What is App Onboarding and Why Do We Need it?

by Judi T. Web and application developer

When a user start using a mobile app then it is similar to meeting someone for the first time. User’s initial interaction can be awkward and confusing or it can make an instant right connection. In both of these experiences, first impression is everything.

There is no doubt that each app owner and Mobile App Development Company want their app to make an instant connection with the users. But how do you make sure your app falls in this category. App onboarding is what comes to your rescue if you want to make sure that there is a great first impression of your mobile app. Actually onboarding is one of the most important phases of an app user’s journey, as it is the first point of contact with your app.

What is App Onboarding?
The App onboarding process is actually a series of screens which guide users through the app’s user interface and functions. App onboarding allows businesses and app owners to effectively communicate with their users and provide a positive user experience. Mainly these onboarding screens have three purposes: -

- Educate and teach the app user about the functions and benefits of the mobile app.
- Allow the user to register their login details.
- Ask for and collect profile information which can be used to deliver personalized content and notifications later on when user starts using the app.

Different Types of Onboarding
There are mainly three different types of app onboarding which as an App Development Company or business you can implement, depending on the nature of business and type of mobile app. One thing which is common in all of these onboarding methods is that they empower users and encourage them to learn through exploring the mobile app.

- Benefits-Oriented Onboarding
This type of onboarding shows the benefits or value the user will get from the app and tries to encourage the conversion process. This approach focuses on what the app does and what benefits it offers, rather than how to use the app. These onboarding screens will also include permission requests which the users can opt-in for, like as accessing location and also sending push notifications.

- Function-Oriented Onboarding
When you Hire App Developer then you can ask for function-oriented onboarding. This type of onboarding mainly focuses on the app functionality by teaching and educating the app users how to use the app. Usually the user will get a tour of the app with specific instructions on how to get started and how to perform certain actions or do certain functions in the app.

- Progressive Onboarding
Progressive onboarding is a little more extensive way of onboarding as it shows users new information as they progressively navigate through the mobile app. Actually the instructions which are displayed on the screen are related to the page the user is on, just like a live walk-through and instead of getting the instructions up front, the users will learn and know as they explore the mobile app itself.

Why Does Your Mobile App Need Onboarding Feature?
An experienced App Creator knows clearly why your mobile app needs onboarding feature. We have also told you the purpose behind the app onboarding in this article. Now let’s go more deeper to find out some more reasons for this. Actually, it is difficult for the new users to automatically and intuitively know how to navigate an app. This happens mostly if the interface is different than what it is used to in other similar apps. If a mobile app wants to succeed, then creating a positive first-time user experience is the main and first thing and also ensuring the ongoing app usage is needed. The reality is that users start to lose interest in an app which takes too long to understand. Research says, 21% of the app users will only use your mobile app once. Although this may or may not be due to the complexity of your mobile app but it is an important statistic. Hence including an app onboarding process will help make the first-time use as much smooth as possible and will minimize immensely the potential drop off of users. That means, the app owners can increase the mobile app retention by using the proper use of app onboarding.

Actually the retention can be broken down into three phases: short-term retention, mid-term retention and long-term retention. Here in this article, we are mainly focused on the first phase of short-term retention which refers to the week one after a user has downloaded the mobile app. Research says that the biggest drop-off in usage happens during the short-term retention period between week 0 to week 1. Means retention drops nearly to 75% points down to just 25% in a single week itself. Hence you goal in week 1 should be to make sure that your app is used more than once. By implementing proper user onboarding, you can get more early usage and therefore increase app retention over time.