The above are first-run experience screens from Fitocracy’s iPhone app. I’ve also included the emails I received and first run screens from their website after I created an account on my phone.
The good bits:
The company has conversational text that helps to downplay moments of frustration and explain any required user input.
The product tour on the iPhone app keeps the sign up/sign in controls persistent, so users don’t have to page through the entire tour to get started.
The “Profile complete” badge provides an early sense of success.
The website recognizes new users who may have logged in with an account, but have never visited the site before, and provides a new-to-website experience for those users. It is good to consider first run experiences per platform if there are major differences.
To be improved:
This app doesn’t allow users to try the product without an account.
There are many fragmented prompts during account signup. Ironically, on the “Just one last step” page, it asks for 4 pieces of information and is then followed by 3 separate prompts for additional information. These are capped off with a full-screen takeover asking users to upgrade to a paid account. This is before they had a chance to try it out yet.
Immediately after signing up I received 5 identical emails from “gymaholic_85” giving me “props”. Presumably this happens automatically after a new user signs (I realize it’s hard to keep fitness newbies motivated). But because I was spammed, it feels disingenuous.
I eventually logged into their website, which detected me as a new visitor. Then I was forced to navigate through a series of modal hints. Unfortunately there was no way for me to skip the hints; I could only proceed to the next one until they were finished.