Rethink user onboarding across three devices.

👩🏻‍💻 Web acquisition | 🖥️ Desktop activation | 📱 Mobile adoption

Akiflow is an all-in-one app for tasks and calendars, across web, desktop, and mobile.

Role:

Product & Growth Designer,
end-to-end journey owner.

Team:

2 Designers

4 Devs

Product Manager

Marketing Manager

Timeline:

Design
Q4 2023 - 2 months

A/B Testing and evolution
Q1 2024 – Q2 2026

Marketing

Web onboarding

Product

User retention

19% home conversion – Data-driven web onboarding conversion strategy

A/B Testing

Customer journey

19% home conversion – Data-driven web onboarding conversion strategy

A/B Testing

The initial state

The missing story

The product had many features under the hood. Web, Desktop and Mobile app onboarding didn't tell the story.

Web

The user benefits were not involved in the onboarding storytelling

Fast A/B testing was not implemented to understand the different targets’ behavior

Plans were unclear and based on simple price selection

Desktop

Too many features to tell in a fast onboarding experience

The user could not repeat the onboarding to learn features again

Mobile

Users did not appreciate the mobile app due to a lack of features

It felt cold, too basic, and ran unreliably

The solution

The guitar chart framework

From features to benefits. A framework that maps the user drivers onto every touchpoint, so web, desktop, and mobile tell the user’s story instead of listing features. The result: more engagement, better understanding, and an app that truly fits users’ lives.

The goal

Rethink the whole onboarding experience to surface the product and keep users.

Web

Signup to trial

Web conversion

Desktop

Onboarding completion

Product clarity

Desktop

Retention (10 tasks completed)

User retention

Mobile

Daily active on mobile

Mobile adoption

Web funnel

Turn the first web visit into a paid trial

Step 1

Homepage

Intercept user intention

Sense of control

Being faster

Stay organized

Follow a method

The first climax

Satisfy feelings and needs, and clarify the scope above the fold to improve conversion.

The Homepage becomes engaging

Tuned by continuous A/B testing

Step 1

Homepage

Intercept user intention

Control

Faster

Organized

Method

The first climax

Satisfy feelings and needs, and clarify the scope above the fold to improve conversion.

The Homepage becomes engaging

Tuned by continuous A/B testing

Step 2

Onboarding

Define the user pain

Sense of control

Protect my time

Stay organized

A/B tests said users want to be understood: the pain-oriented funnel did the job.

The pain-oriented funnel

Fewer users completed the web funnel, but more users in total started the product trial.

Step 2

Onboarding

Define the user pain

Control

My time

Organized

A/B tests said users want to be understood: the pain-oriented funnel did the job.

The pain-oriented funnel

Fewer users completed the web funnel, but more users in total started the product trial.

Step 3

Signup / Checkout

Profile and pay

Feeling of uniqueness

Do the right thing

Make the price clear,
keep the next step in reach.

The easy and transparent signup flow

A simple, transparent, responsive flow to choose plan and add-ons, with the user’s preferred payment method detected and offered automatically.

Chroma focus

Urgency countdown

Add-ons checkout

Checkout responsive

Checkout desktop - CTA sticky

Strategies applied to deliver the checkout experience

Mobile checkout with wrap-up card and info accordions

Step 3

Signup / Checkout

Profile and pay

Unique

Right things

Make the price clear, keep the next step in reach.

The easy and transparent signup flow

A simple, transparent, responsive flow to choose plan and add-ons, with the user’s preferred payment method detected and offered automatically.

Chroma focus

Urgency countdown

Add-ons checkout

Checkout responsive

Checkout desktop - CTA sticky

Strategies applied to deliver the checkout experience

Mobile checkout with wrap-up card and info accordions

Step 4

Post-checkout

Enable higher retention

Feeling of uniqueness

Follow a methodology

Be faster

Sense of control

Download the Desktop app to increase the retention rate

Download Desktop App

With push notifications

Raising retention with a post-checkout flow

Keeping the promise of a high-quality service: an onboarding call to discover features and personalize the setup, and the desktop app, whose native notifications make “Never miss a thing” real.

The results, after 1 year.

Home

Home conversion

Improve Conversion rate

Signup

Signup to trial

Improve Subscriptions

Desktop App • Download

Download and install the desktop app

Improve User retention

Step 4

Post-checkout

Enable higher retention

Unique

Method

Faster

Control

Download the Desktop app to increase the retention rate

Download Desktop App

With push notifications

Raising retention with a post-checkout flow

Keeping the promise of a high-quality service: an onboarding call to discover features and personalize the setup, and the desktop app, whose native notifications make “Never miss a thing” real.

The results, after 1 year.

Home

Home conversion

Retention

Signup

Signup to trial

Retention

Desktop App

Download and install the desktop app

Retention

Desktop app

Teach, set up, and start.
One matrix to keep consistency, web to in-app.

Teach, set up, and start.
One matrix kept every moment coherent,
web to in-app.

Every moment mapped and scoped into one coherent flow, marketing to in-app.

Step 1

Desktop onboarding

Teach, set up, start

Sense of control

Protect my time

Be faster

Measured slide by slide

Each slide earned its place:
a clear user benefit, measured one by one.

Forging climax: the in-app onboarding

Let the user set up the product and learn the main features in a few onboarding steps.

Drops pointed to the fixes.
"Viewed" wasn't "read." So we reordered the story.

