Boosting First-Time User Engagement: Building Tapply's Tutorial System
App Design
Project
What I did
Timeline
Team
Brandon L | Software Engineer
Julian G | Product Manager
What is Tapply?
Tapply is an app that transforms users' social network into a distributed expert network, connecting them to the right person and make finding professional help easier.
View WebsiteThe Challenge
Introducing a new behavior is hard. Teaching people to tap their network for professional help is even harder.
Tapply launched with a unique value proposition: your friends' networks hold the expertise you need. But this concept wasn't intuitive. Users didn't automatically understand how to leverage their connections or feel comfortable asking for help.
Understanding the Barrier
Research on current practices
20% -30%
of users abandon the app after the first use, if the onboarding experience is
ineffective.
Dialogs, transparency, tours and video demo has tested poorly with users. Users often time find these a minor inconvenience.
Through conversations with the product team and early user feedback, I identified key friction points:
Conceptual confusion: "Is this LinkedIn? Is this a favor-asking app? How does this actually work?"
Activation anxiety: Asking for help feels vulnerable, especially through a new platform. Users needed confidence before taking that first step.
Feature overload: Without context, even simple features felt overwhelming to new users exploring the app for the first time.
What first-time users needed:Quick understanding of Tapply's core valueA clear path to their first actionReassurance that asking for help through the app is normal and expected
Designing the Tutorial System
My approach: Guide, don't overwhelm.
I came up with multiple designs for the concept. We narrow down to 2 of the ideas and decided to work towards them.
Idea 1
Interactive tool tip for a in-depth walkthrough
Idea 2
Static tool tip triggered by entry points
Key Design Decisions
Static tool tip triggered by entry points
In order to know which tutorial works better...I proposed that we do a A/B testing of these 2 designs and see which one has the better response and can drive user adoption.
As a startup company with limited resources, we are unable to conduct A/B testing. The product manager and I have chosen to explore idea 2, as it offers greater flexibility while preserving the integrity of the users' initial experience.
REFLECTION
Outcome
The in-app tutorial system launched alongside the app, helping users understand Tapply's unique value from day one. [Add metrics if available: X% completion rate, X% increase in first requests, user feedback]
