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I think the points about slow and frustrating iteration on mobile are valid, which is my argument for going mobile second (http://jamiequint.com/why-i-believe-i

I think the points about slow and frustrating iteration on mobile are valid, which is my argument for going mobile second (http://jamiequint.com/why-i-believe-in-mobile-second http://jamiequint.com/why-i-believe-in-mobile-second) However, I'm dubious that the issue with mobile is a more difficult conversion funnel. The issue is not that mobile screens are too small to show more than one step at a time. I've done many landing page experiences on the web that would have only fit on a mobile screen and seen upwards of 75% conversion (for a 16 question onboarding process) and often find that multiple steps convert much better than a single step (asking for email first, then asking for a password, for example). The key is to get buy-in, which is a combination of value proposition and the give-and-take nature of whatever signup flow you are developing. You can't just ask the user for things over and over, give nothing back and expect 50% conversion. You have to make the process feel like a game, get buy in, ask for a bit more, give value early then ask for more. This is hard if you have a social product because you have to have strong social pressure to signup or a good "single player mode" (http://cdixon.org/2010/06/12/designing-products-for-single-and-multiplayer-modes/ http://cdixon.org/2010/06/12/designing-products-for-single-a...) or you are dead.

vnorby 14y ago
Great points, your article was spot on. No, definitely that's not the main issue, although it is one. You can't keep reinforcing why the user is signing up throughout the process the same way you can on the web. All mobile sign-up screens pretty much look the same and I see a lot of users look at it and just delete the app, or delay until later at which point they forget why they downloaded it. And even when they get past it, if they see something else they perceive as a "this is going to take a while" moment, they are going to leave and delete your app. On the web, the time to signup and get use from your app is faster and perceived as faster so I think given a choice between the two, more users would do it on the web.
- jamiequint 14y ago
  Most landing pages on the web look the same too. The best signup flows I've seen or created don't need to continually re-enforce why the user is signing up, they just need to lead the user down a logical path towards fulfilling the original value proposition, the reason they typed their password into the App Store and took the time to download your app in the first place. If the user is bouncing because they think "this is going to take a while" then you either don't have a strong enough value proposition or you're making the user think too hard. Most things can be reduced to simple, one-decision steps, and when you do that things will generally convert better for you.

vnorby 14y ago

Great points, your article was spot on. No, definitely that's not the main issue, although it is one. You can't keep reinforcing why the user is signing up throughout the process the same way you can on the web. All mobile sign-up screens pretty much look the same and I see a lot of users look at it and just delete the app, or delay until later at which point they forget why they downloaded it. And even when they get past it, if they see something else they perceive as a "this is going to take a while" moment, they are going to leave and delete your app. On the web, the time to signup and get use from your app is faster and perceived as faster so I think given a choice between the two, more users would do it on the web.

jamiequint 14y ago
Most landing pages on the web look the same too. The best signup flows I've seen or created don't need to continually re-enforce why the user is signing up, they just need to lead the user down a logical path towards fulfilling the original value proposition, the reason they typed their password into the App Store and took the time to download your app in the first place. If the user is bouncing because they think "this is going to take a while" then you either don't have a strong enough value proposition or you're making the user think too hard. Most things can be reduced to simple, one-decision steps, and when you do that things will generally convert better for you.