Case Study: DropCatch User Flows
Looking for roadblocks
DropCatch customer support received the same phone call several times a day: Potential customers were unable to open accounts. Hours were spent guiding users through the registration process. I was tasked with finding out why.
To begin, I documented the current account registration user flow.
This highlights a couple of issues:
Users are presented with a fork in the road. They must choose to verify their Photo ID or add their Credit Card. After making a selection, they cannot return to complete the task they initially skipped. Users were understandably reluctant to provide their credit card and ID information upfront – they preferred to take a test drive first. The About Us page on DropCatch doesn’t help to ease their anxiety.
Users get a welcome email from a partner site, NameBright.com, with no mention of DropCatch. Since people were unfamiliar with NameBright, these emails were rarely opened. Moreover, they often ended up in spam folders. As such we were not able to verify email addresses. One user, looking for the verification email, searched her inbox for ‘Denver’ then deduced that the companies might be related :(
If users opted to ‘Add A Credit Card’ during registration the site displayed these warning messages.
Users often ignore these error messages because they are poorly designed, vague, or interrupt their workflow. When error messages fail to provide clear guidance on how to resolve an issue, users may dismiss them out of frustration or confusion. Additionally, the messaging focuses on what the site wants rather than empathizing with the user's needs.
The initial email users receive when opening an account comes from NameBright (DropCatch didn’t send a welcome email). This email has many issues, the main one being it simply doesn’t mention DropCatch, leaving the user to assume it’s spam.
Solution
By redesigning the flow as a funnel, users are now better guided through the process. They have the flexibility to bypass the ‘Add a Credit Card’ and ‘Photo Verification’ steps if needed.
I simplified the registration process by reducing the Create Account form to a single, streamlined page
I introduced Email Verification at the beginning of the registration process. This step ensures users sign up with a real, valid email, reducing bots and fraudulent registrations, something the company had not done before.
I revamped the welcome email (as seen in the example above), updating both the content and design while changing the sender from NameBright to DropCatch. The revised email now includes a clear call to action.
I introduced the ‘Skip This Step For Now’ so users are not forced into adding a Credit Card.
On this page, I made the ‘Select Image‘ buttons more obvious (compare to the example above). Users now have the option to complete this process at a later time.
Outcome
The expectations for this project are high, and the goal of reducing repetitive customer support calls is within reach. However, since these changes haven't been implemented yet, we can't measure any improvements at this stage. To move forward, we would conduct an A/B split test, gather data, and analyze the results before rolling out the changes to 100% of site traffic.
