Providing an effective mobile application onboarding can significantly impact customer retention and churn rate reduction. According to a 2022 study, despite having an average of 40 apps installed, users spend around 89% of their screen time with a mere 18 applications. Securing a spot within these preferred 18 apps, as opposed to being overshadowed by competitors, depends highly on the user's very first encounter with your app.

From the very beginning, a multifaceted challenge underscored the project as I needed to create two distinct onboarding concepts, while focusing on various aspects like avoiding information overload, and following UX best practices. To be successful in my work, I needed to make sure that I am keeping all the five goals in balance and in front of my eyes.

As a UX Concepter and Workshop Facilitator, I was working closely together in an iterative design process (see below) with Product Owners, Plus team members, a UI Designer, a UX Researcher, Editors & developers.

Throughout the project, I observed a certain fluidity in the terminology when discussing onboardings and recognized instances of using specific terms interchangeably. This made me to undertake a comprehensive exploration of the realm of "first-screens”, that involved a thorough understanding of distinctions between launch screens, splash screens, and the rest. To bring everyone working on the project aligned, I gave a presentation that showcased an array of initial mobile app interactions designed to welcome, inform, or guide users effectively. By synchronising our terminology and by having a shared understanding, we could ensure a united approach moving forward.

Relying on the data I gathered through user interviews, benchmarking and the brainstorming workshop, I defined the how might we statement and started working on the onboarding concept.
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“How might we create an engaging and informative onboarding experience for both WELT News app users and new WELTplus subscribers, effectively introducing core features without overwhelming them?”
To avoid ambiquity and misunderstandings, I am going to call the onboarding displayed to new users introducing our features, App onboarding, while the second onboarding will be referred to as Plus onboarding, displayed only for new WELTPlus members.

I continued my work by creating a comprehensive user journey for an onboarding concept that included the following key components:

The initial concept appeared substantial, yet a closer examination of the user flow unveiled clashes between the App and Plus onboarding triggers. These conflicts hinged on the timing of user subscription to the Plus account. New subscriptions could occur any time: during registration, before content engagement, upon accessing the first Plus article, or even months post-download after consuming numerous free articles.

The user flow above displays a possible way of how users might encounter the app and plus related screens. It also shows why the app onboarding would not be in sync with the recommended onboarding I got from the Plus team. I used this flow to backup my reasoning when presenting my suggestions to the stakeholders.

After the stakeholder check-in, I came up with a more unified concept, where the App onboarding screens were prioritised while the Plus onboarding, that became a walkthrough, is only shown to the user after they "completed" the App onboarding.

This userflow was more refined, but somehow it still felt overwhelming. Given the numerous possibilities of how readers interact with our app, with this concept implemented they would encounter a new piece of information on almost every screen, potentially ruining the first experience due to information overload. A quick guerrilla research reassured me in my assumption and I decided to adjust the flow in a way that users always encountered an intermittent screen between two onboarding tooltips, with no new piece of information. The blueprint below proved to be a helpful aid for me to oversee this extensive userflow.

Relying on this blueprint, I created the complete onboarding concept, showcasing both the feature-related onboarding and the plus subscription benefits in a well-timed manner.