Onboarding

Situation

The Promontory is an exclusive community that connects emerging manager funds (EMFs) with limited partners (LPs) looking to invest. However, our onboarding experience was not effectively engaging new users. Even with a revamped news feed, data from PostHog revealed that 41% of new users dropped off shortly after signing up, and only half of that subset returned within a 7-day period. This indicated a failure in communicating the platform’s core value, leaving users uncertain about their next steps.

"I signed up because Michael sent me the invite, but I wasn’t sure what to do next—there wasn’t a clear path forward." - one LP said.

Research Insight

A broad Google search revealed that 80% of users immediately stop using apps they don't know to use. Additionally, users who interacted with a recommended action within their first session were 60% more likely to return within a week.

I used these insights to conduct a competitor analysis, benchmarking incumbents’ onboarding strategies and confirming that clear, prioritized actions were key.

Task

In a collaborative effort with our PM, we set an objective to reduce the drop-off rate by half by ensuring users navigated beyond the home page. This was going to be possible by tracking the transition from FirstPageView to SecondPageView and viewing the drop off discrepancy.

We also wanted to track the number of users requesting access to data rooms within 7 days. If this number increased, we would assume it was because of the page view increase, but this was going to have to be measured separately.

Action

Before sketching any ideas, I interviewed both LPs and EMFs (15 in total) to understand their onboarding expectations and pain points. I concluded that the platform's home page was too ambiguous with too many starting points, and investors needed clearer, prioritized, and personalized actions to feel they were utilizing the platform effectively.

A recurring insight from the interviews was:

"It wasn’t immediately clear what to do here. I wasn't sure which table or tab to start with."

This was backed by qualitative data that showed users landing on the home page, scrolling up and down, and exiting the page shortly after.

Design & Prototyping

As a team, we focused our energy on making this onboarding experience simple, efficient, and relevant. To gain buy-in for my design direction, I created three high-fidelity mockups, each offering different approaches to user guidance and engagement. In collaboration with our PM and engineers, we walked through the potential technical challenges of the designs, as well as a timeline for handoff and implementation.

All three design variants took place after a user signed up and landed on the home page:

Testing & Iteration

With a winning concept in hand, I designed the end-to-end experience and conducted live, moderated user tests to gauge the usability of our onboarding and validate the assumptions we set in the beginning. I gathered feedback and iterated on the most effective design to refine navigation, microcopy, and action prompts.

Over two weeks, I worked with engineers to implement the new design fully; including the detailed microcopy and refined interactions. As a team, we QA'd the onboarding experience, as well as the rest of the platform, for two days before migrating to production.

"The new flow made it obvious what my next step should be. I felt like I was making progress instead of feeling lost." - one LP said.

Result

The redesigned onboarding experience led to a 27% decrease in the drop-off rate from FirstPageView to SecondPageView. Although not exactly half, the results were still impressive.

Additionally, requests for data room access increased by 15%. This metric was not directly correlated, but we saw this as a promising sign that clearer guidance spurred deeper exploration of the platform.

"I finally felt like I was being guided instead of guessing what to do next. The prompts were clear and useful." - New User Feedback

By focusing on clear guidance, leveraging cross-functional teamwork, and grounding our approach in solid research, we turned first-time user interactions into meaningful engagement. This not only improved key metrics but also strengthened The Promontory’s mission of connecting investors effectively.