Acrobat Onboarding

Elevating Acrobat's Onboarding Experience

How might we increase conversion and retention with immediate value and clear guidance from the start?

Summary

About

The Acrobat Onboarding project revamps the user's first encounter with the platform, guiding them smoothly through tool discovery with an intuitive interface. As a contractor, I significantly contributed to the Acrobat Onboarding project to boost user engagement. My work in UX concept development and creating compelling presentations helped secure executive funding, ensuring the project's approval and progression with the internal team. In addition to securing funding, our ideas established an entire team, shifting the organization's mindset from pure activation, as onboarding normally is, to a framework for continuous engagement.

Research insights

Adobe Acrobat research shows initial user friction.
Users take longer for quick tasks; product underused.
Two user behaviors noted:
- One group prioritizes fast, precise task completion.
- Another explores the program's full potential.

Framing hypothesis

Effortless initial guidance designed to boost user engagement and improve funnel outcomes should clearly and personally demonstrate the product's value, offering assistance without being intrusive or overwhelming.

Exploring user perspectives

Who are we designing for?

Acrobat offers solutions for both B2B (Business-to-Business) and B2C (Business-to-Consumer) markets. Empathizing with users requires a deep understanding of their needs and behaviors. We've defined two primary user types: Divers and Explorers.

The Diver

Divers are focused on efficiency, often with basic to intermediate knowledge of Acrobat, seeking to quickly achieve their goals without delving deep into the tool's features.

Jess

Marketing assistant

Meet Jess, our Acrobat Onboarding Project "Diver" persona. As a marketing operations assistant at a small real estate company, Jess is skilled in document management. Her latest task requires her to quickly deliver a project scope for review, edits by superiors, and digital signature.

Diving in Acrobat

Hey Mike, I need to add some comments to a document and share it with the team ASAP! But I don’t know exactly how.

Wow, there's a guided workflow that will help me understand these tools better.

Oh, perhaps you could give Acrobat a try! You might find tools for that purpose within its features!

Awesome! I've added my team, so now we can collaborate on these documents together. I'm going to sign up for Acrobat PRO.

The Explorer

Explorers are new users eager to discover what the software can offer for personal or business use, making them ideal candidates for a comprehensive onboarding experience that encourages exploration.

Alex

Photographer

Meet Alex, our Acrobat Onboarding Project "Explorer" persona. As a photographer, Alex needs to manage documents like contracts, proposals, NDAs, and image usage agreements. Recently, he secured a major project with a small real estate company and needs to send documents that are both professional-looking and branded.

Exploring Acrobat

I'm thrilled to start working with you! Please send over a contract so we can make everything official.

I need to locate a template, make some edits, and send it for signature. It would be great to include my logo on it.

Wow! Acrobat offers a wealth of tools that I can use for creating and managing my documents, templates, and more!

Fantastic! I can establish my brand, secure my files, and do so much more!

Looking for solutions

The Acrobat Onboarding project introduces a seamless entry from home screen or viewer, shaped by extensive collaboration and usability testing, and is built upon three foundational pillars, which are elaborated below.

Immediate Value

Our onboarding should offer immediate perceived value , leading users to successful task completion.

Unobtrusive Help

Offer guidance subtly, being present without being intrusive or demanding attention.

Customization

An onboarding tailored for Divers and Explorers, offering seamless navigation and discovery opportunities.

Acrobat team explorations

Below, you'll find a design iteration for the Acrobat Web homescreen and viewer UI, crafted by the Sign in Acrobat design team. This particular version wasn't released, but it played a crucial role as a milestone that led to the Onboarding project receiving funding and prioritization from the executive team.

Home screen UI anatomy

1. HERO CAROUSEL: The hero carousel is a prominent UI element positioned at the top of the page, featuring automatic scrolling. It serves as a guide for new users, showcasing guided workflows that aim to both educate them and demonstrate the software's capabilities.

2, QUICK ACTIONS: Quick actions are presented as tool cards, directing new users to specific workflows known for their simplicity and efficiency across various use cases. They streamline basic tasks and facilitate rapid actions.

3. CHECKLIST: The checklist, a common onboarding element in digital products, serves to spark curiosity and guide new users through completing specific tasks. It provides educational value and enhances user engagement by infusing joy into the process.

4. DISCOVERY CARDS: Discovery cards comprise a collection of tutorials and guided workflows tailored for exploratory users. These resources cater to individuals eager to uncover the software's functionalities and understand its usefulness and power through hands-on exploration.

Viewer UI anatomy

The onboarding solution for the viewer is essentially an adaptation of the elements found on the home screen, with identical functions but arranged in a visually distinct configuration. This approach is based on the understanding that many new users begin using Acrobat by opening a file.

Prototype

The onboarding project is a continuous initiative at Adobe. Below is a quick video showcasing an overview of one of the low-fidelity prototypes.

My Explorations

My ideas

This iteration, which I developed independently, incorporates executive feedback with a focus on key onboarding elements. Aiming for simplicity and directness, it provides fewer exploration touchpoints than its predecessor, yet maintains essential features in a user-friendly manner.

My Home screen

This version represents one of my proposed explorations for an onboarding-focused UI for the homescreen. In it, I incorporate elements from the team-selected version but strive to simplify, aiming to declutter and streamline the page design.

1. FILE PICKER FIRST: One of the research findings highlights significant friction in file uploading. I suggest here allocating more real estate to this feature to both attract user attention and provide more space for drag-and-drop functionality.

2, QUICK ACTIONS: Similar to the previous version, I've kept the carousel of quick actions readily accessible, but I propose including an animation on each card that activates on hover. This is designed to preview or inform the user about the functionality of each tool.

3. DISCOVERY CARDS: For the Discovery Cards carousel, I suggested merging the ideas from the hero carousel and the discovery cards presented in the team's version. Since both elements aim to guide users and encourage exploration of the software’s capabilities, combining them would keep the page cleaner while still fulfilling the onboarding function. A progress bar would replace the checklist feature, indicating new users' level of familiarity with the software. The first cards to appear should be customized according to the users' pre-established profiles.

My Viewer screen

In my version of the viewer, I present a similar proposal, but this time I have two panels that can be alternated: one exclusively for the discovery cards and one for the quick actions. Additionally, the user can simply close both panels to continue working.

1. DISCOVERY CARDS & QUICK ACTIONS: The panel opens by default with the discovery cards tab, inviting the user to explore the software, but it can be closed at any time according to the user's preference.

2, TOUCH POINT: The blue icon with a lightbulb in the corner serves as the touch point for the onboarding system. Once the user closes the panels, a small coach mark indicates that the panel can be reopened at any time with just one click.

Elevating Acrobat's Onboarding Experience