

User Onboarding  - elie_CH
http://www.useronboard.com/onboarding-teardowns/

======
ghiculescu
I thought it would be interesting to see how
[http://www.useronboard.com/](http://www.useronboard.com/) stacks up, based on
some of the feedback dished out in those teardowns. Some quick notes, based on
[http://i.imgur.com/mIwr3TS.png](http://i.imgur.com/mIwr3TS.png), and assuming
that the goal is to sell copies of the book.

\- There's no call to action at all

\- Assuming someone who lands here would have some idea of what user
onboarding is, the page doesn't say specifically how this will help me get
better at it. Just gives me a definition which I (probably) already know.

\- Mentioning brands I recognise (Spotify, Pocket, Pinterest) is good. Makes
me curious to know more. But I'm not sure exactly what a teardown is.

\- Ahhh, so there's a book that I'll like if I enjoyed the teardowns. I guess
I'll look at a teardown and then maybe I'll look at the book afterwards.

\- Once on a teardown page (eg. [http://www.useronboard.com/how-shopify-
onboards-new-users/](http://www.useronboard.com/how-shopify-onboards-new-
users/)) there's nothing mentioning the book at all.

\- I am now addicted to teardowns and have forgotten about the book. The
Training & Contact links at the top do not get my attention. Which is a shame
because I think
[https://www.useronboard.com/training/](https://www.useronboard.com/training/)
does a pretty good job overall.

\- Completely ignored the Latest Posts bit at the bottom of the homepage.
Looks very similar to the Less Accounting one
([http://www.useronboard.com/how-lessaccounting-onboards-
new-u...](http://www.useronboard.com/how-lessaccounting-onboards-new-users/))

Maybe it's not actually trying to sell very hard the book and I'm over
thinking it a bit, but I did find it interesting to try and apply what I'd
just learned.

~~~
tsieling
> There's no call to action at all

There's a giant blue button that says Check out the Book

~~~
jamestanderson
This is getting _really_ nitpicky, but it's below "the fold." So it might as
well not be there for some users.

But getting people to buy the book might not be the primary goal of the
website, or the home page. It's probably to show off the reviews and
teardowns, which it does a great job of. I think it's perfectly acceptable to
have the secondary purpose of the site, buying the book, a bit out of the way.

------
samuelhulick
Hi everyone! I just saw a bunch of tweets linking to my site and traced it
back here -- I'm the person behind this site and if anyone has any questions,
I'd love to answer them here!

~~~
highace
You've clearly put a lot of time into this and I think you've done a great
job. I've gathered a whole bunch of new ideas to try with my onboarding in a
fraction of the time it would have taken me to figure it out myself.

~~~
samuelhulick
I'm really glad to hear that -- it's the whole point! New teardowns come out
every week or two, as well.

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andygeers
If you've not got it already, buy Samuel's e-book - it's ace!
[https://www.useronboard.com/training/](https://www.useronboard.com/training/)

~~~
grosbisou
Why is it ace? Can you develop a bit and explain why you liked it? Thanks ;)

I mean even if the website is really interesting, the book is $50 minimum.

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measure2xcut1x
I'm not sure this is the intended use case, but this website allowed me to
check out a few products without having to sign up for a trial. I think I have
free trial fatigue. It also introduced me to a few new products.

~~~
samuelhulick
That's a happy side effect, for sure.

------
artsandsci
Wanted to chime in about Samuel's consulting service. I was part of a project
that Samuel did a teardown for. He went above and beyond to do a very thorough
video and answer questions on the follow-up call. It's especially handy if you
have a bunch of small UX issues you're working on and find yourself going in
circles debating the same issues. His "first-time-user" take on things helps
iron that out. He also points out a lot of things you havne't noticed because
you're been staring at the same design for so long.

~~~
samuelhulick
That's really kind of you to chime in -- would you mind emailing me at
(anything) @useronboard.com so I can thank you personally?

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netcan
Slight tangent:

This is a great example of something most people can do to boost their earning
potential, even (especially) as an employee. As an aid to selling ebooks &
training, the benefit is obvious (it's on HN). But, something like this would
also make sense to anyone working on UX.

It's at least as valuable as an acronym on your CV.

