Enhancing the User Onboarding Experience
for a Chat-Free Dating App
Skip - Summer Internship 2023
My Role
Lead Designer - Interaction Design, Visual Design, Usability Testing, Product Strategy
Team
Scott Avy, CPO
Zach Barnes, CTO
Kyo Kim, CDO
Timeline
4 weeks, Launched in July 2023
Overview
Skip is a chat-free dating app that beta-tested in Austin, Texas in 2023 and launched nationwide in Jan 2024.
In 2023, Skip faced a significant challenge: ~50% of its users were not completing the onboarding process. This led to low-quality profiles and, consequently, low match rates.
Our team embarked on a mission to understand the reasons behind user attrition and set a goal to enhance the user onboarding experience, aiming to achieve a completion rate of 60% to meet our KPI.
Highlights
Highlights
Positive Impact on Key Business Metrics
My contribution as a product designer
Impact
Context
Spend less time chatting, and more time dating IRL
Why onboarding matters to Skip
Given Skip's lack of chat experience, it requires a pre-date setup during onboarding. Users can set up deal-breaker questions to optimize compatibility and plan the date based on each other's preferences. Therefore, completing onboarding will ultimately enhance the dating experience.
Challenge
It's often said the shorter the onboarding, the better…
⚠️ Each additional step in onboarding may result in a drop off.
In dating apps, the standard length of the onboarding can vary from 20 - 50 steps due to the numerous profile setup questions.
While the decision to add more steps must be made thoughtfully, certain additions are sometimes unavoidable.
My approach to the challenge
🌈
Make it as engaging as possible. If extra steps are a must, why not make them engaging?
🎁
Reward users. Show how they can benefit from completing each step.
⏭️
Make it skippable. Give users the option to skip certain steps and revisit later.
User Research
Who are the users?
Understanding user pain points in online dating
Our team conducted surveys and interviews with 115 individuals. From the raw data, we identified 4 primary user pain points as below.
User Pain Points
Synthesizing insights & making assumptions on possible friction points on onboarding
1️⃣
During onboarding, users are not provided with Skip's value propositions.
2️⃣
Users are experiencing burnout from spending endless hours online.
3️⃣
Users are clueless about how matching works without a chat.
💡 How might we improve Skip user's onboarding experience?
Define
Identifying the main aspects of MVP
Onboarding breakdown & opportunities in each phase
Opportunity #1
Visually convey Skip's benefits to users and set user expectation right from the start
Final Design
Storytell user pain points & Skip's unique solutions in welcome screens
Question to myself: With so many dating apps available in the market, why choose Skip?
To address this, I designed welcome screens that communicate Skip's core concepts from the very start. Through fun visuals and concise text, these screens aim to set user expectations before they embark on the onboarding process.
My Design Impact
Product Impact
Opportunity #2
Adding customization, but make it enjoyable
What if we could pre-screen the matches?
The user's goal in online dating is to find the best match. Leveraging this intrinsic motivator, I transformed long onboarding questions into an enjoyable and beneficial screening system.
Relationship Deal Breakers: Weed out potential bad apples
Tying back to the burned-out users
Users are experiencing burnout from endless swiping and chatting. We can save them from undesirable matches before wasting time and energy.
Early Stakeholder Validation
In my iterative design process, I presented stakeholders with Option A, featuring user-friendly elements like toggle switches and scalability for extensive lists.
Balancing scalability and user needs
Feedback on Option A: Scalable design but not the right solution for our user needs
Option B, but gamified
I fully embraced the feedback provided, yet I sought to enhance user understanding regarding the optimal utilization of deal-breaker questions. So I proposed integrating gamification elements to demonstrate how the process really clicks.
Gamifying the process
Boosts user engagement
Visualizes progress toward goals
Clearly communicates benefits and Skip's value proposition
My Design Impact
Ideated and launched deal-breaker question features.
Validated design decisions with stakeholders and optimized the MVP based on feedback.
15,573
# of users who added deal-breaker questions
Nationwide Launch results 1/1/2024 - 2/23/2024
Opportunity #3
Before swiping begins, show how Skip works, not tell
Instructional overlay that users can interact with by just swiping
This interactive tutorial empowers users with mastery over the app's core features. Given users are already in the mindset of swiping, I have leveraged this feature to enhance user engagement and minimize perceived effort.
My Design Impact
Focused on showing only essential user tasks to reduce cognitive load.
Implemented a 'Skip (literally) tutorial' button to avoid overwhelming users.
Utilized existing UI elements in the tutorial to increase user familiarity.