← Back to Guides

Table of Contents

• The Psychology of First Impressions
• The HEART Framework
• Essential Onboarding Steps
• Measuring Success

The Psychology of First Impressions

Users form lasting impressions within the first 90 seconds of using your product. This critical window determines whether they'll become engaged users or abandon your product forever.

Key psychological principles:

• Cognitive Load Theory: Minimize mental effort required
• Progress Principle: Show clear advancement toward goals
• Social Proof: Demonstrate others' success

The HEART Framework

Structure your onboarding around these five elements:

• Happiness - Create positive emotional moments
• Engagement - Drive meaningful interactions
• Adoption - Encourage feature usage
• Retention - Build lasting habits
• Task success - Enable goal completion

Essential Onboarding Steps

1. Welcome & Value Proposition

Immediately remind users why they signed up and what value they'll receive.

2. Account Setup

Collect only essential information. Use progressive profiling for additional data.

3. First Success Moment

Guide users to their "aha moment" as quickly as possible.

4. Feature Introduction

Gradually introduce advanced features based on user behavior and needs.

Measuring Success

Track these key metrics:

• Activation rate (% completing key actions)
• Time to first value
• Feature adoption rates
• Trial-to-paid conversion