Animation was needed to speed up and simplify the teaching phase.

Step 1

Desktop onboarding

Teach, set up, start

Control

My time

Faster

Measured slide by slide

Each slide earned its place:
a clear user benefit, measured one by one.

Forging climax: the in-app onboarding

Let the user set up the product and learn the main features in a few onboarding steps.

Drops pointed to the fixes.
"Viewed" wasn't "read." So we reordered the story.

Animation was needed to speed up and simplify the teaching phase.

Step 2

Wizard

Keep users learning

Do the right things

Follow a method

Nobody remembers onboarding.
The wizard brings it back, one tap away.

So users keep learning, long after onboarding ends.

Reactivatable anytime, backed by everyday tips in the sidebar.

Results

In-app onboarding

Onboarding completion

Step 2

Wizard

Keep users learning

Right things

Method

Nobody remembers onboarding. The wizard brings it back, one tap away.

So users keep learning,

long after onboarding ends.

Reactivatable anytime, backed by everyday tips in the sidebar.

Results

In-app

onboarding

Onboarding completion

Mobile app

Defining a clear role and a reason to keep opening the mobile app.

Step 1

Mobile onboarding

Define a clear role

A companion model fits best.

Extending the paid product instead of selling on its own.

A companion model fits best.

Extending the paid product instead of selling on its own.

The business model benchmarks to determine the mobile service structure

Step 1

Mobile onboarding

Define a clear role

A companion model fits best.

Extending the paid product instead of selling on its own.

The business model benchmarks to determine the mobile service structure

Step 2

Storytelling structure

Make learning replayable

Follow a method

First launch happens once. Learning shouldn’t.

The welcome tour is seen once, so we echoed it in a reactivatable quick tour.

Results

Out of Beta

Daily active on mobile

Step 2

Storytelling structure

Make learning replayable

Method

First launch happens once. Learning shouldn’t.

The welcome tour is seen once, so we echoed it in a reactivatable quick tour.

Results

Out of Beta

Daily active on mobile

Seven drivers, covered across every surface.

Sense of control

Stay organized

Being faster

Doing the right things

Protect my time

Feeling of uniqueness

Follow a method

The end-to-end onboarding system became a standard for the Akiflow team.

Web

Signup to trial

Web conversion

Desktop

Onboarding completion

Product clarity

Desktop

Retention (10 tasks completed)

User retention

Mobile

Daily active on mobile

Mobile adoption

Related project

Devise Aki, the Akiflow AI Assistant

Driving consistency from the ground up to fast market validation.

User activation

User Adoption

AI Product Design

0 → 1 → Scale

Devise Aki, the Akiflow AI Assistant

Driving consistency from the ground up to fast market validation.

User activation

User Adoption

AI Product Design

0 → 1 → Scale

The missing story

The guitar chart framework

The goal

Turn the first web visit into a paid trial

The first climax

The Homepage becomes engaging

The first climax

The Homepage becomes engaging

A/B tests said users want to be understood: the pain-oriented funnel did the job.

The pain-oriented funnel

A/B tests said users want to be understood: the pain-oriented funnel did the job.

The pain-oriented funnel

Make the price clear, keep the next step in reach.

The easy and transparent signup flow

Chroma focus

Urgency countdown

Urgency countdown

Add-ons checkout

Checkout responsive

Checkout desktop - CTA sticky

Make the price clear, keep the next step in reach.

The easy and transparent signup flow

Chroma focus

Urgency countdown

Add-ons checkout

Checkout responsive

Checkout desktop - CTA sticky

Download the Desktop app to increase the retention rate

Raising retention with a post-checkout flow

Download the Desktop app to increase the retention rate

Raising retention with a post-checkout flow

Teach, set up, and start. One matrix to keep consistency, web to in-app.

Teach, set up, and start. One matrix kept every moment coherent, web to in-app.

Each slide earned its place: a clear user benefit, measured one by one.

Each slide earned its place: a clear user benefit, measured one by one.

Forging climax: the in-app onboarding

Each slide earned its place: a clear user benefit, measured one by one.

Forging climax: the in-app onboarding

Nobody remembers onboarding. The wizard brings it back, one tap away.

Nobody remembers onboarding. The wizard brings it back, one tap away.

Nobody remembers onboarding. The wizard brings it back, one tap away.

Defining a clear role and a reason to keep opening the mobile app.

A companion model fits best.

Extending the paid product instead of selling on its own.

A companion model fits best.

Extending the paid product instead of selling on its own.

A companion model fits best.

Extending the paid product instead of selling on its own.

First launch happens once. Learning shouldn’t.

First launch happens once. Learning shouldn’t.

First launch happens once. Learning shouldn’t.

Seven drivers, covered across every surface.

Devise Aki, the Akiflow AI Assistant

Devise Aki, the Akiflow AI Assistant

Make the price clear,
keep the next step in reach.

Teach, set up, and start.
One matrix to keep consistency, web to in-app.

Teach, set up, and start.
One matrix kept every moment coherent,
web to in-app.

Each slide earned its place:
a clear user benefit, measured one by one.

Each slide earned its place:
a clear user benefit, measured one by one.

Each slide earned its place:
a clear user benefit, measured one by one.

Nobody remembers onboarding.
The wizard brings it back, one tap away.

Nobody remembers onboarding.
The wizard brings it back, one tap away.