In the past, my team and I worked on a dating app and onboarding is a must-have feature that was requested by the client. For existing apps or new apps, onboarding is very helpful and connected with users efficiently.
Onboarding can be used to introduce new features of an existing app or to help give users a sense of what they need to do in order to get what they want from an app or a product.
Why Onboarding is so important?
It’s a process to create the first impressions of an app/product. When users are making an effort to download an app, they initially hope the app will enhance their experience in a spectacular way. They are likely to walk away from an app if they don’t feel comfortable using it or the app is not helpful enough.
Types of Onboarding
The Nickel Tour
When users open an app for the first time, an introduction of the app will be presented with a few quick screens outlining the message that they want to convey to users. Under 10 screens for onboarding is ideal, so that users won’t be overwhelmed by information and graphics.
Coach Marks, Tooltips, and Guidestones
This method can be used from the beginning to the entire experience of a product. Some tiny conversation boxes, texts, graphics, etc. will be displayed on new elements or features to grasp users’ attention about the changes.
Guided Task Completion
This method is to help users when they interact with the product such as customization or creating an account. Helping users familiar with the menus, controls, and other aspects will enhance user engagement and make them want to come back and use the product again.
Things to note:
Apply user research and usability testing to know when and how to use onboarding for the best experience.
Onboarding is not limited to The Nickel Tour, Coach Marks, Tooltips, and Guidestones or Guided Task Completion. It can be a reminder when users forget to do an exercise for a week, or a celebration when users have completed an exercise with a high score.
Onboarding cannot be applied as a template. It has to be customized for different types of users based on their needs, goals, and frustrations. Therefore, building empathy with users based on frequent user testing and usability analysis will benefit the team both on the overall designs and help the team to focus on the right areas that needed to have onboarding.
Make it quick and painless by creating effective onboarding designs that focus on the right areas where users need the most.
Don’t overload users with lengthy onboarding screens.
Allow users to skip or delay onboarding if they want. A help section should be included in case users want to repeat the onboarding.
Here are some examples of good onboarding as a bonus:
