Context

A self-service ad platform is trying to increase it’s monthly active users. As part of that, the team is trying to increase the activation rate for first time users. The ad creation process for first time users has not been examined in-depth and is a fertile ground for new experimentation. UX design began building a comprehensive onboarding experience, but previous research shows that the product’s strength is its’ ease of use. More research is needed to understand the activation opportunities.

Research goals

Understand the needs of first time users on the self-serve ad platform and the sticking points in the ad creation process. This includes assessing the need for an onboarding experience that teaches users how to use the platform.

STAKEHOLDERS

methods

Part 1: Reviewing past research on the product sign up flow, including information needs and expectations.

Part 2: Contextual inquiry with 12 participants who have never used the product, representing current and future user segments. Users were asked to create an ad and were asked about their open questions, difficulties, and delights throughout the process.

Part 3: With data science, A/B testing the new experience versus the current experience, measuring dropoff in the ad creation process.

impact

Even the most novice users easily set up an ad, but most users lacked 5 key pieces of information about the platforms’ overall capabilities. These findings shifted design resources away from creating a comprehensive onboarding experience to surfacing the 5 key pieces of information users need to decide whether to use the platform.

Surfacing this information at the beginning of the process gave users much needed information so they could understand that this product will meet their needs. This led to a statistically significant increase in the activation (ad creation) rate.