7 ms·

How Meetup Onboards New Users

62 points by samuelhulick 13y ago

samuelhulick 13y ago
Hi all! If anyone has any questions or comments, I'm happy to answer 'em!
- cocoflunchy 13y ago
  Love your teardowns! Keep making them :)
  - samuelhulick 13y ago
    You've got it, cocoflunchy!
- manishsharan 13y ago
  I am struggling with onboarding for a marketplace. Could you do one of those next ?
  - samuelhulick 13y ago
    It's possible! Any particular marketplaces you have in mind?
    - manishsharan 13y ago
      How about Google AdWords ?
      - samuelhulick 13y ago
        Ooh, that's a good one! I've added that to the list. It might be quite a while, though. :)
- dclara 13y ago
  Nice UX analysis. Thank you! May seek your help later. http://kck.st/JNqv8z http://kck.st/JNqv8z
- Roedou 13y ago
  It's a bit off-topic, but I'd love to know what tool/service you used to create those slideshows; assuming it's not all homebrew. The simplicity , the annotations and the 'hover zoom' are really nice touches. (Fantastic work on the site btw. Looking forward to seeing more.)
  - samuelhulick 13y ago
    I should probably do a teardown on my own process at some point, but here's a quick overview: • Record the entire experience full-screen with Screenflow (http://www.telestream.net/screenflow/ http://www.telestream.net/screenflow/ - highly recommended) • Paste stills into Keynote, annotate them, etc. • Export to PDF, split it into individual jpegs via Automator, batch scale them for web via Ps droplet • Display images on site with homemade slideshow js, plus zoom effect from jQuery Zoom by Jack Moore (http://www.jacklmoore.com/zoom/ http://www.jacklmoore.com/zoom/ - also highly recommended) That's about it!
danso 13y ago
OK I'm not by any means a heavy Meetup user (I do go to a few meetings and belong to a couple active groups) and may be less plugged into the dev scene than I think I am...but Meetup seems to have a disproportionately low number of useful hacks that leverage its data...I can't think of the last time I've seen a Show HN do a Meetup hack (yes, I know, selection bias, living in a bubble, etc.) I haven't looked at the API, but how robust is it? If I were to make a get-to-know-NYC-app, I would think that Meetup data would be more useful than either Facebook or Foursquare, just because of what it captures in its structures (or at least, from what I see as a web user)
- adrianparsons 13y ago
  Great point. Our API is awesome and not enough people know about it, which is why we just announced that we're hiring a developer evangelist. http://www.meetup.com/jobs/developer-evangelist#job-title http://www.meetup.com/jobs/developer-evangelist#job-title
ivanplenty 13y ago
Accept my complements on the approach. Very cool. [Edit: Keep it up, and I wouldn't describe any of this as critique!] Slide 9, "Notice how de-emphasized Start is." Following the arrow, I see that "Find" and "Start" are the same size and believe are emphasized similarly in the header. What cue am I failing to notice that one is de-emphasized? A subtlety that's lost is between Slides 26 and 28 the user has two separate flows and browser sessions. It doesn't come across clicking next,next,next without reading your text. [Edit: I didn't notice there were titles, so the only recommendation I have is to put something in the center of focus -- a graphic, a blurred out gmail inbox, a "later that day" film satire, etc.] On 35, I had a different reaction to the facebook button there. This flow seems like it's based on creating a non-facebook account -- most people here in the flow already have signaled to Meetup they don't want to use fb. Why ask again? It seems like an unnecessary widget that may carry overly strong emotions for some customers. I wonder if this hook successfully converts non-fb users to fb users. On 44, what was the initial goal for creating an account? Wasn't it to do something specific within the group? At 44 it feels like this flow was a glorified "sign-me-up-for-the-newsletter" form instead of joining a community. Do you have any thoughts about what should be changed at this step in the flow? Should users get dropped back on the PDX meetup page? Should users get introduced to actual neighbors, much like a host would when you show up to a party? Does slide 44 always work that way for all meetups? [Edit: Good point on 45-47, I guess I expected to see the whole page 48 be in orange pen! That flow looks very confusing to me, and I think I was trying to nudge you to call it out if you thought so, too.]
- samuelhulick 13y ago
  Thanks for the kind words, and the critique! Slide 9: Good point, I was kind of unclear. I was referring to how that was the only place on the page that referred to Start, whereas almost all of the rest of page's content was Find-centric. Slides 26-28: I kinda thought the interstitial title card alluded to that. Is there a better way you'd recommend? Slide 35: Yeah, I tend to agree with you on that. That might have been an "orange pen" candidate. I was just commenting on their persistence, I suppose. Slide 44: There's a chance this happened because there were no upcoming Meetups scheduled at that time. But I completely agree with you - hence slides 45 & 46. Thanks again for your thoughtful commentary!
smackfu 13y ago
If I'm logged in, I see "Launch" a Meetup group in the header. If I'm not logged in, I see "Start". Surprised they see a need for a difference. The current 50% promotion for creating a new group also draws attention to that option. I wonder how many non-members actually start new groups? Also, that "short bio" section from page 30 is in fact problematic in Meetup groups I am members of. Most people say something like, "I'm new in town and trying to meet people." Well, for a lot of people, it's a year or two later, and Meetup still shows that same text. And it used to be buried on the profile pages, but they moved it to a much more prominent position, to be under your name in the attendee listing. So it tends to look like everyone on Meetup just joined the site.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
GotNothing 13y ago
Cool site, so I went to find a link to the RSS feed... "D'oh!" - No button. So I added rss onto the end of the url (common practice)... "D'oh!" - error code dump. fix that and I'll be back for more ;)
- samuelhulick 13y ago
  I will have to get on that!
- elwell 13y ago
  Ouch, yeah it gives username.
incision 13y ago
Timely, I signed up for Meetup ages ago and only recently started getting any use out of it. A few things: #25 - Please don't even suggest that a site shouldn't validate email addresses immediately. Validation isn't just about keeping spammers off the site. It's also about not spamming the poor folks with common names from the consistently amazing number of people who don't know their own email address. I've witnessed a constant deluge of everything from bank statements to party invites from sites that don't validate the addresses their users provide. #26 - I'd be really surprised if "hour" was any sort of admission about things on the meetup end. More likely it's a wise acknowledgement of the reality of user email beyond the large, well-functioning services like GMail. If you say a "few minutes" you'll have people in a vicious circle of hitting resend then clicking on the now useless (expired) confirmations as they trickle through their half-assed Exchange system or budget spam filter. #30 - This caught me up when I signed up for meetup. It asks for a "bio", but it's used more like a title or tagline as 100 characters or so accompany your avatar on membership/attending pages.
- samuelhulick 13y ago
  Good points! Slide 25: Many gigantic websites allow you to experience the product without throwing up an immediate roadblock. Tumblr comes to mind. Slide 26: It's all about providing behavioral cues to the user. You could easily have the "you might want to wait an hour" message pop up only when they request the confirmation be re-sent, for example. Slide 30: Yep!
archivator 13y ago
Awesome work! Nitpicking/design language question - would you use the term "affordance" to describe the avatar silhouette itself? To me, that's just a clue, an indicator, a hint to the general action possibility (affordance) of setting up an avatar.
- samuelhulick 13y ago
  Yeah, I sort of took poetic license with that one. I think the case could be made much more strongly if I was interacting directly with it, and if it indicated how I was supposed to do so. In this case, I used the term pretty carelessly.
  - archivator 13y ago
    Thanks for clarifying. I'm new to the world of design and am still struggling with some of the nuances of expression.
    - samuelhulick 13y ago
      This video is in regards to game design, but the lessons apply to web, as well. It's also the best explanation of affordances I've seen out there! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCSXEKHL6fc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCSXEKHL6fc
lvs 13y ago
"Onboard" isn't a verb.
- pulakm 13y ago
  Only according to the dictionary. It's pretty common parlance in this context. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onboarding http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onboarding
codebeard 13y ago
Unnecessary and distracting parallax features are quickly becoming the marquee and blink of this generation.
- samuelhulick 13y ago
  Is this in regard to UserOnboard.com? I don't like them either, which is why I didn't add them to the site.
mandeepj 13y ago
slideshow is not working for me. May be it is just me :-( I am using Chrome 32.0.1700.102 m on Windows 7 Enterprise
- samuelhulick 13y ago
  Sorry to hear that. Is it only showing the title image, then solid blue for the rest?

