Context

Product Hypothesis

Research Strategy

Study 1: Field Intercept Research

Study 2: Usability Evaluation of the Redesigned Onboarding Flow

Study 3: Validation of the Simplified Onboarding System

Impact and Reflection

Research Summary

Kardder is a proximity-based social platform designed for real-world communities such as campuses, clubs, and local events. To foster trust and meaningful connections, users needed profiles with enough information to help others decide whether to connect.

Early versions of onboarding prioritized profile completeness before product access. New users were required to upload multiple photos and complete demographic, interest, and preference-based information before they could enter the app.

However, internal analytics revealed that fewer than 20% of app downloads resulted in a completed account. This suggested that onboarding friction was preventing many users from ever reaching the product experience.

Reducing onboarding requirements too aggressively risked weakening profile quality and trust, while maintaining the existing experience appeared to suppress user activation altogether.

The original onboarding system rested on two assumptions:

1. Requiring more complete profiles upfront would increase authenticity and interpersonal trust.

2. Collecting profile information during registration would improve downstream connection quality.

However, early behavioral data suggested a competing hypothesis. Requiring extensive information before users experienced the product may have discouraged activation altogether, preventing many potential users from ever reaching the platform.

The challenge was reducing onboarding friction without compromising the trust and profile quality that made meaningful connections possible.

To investigate this question, I designed a three-stage research program examining both the behavioral and experiential dimensions of onboarding:

1. Field intercept research to observe real-world reactions to the original account creation flow

2. Usability testing of a redesigned flow where profile fields were made optional

3. Iterative usability testing of a simplified onboarding system paired with progressive profile completion prompts

This sequential approach allowed the team to identify friction points, evaluate alternative onboarding models, and validate behavioral outcomes before committing to a broader product change.

To understand how users experienced the onboarding process under real-world conditions, I conducted a four-week field intercept study on the UCLA campus quad.

Students were offered a free can of Celsius in exchange for downloading the app and attempting to create an account. Across approximately 54 hours of field research, our team engaged with more than 900 students, directly observing first-time onboarding behavior as participants progressed through account creation.

Although the campaign was originally intended to support user acquisition, it also became a valuable opportunity to observe where onboarding friction emerged in real time. Watching users complete the registration flow revealed recurring hesitation, abandonment, and questions that would have been difficult to identify through analytics alone.

The original onboarding system prioritized profile completeness before product access. Before entering the app, users were required to complete a lengthy registration flow that collected demographic information, profile details, photos, interests, relationship preferences, and optional social media accounts.

The design assumed that collecting more information upfront would create stronger, more trustworthy profiles. In practice, however, the number of required steps introduced substantial friction before users experienced any value from the product.

Participants consistently hesitated when onboarding required personal disclosure before they had experienced the product. The most common sources of friction were:

• Uploading multiple photos

• Providing personal information

• Linking social media accounts

• Selecting 20+ interests

Many participants questioned why so much information was required before they understood what the platform offered in return. Several said they would prefer to enter the app first and complete their profiles later, once they had decided the experience was valuable.

The issue was not profile completion itself, but requiring that commitment before users experienced any product value.

Based on findings from the field intercept study, I redesigned the onboarding flow to reduce upfront commitment while preserving profile quality. Several profile-related steps were converted from required fields into optional profile enhancements that users could skip and complete later.

The redesign made the following information optional:

• Gallery photos

• Education

• Employment

• Advanced personal details

• Social media integration

Rather than lowering profile standards, the redesign shifted non-essential information to a later stage of the user journey. This allowed users to experience the product sooner while encouraging progressive profile completion over time.

To evaluate whether the redesigned onboarding flow successfully reduced onboarding friction, I conducted moderated think-aloud usability sessions with seven undergraduate participants.

Participants created accounts while completion time, hesitation points, navigation behavior, and verbal feedback were recorded throughout the session.

The study evaluated whether reducing upfront requirements made onboarding feel easier without diminishing users' understanding of the platform or their willingness to complete their profiles over time.

Although making several profile fields optional reduced upfront commitment, the usability study showed that users still experienced significant friction during onboarding.

Participants frequently:

• Failed to notice skip buttons

• Assumed optional steps were still required

• Hesitated before providing personal information

The study also uncovered a broader communication problem. Fields such as "Looking For" and gender preference selection led many participants to perceive Kardder primarily as a dating app rather than a broader social discovery platform.

