Platforms and marketplaces like RVshare, Lugg, and Qwick use Stripe Connect to onboard and pay their owners, movers, and hospitality professionals. Building a great experience for these people and businesses is key to a platform’s success, and we’ve consistently heard that user onboarding is one of the most difficult challenges platforms face. Based on user feedback and analysis of thousands of Express accounts, we made a number of updates to the Connect onboarding flow that drove a 5.3% average increase in conversion rates.

“With Express, signing up to get paid is really easy for our professionals. The new UI helped us increase onboarding conversion by 17% and improved the overall user experience.”

— Trevor Baker, Director of Product, Qwick

Design improvements

It’s now easier for a platform’s users to fill out the onboarding form. A new progress bar shows users where they are in the process, and bigger form fields make it easier to enter their information on mobile devices. The platform’s brand is also much more visible in the form.

The new, improved Connect onboarding flow for Express accounts on desktop and mobile.

Better user guidance

When a user enters invalid information, they’ll get immediate feedback as they fill out the form. Improvements to field validation help ensure that users submit valid information, while keeping the form user-friendly.

When a user enters invalid information (like an invalid address), they’re prompted to update their information.

Accessibility upgrades

To provide the best experience for all users, including people who are blind or have low vision or motor impairments, we built the new onboarding flow and reporting dashboard for Express accounts to follow Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Implementing the latest standards in semantic HTML, labeling controls, keyboard navigation, and focus management helps users onboard and manage their payouts with a keyboard and screen reader, without compromising functionality.

Users can enter information and navigate rich menus with a keyboard and screen reader.

Comprehensive labels and semantic HTML make our interfaces accessible to people who are blind or have low vision.

Localized flows

Creating a UI that’s tailored to your users’ preferred language and region makes your platform feel like a local business. The onboarding flow has been rebuilt to dynamically update whenever local requirements, laws, or regulations change across the world. This helps platforms quickly expand to new markets outside the US, without having to build new onboarding flows or worry about ongoing maintenance costs or compliance. Express accounts are currently available in the US and Canada, and we’re working on bringing them to more countries soon.

To onboard a French-speaking user in Canada, you'd need to localize the form to handle changes in field structure and validation, business entity types, and compliance requirements (e.g., in Canada, you can’t require collection of a Social Insurance Number). The Connect onboarding flow for Express accounts handles all of these considerations.

These are the first of many improvements we’re making to the Connect onboarding flow to improve conversion and help platforms save time, money, and development resources. To try the new onboarding flow for Express accounts, check out the demo, or read the docs.