Product development – Page 3

How to Simplify User Onboarding for Product Development?

Imagine you are thrust into a new work environment, with no instructions or orientation. Everything, from colleagues to equipment, is unfamiliar. How will you feel? Lost in the woods, disoriented, overwhelmed?

That’s exactly how a new user feels when he opens a new app or digital product for the first time and finds it bereft of proper onboarding. It’s no wonder that 25% of people abandon an app after the first use itself.

Source: Localytics

Now, envisage this situation:

You enter an app, you are greeted by a warm welcome. Then you are explained how to set up the app’s features and hand-held through the registration process. You tend to feel confident at having hit the ground running. You are eager to explore the app and you may come back to it again and again. That’s how user onboarding helps in boosting user retention.

In this article, you will learn:

What is user onboarding
Why is it essential
How to simplify it

Let’s get started.

What is User Onboarding?

User onboarding is a process where new users are instructed or guided through the product experience. It can be as simple as a greeting pop-up or as complex as configuration workflows. The aim is to deliver value to users from the get-go and reduce drop-offs.

For instance, take a look at Hopper’s onboarding interface. Through a series of clean screens, the flight-booking app conveys its value proposition to first-time users.

Image via Hopper

A super-smooth onboarding experience sets up users for success. Users understand how to apply a product in order to extract maximum value. Let’s understand the other benefits of user onboarding.

Why Is Onboarding Your Users Necessary?

With countless apps available for every possible use case, it’s imperative that your app proves its worth from the outset. Seamless onboarding is one factor that keeps users hooked to your product lest they abandon you in favor of competitors.

Plus, it renders a favorable first impression. It’s likely that users considered your product useful when they first installed it. The onus to prove them right lies on you. If your product’s orientation is rough, customers feel disappointed and dejected. They pre-empt that the future journey will also be bumpy. In anticipation, they leave prematurely, even if your product holds promise.

Last, modern customers like to share their reviews on social media, which has become a conversation driver of sorts. Don’t be surprised if you find your app’s ratings falling and sign-ups dwindling. It’s quite possible customers frustrated by your onboarding ran on aggregator websites. And don’t count on word-of-mouth publicity or referrals at all.

To save yourself from all that trouble, follow the best practices of designing a pleasant onboarding experience.

Tips to Simplify the User OnBoarding Process

The right onboarding experience can boost your revenue, referrals, and customer lifetime value in the long-term. Take a look at some hacks that can simplify your onboarding strategy.

1. Design with a Customer-First Mindset

Getting a user to sign-up doesn’t qualify as a success from a business point of view. What good is earning a sign-up if the user doesn’t eventually convert? For converting people, keep an eye on the right metrics.

Don’t obsess over counting conversions or subscriptions. Focus on nurturing customer relationships. Equip users with tools and knowledge they would need to use your product efficiently. Make everything so simple and painless that they naturally glide towards check-out.

Some onboarding processes end with feedback, which serves no real purpose. The users have barely started using your product. It’s advisable to ask for a product review after they complete one whole app session. This way, they can provide more actionable perspectives.

2. Minimize User Fatigue

The drop-off rate among new users is almost directly proportional to user fatigue that cumbersome onboardings induce. If you ask too much personal data from new customers, they are bound to leave in a huff. You will naturally inject friction into their journeys.

At the same time, gathering customer data is unavoidable to set up processes and preferences. To overcome the hurdle, track usage metrics and collate the findings to draw pertinent insights. Metrics like NPS (net promoter score) can be calibrated later, during product reviews.

To keep onboarding seamless, don’t overwhelm new users with too many questions. Complying with regulatory protocols like GDPR can be attributed to complicated orientation. So, minimize data collection and let users in on the action as soon as possible.

3. Keep Onboarding Flexible

Some users are impatient to start their product journeys right after installation. For them, allow a “skip intro” option. But if your onboarding covers vital product features that all users should be aware of, keep popping reminders to get users to resume the intro.

Break user journeys into small, manageable sprints and guide users to where they are headed. Keep user resources and tools handy in plain sight. Nothing frustrates new users more than if they have to dig through an incomprehensible UX for transactional information.

4. Optimize the Process Consistently

Onboarding should not be an afterthought. You need to plan for it during the product-ideation stage itself. Also, it is not a one-time deal. Depending on the user response to your onboarding mechanism, keep optimizing the process for the best results.

Once customers start using your product regularly, ask them for feedback through email or in-app surveys. You should also solicit improvement suggestions and try to incorporate them into your process on priority. Don’t forget: your products are successful only if they satisfy user intent and expectations.

Ready to Nail Your User Onboarding?

User onboarding is critical to foster customer loyalty, conversions, and retention. Your onboarding needs to be simple and anchored around customer needs. Keep your mantra straightforward: sign up users easily, deliver value quickly.

Are you looking for more tidbits on product development and strategy? Stay tuned to this blog.

