Tips for Improving First-Time User Experience

Marketers - Make up your f-ing mind! - Chat-bot: "Want to talk to sales?" - Website Banner: "Download our new e-book" - Pop-up: "Accept our cookies?" - Hero: "Start a Trial" or you can also "Get a Free Demo" - Screen take-over: "Check out our latest announcement" Make it stop! I have been on your site for 2 seconds and am crushed with asks. None of which are what I actually want to do. I want to find out what it is your product actually does. Think I am exaggerating? I see screenshots like the one below on a daily basis. As a first time visitor before I even get to read the headline of the site: > I have 3 to 4 pop-ups appear > 2 of which are asking for a demo (after 0 time on site) > Sometimes two of the CTA’s in the pop-ups are actually exactly the same I can only imagine the impact this is having on bounce rates and time on site. So instead of hammering everyone to convert the second they hit your site: 1) Understand that not all traffic is the same! 2) Understand the different types of visitors and build experiences for them (paid / organic / blog traffic / return visitors vs new, etc etc.). 3) Look to add value and be a place people can explore and learn more about the product or problem you solve. 4) Go through your user experience regularly from site all the way through to sign-up (if it feels painful to you imagine how it feels to new users). Marketer's don't set out to build an experience like this but it often happens over time when you aren't constantly monitoring the experience you are providing. So do yourself a favor this week, visit your site and ask yourself the question - Does this make sense?

You've perfected your product, but can your customers extract value quickly? 👀 Streamline the onboarding process. Make the initial experience as simple as possible. Remove all obstacles on the path to value. Remember, your customers don't care about the complexity of your tech. They care about reaching their desired outcome swiftly. Focus on value realization first. Map out the quickest route to initial value. Ensure subsequent value is clearly communicated and easily achieved. This value-centric approach leads to stickier products and happier customers. Don't get caught in the over-engineering trap. Prioritize accelerating time to value above everything else. What are your go-to strategies for speeding up time to value? Share them below!

It's your job to support Activation. Don't just "get out of the way"... When opening your app for the first time, users have little information about how it is and how it works. First, use onboarding to educate them about your app's value and learn about them (your conversion rate will thank you). But, after that, if you just drop them on a dashboard and multiple tabs, a lot of them will be overwhelmed or distracted. You should leverage product design to customize the experience and guide them, particularly at the beginning. Here is one of the #growthgems I shared in Growth Gems #105, from Ana Oarga (Co-founder & Product Strategy at Just Mad): -- 💎 𝘿𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙣 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙗𝙮 𝙘𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙯𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚: 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘰 (𝘦.𝘨., 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵 → 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯), 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘦 (𝘦.𝘨., 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴, 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯), 𝘱𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘶𝘴𝘦 (𝘦.𝘨., 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘴𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵), 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 (𝘣𝘢𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘴, 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘴, 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴, 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘴). -- This is the Reforge playbook as well: first, you define what activation is for you. Then, you use the UX/design levers at your disposal to support activation to find the right balance. User journeys are complex, everyone has a different level of intent, and there is no single path. But you have to start somewhere, and simplifying things during the first-time user experience is a good starting point. Want more advice on activation? 👉 Check out Growth Gems #105 for more insights https://lnkd.in/ejBaUudS ___ 👋 I'm Sylvain Gauchet. Click my name + follow + 🔔 so you don't miss out on the #growthgems I share.