We helped Pocket design a better experience for new users. The results: 58% more new users saved their first item to Pocket, leading to higher activation rates and more active users.

THE CHALLENGE

Help new users of Pocket become active users. Lots of people were downloading and signing up for Pocket, but the team wanted to make it easier for those people to become active long-term users.

WHAT WE DID

Ran three design sprints in three weeks with the Pocket team. We prototyped and tested new getting-started flows in their iOS and Android apps. The results: 58% more new users saved their first item to Pocket, leading to higher activation rates and more active users.

HERE’S HOW WE DID IT.

DAY 1: UNDERSTANDING GOALS AND CHALLENGES

The Pocket team understood what made a new user likely to become an active user: things like adding 3 items to their list or installing Pocket on a second device. The team had also run a recent study on Usertesting.com, so we were able to see exactly how and where new users struggled.

We generated opportunities for improving the getting-started experience (in HMW form).

We voted on HMWs and summarized the most promising ideas.

We sketched a basic user story to help us understand the experience of new users

DAY 2: SKETCHING POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

Using everything we learned the first day, we sketched possible solutions. Each sketch was a tiny 3-pane storyboard of the getting-started flow.