Onboarding Redesign

Context

Yotpo primarily serves mid-market companies with dedicated Customer Success Managers. To broaden its user base, Yotpo started targeting low-touch users, alongside its core clientele, focusing this initiative on the Yotpo-UGC product, which enables merchants to collect and leverage user-generated content.

The problem

Although the onboarding had a high conversion rate, a deeper analysis revealed several underlying issues:

1. Users skipped important activation steps just to reach the product as quickly as possible.
2. The onboarding experience was outdated and no longer reflected the product's evolving capabilities, misguiding users about its core functionality.
3. Low-touch users, in particular, struggled with the initial setup and integration process, resulting in delayed activation and lower product adoption.

Goals & KPIs

Primary

• Activate and customize the product's core features - measured by activation rate.
• Take users on the shortest path to value - measured by time to value.

Secondary

• Increasing quality engagement. 
• Reduce churn.
• Decreasing dependency on Customer Success Managers.

UX research

What makes a great onboarding?

Competitor and best-practice research pointed to three principles that became this project's core values:

User research

The main persona was low-touch users going through onboarding themselves. We built on low-touch personas that had been previously defined as part of a broader research initiative I led, allowing us to focus this research on onboarding-specific behaviors and pain points.

Internal research also revealed a second audience: Customer Onboarding Managers, who would benefit from a self-served flow that enables merchants to complete the initial setup independently.

The challenges

How might we give users the confidence to start sending review request emails at this point?

How might we encourage users to install the widget before they see results?

How might we balance delightful steps with technical ones, while keeping a consistent experience with the wider platform?

Design process

Focus on the Review Request Email The existing design didn't use the product's new capabilities, offered no way to upload a logo before sending branded emails, and had unclear settings that left users unsure of the outcome of their opt-in choices. First iteration Added more capability to a single email-design step — but testing surfaced new issues: too many actions crammed into one step, users asked to start sending before feeling invested in the email, and still not enough clarity around opt-in settings. The decision Split the review-request flow into three focused steps. Adding steps ran counter to the instinct to simplify, but as long as the flow stayed aligned with the core values, more steps made the experience stronger, not weaker. The decision Split the review-request flow into three focused steps. Adding steps ran counter to the instinct to simplify, but as long as the flow stayed aligned with the core values, more steps made the experience stronger, not weaker. The decision Split the review-request flow into three focused steps. Adding steps ran counter to the instinct to simplify, but as long as the flow stayed aligned with the core values, more steps made the experience stronger, not weaker.

Outcome

Key learnings

1. 1. Don't be afraid to add steps.As long as the flow works as a whole and follows your core UX values.
2. 2. Cross-team collaboration is the job.Integrating the needs and feedback of different teams and stakeholders shaped the final flow as much as the research did.
3. 3. Prototypes change your approach.Building a working prototype surfaced problems — and better directions — that static mocks didn't.