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How United Onboards New Users (design)

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Re: How United Onboards New Users (design)

#41

Post by spangry »

uiri wrote: post #15

Curious why the user didn't click back instead of on the home button around slide 70-75. It would have saved them about 50 slides or so and 10-15 minutes of real time. They clearly saw the back button later around slide 120. The micro-pessimization of looking at the account creation flow before attempting to book a flight also seemed somewhat unnecessary. While it is not an excuse for the poor design, I am not sure w…

I actually thought those buttons would result in additional results, rather than narrowing down his/her later choices. Either that or they'd do nothing, since that's what the other button of that type that they encountered seemed to do...

Admittedly I don't fly that much, maybe once a year. But I still don't quite get some of these 'frequent flyer point' schemes. Do you get them as a reward for flying? Or, as in this case, are they always 'disney money' that buy flights?

Re: How United Onboards New Users (design)

#42

Post by spangry »

FireBeyond wrote: post #19
uiri wrote: post #15

Curious why the user didn't click back instead of on the home button around slide 70-75. It would have saved them about 50 slides or so and 10-15 minutes of real time. They clearly saw the back button later around slide 120. The micro-pessimization of looking at the account creation flow before attempting to book a flight also seemed somewhat unnecessary. While it is not an excuse for the poor design, I am not sure w…

Right, along with complaining that 'Show Nearby Airports' doesn't work when you've forbidden location services.

That's probably something a software developer / tech inclined person would know. Then again, they might assume the app is clever enough to roughly geo-locate you via IP address, and it would kinda make sense as even just knowing the town or state someone is in significantly narrows down the likely list of airports.

But even that uncertainty aside, tech folk are not the primary target audience for this app. The general flying public are. I'm not sure all of this would be immediately obvious to them. And hitting yes to a dialog that sounds as if it's asking for permission to track your every movement sounds kinda scary to me...

Re: How United Onboards New Users (design)

#43

Post by antisthenes »

This is exactly why whenever I have to deal with something more complicated than Skype credits, I use a desktop.

Typing a lot of information in on a smartphone in your shitty app = waste of my time and I'm not taking that risk again after dozens of tries over the years.

Re: How United Onboards New Users (design)

#44

Post by samuelhulick »

godot wrote: post #24
strictnein wrote: post #22

I gave up ~35 slides in. The app wants to notify you to give you updates on flights. It's a handy feature. I've received Delta notifications 5-10 minutes before it's announced at the gates. The "Favorite" prefilled locations are United's two major hubs. A significant amount of their travelers start out or end up at those two locations, so it is saving a lot of users time. The location and notification messages they c…

I think the issue isn't that it's asking for notif permission at all, it's that it's asking at the wrong time. Most mobile app developers and designers should know that you wait till the moment before it's needed before asking the user, which for this case would probably be after you book a flight successfully. This is for the good of both the customer and the company. The customer actually knows what it's being used…

I am 100% in agreement with you.

(I'm the person who made the slideshow)

:)

Re: How United Onboards New Users (design)

#45

Post by weberc2 »

tyingq wrote: post #34
chrismealy wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should ask for a refund.

Not quite understanding this. The United app is also free. And at least it has buttons that are large enough to touch with my finger without encroaching into some other div causing an unexpected zoom.

I laughed and then tried to invite you on HN mobile... Joke's on us I guess.

Re: How United Onboards New Users (design)

#46

Post by paulddraper »

m-j-fox wrote: post #27

I've seen worse. The CVS Android app. In order to enter my birthday (why do you need my birthday CVS? You won't let me order alcohol in your app anyway. For those who don't know, CVS is a popular chain of liquor stores where you can also get prescriptions filled. Like a small, neighborhood Costco.) I had to click a little back arrow month by month 40 years to get to when I was born. Twice.

If only you were born yesterday.

Re: How United Onboards New Users (design)

#47

Post by tyingq »

whatnotests wrote: post #18

OK the UA iOS app definitely has problems. I wonder how it stacks up against other airlines' apps? How do the airlines' apps stack up against 3rd-party apps like Kayak?

