1. The problem: zipBoard is a SaaS web-app that fails to show users value quickly
zipBoard's main customer funnels are search and customer calls, each leading to a free trial. When these potential customers signed up, they did not reach value—the a-ha moments of marking up a file and sharing a file—quickly; there was too much friction through onboarding and the first meaningful action was not clear.
I identified these issues by reviewing customer recordings, measuring turn-over metrics, and usability testing.
Mapping: from sign-up to first ah-ha! moment is over five screens and modals with over 7-click throughs in old onboarding flow. Click to zoom-in
2. Set up contraints: what is a new user's primary activation
zipBoard needed to define activation clearly for new users who are testing the platform. Activation is the main values of the platform that get users to that "a-ha!" moment and create value for them. With a platform focused on file sharing and file collaboration, activation is uploading a file, sharing a file, and receiving a collaborative response (annotation or markup on a shared file).
Two of these, uploading a file and sharing a file, can and should be done within minutes of testing the platform.
Below shows the old initial start screen (after how-to videos and confirmations, which were removed as friction), and the new start screen that prompts users to upload a file instead of starting a project to get started. Creating a project is not an a-ha! moment; uploading a file is.
zipBoard old onboarding start screen
New onboarding screen allows users to activate immediate by uploading a file, the first necessary step
3. Edit to execute: redesign onboarding flow with fewer screens and clicks to get the user to value much faster
The mapped onboarding was full of too much excess and friction. The new flow redesigns the onboarding to move from sign-up to file-upload within one screen and one-click. This is a first priority when I looked at how to prioritize the product in zipBoard because this is the funnel: from sales to sign-up, to maximize activation and retention with new customers.
The new flow was easy to develop and quick to implement, to gain feedback as soon as we released the new flow. With the new release, zipBoard onboarded two new enterprise clients within a month.
4. Outcome and expand: take this solution beyond onboarding
With the onboarding redesign and a-ha-moment path, I looked at the overall product roadmap. zipBoard lacked direction and the development process was scattered and painful. A roadmap was an initial step to giving the team insight into the pipeline and cleaning up the agile dev program.
This is a flexible roadmap that is front-loaded. The most important pieces are the categories: these are the main goals and values that I identified after several discussions with our CEO and founder. Growth and bringing in new clients is the priority, but the platform was 10 years old and parts of failed usability tests. I added core platform and usability as a main focus, which is essential to retention.
