Solution
Redesign Discord's onboarding for a new set of users.
To better introduce a complex, technical product like Discord to a new user base, I sought to reorganize and provide a more focused flow to Discord's product onboarding model in order to elevate the experience of using Discord itself.
To do so, I reframed Discord's onboarding into three specific stages that can be thought of as onboarding "playthroughs".
Solution #1
Introduce the Basics
The first playthrough is focused on getting the first-time user to the first milestone goal of simply talking to their friends in a voice channel. This initial goal affirms Discord's functionality and establishes a baseline for users seeking to use the platform at its most basic level.
UI elements such as spotlighting and tooltips are utilized to create a more linear guide through the first stage of onboarding.
A linear first-time onboarding seeks to improve second-time return rates.
By establishing the baseline, the goal is that more users having justified basic use case are more likely to open Discord a second time around.
Solution #2
Aid in understanding Servers, Discord's core feature.
Once the first user objective is reached, onboarding can begin to expand user knowledge about Discord's core product, developing the user's understanding of what a server is.
The onboarding experience begins to start moving away from linear UI elements such as spotlighting, and adds new more unobtrusive elements such as clickable "mission markers" (coach tips) and banners.
By onboarding basic server functionality, the likelihood of users staying grows.
The second onboarding's ultimate goal is to help users grow into their usage, and in turn grow Discord's returning user base.
Solution #3
Giving users complete control.
Given that server knowledge is established, onboarding now sits at a stage where learning and discovery should be non-linear and completely up to the user. In this third stage, the user has now ideally downloaded the native app and is now embarking on their own onboarding discovery, shaping the experience to their own needs.
In this playthrough, there's no need for extra UI elements and overlays, and components are essentially built to have integrated onboarding functions. Any extra elements should be indistinguishable from the core product itself.
It's in this stage that users start shaping Discord to their own personal preferences, and the Discord of an experienced user start to take form. At the perceived "end" of the third playthrough, the user's comfort with the product should be at an all time high.
Users that are in control can begin to invite their friends to the platform itself.
Ultimately, by creating a "new veteran of Discord", the experienced users are now in turn able to stimulate user growth by inviting their inexperienced counterparts.
