Introduction

Mobile developers design an app, and users start downloading it. Do you think that your part is over? For a layman like us, it may seem like that. But it is the mobile app developer who understands that this is just the beginning. The part of retaining and engaging the user to that app is the most challenging. And that is a point of concern. Statistics show that nearly 22% of the 800 apps downloaded from the app store are never opened more than once. Shocking right? This is just one such fact that shows the importance of retaining the users in the first place to stick to the app. So, what do we do to increase your app engagement? It is the technique of mobile app onboarding.

The foundation for any mobile app’s growth depends on its simplicity, reliability, and security. And one can achieve this through effective mobile app onboarding. Mobile app onboarding is an essential part of mobile app development as it helps individuals try your app and let them stick to it forever. Mobile app onboarding guides the users in quickly navigating the app and traverse its features and functions. Today, most app developers are using this concept and are experiencing insane conversion rates. Before we step into the best mobile app onboarding tips and practices, we need to understand the concept of mobile app onboarding.

Concept of mobile app onboarding

Once the user installs an app, the next step is to understand the steps and their operation. They need to know how the app works and what purpose does the app serves. This is where the role of mobile app onboarding. Mobile app onboarding is a method used by many organizations to understand the app and its functions. To put it rightly, it is a manual or a walkthrough process that guides the users on how to use the app and facilitate smoother interaction. The mobile app onboarding process serves many purposes-

1. Mobile app onboarding works as a guide to inform the users about the benefits and functions of using the app.
2. Onboarding helps the users to register on the app via a login option that too convenient.
3. Onboarding for mobile app also helps gather the users’ information and data, who can later send notifications and messages to the users.

Benefits of mobile app onboarding

Industries are now using mobile app onboarding as it gives them many benefits and improves their application’s growth.

1. One of the great benefits of mobile app onboarding is that it increases app retention. The users get an insight into the app and help them understand the app’s functions and features effectively, enhance the user experience, and stay with the app.
2. If the app’s mobile app onboarding experience is good for the user, it will help retain the user and have a positive user experience. The users would want to revisit the app and recommend the others for the same. A good onboarding strategy will give the user an idea of how the app works and what they can achieve by using the app. The more straightforward and simple it is, the better the user experience.
3. With mobile app onboarding, it becomes easier to become familiar with the app’s features and functions thoroughly. When the app is new, the users take time to become familiar with the app’s features, and if the onboarding is not practical, there might be some features that remain unexplored. It is, therefore, necessary to have an effective mobile app onboarding technique.

How to make your mobile app onboarding simple and easy for its new users?

The mobile app, onboarding is the first encounter with your product. It is thus necessary that the onboarding process should be practical and impactful. Mobile app onboarding helps to drive users and improves the activation rates. Statistics show that companies using the onboarding process, and have a good user experience, have 50% higher new-hire productivity. Let’s discuss some of how you can make your onboarding experience more appealing to the users.

1. The best idea is to keep your onboarding user experience as simple as possible. Create content that is retable and easily understood by the users. Introduce the product, keeping in mind the users’ needs and preferences. Ask yourself questions like how tech-savvy your users are? How much time will it take to understand the product? How complex is the product? All such items will help you understand your users and make onboarding effective and smooth.
2. Next is to give a good head start for a smooth user experience. Try to provide the most valuable information first and not overload the app with too much information. Keep your onboarding process short and crisp so that it doesn’t become monotonous and challenging for the users to understand. The process should involve the least number of steps to remain intact and simplify the entire process.
3. Another way is to create value for the user. Communicate the goal and proposition of your product to the use. Explain to them what is there for them in the app and why they should visit your app. They should also become familiar with the features of the app at the initial stages.
4. Allow for flexibility while using the onboarding process. If the users want to skip some steps during the onboarding process, let them skip.
5. Using progress bars also helps. It gives an idea of how far they have come until now and assures that they are on the right track. It also ensures that one reminds the user of the process and the stages that are left incomplete by them. This will keep your users engaged and active.
6. It is also necessary to set clear objectives, key metrics, and targets. This helps in achieving the desired outcomes.
7. Focus on individual personas should be made to have a great user experience and higher engagement.

