HA Pro Onboarding Experience
This project was created to streamline the way that pros onboard into the platform, reduce the workload of the existing sales-driven onboarding process, and set proper, consistent expectations with our pros about their HomeAdvisor agreement.
Role
Product Designer,
Users
Platform
Web, iOS, Android
Areas
Strategy, Discovery, Design, Research
Service Providers in need of leads, but not on platform.
The Problem
The existing onboarding funnel was nearly exclusively through the phone with our sales team.
It was inefficient from a time perspective (it often took days) and the process does not account for differences in sales reps and their style of onboarding. As a result, improper expectations were often set and resulted in high levels of churn within the first 90 days.
The in-app funnel that did exist was largely cosmetic, and ultimately funneled users back to the sales team anyway, and the visuals were outdated.
The Research
We performed a fairly extensive competitive audit of onboarding funnels to keep a pulse on best practices and spark creativity.
Thumbtack, one of our closest competitors, became a point of conversation during this process, as their onboarding funnel captured many elements of what we were trying to achieve.
The Approach
I began by auditing the existing end-to-end experience that we used to onboard new pros. This included accounting for all touch points such as phone, email, and app correspondence.
Upon documenting these touchpoints, we mapped out what information was gathered at each step and validated that information with our sales org. We also listened in on calls to understand the existing sales and onboarding process.
The Proposition
Based on our findings, we proposed 3 possible solutions.
A stepper flow, that let us walk users through the onboard process one step at a time
An “At your own pace” flow, that allowed users to onboard but also leave/return at their leisure.
A “sweat the details later flow” where we captured only the necessary information, and followed up with sales at a later time.
We decided that the “At your own pace” funnel made the most sense for our users, as those users were typically busy handyman or business owners who needed to be able to stop and return at a moments notice.
The Solution
In collaboration with our marketing and acquisition teams, we were able to produce a solution that accounted for every existing step of the process, but completely in-app.
Additionally, we opted to leave many options for users to speak with a rep to account for the tendencies of older service providers (they generally preferred to speak on the phone).
Our flow allowed users to have more control over their onboarding and it only captured the information that was necessary for them to succeed. We detailed the post-acquisition experience for this initiative in a following project.
The Findings
Though I was not at the company to learn the numerical outcomes, the user sentiment was that this feature helped set their expectations about HomeAdvisor.
This initiative also helped us to understand that our sales process was flawed and we needed to be more clear about what users were signing up for in their onboarding.