelming enough to send the user away.

Personalisation opportunities.

Ask yourself how you can ensure your users get a personal experience when engaging with your product. How can you capture and maintain their interest?

Use of status reports.

When walking your users through your onboarding process, consider having a progress indicator that shows them where they are along the process. More often than not, users are more likely to stick to the process when they can visualise how far along they are.

Best practices when onboarding users

There are several known patterns that are commonly used to design an onboarding process, as discussed here. One thing that is common about them all is the notable best practices they employ. They include:

Keeping the onboarding screen concise.

The goal is to keep it to a maximum of 5 steps. The main aim of onboarding is effective communication about your product. Having too many steps is a sign that you are not engaging in effective communication.

Use gamification to engage your users.

Gamification is the use of gameplay mechanics for non-gaming applications to encourage specific behaviours and outcomes. By using these mechanics, your users get to associate meaning with the onboarding experience. Furthermore, it encourages exploration.

Include third-party sign-in options to simplify the process.

Allowing users to connect their accounts reduces their reliance on memory for login details and hastens the setup process.

Only ask for relevant information.

Today, information is power, and users are reluctant to submit information if they assume it does not serve any purpose in achieving their goal. A good practice would be explaining the information needed and what it will be used for in order to gain user confidence. Also, remember to maintain the privacy and confidentiality of their data.

Measuring the success of an onboarding process

We know what onboarding is and how to optimise the process. It is important to highlight how its success is measured.

1. Assessing the retention rate. These are the users who repeatedly use your product. Having a higher retention rate is a good indicator of a successful process. Additionally, this metric can be used to understand what keeps the users onsite.

2. Engagement rate assessment looks at the percentage of users who actively use your product over a period of time. This helps in determining how changes made to onboarding can affect user interaction.

3. Completion rate. When users fail to complete the onboarding process that is a conversion that does not happen. Here it is necessary to identify the pain points that are causing the high rate of dropout

Parting shot

Every design decision has a reason, and it should work towards making the user experience better. It is always good practice to ask yourself why. Give an assessment, review and feedback on this article