UX Best Practices for IoT Onboarding
We ask a lot of people when we want them to both install a piece of hardware and onboard a companion app. Whether the setup is for a simple device or a complex system, they have to context switch between physical and digital, balance old and new mental models, and become a temporary expert in home networking or plumbing or automatic litter boxes. All of this when their task mindset and goal is to just use the product to solve their need.
When product teams are faced with timelines while figuring out how to create onboarding flows, the temptation is strong to over simplify the installation steps or simply digitize a legacy product manual. However, an IoT product can’t follow the existing paths for hardware or software, and risk of failure grows when we attempt to shoehorn one into the other. So how should products with both hardware and app components approach installation and onboarding?
1. Leverage different media for different parts of the journey
Should you use the app onboarding, a printed manual, or videos? The answer is yes. Start by understanding the customer journey and identify what types of problems customers are addressing at each point. Ask: which medium is best suited for conveying what they need? Does the task involve working with your hands and getting dirty? Paper is good and often better than a screen since it can get dirty and there’s no worry of accidental swipes losing one’s place in the steps. Is there an interaction difficult to convey in words? Provide animation or video so people have the right visual to match their action. Are there a complex set of possible paths or content that will change as the product evolves? Use your support website so people can easily go forward and backtrack.
2. Give people a sense of what to expect before they start
With a printed manual, or even a PDF, all steps are visible at a glance. This allows people to scan and assess relative complexity and time commitment. It helps them quickly understand needs like tools, external information, or extra sets of hands. Putting all steps only in an app takes away this ability, putting people on a singular track that doesn’t let them see what’s ahead. This is ok if the process is brief or forgiving, like unboxing or pressing a sequence of buttons on a network device. For a task that involves consequences, like turning off the electricity to your house or digging in your yard, it’s not good to serve up surprises.
3. Focus on the happy path but support forks in the road
There will typically be an onboarding path that represents the most likely scenario, and it is good to focus there first. For setups that take different routes based on different criteria (such as type of HVAC unit you have), it’s important to not only allow multiple paths but also give clear signaling. And if it’s up to the customer to choose the correct path, be sure you’re asking questions they can actually answer. For example, provide instructions on determining their HVAC model before you make them choose a path dependent on that information. This is a great use for linking to online support from within the app flow.
4. Celebrate small victories to increase confidence
Most people aren’t experts in your product field. When asking them to take on a complex installation process, identify pivotal moments during setup, ones that are important to get right or ones that mark the start of a next phase. In the app or other content, mark these moments with a small comment or graphic. You don’t have to be cute (unless that’s appropriate), but giving people a sense of accomplishment eases anxiety and fuels them onward, increasing the odds of a successful setup the first time through.
An IoT product presents onboarding challenges but also exciting opportunities to give customers a great first impression through an installation that feels easy and considered. If we’re asking customers to undertake a multi-modal experience, we should give them multi-modal support, grounded in their journeys and designed with their context(s) in mind.