Personalized Onboarding
Personalized Onboarding
5 min read • November 2023
Overview
Overview
Company
Company
PCH
PCH
My Role
My Role
Associate Director, UX
Associate Director, UX
Project Type
Project Type
Strategy, Research, and
Design for desktop and mobile
Strategy, Research, and
Design for desktop and mobile
Timeline
Timeline
2023
2023
What is PCH?
What is PCH?
PCH, or Publisher’s Clearing House, is equally famously and infamously known for its sweepstakes opportunities to win big cash prizes. PCH provides users with ways of entering prizes through free entries and coin redemptions. Users earn coins through micro interactions like account creation, walk through completions, and game play.
The Problem
The Problem
The classic experience was successful in getting users to enter big prizes but was unsuccessful in getting users to create an account or explore the site.
The classic experience was successful in getting users to enter big prizes but was unsuccessful in getting users to create an account or explore the site.
The Issues
The Issues
User acquisition was low.
User acquisition was low.
VIsual Language was outdated.
VIsual Language was outdated.
User retention was low.
User retention was low.
The Ask
The Ask
Create a trustworthy experience where users want to enter prizes, create an account and play games. Users should return without having to reactivate through paid advertisements.
Create a trustworthy experience where users want to enter prizes, create an account and play games. Users should return without having to reactivate through paid advertisements.
Discovering the classic experience
Discovering the classic experience
The team wanted to establish a baseline of what net new users thought of when they engaged with the existing PCH experience. Usertesting.com was used to recruit users who had not previously engaged with the classic experience.
The team wanted to establish a baseline of what net new users thought of when they engaged with the existing PCH experience. Usertesting.com was used to recruit users who had not previously engaged with the classic experience.
# of Participants
# of Participants
45
45
Demographic
Demographic
All genders, 35-65+
All genders, 35-65+
Income
Income
$20k-$80k+
$20k-$80k+
Method
Method
User interviews
User interviews
First Time User Experience
First Time User Experience
Users were tasked with going through existing onboarding flows (prize entry and sign up)
Users were tasked with going through existing onboarding flows (prize entry and sign up)
“What words would you use to best describe the PCH.com homepage?”
"Outdated"
"Outdated"
"Questionable"
"Questionable"
"Fake"
"Fake"
"Untrustworth"
"Untrustworth"
"Scam / Overwhelming spam"
"Scam / Overwhelming spam"
"Insulting"
"Insulting"
“What would be the first thing you did if you landed on this page?”
"Leave"
"Leave"
"I want to trust the site. It's hard to tell if it's the REAL PCH site."
"I want to trust the site. It's hard to tell if it's the REAL PCH site."
"I still think of Publisher's Clearing House as something my grandparents entered"
"I still think of Publisher's Clearing House as something my grandparents entered"
Market Research
Market Research
As the focus became more clear on acquiring net new users, I identified a few gaps in knowledge on existing power users that merited a larger market research effort. I expanded the demographics of the initial testing so that we could hit critical mass on feedback to be able to communicate the initiative to major stakeholders.
As the focus became more clear on acquiring net new users, I identified a few gaps in knowledge on existing power users that merited a larger market research effort. I expanded the demographics of the initial testing so that we could hit critical mass on feedback to be able to communicate the initiative to major stakeholders.
# of Participants
# of Participants
2,000+
2,000+
Demographic
Demographic
All genders, 18-65+
All genders, 18-65+
Income
Income
$20k-$120k+
$20k-$120k+
Method
Method
Survey
Survey
Summary
Summary
Net new users were presented with both the classic experience as well as a redesigned experience based on insights from the initial rounds of tests.
Net new users were presented with both the classic experience as well as a redesigned experience based on insights from the initial rounds of tests.
Key Takeaways
Key Takeaways
Users 25 to 54 reacted the most favorable to the new experience.
Users 25 to 54 reacted the most favorable to the new experience.
Users still wanted more information but were eager to explore and learn more about the company.
Users still wanted more information but were eager to explore and learn more about the company.
Users were more likely to engage with the brighter, more inviting visual language.
Users were more likely to engage with the brighter, more inviting visual language.
Favorability of the new experience was high for users.
Favorability of the new experience was high for users.
Cash, Vacations, and Cars were the top types of prizes that users wanted to see in the experience.
Cash, Vacations, and Cars were the top types of prizes that users wanted to see in the experience.
Users wanted to see more real winners.
Users wanted to see more real winners.
Recommendations based on insights
Recommendations based on insights
The barrier of entry for users was too high. Many users were intrigued by the idea of games and prizes mentioned through other touch-points leading to the PCH platform, but since they weren’t shown enough of the experience or didn’t have any further information, further mistrust and confusion led them to ultimately not want to continue.
The barrier of entry for users was too high. Many users were intrigued by the idea of games and prizes mentioned through other touch-points leading to the PCH platform, but since they weren’t shown enough of the experience or didn’t have any further information, further mistrust and confusion led them to ultimately not want to continue.
Guide users through onboarding and increase learnability across the site.
Guide users through onboarding and increase learnability across the site.
Remove gated experience to allow users to explore prizes.
Remove gated experience to allow users to explore prizes.
