An onboarding process is essential for fitness apps as it engages users from the start, familiarises them with the app's features, sets fitness goals, personalised recommendations, provides education, and collects valuable data. It fosters user trust, encourages feedback, and contributes to user satisfaction, increasing the likelihood of long-term app usage and recommendations to others.

Having recently re-enrolled for KIC, I thought why not attempt to redesign their onboarding flow. I am a MAJOR fan of the girls behind KIC, Laura Henshaw and Steph Claire Smith. I am forever motivated and inspired by their KIC Pod, Instagram Stories, and everything they do! So this challenge to do an unsolicited redesign of the KIC onboarding flow was a no brainer.

Having completed the Coursera Google UX Design Course - Foundations of User Experience Design. I am following their Design Thinking Framework. 

Empathise

In the empathise phase, my primary objective is to gain a deeper understanding of the user, their concerns, desires, and the context in which the design will be used. I will rely on research findings rather than assumptions in subsequent design stages, making user surveys, interviews, observations, and competitor analysis essential components of your user research process.I began by analysing competitors in the fitness app market and then surveyed potential users to uncover their motivations and pain points

Competitor and Feature Analysis

User Aanalysis

Next, I shifted my focus to potential users to collect quantitative data regarding their priorities. I surveyed seven participants (comprising three males and four females) to gather insights about their fitness routines and expectations from an app. [Link to survey]. Here are the key takeaways I extracted to guide my onboarding redesign:

Results & Takeaways

Everyone's lifestyle and relationship with working out is different. From male to female, to the preference in type of work out, and even to what would help them be successful in their journey with this app.

Having a customised experience will result in the most successful retention. To provide a customised experience straight away, the onboarding process must hit on what’s important to them to provide the greatest User Experience straight away.

Define

In the define phase, I’ll assess my research to pinpoint critical user problems. I will create a persona, a customer journey map, and ultimately define a problem statement.r text here...

Persona

Customer Journey Map

If Emily were to come across the app, what would that look like and how would it help fulfil her goals while removing her pains? A stomer journey map is a visual storyline of how the customer engages with our product, service, or brand.

Problem Statements

“Given the unique perspectives people hold towards workouts and their fitness preferences, the challenge is to elevate customer retention. This can be achieved by seamlessly introducing users to a personalised onboarding experience. The goal is to establish an immediate and personalised connection that fosters lasting engagement with the platform.”.

Ideate

During the ideate phase, I generated solutions and formulated an information architecture. This was followed by the creation of sketches, mid-fidelity wireframes, usability testing, and the development of a UI kit.

Information Architecture

Sketh

Mid Fidelity Wireframe

Usability Testing

I conducted 1 usability test over Zoom, lasting about 30 minutes. The objective of the test is to see if the user can complete the onboarding task without error and where improvements needed to be made for ultimate user satisfaction.

With the feedback, here are the changes made:

UI Kit

Prototype

Here is the final prototype for KIC Onboarding::

Click here to preview the onboarding process prototype 📱

Reflection

What's next...

Im excited to take on the app tutorial phase of onboarding. This will encompass the following key elements:

Profile Introduction: Guiding users through their profile setup, enabling them to update their stats (weight) and preferences (workouts, food, etc.)

Workout Selection: Assisting users in choosing the right workouts and demonstrating how to easily find the specific type of exercise theyre looking for.

Meal Planning: Explaining the process of creating grocery lists and meal plans for the week, simplifying their nutrition journey.

Integration with Flo: Highlighting the seamless integration with Flo, the menstrual cycle app, and providing insights on how users can align their workouts with their menstrual cycle for a tailored fitness experience.

Together, these tutorials will ensure a smooth transition into using our app and empower users to make the most of its features.

Lessons Learned

At the beginning of the project, I subconsciously had a vision on the direction of the case study. Through research and user interviews, I realised this project may be bigger than I thought. Creating an onboarding process that was both simple and thorough, while still achieving the personalised outcome I wanted, was a tough challenge.

I sometimes got too caught up in my own design ideas. Usability testing helped me refocus on always putting the user first. It taught me how to balance my design skills with user-centric thinking, which, in the end, empowered me to produce work with heightened confidence and precision.