I wish this app had a splash page, said no one ever.
The best way to onboard a user is to not onboard them at all. Let the user dive right into the experience and play around, free of anxiety or fear that they might get lost and not know what to do.
Don’t interrupt the user’s experience just because you want their data. Users know you make your money off their data, and they’re not as excited to give it out as you are to take it. If you’re going to ask for info, make sure the user feels like they’ve gotten something in return.
When people don’t know what’s hidden in the nav they scroll the page to see if they can find what they’re looking for first. Opening a nav is a commitment. And what if when I open it I don’t find what I’m looking for? Research shows users would rather take their chances and scroll the page before diving into your hamburger nav.
What's Facebook's product? We always got to keep going back to that. What’s their product? The reality is their product is outrage, its scandal, its sex. It's anything that will get you to click.
There’s this fallacy that floats around the UX world telling everyone that less clicks means a better experience. And if users don’t have to click, well, then the person that created it must be some sort of UX god. Well, here’s the truth: Users won’t mind extra clicks as long as they’re meaningful.
It sounds counterintuitive, but you can reduce complexity by adding in a few extra meaningful clicks. Each tiny bite is much less of a cognitive load for your users than if you push everything on them up front. Make your experiences contextual-based and digestible, and no one will notice that it took them a few extra clicks—because it felt necessary.
Too many apps try to use animation as a band-aid for the poor experience they’ve created. Remember that animation is there to help explain what is happening, not entertain. You’re not making a Disney movie.
Right off the bat, I already know what you’re thinking—“I’m a UX designer. I wasn’t hired to be a copywriter!” And you’re absolutely right—you are a UX designer. But here’s the deal: The copy users read and interact with is part of the experience you’re designing.