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Growing retention with a new free trial flow.
Heymarket is a B2B SaaS platform that enables teams to send and receive text messages from customers in one shared inbox from a single phone number.
Many customers start their journey with Heymarket as a free trial customer, so it only made sense to explore how the first time user experience could be improved as one place to increase initial retention.
What was the initial problem?
New Heymarket customers can sign up for a free trial of the platform. But more than 50% of these free trial customers never log in again after the initial sign up form.
I was tasked to explore the problem, uncover why there was such a low retention rate and prototype recommendations for improving the initial onboarding flow.
Free trial customer journey data in Heap.
What solution was implemented?
A data-backed redesign of the onboarding experience including a new in-app product tour.
New design for free trial sign up screen.
What was the measurable impact of the new onboarding design?
An early goal for the in-app tutorial was to use it to highlight and guide new users to certain features in the app so they can get hands on with the most impactful actions we offer.
4,015 new free trial signups
86% increase in free trial signups
12% higher retention rate
Why were so many new free trial customers not returning?
There were 3 main problems identified using Heap to analyse user behavior and get a data-driven picture of the onboarding flow experience for new customers.
1. Phone number verification dropoffs
Imminently it was clear looking at the journey flow data that users were dropping off before verifying their phone number
2. Too many steps to create an account
After mapping out the entire onboarding journey and looking at data it was also clear that there were too many (unfriendly) steps to create an account
3. No in-app tutorial
There's no in-app tutorial to promote retention and highlight product value
New design for free trial sign up screen.
What can we learn from companies with successful onboarding experiences?
Examples of successful onboarding flow designs from external companies.
How might we improve the onboarding flow so it is more user friendly for new customers?
The original flow had 9 steps of which required customers to verify twice using both email and then phone number. The flow also ended on a dead-end screen after the initial form is submitted prompting customers to go to their email to verify- a step where we saw the most drop-offs.
The new proposed flow would only require one verification using phone number and get customers into the platform in 6 steps.
Another part of the proposal was adding a revamped in-app tutorial as there was currently no tutorial on how to start sending texts and all the additional features the app had to offer.
Work samples of mapping user onboarding task flows.
Simplifying the initial details form
This is the first screen users will see when they click to start their free trial from the website.
Proposed improvements:
Current initial details form.
Early ideation of simplified form.
Creating a consistent, user friendly onboarding experience
This screen is the final step users get into the app, where they will be prompted to enter their company details.
Proposed improvements:
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Maintain split screen layout for consistency
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Use friendly, clear questions for each field
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Feature a personalized product illustration to show building the user their inbox and generate more excitement
Current company details form.
Early ideation of new company details form.
Implementing a product tutorial
Currently the app lands users in an empty inbox with a single tooltip, leaving new customers in the dark and missing an opportunity to call out features that provide the most value during the first impression of our platform.
Proposed improvements:
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Implement a product walk through tutorial using tooltips to show immediate product value
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Fill in the product as the user goes through the tutorial so they can focus on the tutorial task
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Use the tutorial as a way to verify the users phone number
Current tooltip with lack of tutorial.
Early ideation of new tooltip with tutorial.
Revisions:
Show the in-app tutorial, in-app!
The initial in-app tutorial ideations were more of a product walk-through that limited normal function of the platform until the tutorial was completed.
Feedback from users resulted in the tutorial being brought into the platform so users can exit the tutorial and start exploring on their own at any time.
The other motive for this was bring the users into the app as quickly as possible, a goal that was centered throughout the entire design thinking process.
Revised in-app tutorial prototype.
Constraints:
Phone # verification before access
The v3 design gives a new number when users see their inbox for the first time however... Heymarket can't give a new phone number to a user if they haven't verified their phone number.
In response, the phone verification process was implemented into the in-app tutorial, requiring users to enter their number and verify before they can send a text message.
Revised phone number verification pop-up.
Revisions:
Maximize feature reveal
An early goal for the in-app tutorial was to use it to highlight and guide new users to certain features in the app so they can get hands on with the most impactful actions we offer.
In the revision stages of the project, I proposed an idea to add a checklist to the app that would increase visibility to the potential actions and features new customers can access, as well as give step by step tutorial guides on how to use those features.
Early prototype of in-app tutorial checklist.
Final prototype:
New free trial onboarding flow
An early goal for the in-app tutorial was to use it to highlight and guide new users to certain features in the app so they can get hands on with the most impactful actions we offer.
In the revision stages of the project, I proposed an idea to add a checklist to the app that would increase visibility to the potential actions and features new customers can access, as well as give step by step tutorial guides on how to use those features.
Final Heymarket free trial customer onboarding flow.
design by Noah Ahrens
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