Creating Kick-Ass Users AN APPROACH TO ONBOARDING AND USER ASSISTANCE
Stefanie Andersen [email protected] www.linkedin.com/in/stefandersen
Video games are great at teaching unfamiliar controls and unfamiliar skills. In a lot of games, you start without knowing anything at all – you don’t even know what your goal is. You’re dropped into this unfamiliar world, and you have to figure out what it is you’re supposed to do and how.
Josh Clark, “Buttons are a Hack: The New Rules of Designing for Touch”
If you want to learn how to onboard new users,
play more video games.
Plants VS Zombies Onboarding
• Just-in-Time Guidance (verbal and visual) • Feedback • Limited Options Guaranteed Success
How Games Teach
• Coaching • Leveling Up • Power Ups
Games are linear. Products aren’t.
How can we apply game dynamics to software
onboarding experiences?
Siasto Onboarding
• Consistent, clear visual guide (yellow circle) • Compelling, encouraging language • Emphasis on learning by doing Steps are sequenced into small chunks and structured in a logical progression Feedback is provided Reduces cognitive load by helping the user decide what to do next Makes the user feel productive right away Employs cognitive pleasures (curiosity, narrative, discovery, and accomplishment)
The term onboarding comes from the field of human resources and the common practice of new hire orientation. In that context, the steps in the process are often referred to as accommodate, assimilate, and accelerate—all of which apply quite nicely to how new users ought to be treated in order to bring them into the fold.
Whitney Hess, “What is Onboarding, and Why is it Important?” Designing Social Interfaces
Onboarding Defined
ACCOMMODATE Give users the tools they want and need to use your app or website to their benefit.
ASSIMILATE Help new users absorb the culture of the product and come to resemble the existing users.
ACCELERATE Deliver on the value proposition better and faster.
New User Spiral
Image: Erin Malone, Onboarding and Virality
TIME
ABILITY
First Time Years or Decades
Beginn
er
Expe
rt
KICK-‐ASS THRESHOLD
SUCK THRESHOLD
SUCK!ZONE!
The Kick-Ass Curve
Image: Kathy Sierra, Business of Software Conference
New Hire Sales Rep Ninja
Creating kick-ass users
Image: Julie Dirksen, Design for How People Learn
The User’s Journey
Instructional Design and Game Design
novice expert
Instructional Design Appropriate Content, Appropriate Approach
Appropriate Content
What does the program do? What is the program’s scope? Where do I start?
I forgot how to import. Remind me what this option does. Is there a feature that can help me with this?
How do I automate this? Is there a shortcut? Can I customize this?
Beginners Intermediates Experts
• A structured experience that has immediate, achievable goals
• Lots of guidance • A careful introduction that doesn’t
go too quickly in the beginning • Increasing self-confidence • A gradual progression of difficulty • Coaching and feedback on progress
• Some practice of new concepts • Advanced topic information • Coaching and shaping for
improvement of existing behaviors • Much more autonomy
• Really expert coaching • Advanced examples and information
about specific challenges • Some help with measuring progress • Full autonomy • The opportunity to act as a resource
by teaching or coaching others
Appropriate Approach
Approaches: Julie Dirksen, Design for How People Learn
• A structured experience that has immediate, achievable goals
• Lots of guidance • A careful introduction that doesn’t go too
quickly in the beginning • Increasing self-confidence • A gradual progression of difficulty • Coaching and feedback on how they’re doing
What The Beginner Needs
• A structured experience that has immediate, achievable goals
• Lots of guidance • A careful introduction that doesn’t go too
quickly in the beginning • Increasing self-confidence • A gradual progression of difficulty • Coaching and feedback on how they’re doing
What Games Provide
The user is on a path.
The user is on a quest.
Instructional Design
Game Design
Fun is just another word for learning.
Ralph Koster, A Theory of Fun for Game Design
Fun from games arises out of mastery. It arises out of comprehension. In other words, with games, learning is the drug.
Ralph Koster, A Theory of Fun for Game Design
THIS IS YOUR BRAIN
OMG!
THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON LEARNING
OUR"SECRET"WEAPON?
LEARNING
BORING FUN
Fun is just another word for learning.
under optimal conditions !
APPS CAN BE GREAT TEACHERS
(ACTUAL CLASSROOM)
How do we engage our users and help them learn our products?
USER ASSISTANCE
A Theory of User Assistance
Information Design"
Interaction"Design"
Instructional"Design"
Game"Design"
USER!ASSISTANCE!
