Onboarding
Onboarding
The process of guiding users smoothly when they first start using a new app or service, without letting them get lost.
In Simple Terms
Onboarding refers to the instructions and initial setup guidance shown when you open an app for the first time. For example, this includes tooltips that point out what buttons do, or short videos that show how to use the app. Many services use onboarding so that new users don't get confused and give up partway through.
Behind the Name
The word "onboarding" comes from the English phrase "on board," meaning to get on a ship or plane. It originally referred to the training that helped new employees get acquainted with a company. In the world of IT, it came to mean guiding users so they could smoothly get "on board" with a new app.
Take a Closer Look!
Onboarding is the process that helps users understand how to use a new app or service and appreciate what makes it appealing, so they can get comfortable with it as they start using it.
Rather than making users read a manual, it's designed so they can naturally learn how to use the app just by trying it out.
Thanks to this, users can get the hang of a service without feeling lost.
Specific examples include a few slides shown the first time you launch an app, or helper messages that appear the first time you use a particular feature.
It also includes designing complex tasks, like setting up a profile, as a series of simple steps you can complete one at a time.
Lowering the barrier to getting started like this is one of the important roles that design plays.
When onboarding is done well, it can prevent users from getting frustrated and deleting the app.
If users can feel the benefits of a service right from the start, they're more likely to keep using it for a long time.
That's why, in app development and design, onboarding is regarded as a critical step that shapes overall usability.