{"id":6438,"date":"2016-04-07T14:10:26","date_gmt":"2016-04-07T21:10:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/editor.thinkapps.com\/blog\/?p=6438"},"modified":"2016-04-07T14:10:26","modified_gmt":"2016-04-07T21:10:26","slug":"quick-wins-onboarding-technique","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thinkapps.com\/blog\/launch\/quick-wins-onboarding-technique\/","title":{"rendered":"Quick Wins: A User Onboarding Tactic to Increase Engagement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Quick wins are an\u00a0onboarding technique that can help improve user engagement of your web or mobile app.<\/em><\/p>\n

The number of people who download your app is obviously important. But you know what’s even more important? The number of people who continually use<\/em> your app over time. <\/span><\/p>\n

After all, we all know what happens to apps that sit gathering dust on the home screen\u00a0<\/span>\u2014\u00a0<\/span>they<\/span>\u2019<\/span>re eventually deleted to make room\u00a0for something more compelling.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are many ways to increase your app<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s engagement, but one of the most effective is also one of the least common.\u00a0<\/span>It<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s called the <\/span>\u201c<\/span>quick win.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Quick<\/p>\n

What Is a Quick Win?<\/span><\/h2>\n

A quick win, also known as \u201clow hanging fruit,\u201d is a\u00a0result or achievement that your users can score relatively quickly and easily. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The more people use an app, the more sophisticated they become at manipulating it. Thus, quick wins are most helpful when the app is new and unfamiliar. <\/span><\/p>\n

In other words, quick wins are perfect for the onboarding process.<\/span><\/p>\n

Imagine that you<\/span>\u2019<\/span>ve just downloaded a game, and within the first few seconds of playing, your character stumbles across a potion. She drinks it. A banner and confetti fly up to say, <\/span>\u201c<\/span>Woohoo! You just got a power boost.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This quick win, like all well-designed quick wins, has two impacts. <\/span><\/p>\n

First, it makes <\/span>the user\u00a0<\/span>feel good. Research has found\u00a0that accomplishing something within a game <\/span>activates the brain\u2019s dopamine circuits<\/span><\/a>, even though the victory is unconnected to the real world. (This effect is even more prominent in non-gaming apps, as the task does <\/span>have an intrinsic reward<\/span><\/a>.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Second, the quick win gives the user\u00a0valuable information. In the example above, she\u00a0learns that potions deliver power boosts. This is a much more enjoyable and comprehensible way of teaching someone what a potion does than including a straight-forward explanation in game\u00a0instructions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Summary: Quick Wins = Pleasure + Knowledge<\/i><\/h3>\n

Identifying Quick Wins<\/span><\/h2>\n

Before you can implement quick wins as part of your app<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s onboarding process, you need to figure out what they should be. This sounds obvious,\u00a0<\/span>but it<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s surprisingly difficult.<\/span><\/p>\n

Focus on the users’ priorities<\/h3>\n

Many startup founders and product managers\u00a0confuse their priorities with the users<\/span>\u2019 <\/span>priorities. <\/span><\/p>\n

For example, one of your biggest onboarding goals might be getting users to invite their friends to download the app. That means to you, a quick win would be a user sharing the app with two people in his or her contact list.\u00a0<\/span>However, that<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s probably not a quick win for the user, who<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s focused on figuring out how your app works and how it will enhance his or her life.<\/span><\/p>\n

To check that you<\/span>\u2019<\/span>re primarily serving the user, ask yourself these questions:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Will this quick win give the user a better understanding of the product?<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Will this quick win make the user feel good?<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Will this quick win be helpful to the user as he or she continues to interact with the product?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    If the answer to all three isn<\/span>\u2019<\/span>t yes, it<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s not a quick win.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Focus on the most impactful achievements<\/h3>\n

    In addition, you<\/span>\u2019<\/span>ll want to choose the most impactful quick wins. This is a difficult task when you have many different functionalities or features.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Take Evernote<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s onboarding process. The first time someone uses <\/span>Evernote<\/span><\/a>, they<\/span>\u2019<\/span>re presented with a checklist.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"Quick<\/a><\/p>\n

    This checklist walks them\u00a0through Evernote<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s most basic capabilities: making, sharing, finding, and syncing notes, and setting reminders.<\/span><\/p>\n

    It doesn<\/span>\u2019<\/span>t even touch on Evernote<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s <\/span>\u201c<\/span>Web Clipper<\/span>\u201d <\/span>(which lets you pull screenshots from the web into your notebook), team chat, or email-to-notes features.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"Quick<\/a><\/p>\n