Update visual language to increase trustworthiness and engagement.
Update visual language to increase trustworthiness and engagement.
Update copy and messaging to improve user perception.
Update copy and messaging to improve user perception.
Create holistic narratives across touch points.
Create holistic narratives across touch points.
Designing for increased acquisition
Designing for increased acquisition
“How might we remove barriers of entry and increase trustworthiness in our experiences so that users want to explore the site and create an account?”
“How might we remove barriers of entry and increase trustworthiness in our experiences so that users want to explore the site and create an account?”
Connecting the dots
With the goals of increasing acquisition, retention, and engagement in mind, I began to lay out what the first-time user flow would be. The flow focuses on the various touch points pre and post account creation.
Key Areas of Focus
Defining logic for External triggers (email, social, paid ads) and returning users
Onboarding (Pre-Account Creation)
Post User Interest Survey Completion
Post Account Creation
Post Task Completion
Acquiring New Users
Acquiring New Users
Part of eliminating the barriers of exploring the site was also simplifying the way users were onboarded onto our experience. We wanted to incentivize account creation by rewarding users with coins once they signed up.
Part of eliminating the barriers of exploring the site was also simplifying the way users were onboarded onto our experience. We wanted to incentivize account creation by rewarding users with coins once they signed up.
User Interest Survey
User Interest Survey
Giving users the power to customize their experience
Giving users the power to customize their experience
Once users created their accounts we wanted to give users the opportunity to not only earn more coins but to also provide a way for them to tell us more about them, what prizes they were interested in entering, and what prizes they might be interested in seeing on our site in the future.
Once users created their accounts we wanted to give users the opportunity to not only earn more coins but to also provide a way for them to tell us more about them, what prizes they were interested in entering, and what prizes they might be interested in seeing on our site in the future.
Leveraging logic rules in Adobe Target
Leveraging logic rules in Adobe Target
The new PCH experience is built on Adobe’s Experience Manager which gave the team access to the Adobe Target personalization engine. Through Target, we were able to define our page layouts through sets of rules based on what users chose in the onboarding flow. Prizes and content is dynamically populated based on those initial user selections. Then, as usage increases, content is populated based on the user’s interactions.
The new PCH experience is built on Adobe’s Experience Manager which gave the team access to the Adobe Target personalization engine. Through Target, we were able to define our page layouts through sets of rules based on what users chose in the onboarding flow. Prizes and content is dynamically populated based on those initial user selections. Then, as usage increases, content is populated based on the user’s interactions.
Key Areas of Focus
Key Areas of Focus
Defining logic for new and returning users
Defining logic for new and returning users
Surfacing content based on survey selections
Surfacing content based on survey selections
Creating guidelines for components to be used by Adobe Target.
Creating guidelines for components to be used by Adobe Target.
Prioritizing what content to show depending on where users drop off in the onboarding flow
Prioritizing what content to show depending on where users drop off in the onboarding flow
Surfacing recent winners module for new users to increase trustworthiness
Surfacing recent winners module for new users to increase trustworthiness
A Personalized Homepage
A Personalized Homepage
Personalizing emails
Personalizing emails
How can we message users?
How can we message users?
As we introduce users to our new experience we also want to create moments where we can message them on new giveaways and more opportunities to earn coins. I created a strategy for emailing users through out their journey from initial contact to account creation, game play, and prize entries by leveraging rules and components already set up in Adobe Target.
As we introduce users to our new experience we also want to create moments where we can message them on new giveaways and more opportunities to earn coins. I created a strategy for emailing users through out their journey from initial contact to account creation, game play, and prize entries by leveraging rules and components already set up in Adobe Target.
Key Areas of Focus
Key Areas of Focus
Default Welcome Email for all users who entered a prize, signed up for emails but did not create an account.
Default Welcome Email for all users who entered a prize, signed up for emails but did not create an account.
Welcome Email for users who created an account but did not complete the User Interest Survey.
Welcome Email for users who created an account but did not complete the User Interest Survey.
Welcome Email for users who created an account and completed the User Interest Survey.
Welcome Email for users who created an account and completed the User Interest Survey.
Impact of new onboarding experience
Impact of new onboarding experience
Account Creation
Account Creation
40% Increase
40% Increase
Average Time on Site
Average Time on Site
5:05 Minutes
5:05 Minutes
*Previous average was about 1:30 minutes.
*Previous average was about 1:30 minutes.
Cost Per Acquisition
Cost Per Acquisition
45% Decrease
45% Decrease
*Previous CPA was $6.
Users were more engaged with the personalized experience through content on site and in emails.
Users were more engaged with the personalized experience through content on site and in emails.
User interest survey and site tracking helped with prioritization for design team, product management team, and contest team.
User interest survey and site tracking helped with prioritization for design team, product management team, and contest team.
Account creation increased in both first time site visits and return visits.
Account creation increased in both first time site visits and return visits.
User CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) dropped as a result of personalized messaging.
User CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) dropped as a result of personalized messaging.
© 2023 Aldo Sant Inés
Let’s talk.
I’m currently open for new opportunities and collaborations. Message me on LinkedIn or feel free to email me at:
aldo.santaines@gmail.com.