Significantly enhancing the onboarding experience for trials on Buildxact with a remarkable 9% increase in retention.
ARR impact AUD $51,000
I designed the onboarding process from signup through to the first experience to improve trial retention rates.
Buildxact a construction software allows builders to upload plans for a home and measure quantities and requirements needed in order to provide a quote for their client.
Data analysis showed that the conversion rate for trials was below the company’s objective, and the cost of acquisition was to high (CAC).
As a product sales had to start to come from within the product (product-led-growth approach) versus being sales-led growuth.
Responsibilities
User research
Data analysis
Prototyping
User Testing
Stakeholder management
Timeline: 9 months
Role
UX Designer, in cross functional team. (Marketing, Sales, Product, Customer Success, Developers)
Tools
Miro
Pendo
UserInterviews.com
Optimal Workshop
Axure RP
Challenge/Objective:
The challenge was to enhance the onboarding experience for Buildxact.com, a SaaS construction software. The previous onboarding process required users to activate their accounts via email within 48 hours, but it resulted in a bland, empty dashboard with minimal personalization. One-third of trial users spent less than 15 minutes on the platform and never returned. The objective was to increase trial user retention by 20%, though it was an arbitrary number, it served as a goal.
Method:
User Research and Funnel Analysis:
Conducted user research, comprising 12 in-depth interviews and a survey with 268 responses, to gain insights into pain points and user expectations during the 14-day trial signup process.
Developed a journey map to assist stakeholders in prioritizing critical issues faced by trial users.
Continuously monitored software usage throughout the 14-day trial period, utilizing established time-on-task metrics to inform the business about areas requiring optimization.
Design and Implementation:
Refined the signup process by reducing mandatory fields and simplifying the form.
Introduced an onboarding profile to gain deeper insights into which modules/tasks trial users were most interested in. This profile was also utilized by marketing, sales, and customer support and success teams.
Orchestrated the production of concise, video-oriented onboarding materials that highlighted important features and best practices, with timing aligned to trigger events.
Implemented an onboarding task list to provide users with a clear sense of progress and recommended actions.
Shared critical UX heuristics and identified friction points with the product team for both short-term and long-term improvements.
Usability testing and Design Iterations:
Conducted usability testing to collect feedback on the enhanced onboarding experience, achieving a 100% success rate for the trial profiler component.
Continuously iterated and refined the onboarding tasks, incorporating insights from analytics and user feedback.
Image below is leaner signup form that informed the business of essential user detail through salesforce. Some fields auto populated using IP detectors to reduce completion time.
The introduction of a OTP (one time password) meant trials and existing users didn’t need to set up a password, allowing users a faster login. Going forward this meant an activation email was removed for all trials, thus reducing time to log in to the app
An onboarding profiler was introduced in order to understand user signing up for a trial. This informed the Job-To-Be-Done framework, and served trials a different onboarding journey based on the selection. It as well informed the Marketing, Sales and Customer Support with richer profile data of the trial and the objectives to be met in trial.
The previous dashboard (home screen) of the app was bare, we introduce a Quick Start module that helped trial self serve and complete core task essential to reduce the TTV (time to value) of the estimation process. A stage identified in our journey map as the consideration stage prior to purchasing a subscription.
Boosted trial conversions by 9%, contributing $51,000 to Annual Recurring Revenue, thanks to streamlined sign-up and sign-in processes with OTP.
Improved user retention as users successfully completed the onboarding wizard and engaged with the task list.
Received positive user feedback for providing clear guidance throughout the trial.
Empowered users to confidently explore the software, achieving desired outcomes.
Achieved higher overall user satisfaction and success.
Strategic Considerations
Identified key strategic issues that require attention to further enhance trial user retention and conversion rates. These issues will be addressed at a strategic level to drive continuous improvement.