~~~
samuelhulick
It really comes down to this, doesn't it?
[https://twitter.com/patio11/status/421694694696185856](https://twitter.com/patio11/status/421694694696185856)
:)

~~~
netcan
More or less.

Patrick seems to be advocating making your everyday work public, repeatable
and enduring. That's ideal. But, for people that _are_ working in a silo or
otherwise not going to take that step, this seems like an accessible step.

In fact, a carbon copy of this seems like a good template for a UX person to
follow. Pick a topic (not on boarding). Do the research. Make a dozen examples
easily digestible for someone who needs to implement the thing you are
researching. In-app notifications, advanced settings, in-app tips (Clippy!),
profile pages, email drip marketing, commenting systems, badges, profile
pages…. Almost any UX topic could use teardowns like this.

------
dfc
The breakdown of the OKCupid process has these two comments about
illustrations:

    
    
      1. Illustration of smiling high confidence person draws you in.
        
      2. The illustration feels a bit flat and 'uncanny-valley-ish.' it leaves an
      impersonal impression, but that might be the intent (i.e. you get the
      personal stuff when you log in)
    
    

Would you be surprised to learn that these comments are about the same
illustration? I was. I clicked back and forth 4-5 times to make sure I was not
missing something. A lot of the comments made it seem like I was listening to
Foamy the Squirrel give stream of consciousness impressions as he signed up
for online dating.

~~~
samuelhulick
I appreciate the critique, but it's not like an object can't have more than
one quality. :) In this case, an illustration was both crudely presented while
simultaneously being more personable than, say, a block of text. I'm not sure
where the "gotcha" here is.

~~~
dfc
You really think those descriptions are compatible? I don't mean compatible
like "sort-a prominent sorta-not position," I am talking about not mutually
exclusive. Uncanny valley has never been something that I imagined being drawn
to.

~~~
samuelhulick
Yeah, fair point.

------
V-2
Netflix slide 34. "Opportunity for smiling faces or other positive imagery, to
promote more encouragement".

You think so? I have mixed feelings about this.

I think designers tend to overload commercial websites with cheesy smiling
faces.

Maybe if they could come up with some more creative idea for positive imagery
instead... but happy people, perhaps it's actually good that they didn't
resort to this cliche again (since - as you pointed out - they already showed
us a bunch of people mysteriously smiling at the menu screen like some drugged
Joker victims ;) )

~~~
samuelhulick
I wouldn't have minded seeing something to help keep things fresh and moving
forward. Definitely didn't need to be cheesy or stock photography.

p.s. "drugged Joker victims" is a hilarious way to describe it!

------
V-2
Very interesting website, but this mouse hover zoom thing is annoying. I'd
only make it zoom in after a delay or (better still) a click.

~~~
hardikj
I second that

~~~
runeb
I third that

~~~
samuelhulick
Thirdly noted.

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dafnap
This is great!! Thanks for taking the time to do this. Very helpful to learn
from these companies

~~~
samuelhulick
Really glad to hear it's helpful -- stay tuned for many more.

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V-2
It's super instructive and extremely interesting. If anything, I'd like to see
more BAD examples :) I should think they're easier to find!

~~~
V-2
I'd be curious to see a review of StackOverflow as well (not that I think it
makes a bad example, although surely one that targets a non-standard audience
and falls into a somewhat different category than most)

------
jf22
Got his book free from attending Microconf.

Full of useful tips and tricks. I highly recommend it.

~~~
samuelhulick
I'm glad to hear it -- did any parts stand out in particular?

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corford
Just read the Optimizely tear down. Excellent. Have bookmarked and will buy
the book shortly :)

~~~
jorisd0
Interestingly, the Optimizely landing page looks completely different now,
with a lot of the content that used to be there placed elsewhere on their
website. Assuming that they used their own technology to improve their own
landing page, we could perhaps conclude that their old information-heavy
landing page wasn't good for conversion, and their newer page performs much
better. I wonder why; the old landing page looks a lot better to me, and seems
to make a lot more sense if you look at the theory behind it (as put forwards
by the teardown).

~~~
corford
That is interesting. I agree with you, the old landing page was a lot better.

Maybe they've reached a point where they feel they are the market leader now
and assume that anyone hitting their site already knows they're good and just
wants to get straight in to a free trial?

------
reinier_s4g
Thanks, this is awesome info! I passed it to my designer, he will find it even
more useful.

~~~
samuelhulick
Great!

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forrecovery123
Extremely useful resource! Thank you :)

~~~
samuelhulick
Thanks for finding it useful!

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jakubp
Thank you for doing this!

~~~
samuelhulick
You're welcome!

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arturszott
This is awesome!

~~~
samuelhulick
Thank you for saying so!

