EMILY MEER
LINGUA FRANCA
Onboarding Redesign to Drive Retention
Led an onboarding redesign to improve first-open experience, reduce early friction, and increase user retention.
Role
Head of Design
Friction
Content matches user skill/needs faster.
Time in App
Retention
Improved next-day retention by 5%.
Average number of activities completed increased from 3 to 7.
My Role
​As the lead product designer, I owned the end-to-end design cycle on a 8-person cross-functional team.
Design
Research & Usability
Prototyping & Ideation
Interaction & Visual Design
Collaboration
Engineering
Product
Stakeholders & C-Suite
Junior Designers
Business Goals
Improved next-day retention, strengthening early engagement and reducing early drop-off.
Reduce Early Dropp-Off
More users successfully completed their first session and continued into day two.
Strengthen Engagement
Increase engagement with core product features.
Boost User Satisfaction
Deliver a seamless experience from entry to lesson completion.
Research
Identify why users drop-off after the first day.
GOAL: Identify friction points that drive users to not return.
User Research
Benchmarking
Journey Mapping
User Research
RESULT: The majority of users are in an intermediate level.
It's interesting, but I already know this stuff.
Benchmarking
RESULT: Industry leaders include in their onboarding a way of placing users in an appropriate level.
I don't want to redo all the stuff I've already learned at school.
Journey Mapping
RESULT: High motivation meets no challenge, causing boredom. Users want to practice English, but the app starts them at level one regardless of their abilities.
I want to practice English.
This is too easy.
I don't know where to start.
I'll practice with somethign else.
Problem
User retention suffers because the experience begins at a difficulty level far below what most users need or expect.
Mismatch in Ability
Delivers a poor first impression that doesn’t reflect their needs.
Irrelevant Start
The initial tasks feel trivial and fail to communicate the value or challenge they’re looking for.
Early Momentum Lost
Users feel bored or unmotivated and exit before day two.
Process
Iterative designs for speed and scale
Flexibility
Worked with engineering to identify and address time, tech, and user constraints.
Scalability
Designed a flexible system to support new dashboard features.
Launch Success
Usability testing, usability QA, and C-suite approval
Solution
Onboarding redesign that places users at the right starting level for their skill.
Reduced Friction in Finding Appropriate Level
I introduced a self-assessed level selector to the onboarding, allowing users to be placed at a level that matched their skill set.
IMPACT: Users reported a stronger sense of progress and satisfaction.
.png)
Improved User Engagement after First Open
By matching users to an appropriate level on day one, I saw how even light personalization dramatically increases motivation, relevance, and the likelihood of continued use.
​
IMPACT: The number of activities users completed on their first day more than doubled.
Improved Next-Day Retention
Users wanted to continue making progress in the app.
​
IMPACT: The new onboarding led to an increase in retention by 5%.
Reflections
Misaligned Difficulty as a Hidden Drop-Off Driver
I underestimated how much an onboarding level that felt “too easy” would undermine motivation. Users disengaged not from confusion, but from lack of challenge.
Motivation Hinges on Early Personalization
I learned that users judge value immediately; when day one doesn’t feel relevant or appropriately calibrated, they assume the entire program won’t meet their needs.
Onboarding Must Reflect Real Ability
This project reinforced that a one-size-fits-all start doesn’t work; designing adaptive onboarding is critical for engagement and long-term retention.
