Timeline
January 2025
Stack
Figma
Role
Sr. Growth Designer
Team
Product Manager, Growth Manager,
2 Devs, 1 QA
Problem
Our activation rate stopped growing, and fewer users were moving from trial to paid. This made activation a weak point, blocking long-term revenue.
Insight
Unclear onboarding left users confused about the app’s value. Many lost interest early and churned before converting.
Goal
Redesign the onboarding flow to make activation clearer, increase engagement, and turn more trial users into paying customers.
Key Task
Improve onboarding performance by raising t2pCVR (29.8%) by 10–15%. Current flow had too much text, making the app’s value unclear and reducing first-time engagement.
Competitors Research
I conducted competitor research and reviewed their onboarding flows to identify best practices and weak points. In addition, I analyzed onboarding steps in Amplitude and tracked metrics across the funnel. We discovered that about 60% of users dropped off after the welcome screen and closed the app. Based on these findings, the team and I built hypotheses on how to improve activation and retain more users.
Hypothesis 1 – Overload
Too much text in onboarding makes it hard to quickly see the benefits, lowering conversion.
Hypothesis 2 – Key Features
The old screen pushed users toward starting a free trial. Subscription options felt secondary, so users often ignored the annual plan and missed its value.
Hypothesis 3 – Trust
Word-of-mouth builds trust and influences users to try the app.
Hypothesis 4 – First Impression Drop
Since about 60% of users dropped off right after the welcome screen, we assumed the first impression wasn’t strong enough. If we make the welcome screen more engaging and guide users directly to saving a flight, fewer people will close the app early and activation will rise.
Design Options
We tested different flows:
– Minimal setup with only 2 screens
– Guided path with microcopy explaining value step by step
– Interactive demo showing live data first, then prompting to save a flight
Design Workshop
I organized a kick-off with the product and marketing teams to review design ideas. We aligned that value must be visible within 5 seconds and saving a flight should happen during onboarding, not after.
Key Decisions
– Show the app’s main value clearly: staying safe and informed during any weather
– Use short, catchy phrases to highlight benefits quickly
– Build trust with user reviews placed before the subscription screen
Implementation
We moved forward with the guided path design and refined it after feedback. The onboarding was simplified, focused on the most important features, and included social proof to build trust. We then ran an A/B test, which confirmed that the new design improved activation and trial-to-paid conversion.
Impact
– tCVR: 12.4% → 13.8% (+11.2%)
– t2pCVR: 29.8% → 33.3% (+11.9%)
– dpCVR: 1.62% → 1.86% (+14.9%)
Learnings
This case showed that even with small design changes we could drive measurable improvements. Clearer onboarding, highlighting the right features, and adding trust elements significantly boosted user engagement and conversion.