They all suck. It's a hard space to get right, especially to get right across 4 different UIs (desktop, mobile web, Android, iOS). And, pieces of the functionality across even more UIs, like the airport kiosks.

It's basically a thousand tiny cuts. For example, if the user selects an outbound flight, then changes the return date to one day earlier...it may have invalidated the pricing on the outbound flight.

Similar if they pick flights and then input a birthdate past a certain range. They are now an "unaccompanied minor". Prices are different, and they can't be on any connecting flights...nonstop or direct only.

Just two examples, as mentioned, there's a lot of this sort of complex business process.

And, most invested in their backend services during the "desktop mostly era". So a fair amount don't have reasonable services layers...the business rules are locked up in some layer that isn't easily exposed to all 4 UIs. Most are just now coming out of that barrier, piece by piece. Legacy is a bitch.

Re: How United Onboards New Users (design)

#48

Post by tyingq »

samuelhulick wrote: post #44
godot wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the issue isn't that it's asking for notif permission at all, it's that it's asking at the wrong time. Most mobile app developers and designers should know that you wait till the moment before it's needed before asking the user, which for this case would probably be after you book a flight successfully. This is for the good of both the customer and the company. The customer actually knows what it's being used…

I am 100% in agreement with you. (I'm the person who made the slideshow) :)

Is it your website as well? If so, the mobile experience needs a few tweaks. Especially when viewed in portrait orientation.

The arrows to go back and forth are tiny, and very close to the slide window. Which, when your finger overlaps onto, jumps around and zooms. I thought maybe swiping would work, but it does not.

The top menu links are pretty tiny as well.

I thought it worth mentioning because the amount of work to fix it seems pretty low.

Re: How United Onboards New Users (design)

#49

Post by afloatboat »

FireBeyond wrote: post #19
uiri wrote: post #15

Curious why the user didn't click back instead of on the home button around slide 70-75. It would have saved them about 50 slides or so and 10-15 minutes of real time. They clearly saw the back button later around slide 120. The micro-pessimization of looking at the account creation flow before attempting to book a flight also seemed somewhat unnecessary. While it is not an excuse for the poor design, I am not sure w…

Right, along with complaining that 'Show Nearby Airports' doesn't work when you've forbidden location services.

The point is that he didn't have an incentive to approve such wide permissions at that point. They should have waited to ask permissions until that screen, or given more information as to why you should approve their request.

On iOS it's also pretty cumbersome to allow these things after disallowing them. You have to go into settings, find the privacy tab, go to the correct requirement and then find the app to toggle it on.

I agree it's not clear from this article alone, but I've read his previous publications and it comes up a lot.

Re: How United Onboards New Users (design)

#50

Post by asclepi »

I'm a frequent flyer with status on United Airlines.

This "onboarding" demonstration is an eye-opener for me. While I didn't experience any of the issues that this slideshow demonstrated, I now realize that my experience and knowledge with flying United helped a ton to start working with this app. On a related note, I also did not share the same general resentment for what United did on the recent flight to Louisville. Not because of lack of empathy, but again because of experience both good and bad, and also because if I were to be the doctor, I would know my options for getting to my destination in time. After a while, you start forgetting that other people do not share that level of experience and knowledge, and to make this relevant for Hacker News: this is an issue that affects me as a developer too.

That being said and in United's defense, this app has incredibly powerful functionality that's not mentioned at all here. This app allows you to scan your passport and get it "pre-approved" for boarding an international flight, something that can save you A LOT of time at the airport. Furthermore, in case you are affected by "IRROPS" (delays and cancellation) the app can offer you alternatives and rebook you immediately. And there's a lot of other helpful stuff this app can do. Granted, it is still limited in what it can do, and sometimes it can't help you out, but it is a huge timesaver if it does. In short, the United iOS app can be an incredibly powerful travel companion, but it still requires a user that is more educated about air travel than the average Joe.

So as a developer, I do agree that the onboarding experience for inexperienced users should improve and I will look at the onboarding process in the applications that I write. But at the same time, as a frequent flyer, I hope any changes do not constitute merely "dumbing things down" at the expense of the powerful functionality where this app really shines today.

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