The good bits
- After creating an account, the user is invited to build their Mii (an avatar). For new users not familiar with Nintendo games this is great introduction into the New users can choose to create it with a variety of options: create from a photo, create from scratch, or scan a QR code (for those who were dovetailed into this app from another Nintendo experience). Regardless of what option they choose, users can tweak their Mii’s physical presence using a full range of tools, and, instead of being interrupted with instructions, simply sees the effect of each change via a live preview.
- The new user can even control their Mii’s voice and personality. This really helps the new user take ownership of their experience with an explicit personal focus.
- The Mii “talks” to the new user via speech bubbles and invites interaction at intervals to teach them about key app functionality (such as the daily question).
- The app sets up a clear reward system to increase user engagement during the first few weeks of use. “A special bonus for your first 7 days” is a clear attempt at increasing 7-day retention.
- While it’s not desirable to have an app with so many loading states, Miitomo at least leverages this waiting state to provide inline education and tips.
To be improved
- The presence of sporadic tooltips pointing out UI functionality across the app experience indicates some core usability issues that may need to be addressed. Users are likely to begin ignoring hints if they’re only used to point out obviously unpolished things, instead of value proposition.
- When the app launches it displays a loading screen that shows detailed tips for an experience that the new user hasn’t even entered yet.
- Miitomo forces a user to create an account before interacting with the app. Miitomo could instead invite new users create their Mii (arguably the most fun part of the experience) and then prompt them to create an account when it’s built up a sense of ownership.
- There is not a clear sense of when the onboarding flow will end. Setup fluctuates between loading screens (although commonplace in games, sitting on so many loading screens is not common for social networking experiences), confirmation dialogs, account setup, Mii customization, and character exposition.
- The tools for customizing a Mii’s appearance, voice, and personality are so different from one another that it can make it hard for a user to apply learnings from past steps to future ones.
- The app overuses modal dialogs (pop-ups) to communicate with the user. Modals disrupt the flow of user interaction and force users to tap a confirmation or close button to get back to their original state. Because of how interruptive they are, most users dismiss modals without paying attention to the contents. Therefore, they should be used sparingly. The Miitomo app already has in-context spaces it could use to communicate with the user, such as avatar speech bubbles, blank slate education, and tooltip hints.
- After designing their avatar, the new user is forced to read through several screens of exposition as their Mii introduces itself.
- Although the Mii introduction mentions how important it is to add friends to Miitomo, the user is not given a way to add any during the introductory experience.
- Rewards are doled out with so much frequency, and often via sequential modals, that they may seem superficial and annoying.