Being consistent and predictable is the key to success. Keep track of the tone, language, progress bars, and visual components of the product.

Tips and tricks for making innovative onboarding

Let us discuss some tips for making mobile app onboarding effective and innovative.

1. One of the most innovative ways is to promote app content preview. The sign-up option can decrease the value of your app. So, the users see the app features without the hassle of signing up. This way, they can see the products, and then when they wish to buy the product, use the log in option.
2. Another innovative way is to make proper use of empty states to your advantage.  Empty states refer to the screens that show no activity has been performed or the user has added no product. You can make these empty states encouraging by educating, guiding, and prompting users to take action. You can take ideas from Instagram. They display no post yet, which facilitates their users to post something and use the app further. Other app developers can adopt this technique.
3. Another tip for making innovative onboarding is to use visual hints for guidance. While your users are exploring the app, you can employ visual suggestions that avoid tedious and monotonous instructions and save the user’s time reading them. The concept involves placing the clues strategically on the places where you think users can get stuck while exploring the app.
4. Using success states well to your advantage is also one of the ways of good onboarding user experience. Success states help you engage your users by showing up screens or popups that show emoticons, appreciating the user after performing the task. This in turn, creates a positive impression in the minds of the users. This will give them the motivation to complete the job or action.
5. Keeping track and monitoring the app usage and analytics can be a great way to where the users are facing issues in the onboarding flow and process. These issues will help understand the flaws and where one needs to improve to provide an excellent onboarding user experience.
6. Conducting a test before the app’s final implementation will also be a great idea of how the app looks when all the elements are put together and integrated. Thus, it is a must to check and measure the user onboarding flow for your mobile app on different monitors and screens so that the app is smooth and seamless on every monitor.
7. Another way to keep users engaged in your app is by providing them with the facility of integrating the app with social media logins like Facebook, Gmail, etc., instead of burdening them with creating another email id to use the app. This will help in making the process less complicated and retain users in the app.
8. Opting for including animation in your introductory part of the app can also help keep the users intact. It will maintain their interest in the app and grab more attention.

All these practices and ways can help in making the mobile app onboarding effective and straightforward.

Some mobile app onboarding approaches

These approaches will help keep the users intact on the platform. Let’s discuss the four of these below-

Account setup approach or simplicity approach– WhatsApp is a perfect example of the simplicity approach. It requires its users to create an account and then receive a call or SMS to activate it. Whatsapp needs your mobile number and then proceed further to send an SMS to verify the phone number. This is a very straightforward approach that does not require much on the user’s part except for verifying the phone number.

Showcasing the option or feature approach- this approach is well implemented by Spotify. Spotify has a very user-friendly approach where it uses the user’s email Id and password, and then the user can choose their favourite artists. It will also list similar artists and create a playlist and mix to start enjoying the music. Spotify shows the main features of the app and then allows the user to play with it. The app is clean and systematic and showcases the elements at the start only.

Action approach– this approach is well adopted by a popular app PayPal. The app has a very simple approach. After the signs up, the app provides three options: send money, request money, and order ahead. It also has the option of skipping these functions and exploring the app. This approach keeps the users engaged and makes it one of the popular apps amongst its users.

The benefits approach– Ever Note is the perfect example of the benefits approach. The app uses this approach to communicate to its users the value of the app. It tells them why they should use the app instead of telling them how it works. The app uses the onboarding process to showcase benefits such as taking notes and finding them on other devices or collaborating with other users.

Which apps should compulsorily use the app onboarding process?

Apps with-

1. Unique transactions.
2. Complex workflow
3. New redesigning and structuring.
4. A brand new concept
5. Financial applications

These apps require urgent onboarding prioritization process.

Conclusion

No doubt, mobile app onboarding must be considered by the developers to increase their app’s reach. These innovative ways and practices will help increase user engagement and give higher conversion rates. Some companies have already implemented such procedures, and the results are known to everyone. These practices will double up your chances of increasing the popularity of the app.