Redefining Onboarding

As untied expanded its Pro offering, onboarding was not effectively supporting users in understanding the product or progressing through key actions. Usability was falling short, particularly for less confident users, leading to confusion early in the experience.

With a diverse user base ranging from early adopters to individuals who described themselves as “technophobes”, the challenge was not just simplifying the experience but guiding users in a way that built confidence and encouraged progression.

As the CEO summarised:

As we learned from the untied website redesign, the perception of taxes as inherently complicated was a significant barrier. This highlighted the need to move beyond simply presenting information and instead design an onboarding experience that actively guided users, reinforced progress, and supported them in taking the next step with confidence.

Understanding onboarding challenges

While initial research from the website redesign provided useful context, I focused on how users interacted with the app during onboarding and where they struggled to progress.

Context from stakeholders

Stakeholder discussions provided context on the product’s evolution and highlighted key technical constraints, particularly around third-party integrations. These limitations influenced how onboarding could guide users through key steps in the journey.

User behaviour

Research with current and potential users revealed that many struggled to understand the app’s functionality during onboarding. As a result, users were frequently skipping key steps, preventing them from fully engaging with the product’s core features.

Defining the Problem

The app was not effectively communicating its value during onboarding. With users already approaching taxes with hesitation, this lack of clarity led to low engagement with key features and increased reliance on customer support. This resulted in users failing to reach key activation points within the app. This highlighted the need to guide users more clearly through the experience and reinforce the value of each step.

Creating User-Centred Solutions

To address the onboarding challenges identified, I focused on designing an experience that guided users through key steps, reinforced value early, and reduced drop-off. These approaches were shaped through collaborative workshops and refined through user testing.

Onboarding Screens

The onboarding screens were redesigned to clearly communicate key features and guide users from the outset, reducing early drop-off and helping users confidently take the next step.

Introduction of a Tax Wizard

The wizard introduced early personalisation and a sense of progression, helping users quickly see the app’s value and encouraging progression through the journey.

Integrated Tutorial

The tutorial provided in-app guidance for users needing additional support, offering a step-by-step walkthrough of key tasks and reducing reliance on external help.

I developed wireframes and a clickable prototype to validate these approaches through user testing, refining the experience based on feedback. Insights from testing revealed that some users needed additional guidance to complete key tasks, leading to the introduction of an in-app tutorial.

Running this work alongside the website redesign ensured visual consistency and alignment with untied’s evolving brand. The onboarding experience reinforced a clear message: helping users feel in control of their taxes from the very first interaction.

Proving Success Through Metrics

To validate the impact of the redesigned onboarding experience, I used a combination of analytics (GA4 and Mixpanel), customer support data, and user feedback to assess changes in user behaviour.

Following implementation, users engaged more consistently with onboarding, showing increased progression through key steps and fewer instances of skipping ahead. This suggested that users had a clearer understanding of the product and were progressing further within the app. These changes indicated improved onboarding effectiveness and stronger early-stage user activation.

Customer support queries also shifted, with fewer questions related to navigation or confusion and more focused on tax-specific topics. This suggested that users were better understanding the product and progressing further within the app.

User feedback and outcomes

These qualitative insights aligned with behavioural data, reinforcing the effectiveness of the redesigned onboarding experience.

Reflection

This project reinforced the importance of designing for behaviour, not just usability. The challenge was ensuring users understood what to do next and felt confident progressing through onboarding.

Improvements in engagement came from aligning content, structure, and interaction to consistently reinforce value, rather than from a single feature.

Working with a diverse user base highlighted the need to actively guide users, particularly those less confident with digital tools. Providing the right support at the right moment reduced hesitation and encouraged progression.

If revisiting this project, I would prioritise earlier testing of onboarding flows to identify friction points sooner.