First-Time User Experience (FTUE): Why It Matters & How to Improve It

The first-time user experience (FTUE) is crucial for user retention rate as it can make or break the decision of users to continue using a product. A well-crafted onboarding strategy can help increase adoption and retention rates, leading to higher profitability. To improve FTUE, businesses should follow these steps: 1) Understand their users' expectations and create user personas; 2) Create journey maps for different scenarios; 3) Design a user-centered onboarding flow with clear messaging and tooltips; 4) Gather feedback in-product using Microsurveys; and 5) Continuously optimize the onboarding experience based on data. Additionally, best practices include creating with specific user personas in mind, customizing the experience for each persona, writing clear product copy, meeting users where they are, running A/B tests, and using analytics to evaluate and further optimize the flow.