Improving First-Time Experience at Scale
Overview
Paperpal users were coming with very different goals.
Some wanted to
But the earlier onboarding treated most users similarly. This created friction because users had to figure out the platform before reaching the thing they actually wanted to do. The challenge was reducing the gap between user intent and product value.
The Problem
Users were directly landing inside the editor with a basic walkthrough explaining:
The issue was not that features were missing. The issue was that users wanted to start their task immediately instead of learning the platform first.
This created friction during first-time experience and reduced deeper engagement with the product.
Understanding User Intent
While reviewing onboarding and activation funnels through Clevertap, we noticed users were entering the product with very different behaviors.
A large portion of users immediately interacted with only one workflow:
- grammar correction
- document upload
- citations
- AI writing assistance
Session recordings and funnel analysis also showed that many users skipped the walkthrough entirely and directly tried completing their task.
Some early directional patterns:
- nearly 60–70% of users interacted with only one primary feature during first session
- users exploring multiple workflows showed noticeably stronger activation and conversion behavior
- mobile users dropped faster when too many decisions were introduced early
This indicated that they were not looking for a product tour. They wanted to complete a specific task as quickly as possible.
The Approach
We redesigned onboarding around intent detection.
Instead of showing the same experience to every user, the onboarding started identifying:
- who the user is
- what they study
- what they want to do immediately
The flow collected simple inputs like:
- academic role
- field of study
- immediate task intent
Based on these inputs, users were routed toward more relevant workflows instead of navigating the platform on their own.
The goal was simple: reduce the time between signup and meaningful action.
Intent-Based Entry Points
To reduce decision fatigue and help users start faster, we introduced 4 clear onboarding paths based on common user goals.
Improve Writing
For users wanting quick grammar corrections and writing improvements.
Import Word File
For users wanting deeper document-level review and editing.
Research & Cite
For users focused on citations and academic references.
Start Writing
For users wanting AI-assisted writing support.
Instead of forcing users to explore multiple areas after signup, onboarding guided them toward a likely starting point immediately.
Findings & Learnings
One of the biggest learnings was that users do not want onboarding for the sake of onboarding. Most users skipped traditional walkthroughs unless they were directly connected to the task they were trying to complete.
While reviewing onboarding behavior through Mixpanel and Clevertap, we noticed:
- nearly 60–70% of users interacted with only one primary workflow during first session
- walkthrough completion rates were below 25%, with many users skipping directly to action
- users exploring multiple workflows showed comparatively stronger activation and conversion behavior
This pushed us to rethink onboarding completely.
Instead of educating users about the interface, we focused on helping users start faster and discover value contextually during the workflow.
Some early improvements after onboarding iterations:
- onboarding experiments showed around 8–12% positive movement in activation trends across key flows
- users routed through intent-based entry points explored adjacent features ~15% more often compared to earlier journeys
- contextual onboarding patterns performed better than static walkthroughs in early engagement metrics
- users reaching relevant workflows faster showed healthier repeat interaction signals during first few sessions
At the same time, one challenge still remained. A large number of users were still completing a single task and leaving without building deeper product habits or exploring adjacent workflows. This exposed a larger retention and engagement problem beyond onboarding itself.
The next phase of exploration became: how do we move users from one-time usage to repeat engagement and stronger product adoption? That eventually led to a broader focus on retention, cross-feature discovery, and monetization journeys explored in the next case study.