These findings suggested that the onboarding experience needed to more clearly communicate the Kardder's purpose while making progressive profile completion feel intuitive.

Completion times remained highly variable, ranging from just over 3 minutes to more than 21 minutes, with a mean completion time of 11.6 minutes.

Although making several profile fields optional reduced upfront information requirements, the usability study showed that the onboarding experience still demanded substantial time and attention from new users.

These findings suggested that reducing friction required more than making fields optional. The overall structure of the onboarding flow continued to create cognitive effort and navigational burden, limiting how quickly users could reach the product experience.

Although several profile fields became optional, many users still interpreted them as expected steps, delaying access to the product itself.

These findings suggested that profile richness should develop progressively through continued engagement rather than being required upfront during account creation.

Based on these findings, I partnered with the product and engineering teams to redesign the onboarding experience around a simplified entry model that minimized upfront commitment while preserving essential trust signals.

The new flow required only:

• Phone number verification

• Name and email

• Basic demographic details

• A short bio

• A single profile photo

All additional profile information was moved to an Edit Profile experience that users could access after entering the platform.

Rather than requiring extensive profile setup during registration, profile richness was encouraged progressively throughout the product experience.

When a user's profile was less than 35% complete, a contextual profile completion banner appeared directly within the Browse experience. Interacting with the prompt opened a dedicated profile completion flow where users could incrementally add photos, interests, prompts, and additional identity signals over time.

This approach preserved low-friction onboarding while encouraging users to build richer, more trustworthy profiles as they became increasingly invested in the platform. Rather than requiring commitment before users experienced value, the system aligned profile completion with growing engagement.

To evaluate whether the simplified onboarding flow successfully reduced friction while preserving progressive profile completion, I conducted moderated observational usability sessions with 15 undergraduate participants.

Participants created new accounts using the simplified onboarding flow before entering the Browse experience, where I observed completion time, navigation behavior, platform comprehension, and responses to progressive profile completion prompts.

The study examined whether limiting registration to essential account information allowed users to reach product value more quickly while still encouraging continued profile completion after entry.

All participants completed registration in just 2–4 minutes, with a mean completion time of approximately 3.1 minutes.

Compared with the previous onboarding flow (M = 11.6 minutes), the simplified onboarding experience reduced average completion time by approximately 70%.

These findings suggested that minimizing upfront commitment substantially improved onboarding efficiency, allowing users to reach the product experience more quickly while reducing activation friction.

Participants consistently described the onboarding experience as fast, straightforward, and easy to understand. Importantly, none interpreted Kardder primarily as a dating platform after preference-based onboarding fields were removed from registration.

By delaying relationship-specific questions until later in the user journey, the onboarding experience better communicated Kardder as a broader social discovery platform rather than a dating-first application.

After participants entered the Browse experience, a progressive profile completion banner appeared for profiles that were less than 35% complete.

Eight of fifteen participants voluntarily interacted with the prompt and continued enriching their profiles without researcher prompting. Users added additional photos, interests, profile prompts, and social details after they had already begun using the platform.

These findings suggested that users were willing to invest in richer, more trustworthy profiles once they had experienced value from the product. Rather than requiring profile completeness upfront, progressive profile completion aligned user effort with growing engagement.

Replacing the profile-heavy onboarding system with progressive profile completion:

• Reduced average onboarding time from 11.6 minutes to approximately 3 minutes

• Eliminated major sources of onboarding confusion

• Encouraged voluntary profile completion during product engagement

• Clarified Kardder's positioning as a broader social discovery platform rather than a dating-first application

The redesign reinforced the broader product principle that users should experience value before being asked for commitment. By aligning profile completion with growing engagement, the experience improved activation while preserving richer, more trustworthy profiles over time. This principle also influenced later product decisions across Kardder, reinforcing a broader design philosophy centered on progressive engagement and user autonomy.

• Field intercept research: ~900 observed onboarding sessions during a UCLA campus activation campaign

• Moderated usability testing: 7 think-aloud sessions evaluating onboarding friction and flow comprehension

• Observational usability validation: 15 undergraduate participants evaluating the simplified onboarding experience

• Behavioral measures: onboarding completion time, platform comprehension, and voluntary profile completion behavior

• Study environments: controlled iOS/Android test builds and the live product environment