<b>My Role -&nbsp;</b>

Product Designer, User Research and Insights, Ideations, Design



<b>Platform -</b>&nbsp;SaaS based application

Design a polished, intuitive onboarding experience for first-time users of a cold-email outreach platform. Starting from signup, guide users through a brief welcome tour, connection of their email account, contact import (or sample data), profile setup, and a one-click test email send, culminating in a success confirmation and optional feedback survey. Deliverable should include high-fidelity Figma screens for each step plus 2–3 bullet-point rationales explaining UX decisions.

First-time users must connect their email, import contacts, and send a test outreach quickly, but lengthy surveys, confusing import steps, and lack of real-time guidance introduce friction, preventing them from experiencing their first win and driving high abandonment

I started by compiling insights from published UX research, industry articles, then focused on questions like:

As a result, I identified exactly where users abandoned the setup, the main frustration points, and their ideal onboarding journey.

I recognized that first-time users naturally break onboarding into 3 must-do tasks they can check off:

Connect their email account (the essential first step, without a sending address nothing else is possible)


Import or add contacts (bringing in recipients is the bridge from setup to action)


Send a test email (the “Aha!” moment when they experience real value)


By structuring the flow around these clear, incremental chunks, mirroring proven UX patterns and the Intercom-defined activation moment, I aligned the design with users’ expectations and guided them straight to that first win.

I decided to focus on the following targets based on the key findings:

To proceed further, I had to stick to the design guidelines and brand identity of Saleshandy while crafting any experience.

Translating research insights into design opportunities that reduce friction and support faster activation.

To guide my decisions, I listed what I believed might be true about user behavior and checked each one against industry research and proven UX patterns.

Users drop off when onboarding feels long or complicated 

Clear reassurance reduces fear around email connection 

Sample data helps users experience value without friction 

Tooltips and microcopy remove confusion during setup 

Checklists motivate users by showing progress 

Users expect a simple connect &gt; import &gt; send flow

40% quit onboarding when forms feel too long (Ping Identity)


Fast time-to-value increases activation up to 2× (Appcues)


Tooltips deflected 20,000 support tickets (Chameleon)


Users form trust impressions in 2.6 seconds (NN/g)


Checklist-driven onboarding increases completion by 21% (Product Fruits)


Mental models show users expect linear, task-based setup (NN/g)

Using the validated insights, I framed opportunity areas as “How Might We” questions to guide the ideation and find focused, user-centered solutions.

HMW simplify the early steps so users don’t drop off? 

HMW reassure users when connecting their email account? 

HMW make importing contacts easier, even when users don’t have data ready? 

HMW help users experience value quickly through an instant test send? 

HMW use guidance and microcopy to reduce confusion during setup? 

HMW give users flexibility to skip non-critical steps without losing progress? 

HMW align the flow to the natural connect - import - send mental pattern?

Identifying which information was truly essential for onboarding was harder than expected

Almost every step felt important initially, which made reducing the flow challenging

I used the user’s mental model to distinguish “must-do now” from “can-do later” 

Research insights helped validate what should stay and what should move out of the critical path

This process led to a cleaner, lighter, and more focused onboarding flow

With the design directions in place, I began shaping the actual onboarding flow.


My goal was to translate each insight into simple, supportive, and intuitive screens that help first-time users move forward without friction.

Enable first-time users to connect email, import contacts, and send a test in 3 minutes—cut onboarding drop-off by 40% and double first-win activation.



Product Designer, User Research and Insights, Ideations, Design



Reducing onboarding friction to improve early activation