How Streamlined Onboarding can Increase Revenue
131 days of the average American’s year are spent being bored
(OnePoll 2019)
Boredom is more than not having anything to do. It results from monotonous experience with lack of mental stimulation; the overwhelming lack of desire, interest and concentration on activities. It’s a lingering feeling of dissatisfaction, which affects our attitude and how we view the world.
Music stimulates creativity and reduces boredom
Music releases the ‘feel-good hormone’ dopamine. One study shows that dopamine levels are 9% higher when individuals are listening to music (Nature Neuroscience 2011). This results in higher levels of concentration and productivity.
When people are bored from music
Our likes and interests are ever-evolving. If we don’t keep up, we overexpose ourselves to songs and artists and we feel tired and dissatisfied. Many users experience song burnout and find themselves recycling the same tracks over and over, cultivating boredom.
Rhythma
Rhythma is a streaming platform for independent artists that helps users discover independent artists that aren’t top trends. The streaming platform was free to users when launched and quickly grew. Now that they’ve built an audience, they need to monetize their service so they can keep up with their users’ needs.
How can we generate revenue and meet user needs?
This project’s objective was to create an onboarding flow with tiered payment plans, giving new and pre-existing users the choice to stay on a free plan or upgrade to premium for an enhanced experience. This required setting an attainable profit margin and adjusting the app’s architecture for the free plan. The goal was to create an enjoyable experience for all plans, but entice users to experience the best.
Understanding Our Users
We sat down with 5 people to uncover their thoughts, feelings and behaviors surrounding the music discovery journey and what makes them become a subscriber to something. Our users tell us that it’s less about the deal that makes people sign up; but rather, the value of the product itself.
3 Types of Users
These personas were crafted based on user research and interviews surrounding competing apps to determine common attitudes and behaviors.
People that never sign up
People that sign up for trial during onboarding
People that eventually convert
How might we create an onboarding flow that would entice users to sign up for Premium while still satisfying user needs?
Creating a free plan that has just enough friction to convince people to upgrade is the objective. Too much friction will cause people to leave the app altogether, but too little friction and there will be no value in the paid plan.
With people like Skylar making up the largest number of users, we have to be mindful of how we present sign up opportunities. Being pushy can push many users away.
Marketplace Strengths and Weaknesses
This project started off by conducting a competitor analysis at both direct and indirect competitors, leading companies and others. We observed their onboarding flow, what’s already working, and any points of friction.
Companies display inconsistent pricing
This can cause confusion and distrust from users and a lack of ethics can even be argued. Users will unknowingly pay 25% more depending on what device they decided to sign up on.
How effective are forms?
When conducting market research, it was observed there are a few personal questions many companies ask for during onboarding, including:
- Birthdate
- Zip Code
- Gender
These are common fields to create a personalized experience for the user and its effectiveness will be tested in this design. The question is: do these input fields help or hinder?
Usability Testing
Objectives
- How many people sign up for premium?
- What is their decision making process?
- What are their feelings surrounding the entire flow?
- Are there usability issues?
Wireframes were tested with 5 participants to judge the design’s rough layout.
2 out of 5 users sign up for premium
A majority of people in this group hastily declined the premium membership. Those that did sign up thoroughly read its details and talked me through their thought process. They usually take advantage of such promotions because they want to see the app at its highest and best to determine what value it provides. Those that didn’t sign up stated that
Color Psychology to Evoke Energy and Trust
Creating Long-term Conversions
Long-term impact will be observed by increasing awareness throughout the app, not just through onboarding. Here’s how we placed awareness opportunities:
Limited skips
This is universal amongst streaming apps with free plans, however the presentation varies. We saw an opportunity to enlighten user experience by letting them know how many skips they have left.
[skip gif]
Minimally invasive sales
Usability Test
Objectives
- How many people sign up for premium?
- What is their decision making process?
- Can users find additional plans?
- Are there usability issues?
Hi-fidelity mockups were tested on 5 participants to determine if any adjustments from the previous designs impact the premium sign-up rate.
50% increase in premium sign ups
This design was tested on a small pool of people and was not conducted to determine hard quantifiable data; rather, how users approached and formulated their decision.
In the previous round upon the critical screen, users made their decision quickly, impulsively and without much rationalization. In this round of testing, twice as many users signed up for premium. The difference in behavior this time around was more evaluative, slow and curious.
Users explore other payment plans
In the previous round of testing, the lack of apparent choice resulted in no users exploring additional plan options. We made an adjustment in the design and moved all plans to the critical screen. 4 out of 5 people tested investigated additional plans and one attempted to sign up for the student plan.
Removing input fields
Some users expressed confusion as to why this is a necessary field. They made a correct assumption about it’s purpose, but they were ideating the effectiveness of such fields. One person even pointed out that date of birth has nothing to do with her taste in music because despite her young age, she loves 80’s and 90’s music.
This removal created a simplistic interface that guided participants past this screen without confusion or curiosity.
Automating the checkout process
Initially the checkout process setup required multiple inputs from users. Although this could be streamlined by auto-filling with saved card information, we thought the simplification could be taken a step further by automatically using the card saved on file for by user’s app store ID. (Also noted the usability issue of a missing back arrow).
Lessons Learned
- Giving the users choice to browse additional plans increased sign up rate by 50%.
- Cutting back on input fields increases speed of sign up flow and skepticism from users.
- Not everyone will upgrade their account immediately. Strategic placement of upgrade opportunities will remind users it exists without overwhelming them.
Future Considerations
With budget and time constraints, this app was tested on small groups of people. To gather quantifiable data, additional, long-term tested would need to be conducted to reach a conclusion on onboarding effectiveness, future conversions, and overall satisfaction of what the user is getting.
While the product itself hasn’t changed, simply the way it’s accessed has. Implication of this design will validate it’s place in the market by assessing if people are willing to pay for this product. Long-term assessment will let us know what changes to make to the procuct itself and to the heirarchy of plans.