62 points by samuelhulick 13y ago

samuelhulick 13y ago

Hi all! If anyone has any questions or comments, I'm happy to answer 'em!

cocoflunchy 13y ago
Love your teardowns! Keep making them :)
- samuelhulick 13y ago
  You've got it, cocoflunchy!
manishsharan 13y ago
I am struggling with onboarding for a marketplace. Could you do one of those next ?
- samuelhulick 13y ago
  It's possible! Any particular marketplaces you have in mind?
  - manishsharan 13y ago
    How about Google AdWords ?
    - samuelhulick 13y ago
      Ooh, that's a good one! I've added that to the list. It might be quite a while, though. :)
dclara 13y ago
Nice UX analysis. Thank you! May seek your help later. http://kck.st/JNqv8z http://kck.st/JNqv8z
Roedou 13y ago
It's a bit off-topic, but I'd love to know what tool/service you used to create those slideshows; assuming it's not all homebrew. The simplicity , the annotations and the 'hover zoom' are really nice touches. (Fantastic work on the site btw. Looking forward to seeing more.)
- samuelhulick 13y ago
  I should probably do a teardown on my own process at some point, but here's a quick overview: • Record the entire experience full-screen with Screenflow (http://www.telestream.net/screenflow/ http://www.telestream.net/screenflow/ - highly recommended) • Paste stills into Keynote, annotate them, etc. • Export to PDF, split it into individual jpegs via Automator, batch scale them for web via Ps droplet • Display images on site with homemade slideshow js, plus zoom effect from jQuery Zoom by Jack Moore (http://www.jacklmoore.com/zoom/ http://www.jacklmoore.com/zoom/ - also highly recommended) That's about it!

danso 13y ago

OK I'm not by any means a heavy Meetup user (I do go to a few meetings and belong to a couple active groups) and may be less plugged into the dev scene than I think I am...but Meetup seems to have a disproportionately low number of useful hacks that leverage its data...I can't think of the last time I've seen a Show HN do a Meetup hack (yes, I know, selection bias, living in a bubble, etc.) I haven't looked at the API, but how robust is it? If I were to make a get-to-know-NYC-app, I would think that Meetup data would be more useful than either Facebook or Foursquare, just because of what it captures in its structures (or at least, from what I see as a web user)

adrianparsons 13y ago
Great point. Our API is awesome and not enough people know about it, which is why we just announced that we're hiring a developer evangelist. http://www.meetup.com/jobs/developer-evangelist#job-title http://www.meetup.com/jobs/developer-evangelist#job-title

ivanplenty 13y ago

Accept my complements on the approach. Very cool. [Edit: Keep it up, and I wouldn't describe any of this as critique!] Slide 9, "Notice how de-emphasized Start is." Following the arrow, I see that "Find" and "Start" are the same size and believe are emphasized similarly in the header. What cue am I failing to notice that one is de-emphasized? A subtlety that's lost is between Slides 26 and 28 the user has two separate flows and browser sessions. It doesn't come across clicking next,next,next without reading your text. [Edit: I didn't notice there were titles, so the only recommendation I have is to put something in the center of focus -- a graphic, a blurred out gmail inbox, a "later that day" film satire, etc.] On 35, I had a different reaction to the facebook button there. This flow seems like it's based on creating a non-facebook account -- most people here in the flow already have signaled to Meetup they don't want to use fb. Why ask again? It seems like an unnecessary widget that may carry overly strong emotions for some customers. I wonder if this hook successfully converts non-fb users to fb users. On 44, what was the initial goal for creating an account? Wasn't it to do something specific within the group? At 44 it feels like this flow was a glorified "sign-me-up-for-the-newsletter" form instead of joining a community. Do you have any thoughts about what should be changed at this step in the flow? Should users get dropped back on the PDX meetup page? Should users get introduced to actual neighbors, much like a host would when you show up to a party? Does slide 44 always work that way for all meetups? [Edit: Good point on 45-47, I guess I expected to see the whole page 48 be in orange pen! That flow looks very confusing to me, and I think I was trying to nudge you to call it out if you thought so, too.]

