Onboarding Flow
Adding an educational pattern to the onboarding flow to reduce user-confusion and increase end-user activation.
Role: UX Lead (Research, Design, Prototyping)
Timeline: 4 weeks
Tools: Figma, Survey Monkey, Mobbin
Overview
Perpay is a buy now, pay later service that helps people build credit by letting them pay on time through their direct deposit. During my co-op at Perpay, I led the research and design in order to project aimed towards increasing end-user activation and retention within the app.
My research revealed that numerous users faced difficulties comprehending Perpay's unique payment model, which prevented them from completing the activation process. To tackle this challenge, I created an educational framework that not only clarified Perpay's payment model but could also be seamlessly integrated throughout the user experience, serving as a reusable solution.
The Challenge: Increasing User Activation
The data team came to the product team with a problem: a significant number of users registered for the app but never activated their account, meaning that they never made their first purchase. My job was to identify the cause for low user-activation and develop and implement the solution.
My Process
Discover
Define
Ideate
Design
Research
Conducting user surveys for discovery
To understand what was preventing users from making a purchase after signing up, I distributed a user survey to our target audience, Tier 1 customers. Tier 1 customers are individuals who have created accounts on the app, but have not completed any purchases within 1 month of creating their account.
In the survey, I asked users why they hadn’t completed a purchase yet. The responses overwhelmingly indicated that the main reason was a lack of education and therefore, confusion:
Confusion About Payment
“I've heard good things from my friends, but the payment model is confusing to me. I don't want to make a purchase if I don't really understand how it works.”
Fear with Direct Deposit
“I’m a single mom- my direct deposit is my lifeline. How can I know for sure nothing will happen? I don't see anywhere that explains it [payment model] in depth.”
Defining the problem statement
A lack of education in the current onboarding flow
First-time users of Perpay need a comprehensive explanation of the product in the onboarding process because they want to use Perpay, but are cautious to because they don’t fully understand the company’s unique payment model.
Understanding the business goals
To understand business goals for this project, I met with my stakeholders to brainstorm the business objectives for this project. This meeting consisted of a product manager, the head of design, and a senior designer. 
Increase User Activation: The main business objective is to increase end-user activation
Multiple Products: With the addition of new products, the company will need an educational pattern that can fit into multiple places in the experience
Prevent User Drop-off: With complex and unique products comes user-confusion, which ultimately leads to low user-retention. The goal is to prevent confusion and consequently, user drop-off
Heuristic Analysis
The current flow has a very brief and simplified explanation of the product. It includes no additional resources or links to explain what the product is, how it works, and why its safe to use, and instead dives straight into onboarding process.
Current Onboarding Flow:
The Solution
An educational carousel that can used as a reuseable solution
Optional: don’t impede user from next steps
Give digestible information
Additional resources/ links wherever possible
My proposed solution is an optional educational carousel that can be selected if the user needs more information. This carousel would also have digestible information so that the user would be able to encouraged to read the blurb, and there would be additional resources provided if the user wanted a more in-depth explanation.
Ideation
Ideating vibrant and eye-catching concepts
In my competitive analysis, I discovered that their key strengths included "aha" and "wow" moments, utilization of 3-4 screens, and a clear call-to-action (CTA) presence on all screens. To enhance my ideation process, I integrated these findings and incorporated Perpay's brand colors.
Design
The final solution: 3 different use cases, and more to come!
Finally, I brainstormed 3 inital use cases where this educational pattern could be utilized.
1. Initial App Download
New users will engage with Perpay for the first time, receiving an introduction to what Perpay is and the benefits it offers before proceeding with the sign-up process.
2. Setting Up Direct Deposit
From the survey, it was evident that a substantial portion of users identified direct deposit as the primary reason for not activating their accounts. Offering a comprehensive explanation and additional resources to assist with this aspect will mitigate confusion and promote user activation.
3. New Products
If a user who hasn't yet signed up for a product visits the new product page in the app, they will see an informative carousel guiding them through the new product's details, with a clear call-to-action (CTA) to apply. This approach is reusable for future product offerings.
*Content is not finalized.
1. Initial App Download
2. Setting up direct deposit
3. New products
Conclusion
Piecing together the  puzzle to develop the final solution
From identifying a problem with the data team to gradually uncovering its root causes through direct customer surveys, I had an amazing experience designing this project. I gained valuable insights from analyzing the user survey data, engaging in design exercises, ideating solutions, and ultimately bringing my proposed idea to life. The process of piecing together the problem statement and solution was like a fun puzzle of that deepened my passion for user research. I'm proud to say that this educational carousel can now be replicated for various parts of the app, fostering user activation and retention.
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