Redesigning onboarding to preserve user momentum and solve the cold-start problem.

UX Research

UX DESIGN

Owting makes in-person hangouts happen. Its onboarding was doing the opposite. The flow asked for everything upfront and gave nothing back, so users left before seeing what the app could do. I redesigned it around one idea: earn trust before you ask for it.

70%

Reduction in drop-offs

From install to account completion.

80%

Fewer taps required via One-Tap OAuth integration.

Team

Product Manager, Engineer, Designer

My Role

Product Designer

Timeline

4 weeks

50 - 70% of users dropped off between install and account completion. Not because the app failed them. Because the onboarding never gave them a reason to continue.

01

Entry

Trust Friction

"Immediate request for Phone Number with zero context."

Impact

High churn at first touchpoint

02

Login

Cognitive Friction

"Buried social options; manual email entry as the default."

Impact

Increased time-to-value

03

Profile

Interaction Friction

"A "long-form" interrogation asking for Name, DOB, and Email."

Impact

User fatigue / abandonment

04

Landing

Value Friction

"An empty event feed that felt inactive and "cold.""

Impact

Negative first impression

The old flow had no arc. Just asks. A phone number with no context, a login screen that buried the easy option, a form that wanted everything at once, and a landing page with nothing on it. Users weren't confused. They were just never given a reason to continue.

Old Flow

The old flow optimized for data collection. Users optimized for the exit.

Users face significant hurdles during onboarding due to high-friction data requests, a disconnected brand experience, and an immediate lack of engaging content.

Before

Sign-up was step one. Understanding what you were signing up for wasn't part of the flow.

After

A 3-screen value carousel showed what Owting was before asking for anything. Users arrived informed, not interrogated.

Logic

People commit to things they understand. Show the product first, earn the sign-up second.

Developed a series of character-led visuals to illustrate the

app's focus on in-person social coordination, integrated directly

into the initial entry screens to define the brand's tone

Developed a series of character-led visuals to illustrate the

app's focus on in-person social coordination, integrated directly

into the initial entry screens to define the brand's tone

Pivoted to One-Tap OAuth (Google/Apple) to automate identity verification and account creation.

Pivoted to One-Tap OAuth (Google/Apple) to automate identity verification and account creation.

Manual sign-up (Phone/Email) forced high interaction cost and a slow, multi-step verification loop.

Manual sign-up (Phone/Email) forced high interaction cost and a slow, multi-step verification loop.

A 2-second authentication preserves momentum and prevents loss of interest during onboarding.

Long-form registration created fatigue and drop-off. One action per screen, with visible progress, made the same journey feel effortless.

Long-form registration created fatigue and drop-off. One action per screen, with visible progress, made the same journey feel effortless.

The registration flow was asking users to hand over their entire identity before they had seen a single reason to trust the app. Name, birthday, email, phone, all at once, with no sense of how much was left. So instead of cutting steps, I resequenced them. Each screen now owns exactly one ask, paired with a progress indicator that tells users precisely where they are. The result is the same information collected, but a journey that feels like a conversation rather than a form.

The registration flow was asking users to hand over their entire identity before they had seen a single reason to trust the app. Name, birthday, email, phone, all at once, with no sense of how much was left. So instead of cutting steps, I resequenced them. Each screen now owns exactly one ask, paired with a progress indicator that tells users precisely where they are. The result is the same information collected, but a journey that feels like a conversation rather than a form.

Your first moment in the app should feel like an arrival, not an empty room. Redirecting to Chat with a welcome message turns sign-up completion into an immediate social experience.

After a long sign-up journey, users landed on an empty events feed. The app that promised real connections offered nothing to connect with. So the landing state was redirected entirely to the Chat screen, where a personal welcome message from the founder greets every new user. The first thing you see is not a feed waiting to be filled, it is someone already talking to you.

Onboarding

/explorations

Drop-off is rarely about effort. It is about trust. Users were not leaving because the flow was too long, they were leaving because nothing in it gave them a reason to stay.

Clarity converts better than brevity

Users did not abandon because there were too many screens. A focused three-screen narrative ending on a single sharp promise drove a 70% reduction in drop-off.

Perceived effort matters more than actual effort

Progress indicators and optional interest selection did not reduce the step count. They reduced how heavy it felt, cutting interaction cost by 80%.

The first post-onboarding moment is part of the onboarding

Redirecting from an empty feed to a live chat screen made the product's promise tangible within seconds of signup.

Your first moment in the app should feel like an arrival, not an empty room. Redirecting to Chat with a welcome message turns sign-up completion into an immediate social experience.