samuelhulick 13y ago
Thanks for the kind words, and the critique! Slide 9: Good point, I was kind of unclear. I was referring to how that was the only place on the page that referred to Start, whereas almost all of the rest of page's content was Find-centric. Slides 26-28: I kinda thought the interstitial title card alluded to that. Is there a better way you'd recommend? Slide 35: Yeah, I tend to agree with you on that. That might have been an "orange pen" candidate. I was just commenting on their persistence, I suppose. Slide 44: There's a chance this happened because there were no upcoming Meetups scheduled at that time. But I completely agree with you - hence slides 45 & 46. Thanks again for your thoughtful commentary!

smackfu 13y ago

If I'm logged in, I see "Launch" a Meetup group in the header. If I'm not logged in, I see "Start". Surprised they see a need for a difference. The current 50% promotion for creating a new group also draws attention to that option. I wonder how many non-members actually start new groups? Also, that "short bio" section from page 30 is in fact problematic in Meetup groups I am members of. Most people say something like, "I'm new in town and trying to meet people." Well, for a lot of people, it's a year or two later, and Meetup still shows that same text. And it used to be buried on the profile pages, but they moved it to a much more prominent position, to be under your name in the attendee listing. So it tends to look like everyone on Meetup just joined the site.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

GotNothing 13y ago

Cool site, so I went to find a link to the RSS feed... "D'oh!" - No button. So I added rss onto the end of the url (common practice)... "D'oh!" - error code dump. fix that and I'll be back for more ;)

samuelhulick 13y ago
I will have to get on that!
elwell 13y ago
Ouch, yeah it gives username.

incision 13y ago

Timely, I signed up for Meetup ages ago and only recently started getting any use out of it. A few things: #25 - Please don't even suggest that a site shouldn't validate email addresses immediately. Validation isn't just about keeping spammers off the site. It's also about not spamming the poor folks with common names from the consistently amazing number of people who don't know their own email address. I've witnessed a constant deluge of everything from bank statements to party invites from sites that don't validate the addresses their users provide. #26 - I'd be really surprised if "hour" was any sort of admission about things on the meetup end. More likely it's a wise acknowledgement of the reality of user email beyond the large, well-functioning services like GMail. If you say a "few minutes" you'll have people in a vicious circle of hitting resend then clicking on the now useless (expired) confirmations as they trickle through their half-assed Exchange system or budget spam filter. #30 - This caught me up when I signed up for meetup. It asks for a "bio", but it's used more like a title or tagline as 100 characters or so accompany your avatar on membership/attending pages.

samuelhulick 13y ago
Good points! Slide 25: Many gigantic websites allow you to experience the product without throwing up an immediate roadblock. Tumblr comes to mind. Slide 26: It's all about providing behavioral cues to the user. You could easily have the "you might want to wait an hour" message pop up only when they request the confirmation be re-sent, for example. Slide 30: Yep!

archivator 13y ago

Awesome work! Nitpicking/design language question - would you use the term "affordance" to describe the avatar silhouette itself? To me, that's just a clue, an indicator, a hint to the general action possibility (affordance) of setting up an avatar.

samuelhulick 13y ago
Yeah, I sort of took poetic license with that one. I think the case could be made much more strongly if I was interacting directly with it, and if it indicated how I was supposed to do so. In this case, I used the term pretty carelessly.
- archivator 13y ago
  Thanks for clarifying. I'm new to the world of design and am still struggling with some of the nuances of expression.
  - samuelhulick 13y ago
    This video is in regards to game design, but the lessons apply to web, as well. It's also the best explanation of affordances I've seen out there! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCSXEKHL6fc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCSXEKHL6fc

lvs 13y ago

"Onboard" isn't a verb.

pulakm 13y ago
Only according to the dictionary. It's pretty common parlance in this context. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onboarding http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onboarding

codebeard 13y ago

Unnecessary and distracting parallax features are quickly becoming the marquee and blink of this generation.

samuelhulick 13y ago
Is this in regard to UserOnboard.com? I don't like them either, which is why I didn't add them to the site.

mandeepj 13y ago

slideshow is not working for me. May be it is just me :-( I am using Chrome 32.0.1700.102 m on Windows 7 Enterprise

samuelhulick 13y ago
Sorry to hear that. Is it only showing the title image, then solid blue for the rest?