FIRST-TIME USER EXPERIENCE / ONBOARDING & APP RESTRUCTURE
Tell is a restaurant and bar recommendation app that allows users to interact with friends and editorial content providers to discover and share new places. However, many users were not returning to use the app after registering and therefore not adding additional user-generated content or accessing the app's features. I was asked to focus on a new first-time user experience that would help highlight the application's value and features. I also moved to streamline the onboarding process and present new users with more valuable content when first interacting with the application through a redesigned navigation and modified app structure.
ROLES
Research, Information Architecture, UX Design, UI Design, Testing
INITIAL TESTING
After conducting a heuristic evaluation alongside usability tests and interviews with people likely to use Tell, I was able to focus on pain points that could be addressed within the onboarding process and a new user's first interaction within the app.
Key Takeaways
- The onboarding used vague copy and did not help users to better understand the app's features
- The registration process relied solely on a phone number for authentication which was off-putting to some users and could also cause future problems with profile management
- The app's organization was confusing and did not highlight content that conveyed Tell's value
- Users did not find the app engaging enough to post any content
FIRST-TIME USER EXPERIENCE
The feedback gained from my intital research, testing, and interviews allowed me to design an onboarding flow that guided the user through registration while highlighting some of the features that would make Tell appealing to use, including access to curated content and recommendations from fellow users. The new process also gave the user better information while signing up, meant to add a level of comfort and understanding throughout the registration. Additionally, the updated design made it easier for returning users to sign in and dropped all users into a new Home area after login which more closely matched expectations for social apps.
INTERFACE DESIGN
Testers felt the registration and onboarding process lacked clarity and asked for too many permissions without context, so it was important to design the interface so it was easy to navigate while also working to avoid bombarding users with unexpected permissions and access requests. Furthermore, since Tell is meant to be a social application, I made sure to use design and copy precendents from similar apps that users would be familiar with.
Highlighting the value of Tell's different features was vital in order to keep users returning to the app. While Tell offers curated content, the core of the application focuses on the social aspect and relies on user-generated content for tagging to run recommendation algorithms. However, those tested felt that they were not being given enough incentive to return and add reviews or other information since the onboarding process originally placed new users in an empty area with no content or connections. Immediate benefit was not being presented, and people were leaving. I reorganized the app's structure, including the navigation, to help create areas of interest for users and make them more visable, especially during a first experience.
PROTOTYPE & USER TESTING
I built an lnVision prototype so I could test the new onboarding, navigation, and app structure. Through testing, I realized that some of the copy needed to be changed in the navigation and that users were confused by the semi-highlighted "Tell" section of the tab bar. I streamlined the bar in order to closer represent Apple's iOS HIG standards (as seen above) and clear up the confusion I had discovered before creating mockups for handoff.
MATTHEW KROLL © 2022