Data Collaboration Platform - Onboarding
AppsFlyer, 2024
Research | Discovery | Prototyping | UX & UI | Animations | Dev requirments
The Data Collaboration Platform (DCP) is a secure platform where companies can privately and safely share aggregated user data for marketing purposes. It enables Commerce Media Networks to increase their revenue by securely providing their data to brands. Brands use this data to create targeted audience profiles, enhancing their marketing efforts and driving business growth.
The data collaboration field is innovative but can be complex for non-technical users. To address this, we’ve developed an onboarding experience designed to guide first-time users through their initial steps on the platform, ensuring they quickly and effectively realize its value.
Research
The data collaboration is a new and rapidly evolving field, with updates occurring frequently.
When we launched our brand-new DCP with zero users, it was extremely challenging to gather feedback and conduct user discovery calls.
To overcome this, we gathered information from various sources, including conducting competitor analysis, reading articles to gain professional knowledge, attending conferences to stay updated on industry developments and collecting feedback through demo and sales calls to refine our approach.
This comprehensive approach allowed us to better understand the market and improve our product based on real-world insights.
Through our ongoing discovery process, we have gained several key insights:
-
Our primary persona is a Marketing Operations Manager. However, to fully implement our solution, this user typically requires assistance from technical professionals, such as a Data Engineer or IT specialist.
-
Our product, along with those of our competitors, is highly technical and complex for Marketing Operations Managers, who typically lack a technical background.
-
Many businesses are eager to get involved in this field but may not fully understand the processes required to succeed.
Ideation Workshop
After gaining knowledge and insights into the data collaboration field and user needs, we focused on leveraging these insights to enhance our product. Our goal was to create a game-changing solution that will compel users to choose our offering over others.
To achieve this, my colleague, the designer, and I organized a two-hour ideation workshop with the entire product team, including managers, PMs, analysts, and specialists.
Gathering everyone in the same room was crucial, as each team member brings unique professional knowledge and perspectives. During the workshop, we presented the agenda and reviewed the insights from our research. The key question was: How can we leverage these insights to improve our product?
We allotted 15 minutes for individual brainstorming, during which participants wrote their ideas on sticky notes. We then reviewed all the ideas as a group to brainstorm and identify the most promising approach.
At the end of the workshop, we unanimously agreed to focus on the approach of simplicity. We aimed to convey that by using our product, Data collaboration shouldn't be complicated. Our objective was to create a user-centric product that simplifies complex technical tasks and enables users to get value easily and intuitively.
Onboarding journey map
As the first step toward creating a user-centric product, we decided to develop an onboarding experience. Our objective was to help first-time users easily understand the process and tasks needed for successful data collaboration, allowing them to quickly and efficiently realize the value of our solution.
As previously mentioned, the Data Collaboration process involves two distinct parties: the 'collaboration creator,' who provides the data, and the 'collaborator,' who consumes the data. Each party has specific actions to complete in the process.​​​​
To clarify the roles and interactions of each party, I created a parallel journey map based on our research. This map outlines the experiences of both parties and highlights their touchpoints, including instances where one party must wait for the other to take action.
This journey map helped identify blind spots and prompted new questions, ultimately leading to a clearer understanding of when the user first derives value from the platform. Additionally, it assisted in defining the key onboarding steps.
The onboarding
After outlining the journey of both parties, I began planning the onboarding experience. Given that the collaboration creator is our paying customer, the primary user of the platform, and responsible for performing the more complex tasks, we decided to focus on their onboarding experience in Phase 1. Our goal is to design a tailored onboarding process that allows them to derive value quickly and intuitively. To achieve this goal, we implemented the following strategies:​​​​
-
Divided the process into well-defined steps to ensure users understand what to expect and can follow the journey smoothly.
-
Identified potential friction points for non-technical users and provided support to help them overcome these challenges.
-
Created a friendly and clear interface that tracks progress and highlights successes, making the experience more engaging and transparent.
The solution
Upon signing up for the platform, the user is greeted with a welcoming dialog featuring a nice animation. This introduction briefly explains the platform and sets the stage for their experience.
The onboarding process consists of three well-defined steps. The first step - 'sign up' is marked as 'completed' to give users a sense of accomplishment and start their experience on a positive note.
In the second step, users face a technical requirement that may be unfamiliar to them. To assist, I’ve included a clear instructional modal that outlines the necessary actions and specifies the professionals they may need to get help from. This approach ensures users have the guidance and resources required to complete the task successfully.
I provided users the option to exit the onboarding process at any step, allowing them to explore and navigate the platform independently. By hovering over the "Take the Guided Way" button, users can see their current step and resume the onboarding process at any time by clicking the button, picking up right where they left off.
Each step consists of two tasks that the user must complete to advance. Clear indicators show completed tasks, while active tasks are highlighted, helping users easily understand the process and required actions.Completed tasks are displayed with the performed action and include an option for editing if needed.
Once the user completes all the steps and finishes the onboarding, they are directed to the newly created collaboration. A success modal then appears, featuring an engaging animation that celebrates the user’s achievement.
From this modal, the user can choose to start exploring the platform with a brief walkthrough of its main features or proceed independently by clicking 'Done.'
