When it comes to onboarding, too many apps open for the first time to a series of sliding screens that do nothing more than look pretty and provide more reading about what the product does. Don’t do this.

Instead, you want to replace these opening screens with “tool tips” layered on top of UI elements. That way users can learn about what to do in the app while also taking those actions in real time. Learning by doing is much more effective

You have to make sure there is only one clear, dominating action on every screen of your app. Don’t present equal choices or the possibility of accidental taps on the wrong button.

Consider all the elements you’re requiring people to think consciously about and remove as many as you can.

Getting users to make even a small effort in your app is a tall order. So you need to reward them for every tiny, marginal action.

People feel compelled to finish something when they know they’re almost done. Adding a progress bar can increase conversions up to 40%.

“We’ve found that typically 80% of invites occur within two channels,” says Asatryan. “Get rid of the rest and focus everything you’ve got on maximizing send volume from those two channels. Once that number is high enough, you can start maximizing the acceptance rate of invites.”

SMS will always be near the top and should get a lot of your attention.

Is there any social interaction around your product that’s not captured in your functionality?

“Almost by definition, these types of rewards tend to attract users who are only looking for deals, not to stay long-term.” So, once you get them in the door, you better have an onboarding experience that sets them up for frequent engagement

Identify the one or two main traffic sources your highest-value users are coming from and double down on making it even easier for more people to stream in through those gates.

Consider what’s going on in people’s lives adjacent to your product. What are the obvious and implicit reasons users come back to your app again and again? If you can think of some clear reasons, build them explicitly into your app.

You can start by identifying the core use case that your product serves and consider what type of person has both the most frequent and urgent need for that use case.

compare what your best users did the first time they used your app to the first-use experience of those who have not returned to use the product in a long time.

Where are people dropping off, abandoning, uninstalling? What’s triggering this negative behavior? You have to pin this down before you have any chance of fixing it.

“Many, many users check out apps that get featured just to see what they’re like and then they instantly leave,”

“The key is to really define ONE MAIN METRIC — and it really needs to be an action that users can take in your product,”

“If we only grew our volume of _____ and everything else stalled, our company would still be doing really well.”

“Every user who takes a _____ action is going to basically use our product forever.”

Posts = [installs] x [Signups/Installs] x [Content Posters/Signups] x [Posts/Content Posters]

A really amazing onboarding flow accomplishes one thing — it maxes out conversion of your users in a way where increasing installs becomes the only way to grow your Main Metric.

Many app makers make their login and signup buttons the same size and shape. But most users never log out of apps, so it’s unlikely that they’ll need to log in again.

You want them to reserve that energy for the actions that activate and engage them for the long-term. Don’t waste it on them choosing which signup option to go with.

Lastly, the best way to test your most critical hypotheses is to make big noticeable changes to your product.

“Don’t forget that your userbase will never cease evolving and your product shouldn’t either,” says Asatryan. “Being good at mobile growth work is accepting that your work is never done.”