Redesigned onboarding to cut first-hour churn by 19.8% and get new players to their first win faster.
Role
Lead UX Designer
Duration
8 Weeks · 2024
Team
6 People
Scale
90M+ Users
01/Overview & Role
What this project was
Nearly half of new users left before reaching the fun.
I reframed the entire experience around one goal: a new user's first win in under 90 seconds.
What I owned
End-to-end onboarding UX
Analytics & user research
Prototyping & usability testing
Cross-functional delivery
19.8%
First-hour churn
39%
Flow completion
57%
Time to first action
02/Problem & Research
The challenge
Nearly half of new users left within the first hour.
49.6%
New users uninstalled within the first hour
4.2 min
Average time to first action
25%
Never completed their first game
Insight 01
First-time experience of the app
Endless game rows gave first-time users no clear place to start.
Insight 02
Bombarded with pop-ups
Offers, missions, reward toasts, and ads buried the games before users could act.
Spin-the-wheel offer covering the Top Stories feed
Mission prompt pushing a paid game before onboarding
Login-reward toast dropping over the games list
Full-screen Opinio ad blocking the entire feed
Insight 03
“Matchmaking” meant nothing to them
New users didn't understand what matchmaking was or why they were waiting—and a line about the entry fee being deducted only added anxiety at the exact moment they were asked to commit.
Insight 04
Unclear whether they'd actually won money
Users expected rewards, but scores and badges obscured the answer: did they win money?
More insights from the research
Reluctance to spend
Users preferred promo credits over depositing their own money.
Unfair competition
New players matched against veterans, then quit in frustration.
Games felt flat
Selection surfaced nothing personalized or exciting.
App freezing
23% hit freezes or crashes in their first session.
Disconnections
Mid-game drops meant lost progress and wasted entry fees.
The Core Question
How might we get new users to their first win in under 90 seconds?
04/Final Solution
A first fold built around the first win
01
Lead with games and the first paid task
Show the top 3 games in the first fold
Put the best games first, with one obvious next step.
Surface the first task with its prize money
Show the reward before the first tap, so the payoff is clear.
Older homepage
Newer homepage
02
Simplified navigation
Reduced 12 menu options to 5 clear actions.
↓57%
Time to first action
↓63%
Navigation confusion
Onboarding · Part 1
03
Show gameplay preview
Preview gameplay before asking users to commit.
↑42%
Game selection confidence
↓34%
Early game abandonment
Onboarding · Part 2
04
Missions framework
Step-by-step missions build confidence while users earn rewards.
↑68%
Tutorial completion rate
↑45%
User understanding
The mission loop
Five sequential missions. Each completed step pays out coins.
Step 1
Play your first game
We invite the user into a quick, low-pressure game to get their hands on the product.
+10 coins
1
Step 2
Score your points
The user finishes the game and lands a score, creating a personal benchmark.
+20 coins
2
Step 3
Beat your own score
The next mission asks the user to top their previous best — competing only with themselves.
+40 coins
3
Step 4
Beat an opponent
The user faces a computer rival tuned to feel like a real person, introducing head-to-head play.
+60 coins
4
Step 5 · Real money
Withdraw your winnings
The loop closes: the user withdraws real winnings to their bank account and feels the full payoff.
+200 coins
5
The final design
A clearer path to value in under 90 seconds.
90 sec
To first game
Streamlined flow
One-tap sign-up with social authentication and personalized game recommendations based on user preferences.
5 steps
Down from 12
Progressive disclosure
Features are introduced gradually as users need them, preventing cognitive overload during the initial experience.
98%
First-game win rate
Immediate gratification
The first game is designed to be winnable, with celebratory moments that build confidence and engagement.
03/User Interviews
What users told us directly
New-player interviews revealed why the first hour was failing.
User interview · Part 1User interview · Part 2
05/Impact & Metrics
Measured impact
Measured four weeks after launch.
19.8%
Churn reduction
49.6% → 29.8%
+22%
Better retention
Day 7 metric
+39%
Completion increase
Onboarding flow
↓57%
Time reduction
To first action
Business impact
The improved experience drove significantly better user retention and engagement, contributing to increased DAU and revenue growth across the platform.
+47%
Increase in positive reviews
+31%
Higher engagement scores
Key learnings
Less is more
Removing steps beat adding features—every time.
Data + empathy
Analytics showed where; interviews showed why.
Test rigorously
A/B tests overturned what the team assumed was obvious.
“The best onboarding experience doesn't feel like onboarding at all. It empowers users to discover value on their own terms, at their own pace.”
Spin-the-wheel offer covering the Top Stories feed
Mission prompt pushing a paid game before onboarding
Login-reward toast dropping over the games list
Full-screen Opinio ad blocking the entire feed