To know more about iView Labs, kindly log on to our website www.iviewlabs.com and to get in touch with us with your queries and needs just write us an email on info@iviewlabs.com and sales@iviewlabs.com.

Download the latest portfolio to see our work.

5 Tips for Easy User Onboarding

So you built a software application successfully? Great, that’s good news. But are you confident that you can convert sign-ups into active users? Are you sure your app can onboard users smoothly, convince them of its unique value proposition (UVP), and get them to start using it from the get-go?

Before you answer those questions, take a look at the stats on user onboarding:

25% of apps are abandoned by users after the first use itself.
77% of people uninstall an app within 72 hours of installing it.

We don’t want to sound negative but the truth is that user onboarding is a sore point with app vendors. They often find it challenging to retain and turn first-time users into loyal users.

That’s why, in this post, we will explain 5 effective tips for user onboarding, with relevant examples from super-successful apps.

Let’s get started.

How Can You Onboard Users Successfully: 5 Tips

Here are the best practices of user onboarding that every app developer should follow:

Keep Things Simple

In a Clutch survey of 501 app users, 72% of respondents said that a quick and simple onboarding process plays an important role in their decision to keep using the program.

Keep the onboarding steps to a minimum and ensure that they can be completed within a minute. Ask for personal contact details (mentioning reasons why they are needed) and show only essential UI elements in the first use. Try not to overwhelm new users by asking them for unnecessary permissions.

For instance, a movie-booking app needs only location-access and SMS-sending permission. They should skip requesting permissions for contacts or camera. Those can come at later stages once users are comfortable and confident of the app.

Example: WhatsApp

WhatsApp’s user base is unbeatable. According to their CEO, Jan Koum, one of the biggest reasons for the app’s success is its simplistic onboarding process.

The app self-detects the SMS with the verification code that is sent to first-time users. This means users need not leave the app interface and dig through their inbox for the SMS.

Allow Skipping Steps

Many tech-savvy users don’t like to be hand-held through the onboarding steps. They like to explore their new installs themselves. To such users, give the option to skip whole or part of the onboarding process. There is no burning need to take them through the grand tour when they are impatient to try the app for themselves.

Vevo, the popular music-streaming app, found that logins increased by 10% when they included the “Skip” button in their app. If you’re not clear about your users’ preferences, conduct usability testing with different variants of the onboarding flow. Then, deploy the variant that works best for your users.

Example: Slack

Slack puts users in the driver’s seat by giving them a “Skip the Tour” option in every screen of the onboarding stage. Users can move to the main interface as soon as they feel confident enough to start using the app.

Ask for Permission

It’s a good practice to ask permission before sending push notifications to new users.

The Clutch survey we cited earlier found that 4 out of 5 users like to know why an app needs to know their personal details, payment preferences, or device permissions. In fact, this small step can improve opt-in rates in a big way.

Example: Letgo

Letgo is a reputable portal for buyers and sellers of used items. Instead of accessing users’ inboxes directly, they send notifications to them every time a customer expresses interest in their listed items. In this way, users feel they are in control of their app engagement.

Demonstrate Value Instantly

People install your apps for a reason. They have certain expectations from your app. If the app is unable to fulfill these expectations promptly, customers churn quickly.

So, think of an efficient way to demonstrate value to new on boarders: set up a features carousel, product walkthrough, or new-user registration. Just focus on showing what benefits uses derive from the app.

Example: Venmo

Venmo is a payment wallet with social-sharing capabilities. It lets users share their payment histories with friends. To reinforce their app’s credibility, on the first screen itself, Venmo shows social proof about how popular and reliable their platform is. This inspires confidence from new users who are apprehensive about sharing their payment info with a new app.

Provide Incentive for First Conversions

Encourage users to keep using your apps, give them incentives to convert for the first time.

For example, you can provide exclusive features or promo codes to users who fill out the registration form or make their first purchase. Other incentives can be loyalty points or in-app credit.

Example: UberEats

Uber’s food-delivery brand, UberEats, make the onboarding process really frictionless for new users.

As soon as users register, they are welcomed with a coupon for a $20 discount on the first order. If that’s not enough to entice users to order, a list of nearby restaurants displays on multiple screens.

Conclusion

We can not help but emphasize how critical your user onboarding process is. If you’re able to onboard users painlessly, take it as a big win. With the app space getting crowded and apps competing for user attention, your onboarding process can help you get a competitive edge.

So, think up an efficient process to onboard new users. A/B test your onboarding models to find the best fit for your users and apps. Don’t hesitate to steal your competitors’ onboarding model if it’s good. You need a proven onboarding strategy to get your app up and running in no time.

Do you have any questions about any of the above strategies? Drop them in the comments and we’ll answer soon. Watch this space for more revelations about app development and onboarding.

Download the latest portfolio to see our work.

Ten Secrets to Make Your Product Development a Success

Success doesn’t come from guesswork, innovation, or diligence. It is a combination of all this, plus more. As we unraveled from Neilson’s Consumer 360 Study that is collated by industry trailblazers and innovators. Their disruptive ideas about consumer behavior and product development will be an eye opener for most of us.