    When you<\/span>\u2019<\/span>re choosing which quick wins to incorporate, make sure that you<\/span>\u2019<\/span>re picking achievements\u00a0related to features that the majority of your users take advantage of\u00a0<\/span>\u2014\u00a0<\/span>not the features you<\/span>\u2019<\/span>re proudest of.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Summary: Focus on\u00a0Relevant and User-Oriented Quick Wins<\/i><\/h3>\n

    Common Conversion Activities<\/span><\/h2>\n

    According to Lincoln Murphy<\/a>, a SaaS customer success strategist, Common Conversion Activities (CCA) are <\/span>\u201cthings that all or most paying customers do during their trial period.\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

    While Murphy is specifically referring to subscription products with free trials, the idea of CCA is also really helpful when discussing app engagement. <\/span><\/p>\n

    With that in mind, let<\/strong><\/span>\u2019s redefine CCA as \u201cthings that all or most long-term users do within their first interactions with the app.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

    (<\/span>\u201c<\/span>Long-term<\/span>\u201d <\/span>is relative and depends\u00a0on your specific app or product. In general, media and entertainment apps are the stickiest, while commerce and retail apps have the greatest churn rate<\/a>. Adjust your definition of long-term accordingly.)<\/span><\/p>\n

    Examples of Common Conversion Activities (CCA)<\/h3>\n

    So, what are some real-life examples of\u00a0<\/span>CCA? <\/span><\/p>\n

    For Facebook users, it<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s getting to 10 friends within 14 days. Once you<\/span>\u2019<\/span>ve hit that milestone <\/span>(Facebook VP of Growth Alex Schultz calls it a \u201cmagic moment\u201d)<\/span><\/a>, then you<\/span>\u2019<\/span>re probably hooked: you<\/span>\u2019<\/span>ve got a full newsfeed to browse, an audience for your posts and pictures, and at least one person to talk to when you<\/span>\u2019<\/span>re online.<\/span><\/p>\n

    For <\/span>Mint<\/span><\/a>, the popular personal finance app, CCA most likely include syncing up your Mint account to your bank account, manually adding a transaction, and logging into the account to check your spending.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"Quick<\/a><\/p>\n

    All of these activities show you the functionality of the app and increase the likelihood you<\/span>\u2019<\/span>ll keep using it.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Conduct\u00a0User Research to Find Your CCA<\/h3>\n

    If your app is already live, you don<\/span>\u2019<\/span>t have to guess what your CCA are. Record your users<\/span>\u2019 <\/span>actions and design a test to see which actions all of the long-term (again, relative) users have taken. <\/span><\/p>\n

    But if your product is recently launched or not yet live, you obviously won<\/span>\u2019<\/span>t have this data. In this case, derive your CCA from your user personas<\/a> or use cases. <\/span><\/p>\n

    Pretend that you<\/span>\u2019<\/span>re the creator of Inbox by Gmail<\/a>. You<\/span>\u2019<\/span>ll have some very distinct user personas: someone who<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s never used Gmail before, someone who<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s very familiar with the Google ecosystem and wants to upgrade from Gmail, someone who<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s curious about the Inbox features but undecided about using it as a main account, and so forth. <\/span><\/p>\n

    Each persona will use the app in different ways. But to find the CCA, you<\/span>\u2019<\/span>ll need to hypothesize some shared actions. For example, all three personas will likely find value (and thus use) Inbox<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s <\/span>\u201c<\/span>Swipe Right<\/span>\u201d <\/span>feature, which instantly moves a message from the primary inbox to the <\/span>\u201c<\/span>Done<\/span>\u201d <\/span>folder. <\/span><\/p>\n

    So, a common conversion activity would be swiping right on an email. That means during onboarding, you should require users to perform this action to help them gain an impactful quick win.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Summary: Tie\u00a0Quick Wins to Your CCA<\/i><\/h3>\n

    Next Steps<\/h2>\n

    For more advice, check out our <\/span>comprehensive guide<\/span><\/a> to building an onboarding process and how to <\/span>convert your customers to a paid subscription<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Quick wins are an onboarding technique that can help improve user engagement of your web or mobile app.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":6450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[96,46,71,505,324,239],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nQuick Wins: User Onboarding Tactic to Increase Engagement<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Quick wins are an\u00a0onboarding technique that can help improve user engagement of your web or mobile app. Here's how to implement this strategy effectively.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thinkapps.com\/blog\/launch\/quick-wins-onboarding-technique\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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