Editorial
The Gist
- User onboarding insight. Effective user onboarding prevents customer churn by addressing initial discomforts, ensuring a positive first impression.
- Best practices revealed. User onboarding best practices include fast load times, avoiding signup walls, and ensuring cultural sensitivity for broad appeal.
- Examples to follow. User onboarding examples show the importance of support for assistive technology, consistent messaging and reflecting brand values.
Editor's note: We're going to take a deep look at some user onboarding problems and best practices. This is part of a series of articles on user onboarding from Himanshu Sharma.
Last night, I ordered spaghetti bolognese from a food delivery app. I was excited to eat it because it was my cheat day. But when the food arrived, it was wrapped in so much tape that it took me five minutes to open it. By the time I finally got to eat it, I wasn't as hungry anymore. I was also disappointed because the packaging was so wasteful.
In the digital world, if I had installed an app and I didn't like it, I could just delete the app from my phone. It would be much easier than returning food in the physical world. That’s how swift customer churn can happen in the digital world. One small discomfort, and you risk losing a user.
Related Article: What Is User Experience (UX) Design?
A Good First Impression Can Have a Positive Effect on the Moment of Truth and User Onboarding
In the context of marketing and customer experience, the "moment of truth" (MOT) is any interaction between a customer and a brand that has the potential to significantly impact the customer's perception of that brand. These interactions can occur at any point along the customer journey, from the initial awareness stage to the post-purchase phase.
The moment of truth is a critical aspect of the customer experience, particularly for newly installed apps. It is the first impression that users have of an app, and it can have a significant impact on whether or not they continue to use it. A positive MOT can lead to increased user engagement, loyalty and advocacy, while a negative MOT can result in app abandonment and negative reviews.
Moment of Truth Impact on Newly Installed App
A lot of things can impact Moment of Truth on a newly installed app, such as user onboarding, app performance, user interface, customer support and a host of other things. However, since we are focusing on user onboarding in this article, let's see some of the obvious roadblocks during user onboarding especially for a generation who is super-informed.
Poor Load Time
Here’s an interesting study from Radware's 2022 Web Performance Report. The study analyzed 12 million real-world web performance transactions across 12 industries and found that:
- New users are more sensitive to load times: 79% of new users would abandon a website that takes more than five seconds to load, compared to 43% of existing users.
- Conversion rates decrease with increasing load times: For every additional second of load time, conversion rates decrease by 20%.
- The impact of load time is more significant on mobile devices: 82% of mobile users would abandon a website that takes more than 5 seconds to load, compared to 73% of desktop users.
The above study shows how load time can have a negative impact and can lead to customer churn especially its negative impact and poor brand perception for new users.
Signup Walls
Prioritizing immediate user sign-ups over a smooth user onboarding experience might lead to an initial boost in acquisition numbers but can result in a significant drop in long-term user retention.
Not to mention, in one of the recent studies it was observed forced sign ups cause 88% of users to lie and around 54% to leave.
Here’s an even interesting report:
Localytics 2022 Mobile App Engagement Report: The report analyzed mobile app data from over 250 million devices and found that:
- Signup walls can reduce first-time app usage by up to 30%.
- Apps that require users to sign up before they can use any features see a 22% decrease in user engagement.
Apps with a frictionless user onboarding process, such as those that allow users to sign up later, have a 15% higher retention rate.
Lack of Inclusion
People come to your app with different regional, cultural or language backgrounds. It is therefore important that content, user interface elements and components respect these cultural differences so as to not offend a particular user group.
Take for example, WeChat, a popular Chinese app that uses a red envelope icon which signifies luck and prosperity in Chinese culture. However, that didn’t go well with Western culture, which perceives the color red as dangerous. As a result, WeChat has lost users in some international markets. In fact, a 2022 report by Sensor Tower found that WeChat's app downloads have declined by 15% in the United States since 2021. The report attributed this decline to a number of factors, including the app's lack of cultural sensitivity.
Another case is Robinhood, a popular stock trading app that has been praised for its user-friendly interface and commission-free trades. However, the app has also been criticized for its lack of diversity and inclusion. In particular, the app's user onboarding process has been found to be exclusionary to certain groups of users, such as those with disabilities and those who are not familiar with financial terminology.
A 2022 study by the Center for Inclusive Design found that Robinhood's user onboarding process is "not accessible to all users." The study found that the app's use of jargon and complex financial terms makes it difficult for users with low financial literacy to understand. Additionally, the study found that the app's use of color and contrast makes it difficult for users with visual impairments to use.
As a result of these findings, Robinhood has been losing new users. In fact, a 2023 report by App Annie found that Robinhood's app installs have declined by 20% since 2021. The report attributed this decline to a number of factors, including the app's lack of inclusion.
According to Statista, there were 204 billion apps downloaded in 2019. And that number was 255 billion in 2022. Additionally, mobile apps are projected to generate more than $613 billion in revenues in 2025. And according to the 2023 AppsFlyer report, 49% of downloaded apps are uninstalled within 30 days, and 49% of those uninstalls take place in the first 24 hours after downloading.
Related Article: Successful Customer Onboarding: A Quick Guide
Support Assistive Technology
Users with different abilities like the ones with visual impairment, motor impairment and cognitive impairment also form a significant portion of the customer base. Hence, platforms and apps have started to use haptics, screen readers and other accessible technology to cater these people. Ensure your app supports accessibility settings users might have set up in their device to navigate day-to-day activities.
"The Business Case for Digital Accessibility" report by Gartner estimates that businesses lose up to $1.3 trillion annually due to inaccessible digital experiences. This financial loss is attributed to reduced customer satisfaction, customer churn and missed opportunities to reach a wider audience.
Related Article: 4 Principles for Accessible Web Design & Digital Experiences
Provide Personalization and Localization Options:
Certain form fields, accessibility settings and location settings can be used to personalize user onboarding experiences by minimizing the cognitive load of typing or remembering on part of the users. A case in point is how Spotify automatically detects the user's device and operating system to provide tailored user onboarding instructions. For example, if a user is using a smartphone, Spotify will display onboarding tips specifically for using the app on a mobile device. This helps to ensure that users have a smooth and efficient onboarding experience, regardless of their device or OS.
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Disparate Messaging
One of the things we maintained while working at HSBC was a cohesion between the content that was used across marketing channels like websites, direct mailers, ads, etc., and the app. In a specific instance when a user needed to select a product we ensured the product imagery was the same they saw in the website or other referring channels. However, if there's lack of congruence between messaging, content assets and value proposition across different touchpoints and within the app, this will lead to poor brand perception and churn.
Give Access Points to Mission Critical Content
Ensure your messaging within the app reflects your organization's broader business goals and objectives. Customers are increasingly joining the trend known as “Conscious Consumerism” and are willing to support businesses that align with their values. Ben & Jerry's is known for its social activism and commitment to using fair trade ingredients. The company's products are often more expensive than those of its competitors, but consumers are willing to pay a premium for products that reflect their values.
Its important to clearly provide smooth user onboarding and access points to your core values within the app, mission and vision so that your users as consumers have vested interest in your success and become your brand advocates.
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