Examining First Time Use
and the use of the guided tour design pattern
First time use aka FTU defines a user’s initial experience with a new app or feature. First time use is one of the defining moments of an app’s successful adoption or failure.
How to create a great FTU
An app’s first interaction should be as easy as possible. Many apps ask for sign-up information at the first interaction. This can greatly hinder user adoption. Users want to see how they will gain value from an app before they are willing to give out their name, email, etc. Zite, the media customization aggregator, handles this by prompting users to pick topics they are interested in before asking for sign-up information. This simple interaction creates commitment that mitigates the pain of entering personal data.
A great first time use experience is critical for unpaid native applications. Active use is one of the most important metrics for these types of apps because it is a key predictor of monetary conversions in later use. Active use will be low if the app does not give the user a reason to come back.
The user should understand the product’s virtues and derive value from it in order for the app to later capture value from the user in the form of data, in-app purchases, monetary subscriptions, etc.
In the Apple App Store, almost all of the top grossing apps make their money from in-app purchases. No wonder such a huge emphasis has been placed on first time use.
A user manual is an admission of design failure
It is common practice for a product to be boiled down its essential functions, which define its form. It is the designer’s goal to make the application as simple as possible. The product should be useable and useful from the very beginning. It should always be the goal of the designer to limit the need to explain the app. However, not all digital products can be inherently intuitive.
Creating a guided tour
Incorporating a guided tour helps a user understand an app’s features and functions. A guided tour is usually presented during first time use, and can also be in context of screens discovered in later use. The tour helps the user learn how to use the app by providing an overview of important functions. The overview is usually presented in the form of an overlay or through coach marks. An overlay is a veil casted over an application with a dialog box containing product information. Coach marks are markers that are temporarily placed next to features that show a message when clicked or tapped.
Being prompted with obvious or obscure features can be annoying. A tour should be brief and easy to skip. A user wants to receive value in the form of a great user experience as soon as possible. This shouldn’t be jeopardized by a lengthy explanation of the application. The tour should be between 3 and 6 points. If the tour needs to be longer than 6 screens the designer should consider breaking it up into context specific coach marks. Slack, the team messaging app, does this by presenting floating coach marks over areas of the app. When clicked, it explains the element below.
The guided tour is the closest thing to a sales person explaining the virtues, features, and functions of an app to a user. The copy should be written in a clear and concise way that illustrates the benefits of the app. It is important that it also addresses common objections. For example, if an app connects to a user’s social media account it should explain that it does not post anything without permission, or why it does.
The first time use experience should make a user feel successful. Whether users seek novelty, connection, entertainment, or want to solve a problem, they sign up because they aren’t content with their current situation. The app needs to deliver value to keep people coming back.
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