Checkfront is a Canadian startup that builds booking management software for the tourism industry. The platform has processed over $1.5 Billion in bookings for small and enterprise businesses such as Porsche and Jaguar Landrover Experiences.

The onboarding experience for new trials was not easily or quickly understood. Users were thrown into configuration heavy tasks before promoting discovery and small wins and it was not apparent what was required to get config-complete and to start taking bookings.

Project:
Checkfront 

Roles:
Product design

* Before *

1/4
Opportunity

The onboarding flow was not clear and missed many areas of the product that needed to be configured to go live. 70% of new trial users didn't make it past the initial progress dashboard which forced users to create their first item, a configuration heavy task. Next steps and progress were unclear to the user and the value of checkfront to their business was not immediately understood.

Goals:

• Highlight the ideal, go-live activation flow
• Visualise progress across tasks and completion success
• Increase visibility of high-value functionality across the product
• Promote self-serve and additional learning opportunities
• Update design with the design system

2/4
Research & Discovery

Conversations with the customer facing teams revealed many trials required high-touch support during setup.  This initiated our research and deep dive into the current experience and to define next steps for the project.

• Recordings
• Data analysis
• Stakeholder interviews
• Support & sales team insights
• Customer interviews
• Competitive analysis
• Customer experience map
• User flows
• Wireframes
• Internal usability testing
• A/B test

3/4
Design

Design
A step-by-step onboarding setup guide

We integrated the setup guide within the dashboard - the initial view for new trials following account creation. With an emphasis on key activation tasks, users are prompted to complete simple, inline actions without the need to navigate through multiple levels of pages. Progress and success is clearly displayed to the user.

Design
Promoting learning and discovery

We positioned a “helpful guides” widget on the dashboard which leveraged the extensive knowledge base and popular support guides and within the setup guide we included “learn more” links to encourage discovery of key product areas and additional settings and customizations.

Design
Improvements based on insights and assumptions

Through post launch analysis and an activation video A/B test, we explored iterations to the setup guide. We introduced a more simplified version and presented an integrated onboarding video for users who are looking to evaluate and get a sense of what the product can do before investing in setup. We also created an actionable dashboard upon completion of setup.

4/4
Outcome

After the release of the dashboard (phase 1) we were able to identify behavioural differences in how trials and paid (converted) users engaged with the setup guide. Trial users were far less likely to invest time in setup with a 25% completion rate compared to 88% for paid. We could identify the steps that were being completed and evaluated where we could simplify the setup guide further (phase 2), removing steps not critical to go-live resulting in faster product adoption. In addition we integrated an onboarding video that demonstrates a configuration walk through and the booking process (identified as the aha moment) for quicker value realization. 

The onboarding email flow was also analysed and recommendations were put forward based on best practices, value opportunities and to better align with the in-app activation experience, engaging users more thoughtfully during their trial experience.

"Marlena has a knack for taking complex product needs and transforming them into accessible, scalable, and approachable designs. She’s been influential in transforming the team’s approach to product through always bringing impactful research on customer behaviors and market analysis to help the team make informed roadmap decisions."

Checkfront
Kendra Fales
Former Senior Product Manager at Checkfront