Graviti is an online data management platform that help AI developer to manage their unstructured dataset used in machine learning. We have done a great job in attracting new users by building up an open dataset community, but we found the returning user rate is low. Therefore, we wanted to figure out why and how we could improve.
01 Research - survey & interview
I sent out a survey to the registered users by emails and texts, and ask them if they are willing to take a user interview with incentives. We got more than 300 responses and around 10 people who are willing to do the interview online.
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Insight 1
The users registered on our platform to explore or download the open dataset. They left because they don't need the online data management right now, and feel lazy to upload the data from local or other resources.
Insight 2
Some users have difficulty getting started and don't know what the product actually provide.
01 Research - Competitive analysis
I did competitive research on the on boarding process from a wide range of product, especially SaaS product. I categorized them into 3 different types, and analyzed the features of each type to figure out which method can be the best for us.
Walk Through Cards:
Individual Tutorial Section
Creating Example Project
02 Ideation
Based on the findings in the research, I listed out the pros and cons for the potential methods.
02 Ideation
In order to determine which direction we go with, I held a feedback session with the product managers and other designers. We first reconfirm our goals for the on boarding tutorial:
Therefore, we chose to combine the individual tutorial and guidance card to achieve these goals.
02 Ideation
I collaborated with the product manager to created user flow and determine the task we want to include in the tutorial:
How users enter the onboarding tutorial and how they explore each step are the important touch points. Therefore, I needed to settle down 3 design challenges:
I had 2 design proposals, and chose the solution 2.
Only shows the title in tutorial, and show detailed information in the corresponding card
Explains in the tutorial section and indicates where the location is via a simple sentence
03 Iteraction
After the first version of the prototype, we had a requirement review session and did usability test with the product manager, and the engineering team.
Cost to change the original template of the dashboard.
There is already a button of explore open dataset, and it is also in the tutorial which makes the structure confusing.
In case the users may not notice, I added animation to the button:
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Users are comfortable with these kinds of documents, and even found it easier to find the things they want.
We evaluated this section by collecting feedbacks from clients and trace the data of the users.
Most users are satisfied with the new functionality and the percentage of returning users raised after its launching.
04 Reflection
After the launch of the onboarding experience, our returning users increased from 5% to 11%.
Reflected back on my journey, it was a miss for me because we didn't do usability testing with real users in the process and I had to rely on my intuitions to make some of the design decisions.
As the pictures above, is there another format of the tutorial besides the two versions I presented that users would prefer? I am not quite sure how our users would actually react to it. It would be helpful if we can do usability testing on these 2 versions and see which one can better inform users the features we have.
It is hard to be empathetic sometimes, because the designers are not target users at all, therefore, communicate with your target users as much as possible, especially when you have colleague who can be the target users.