COMPETITIVE RESEARCH Effec:ve Onboarding
ONBOARDING PRINCIPLES
#1
Be Persuasive
How Behavior Works
Behavior = MoGvaGon x Ability x Trigger
FogG Behavioral Model
An Example
Behavior = Motivation x Ability x Trigger
Increasing Behavior
Make the behavior easier
Use a better trigger
Align with the right motivator
• Discovery: User experience as exploration of new territory
• Challenge: User experience as obstacles to overcome, goals lying just beyond current skill and knowledge levels
• Narrative: User experience as story arc (user on hero's journey) and character identification
• Social framework: User experience as an opportunity for interaction/fellowship
with others • Flow: User experience as opportunity for complete concentration, extreme
focus, lack of self-awareness
• Accomplishment: User experience as opportunity for productivity and success • Learning: User experience as opportunity for growth and improvement
• Triumph: User experience as opportunity to kick ass
Cognitive Pleasures
Why Should We Care About Cognitive Pleasures?
Cognitive pleasures can:
• Focus the user’s attention • Keep users motivated • Create pleasurable, meaningful experiences
Focus the User’s Attention
Image: Julie Dirksen, Design for How People Learn
RIDER elephant
RIDER: The brain’s controlled processes ELEPHANT: The brain’s automatic processes
Keep the User Motivated
Image: Julie Dirksen, Design for How People Learn Metaphor: Jonathon Haidt, Happiness Hypothesis
Are you speaking to the rider by setting clear goals and a path to get there?
Are you motivating the elephant through
things that excite and inspire action?
Are you shaping the path to nudge the elephant and rider along in the same direction?
Image: Julie Dirksen, Design for How People Learn
CREATE PLEASURABLE, MEANINGFUL EXPERIENCES
HIERARCHY OF USER NEEDS
Create Meaningful Experiences
Tasks
Experiences
Hierarchy of User Assistance Needs
Image: Stephen Anderson, Seductive Interaction Design
#2
Offer Clear Goals and Guidance
#3
Shape the Path
Enticing users to use an application (marketing) while teaching them how to use it (onboarding) – is a process I call gradual engagement.
Nathan Barry, A Lesson in Gradual Engagement
#4
Make It Relevant and Meaningful
Product or tool
Beyond the tool
Product or tool
THE BIGGER, COOLER THING!
Beyond the tool
Image: Kathy Sierra, Business of Software
#5
Inspire Users with Ideas and Examples
#6
Use Compelling, Conversational Language
Are you guiding the user by setting clear goals and a path to
get there?
Are you motivating the user through things that excite
and inspire action?
Are you shaping the path to nudge
the user in the right direction?
Evaluating Onboarding Designs
Our Mission Should We Choose to Accept It
Engage | Motivate | Educate | Make It Epic
Recipe for Creating
Kick-Ass Users
Thanks.
Sources
Anderson, Stephen. Seductive Interaction Design: Creating Playful, Fun, and Effective User Experiences. New Riders Press, 2011.
Clark, Josh. “Buttons are a Hack: The New Rules of Designing for Touch.” UIE Virtual Seminar. http://www.uie.com.
Clark, Ruth and Richard Mayer. E-Learning and the Science of Instruction. Pfeiffer, 2011.
Cooper, Alan, Robert Reinman, and David Cronin. About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2007.
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2008.
Dignan, Aaron. Game Frame: Using Games as a Strategy for Success. Free Press, 2011.
Dirksen, Julie. Design for How People Learn. New Riders Press, 2012. Fogg, B.J. Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We
Think and Do. Morgan Kaufmann, 2002. Haidt, Jonathon. Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient
Wisdom. Basic Books, 2006.
Sources
Heath, Chip and Dan Heath. Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard. Crown Business, 2010.
Johnson, Jeff. Designing with the Mind in Mind: Simple Guide to Understanding User Interface Design Rules. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 2010.
Kapp, Karl. The Gamification of Learning and Instruction: Game-Based Methods and Strategies for Training and Education. John Wiley & Sons, 2012.
Koster, Ralph. A Theory of Fun for Game Design. Paraglyph Press, 2004. Pink, Daniel. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.
Riverhead Trade, 2011. Porter, Joshua. “Designing for Social Traction.” Slideshare. Salen, Katie and Eric Zimmerman. Rules of Play: Fundamentals of Game
Design. The MIT Press, 2003. Sierra, Kathy. “Creating Passionate Users.” Blog. Sierra, Kathy. “Creating Passionate Users.” Business of Software
Conference, 2009. Video.
Sources
Walter, Aarron. Designing for Emotion. A Book Apart, 2011. Ware, Colin. Visual Thinking: for Design. Morgan Kaufmann, 2008. Weinschenk, Susan. 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know about
People. New Riders Press, 2011. Willingham, Daniel. Why Don’t Students Like School? A Cognitive Scientist
Answers Question about How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom. Jossey-Bass, 2009.
Willis, Judy. Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Learning: Insights from a Neuroscientist and Classroom Teacher. ASCD, 2006.