Lessons from onboarding mobile-app users

Many onboarding experiences ramble on about everything about their app to try and keep users, but it really pushes users away.

Think critically about what things users have to do in their first session—the lighter this experience, the higher your success rate.

Solution: 

Determine what actions successful users take that are retained. Or see what actions unsuccessful users do and change the experience to avoid those actions.

Many users will default to using their main go-to-apps. It can be really challenging to distract users away from them.

The average session for a mobile app is less than 5 minutes. This means you have less than five minutes to shine and integrate yourself into a user's life.

Solution:

1. Don't stray away from your CTA. Be tasteful about how you display your CTA.
2. Allow users to skip most of the onboarding if they want to.
3. Ensure your app loads quickly. 70% of mobile app users will ditch an app if it loads slowly.

With all things in life, there is give and take. With your app, users should sufficiently understand what they will get in turn for personal information.

The "create an account" prompt should rarely be part of a first experience. Ensure you're giving value to your user before expecting much from them.

Solution:

• What is the "ah-ha" moment about your app? Try to deliver this by asking as little as possible.
• Ask, "why should a user give me this right now?"
• Ask your users questions to engage them, such as their goals with your app or their experience level with certain topics.