Upon completing the sign-up stage, the next step in the user journey for an EdTech app user is onboarding. Usually, this step involves a sequential overview of the key features of the app to help the user get to grips with its UI and navigation controls. The app onboarding process allows the EdTech app owners to communicate with its users, setting the precedent for the overall user experience.
Users find it difficult to intuitively navigate an app, especially when it is different from a User Interface (UI) they are familiar with. But for the EdTech app owner, creating a positive first impression in the user experience is extremely important since a good impression translates to a recurring user. Hence mobile app development companies in general strive to implement effective onboarding steps to encourage their users to learn more about the app by offering prompts that help them explore the app.
But the truth is, EdTech app users lose interest when the learning curve involved in understanding the user interface take too long to figure out.
21% of app users abandon smartphone apps after a single use, according to a report by Localytics, (Now Upland Software) the mobile app analytics software firm.
Caution! Onboarding Hurdles Up Ahead
Another report by Localytics also states that user retention rates increase by 50% with the implementation of a solid onboarding plan. But before looking at what makes a good onboarding plan, it is important to correct flaws in the standard onboarding segment of the user journey. Here are the top five chinks in the onboarding process which education app development companies must address in 2023.
Prolonged Onboarding Process: Despite onboarding being a guided tour of an EdTech app, many apps continue to ask questions to capture user preferences and personal data. Evaluating the relevance and essentiality of a question is a crucial step in understanding if the questions are intruding in the user experience. If your development team hasn’t given it a thought yet, there are high chances of your app negatively impacting the user journey during onboarding.
Choosing Areas of Interest: An app requires user data to suggest recommendations to the user in the later stages of the journey. But if the EdTech app owner’s quest for capturing user preferences making the user go red with anger and frustration, it becomes a counterproductive undertaking. Hence many EdTech apps lose users at this stage in the user journey. A barrage of courses to choose from immediately after signing up can be overwhelming, often causing the user to abandon the user journey.
Too Many Advertisements: An increasing number of EdTech app owners ride on the income from in-app advertisements, more so when the total number of users on their platforms isn't fetching enough revenue for breakeven. But the ROI from paying app users far exceeds that of in-app ads. Hence the onboarding process must ideally be devoid of promotional material that highlights a product or services of a business partner or an affiliate. An approach that floods the user's attention ultimately causes them to look for alternatives.
Too Intrusive: A typical EdTech app user expects subtle nudges that directs their attention to specific tabs in the user interface. Unfortunately, many apps flood the user with too many questions and user guides that impedes the initial interest of the user to explore the app UI. In the onboarding stage, such experiences tend to feel more like an intrusion of personal space than a part of the user experience. Among the most common examples of these intrusive forms is a registration page asking for email addresses and names with compulsory tick-boxes, which users must fill out before they can continue using the app.
Consistency of Content Richness: EdTech app development companies must survive in a fiercely competitive environment where even minute aspects of the app can make or break user conversion into revenue. Therefore, they constantly try to inflate their appearance during the trial stage to entice users. Unfortunately, many users realize that as they continue to pursue their subject of interest, the level of detail in the course and the instructor's competency deteriorate over time, vastly diluting the user experience.
Conclusion
In a fiercely competitive environment such as mobile application development, it is important to introduce refreshing changes into the product to keep users interested. However, there is a thin line between an engaging and an intrusive app. The onboarding stage for EdTech app developers is profoundly important given the impact it has on a user.
To learn more about how you can revitalize your existing EdTech app product or build a competitive product from scratch, reach out to our app development wizards at info@nalashaa.com.
