Getting people to download apps and use them once is hardly the deal anymore. With the right marketing tactics and perfect placements, you can get people to download the app and install them. However, the real thing is to keep them engaged, and make them use the app more than once. You need to be the next Uber in your niche. Whenever people think of the particular convenience, your mobile app should be their first thought, and they should not think of uninstalling your app.
Alas! Half the apps on a user’s phone remain dormant and go into the uninstall bin whenever they decide to clean the phone.
How do you engage people, and make them believe that your app is all that they need?
As they say, the first impression lasts forever! You need to make a great first impression on your audience so that they connect with you. Your mobile app, when it opens up for the user, should be intuitive, and self-explanatory. The user need not spend a lot of their time into understanding the app or go through a steep learning curve.
Here are a few tips that should help with mobile app onboarding. If you incorporate these ideas into your app design, you might be able to deliver an engaging app.
#1 A Focused and Simple On-boarding
When designing the on-boarding, the focus should be on the new users, and their ability to use your app. Remember, they may not be ardent users of mobile apps, and they still stutter with the basics. Your onboarding should be as easy as the app itself. Show the basic functionality that you have implemented within the app in a few screens. It should all be focused on what you want to show the new users, and how you wish to propose the value your app will provide to them.
For instance, Foursquare was initiated with the sole purpose of finding new places and exploring them, which are located near you. the onboarding allows you to find places by the country, specific dish you want to have or specific recreation you are looking for. The on-boarding comes with a skip button, which allows the user to quit this part if they feel they know how to use it.
Include as many screens as you believe is essential for the perfect on-boarding.
#2 Make it Visually Experiential
We all believe that users need to be explained in detail. However, most of us make the mistake of adding huge chunks of text that irks the user and makes them go to another app that is used for the same purpose.
The better way of dealing with this bounce rate is by adding some interesting visuals that will guarantee you the users. Add as many images as possible to the app screen that you are planning for on-boarding. Make the whole app initiation interactive. With an interactive onboarding experience, they will be able to learn the gestures and the flow of the app with ease
#3 Swift Storytelling for More Interest
It is important to make the app memorable, which is why you need to incorporate the storytelling method. It helps connect and memorize the app path, and efficiently move through the app. The user likes the app better as a result.
You can include a character, who takes the user through the entire story for app onboarding. Google does the storytelling on-boarding, and it has been quite an interesting experience. You could add a character or simply go with the flow. The idea is to add two or three connecting blocks and weave a tale from it that will tell the users how to use the app.
#4 Connect with Users Emotionally
It is not enough to just connect with the users; you need to connect with them at an emotional level. the idea is to make the user happy and satisfied with the user interface that you are offering them. for this purpose, you need to make the interface friendly and functional.
Illustrations are a great way to tell the users how to use the app and get them started. When you are creating illustrations for the app, you should bear in mind the colours, shapes and even the patterns that you will be using. Each of them has a significant connection with the user, and will eventually help with onboarding.
#5 Make the app recognizable
The app should connect at the very basic level, which is why illustrations and custom onboarding screens are very important. You need to create a mobile app that connects with the right users and makes them want to use it. the idea is to make the illustration the face of the mobile app, such that they can connect it with your brand easily. It also helps increase brand awareness and improves the brand’s connectivity.
#6 Keep it Unique and Original
While it is good to be inspired by other brands, copying is certainly not a good idea, especially if you want to stand out in your niche. The best way to onboard users, and make them stay would be having an original and custom onboarding screen. It could be a visual storytelling process or you can have illustrations. Make sure you ideate the screen in a way that it comes out as original.
#7 Ensure the Clarity in Messages
As we have already said, the onboarding process should be quick and short. However, it should be clear and effective too. You don’t need an onboarding process, where you are going to complicate the process or, it will take the users some time to understand what you want to tell them.
When you are creating illustrations, make sure it can be perceived in one way only. If there are multiple possibilities of interpreting the illustration, change it immediately.
The visual element is supposed to get the users the right information and should be easy to interpret.
Summing up
When you are delivering a mobile app, it is important to introduce the functionality and features of the app users, along with delivering a usable app. You need to help them learn the different features and understand the way the app can be used. In case you are offering a new type of app, it is also essential to show the value the app will offer the users. It will help the users use the app better.
The first step is to validate the idea, followed by designing an experiential app and incorporating an impressive on-boarding for the users.
