#215: Empathy-based onboarding: boosting conversions and user experience with Yeva Koldovska, Product Manager at Headway
Oct 28, 2024
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Join Yeva Koldovska, Product Manager at Headway, as she dives into the art of empathy-based onboarding. With a keen focus on aligning user needs and financial goals, she shares innovative strategies for enhancing user experience by identifying and addressing emotions. Yeva also reflects on the nostalgic evolution of mobile devices and the role of AI in personalizing education and daily life. Her insights on user feelings, tailored solutions, and the balance between conversions and user care make for an enlightening discussion.
Empathy-based onboarding strengthens the connection between user needs and business goals, resulting in improved user experience and higher conversion rates.
Understanding and addressing users' emotions during onboarding fosters trust, which is crucial for long-term engagement and satisfaction with the app.
Deep dives
Introduction to Empathy-Based Onboarding
Empathy-based onboarding is a crucial approach for app marketers that addresses the tension between user needs and business goals. It emphasizes understanding users’ feelings, establishing a connection with them, and creating a pleasant experience while also boosting conversion rates. By recognizing that users may have concerns, such as anxiety about inputting personal information, marketers can acknowledge these feelings and provide reassurances. This method fosters trust and receptiveness, crucial for enhancing the overall user experience and driving business success.
Applying Empathy in Product Development
To implement empathy-based onboarding effectively, three key steps are identified: identifying user feelings, acknowledging those feelings, and offering solutions. For instance, during the onboarding process, if users express concerns about data privacy, responding empathetically can involve clarifying how their data will be used and emphasizing a commitment to privacy. This creates a mutual connection where users feel valued, leading to increased engagement and commitment to using the product. The positive impact of this approach is evident, as it resulted in over an 81% boost in conversion rates during testing.
The Broader Impact of Empathy on User Engagement
Beyond onboarding, empathy plays a vital role in maintaining user satisfaction and introducing new features. As products evolve, understanding user needs and preferences allows for better integration of new functionalities without alienating existing users. By continuously applying empathy, businesses can create personalized experiences that resonate with users, fostering loyalty and long-term engagement. This holistic approach ensures that all users, whether new or existing, feel acknowledged and connected to the product's evolution.
A busy life of an app marketer is full of problems, you don’t need me to tell you this. But here is the special one that you may stumble upon. How can you do both at the same time - truly care about your app users needs, making their life easier and meet your financial bottom line?
I’m really glad if you already know the answer or you never encounter this dichotomy. Great - kudos to you. But if you do, on this episode we will help you to resolve it.
Today’s Topics Include:
Yeva's background
What is Headway
What is empathy-based onboarding
Balancing user experience versus conversion and revenue
How to identify emotions to create personalized experiences
How to scale empathy-based onboarding
Android or iOS?
Leaving her smartphone at home, what features would Yeva miss most?
What features she would like to see added to her smartphone?
"So let's take the first step - identify feelings. There is a ton of ways to do that, from just asking questions to doing user research to forming your own hypothesis. Let's take, for example, forming your own hypothesis. Let's say you have a drop in conversion rate on the email step on the web funnel. So the user has went through the questions or the screens, and then they have to input their email.
What might the user be feeling at the moment? What would you feel at the moment? Maybe a bit anxious, maybe unsure if the website won't send you a ton of spam messages over the next day or week. Maybe you would be scared about your data being leaked or given to some third parties. So you kind of form those hypotheses on what the user might be feeling. And this is the first step."
"So we've tried utilizing this framework for most of our products and we have never had an unsuccessful test in this regard. But of course you have to understand that it depends on the area, on the product, on the offering that you have to your users. So I would not say that this approach is a silver bullet that helps everyone."