Posted by Onboarding that is well-thought-out builds user momentum and motivation and is one of the elements to a successful onboarding experience that makes it fast, enjoyable, and informative.
There is no second chance to establish a good first impression, which is even more important in a competitive environment.
When it comes to user interfaces, making early interactions and product onboarding intuitive and engaging increases the likelihood of appealing and persuading the user to take more than the initial step.
What Is Onboarding?
The term “onboarding” derives from the world of work and human resources. It denotes specific processes and techniques geared at assisting newcomers in adjusting to their new surroundings and becoming comfortable in order to provide good results as quickly as feasible.
New work is stressful for most people, and it necessitates effort and thought, so a little assistance may make the decision-making process easier, the emotional background smoother, and performance growth more harmonious.
Special approaches allow for the correction of any hassles and the building of people’s confidence in their new environment, resulting in them becoming more productive and socialized with their coworkers faster, delivering benefits to the firm.
This concept, as well as the name, was swiftly absorbed by the field of user experience design for digital products. Onboarding refers to a set of tactics and interactions aimed at reassuring the user and providing a brief overview of the product.
Given that customers, particularly first-time users, are unlikely to spend much time attempting to figure out how the product works, one of the most important aspects of user onboarding is establishing clear objectives.
Users not only have limited time to commit to learning about a new product, but they also have finite working memory capacity.
Even if there’s a lot to say about the product, don’t try to tell them everything all at once. Designers and stakeholders decide which dose of information is required for each stage by setting priorities.
Onboarding Goals:
With onboarding screens and functions, UX designers try to achieve three main goals.
- Greeting: A well-designed onboarding process begins the product’s communication with the user in a natural and engaging manner.
- Information: At that point, it’s critical to explain how the app will assist them or improve their lives.
- Engagement: Onboarding helps to establish emotional appeal and encourages users to learn and attempt new things.
Therefore, you employ onboarding screens and the majority of elements for new users, but not to upset existing users with the information they already know.
Onboarding Design Practices:
- Use More Images
Images are perceived and decoded faster than words by the majority of people. It enables the use of logical and rational visuals for app tutorials that need to convey information rapidly.
Illustrations, whether photos or hand-drawn images, fully exhibit their potential in explanation and clarity in tutorials.
The possibilities range from simple icon-like artworks to beautiful and intricate works of art. This type of illustration becomes a good technique to improve usability by reducing the need for a copy on screens.
They’re especially useful in apps for kids and teenagers because they find this type of explanation to be more user-friendly.
- Focus on User’s Needs
Have you ever had to deal with parents who wanted to introduce their children to you? It’s difficult for them to stop talking about the kid’s accomplishments, strengths, and characteristics once they get started.
When you present your product to a new user, the same thing happens. It’s a conglomeration of ideas, iterations, work, time, money, benefits, valuable functions, and a whole lot more for you. Telling about it, without a doubt, makes you want to share that sensation, to reveal as much as possible.
Although this is a natural inclination, adhering to it is a mistake. It’s simply another app, tool, or website to a consumer, a small step into the unknown.
- Don’t be wordy
Words have a lot of power when it comes to writing for user interfaces. However, there are two simple guidelines for maximizing the power of words: keep them brief and useful. This is the point at which you should comprehend that producing a brief informative statement is far more difficult than writing a large paragraph.
You must figure out how to avoid wasting the valuable seconds that the user is willing to dedicate to tutorial screens or tooltips. To produce writings that make every single letter count, some creative teams use the help of a professional copywriter.
Take the time and effort, whether you have a writer or not, to generate a short, attractive, and clear copy that uses language that is appealing to the target audience and corresponds to the product’s aims. In addition to design solutions, the text should be tested as often as possible to find quick ways to inform users.
Another thing to keep in mind is that any text is both an instructive and a visual design element. It literally occupies a part of the screen or webpage like any other graphic component and influences the overall style presentation, along with icons, fields, buttons, drawings, toggles, and other layout elements.
The effectiveness of a copy is strongly dependent on not just the message and content, but also design elements such as type and font selection, background, and even text positioning.
All of this has an impact on readability, so if these things aren’t well-thought-out, the content risks becoming considerably weaker, even if it’s very important.
- Add Animations
Animation is another approach to bring not only significance but also enjoyment and engagement. Motion adds dynamism to interactions, brings life to the interface, provides wow effects, and grabs the user’s attention.
An even more crucial argument is that animation can draw attention to important elements. On the other hand, because motion might increase the time and traffic required to load it, it should be used with caution and discussed with developers in terms of technological implementation.
- Allow for Skipping
Another factor to consider is whether or not to skip the tutorial. Even if they are using the product for the first time, not all users require it, so for most goods, it may be appropriate to allow them to skip the training.
Testing and analysis must be used to make a judgment about this function.
- Use Empty Spaces
In the early stages of products where users actively interact with the material, they frequently deal with spaces that are vacant because the user hasn’t yet filled them with personalized content. These might be the screens of a wishlist, projects, collections, and so on.
It’s a good idea to use them for onboarding prompts and additional engagement while they’re empty.
- Don’t Overplay
To be honest, many consumers don’t require constant instructions or assistance. So, if you’re trying to be helpful, don’t go overboard. When the following factors of onboarding begin to play against you:
- There are an excessive number of them.
- They’re too distracting.
- They’re ambiguous.
- Users can’t skip or dismiss them and they don’t provide any valuable information.
So, maintain a proper user support balance and never miss an opportunity to test it using user testing.
To summarize, well-designed onboarding is a great method to establish a connection between the product and the user, build an emotional backdrop, swiftly communicate the essential benefits, and provide a strong first impression. Fortunately, Tentackles has the expertise to help you design a smooth onboarding experience. Connect with us today. We look forward to assisting you in expanding your business.