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Continue reading Ten Secrets to Make Your Product Development a Success

Is Your Product Really Solving a Problem?

Have you ever sat and wondered why Uber and Urban Clap are such a roaring success? Why a simplistic app like Freshmenu took the world by storm? What all these products have in common is that they aim to solve real problems and pain points of consumers. Because at the end of the day, customers don’t care about your product, they are just concerned with how your product can solve THEIR problems. This is the secret that smart marketers and product designers realize early on, rather than after failing with many “innovative” products that look very “cool” but are of little interest to their target audience!

Now, let’s dive deep into the real question at hand today – Is your product really solving a problem?

Is Your Product Really Solving a Problem

Continue reading Is Your Product Really Solving a Problem?

Top IT strategies to apply to modernize your existing applications

With each passing year, technology and developments in the field are moving at a faster pace. This has led to a never-ending increase in the demands of the customers and a race amongst the clients trying to fulfil such needs. Users today want a rich experience that helps them leverage the advanced possibilities that new technologies can offer. Despite being aware of this, several organisations today use out-dated applications that do not meet the current demands of time. Some examples are a financial system running on an Apple IIGS machine, MS- DOS, Sales terminals running on out-dated Intel computers.

Continue reading Top IT strategies to apply to modernize your existing applications

“Developers on Demand” for IT Companies

Catering to the new shift in IT industry of reducing bench resources

Typically, as most persons are familiar, Just in time is an inventory management method for materials and goods to be available “On Demand” or be replenished as required in the production process.

On-Demand-Developer_1

The general perception is that this method is most suitable for companies and industries where repetitive manufacturing functions are involved and are beneficial when the tasks involved are on an assembly plant or a job floor. However, with the rise of Information Technology and the advent of service-based businesses in the last one and a half decades, this has become an established practice in the IT circles too.

With a growing industry but season based demand for example in case of service businesses, it is highly time-consuming to build, maintain and manage the turnover of developers inventory through the traditional candidate pipelines. Moreover, despite the time and efforts put in it is not always as value adding for either the firm or the client since many software developers remain as Bench Resources in wait for a project and are a preventable cost to the company.

“Benched Resources” by definition are software developers who are waiting to get the project(s) to work upon. While these are important assets for the firm, it is also crucial to note that Benched Resources do not bring in revenues till such time that they get a project and hence remain more of a cost to the company. On the one hand, in situations or seasons where there are no or limited projects with the firm, it considers trimming down resources on the bench and on the other, the fact that he/she is waiting on the bench and a trim-down possibility can be demoralizers for the resource. Bench Resources were considered as the key strength of the Indian IT industry for a long time. However, with the increasing popularity and relevance of Developers being available on demand for short and fixed-term contracts, the environment is different. Added to this is the rise in automation and all these factors have reduced the average bench strength from 8% to 4% in recent years.

“Great vision without great people is irrelevant.” – Jim Collins, Author of Good to Great

How can IT companies then maximize the value for both the software developers as well as the company with appropriate planning and work allocation?

This is where Developers on-demand model comes into the picture. Traditionally, firms build and maintain candidate pipelines without an actual need but with developers on-demand model, IT companies are able to hire candidates that exactly match the needs or requirements of the project, at the time when they want them, in the appropriate number and at a mutually agreed cost or fees. Albeit, this does not provide the safety of the traditional candidate pipeline approach yet it is more targeted and rewarding. Also, with the advent of gig economy, business models where services are traded on the basis of access rather than ownership are picking up.

In some cases, many companies consider outsourcing projects for a specific duration when they want to focus on their core businesses. Many IT companies today send their benched resources to other companies for a project. In this way, the companies are able to leverage expertise from multiple talents for specific projects and also better utilize the available resources by sending them for specific projects outside.

On-Demand-Developer_2

Given below are some benefits of Developers On demand method.

This is a pull system where the resource is pulled or utilized based on a need or demand. This permits IT companies to cover the staff requirement without having excess human inventory.
Developer on Demand faster resource replenishment and lesser burden on the human resource department of the company.
Developer on Demand model gives companies flexibility and convenience to get access to different talents which are existing across the industry. Moreover, since resources can be found quickly (usually within 24 hours) there is increased productivity and less slack time.
This approach reduces the overall cost to the company, increases efficiency, productivity and saves on crucial organization time.

“The smartest business decision you can make is to hire qualified people. Bringing the right people on board saves you thousands, and your business will run smoothly and efficiently.” – Brian Tracy

With so many advantages on the table, still one cannot nullify the importance of having some benched resources in this industry. Resources which specialize in certain skills and are high on performance are contracted so that they can be called upon as needed

The Developers on-demand model is beneficial as it makes underused software developers, both tangible and intangible. If companies come together and start sharing their underused resources or services, this will decrease cost and also will make sure that every resource is rightly utilized.

– Team iView