Why This Happened (Circumstance)
TrustLoop helps businesses turn customer feedback into social proof, amplifying reviews to boost credibility and drive growth. Sounds great, right? Except we had one small problem: not enough people were signing up.
As the only designer (with no extravagant budget or room for wild experimentation), I was tasked with figuring out why our onboarding flow wasn’t converting visitors into users. After chatting with Zack (the product owner), it became clear that while we had traffic and user interest, the signups weren’t happening as expected.
Oh, and did I mention the UI needed a visual overhaul too? The design components were inconsistent, and we had no proper design system in place—making future iterations messy. So, it was time to fix the onboarding flow and establish a more standardised, user-friendly design.
What I Discovered (Curiosity & Analysis)
The first step? Dig into the onboarding flow and figure out what was broken.
Here’s what I did:
• Steve, our developer, went through the onboarding process, and we documented his journey (and frustration points).
• Turns out, our signup prompt only appeared at the very last step—after users had already input their details and linked their review accounts.
• Essentially, people were doing all the work before realising they had to sign up. Not a great look.
• We tracked how users were interacting with the website.
• Unsurprisingly, users were dropping off before reaching the signup screen.
• The UI was not intuitive, leading to a lot of confused wandering.
• Signup friction: Users were already engaging with the product before even creating an account.
• Lack of familiarity: The UI didn’t follow common onboarding best practices, leading to drop-offs.
• Inconsistent design: No standardised components meant a lack of cohesion.
What I Did (Solution & Execution)
Realising that nobody wants to do a bunch of work before committing, I redesigned the onboarding experience to front-load the signup process, ensuring users were clear about what they were signing up for.
Redesign Approach
🔹 Step 1: Moved the signup earlier in the journey
• Instead of making users invest effort before signing up, we brought the signup upfront and center—reducing drop-offs.
🔹 Step 2: Streamlined the onboarding journey
• Reduced unnecessary steps that created cognitive overload.
• Kept only critical actions in the first few screens.
🔹 Step 3: Standardised the visual design
• Introduced a more intuitive layout and hierarchy.
• Used consistent components to improve navigation and familiarity.
