Mobile apps have become a popular marketing tool these days, with companies launching their own apps almost daily. This is not surprising since you get both a promotional tool and an engagement platform rolled into one. But getting people to actually use your mobile app is not easy. Let\’s take a look at how you can convince them to download and use it more.
Why train users on your mobile app?
This might seem an odd question but it would be a good idea to understand why being more proactive in onboarding your users will be a good idea. The most obvious reason here is that people will not be convinced to use your mobile app more if they don’t understand how it works. Around 90% of apps are deleted after being used once due to the unfamiliarity of the app.
By training them on how to use your apps, you help users discover more features faster than they would by themselves. You can also provide them with a variety of practical examples of how to use your app. All of these will convince them of its usefulness and get them to keep it installed.
Onboarding also helps you get feedback about your mobile app. By inserting a feedback form during the tutorial stage, users can tell you outright which features of the app they are having trouble with. Such feedback will be helpful when developing the next version of your app.
Setting up the way for a more effective mobile app onboarding
To make the onboarding work more successful, you need to set it up the right way. The idea here should not be just to teach users about the functionalities of your app. You would also want to get them more invested in using it regularly.
Your first step here is to decide on a goal for your users’ behavior. Ask yourself what you would want to see with your users after the onboarding. Do you simply want them to learn all the basic features? Or do you want them to also be familiar with some of the more advanced features?
You would also want to outline what your ideal user would be after various stages, like after the initial signup and after one week of use. This will give you a benchmark to see whether your onboarding process is working as intended. All of these goals also help you focus your efforts more on crafting an engaging user experience.
Convincing users of your app’s worth
A particular goal you would want to achieve with onboarding is telling your users how much better they would be using your mobile app. This will be the biggest selling point for convincing them to use it more. As such, you would want to remind them of that at every step of the way.
A useful strategy here is highlighting the so-called “emerald city”. This is the place where your users would want to be after completing the onboarding process. You can do this by setting your reminders to tell them what comes next to them after completing a stage of the onboarding process. Game apps do this a lot where they provide items during the tutorials that can be used for the later levels.
Mobile user onboarding techniques
A great thing about mobile app onboarding is that there are different techniques that you can employ. By choosing which technique suits the user experience design of your app, you can help transition people from onboarding to actual use faster. Many successful apps even use a combination of different techniques for greater effectivity.,
Coach screens
Coach screens are screens that pop up when you first open the app. These detail the basic features of the app, as well as some of the basic commands that users can use. Additionally, the screen might also list some of the ways the app can be used.
When creating these coaching screens, you need to keep them as short as possible. Three to four screens are the most common setup. You also don’t want to cram in too much information into a single screen. Instead, use a short copy. You should also make it easy for users to swipe to the next screen.
Interactive tutorial
These are hands-on walkthroughs that guide your users on how to use key features. They usually work by highlighting an on-screen element and asking you to click it to see what happens. This strategy makes it easier for users to memorize the various buttons since they get to actively train doing the actions. Users are also more engaged as they don\’t have to bounce back and forth different screens.
To make your interactive tutorials easier to follow, only cover the features that people will most likely use. You should also want to add a skip function for users who don’t want to go through the whole tutorial. To prevent users from getting lost later on, you can use other techniques as supplements.
Tooltips
These are popups that appear on certain sections of the app, displaying tips and hints. As you decide when these appear, they are great for teaching advanced tips. This can also be used for pointing out features that users might have overlooked earlier.
The trick to effectively using tooltips for mobile app onboarding is timing their appearance right. Consider the kind of information that you want to put on the tip and decide when users might need it. For instance, if users are looking for more ways to run a particular feature, you can show the tooltip after they press the associated button. Test the user experience first to see how people respond to the tip showing up.
Training videos
These short videos will give users a quick tour of the features users will encounter in the mobile app. Often, they will be nothing more than a capture of a certain feature in action. This makes them handy for people who want to quickly review the features anytime. They can also be usind for introducing new features.
As is with the other methods, you don’t want to cram all the demonstrations into one video. Instead, separate everything into lessons and let users decide which ones to watch. You can also collate all your videos into a single site like YouTube and make them accessible from within the mobile app for added convenience.
Get people using your mobile app more often
All the mobile app onboarding techniques and strategies here help your users become proficient within the first few weeks that they download your app. But don’t just stop there. Actively get feedback from your users either through reviews or online comments. This will give you a good idea of what to implement for your next update. All of these will help convince users to stay longer and discover more of what your app can offer.