What does Gordon Ramsey shouting at someone over burned food have to do with user onboarding? The connection is as interesting as the question. A great dining experience is subtle and extends far beyond the food itself: it is an onboarding experience.
In this article, we look at the magic of restaurant customer onboarding and consider how to apply it to experience design.
2. Pay Attention to Transitions
What happened after we tried two different restaurants? The experiences could not have been more different.
The first restaurant responded brilliantly. We were welcomed and shown to a table we liked. The staff could answer common questions: “The restroom is over there. This is our special. This option is gluten-free, and this one is vegetarian. Our steak is tender, but you can order it more well done.” We could relax and feel confident about the environment and the experience. We felt well cared for.
The second restaurant was less pleasant but equally memorable. We were told to sit at a table without anyone showing us there. Their English was worse than our French, and it was impossible to explain “lactose intolerance” with hand gestures across the table.
Which restaurant do you think persuaded us to stay?
In experience design, few parts of a digital product receive service as poor as that second restaurant, yet some still require just as much attention.
What happens after users walk through the “front door” of a digital product? They may land on a thank-you page, a web application's back office, or a verification screen.
Designers often overlook these pages. When clicking freely through a website or product interface they created, they may not evaluate them. Instead, these pages are often buried in application logic and difficult to reach without signing in or moving deep into the product.
Yet the transitions between states—front end and back end, marketing and product—are often weak points in the user experience. This is where your best work is needed.
RedPen.io handles this very well. A design colleague sent me the link last week. Thanks, Alex!
As soon as I opened the page, I could drag in an image, upload it, and add notes. There was no “Sign Up” page.
Only after I added several notes did a modal appear: “Great point! I'm sure you'll want to know if anyone replies. Leave your email address and we'll keep you updated.”
It praised my notes and framed the request for an email address as a benefit to me, not as the burden of registration.
When it comes to restaurant experiences, the United States outperforms Paris.
Everyone enjoys succeeding at something on the first attempt, especially something they have rarely tried before: “He's a genius.”
At the best restaurants we visited in Paris, water was waiting on the table when we arrived at most. Better restaurants offered a selection of bread and small bites—an appetizer, something I wish more American restaurants would consider. But I have only experienced water and bread arriving immediately after sitting down in the United States.
While customers study the menu and decide what to order, restaurants should give them something to eat as soon as possible.
I came to the restaurant for a meal and an hour of enjoyment. The sooner I eat, the sooner I begin achieving that goal.
A common mistake among digital-product UX designers is delaying the “moment of enjoyment.” I may not have gone out that evening specifically for bread and water, but they gave me a tangible experience of the actual product: food.
Like restaurants that serve bread immediately, HelloFax cleverly helps people commit to its service. After registration, users receive a series of tasks, each rewarding them with five fax credits. Registration requires only an email address, and even setting a password earns task credits. Earning those credits creates a shared experience between the user and the tool.
Takeaway: Let users experience the benefit as quickly as possible. It makes them feel successful—“You really know how to pick a restaurant”—and encourages them to stay.
4. Hide the Ending
“Hiding the ending” reminds me of an East Coast trip six years ago when I moved to the United States.
We cautiously stopped at an isolated McDonald's to buy some chicken nuggets. When I tried to pay for a drink refill, they overturned my understanding of the world.
“Free? Refills are free across the country?” You can imagine the server's expression.
I thought carefully: if every drink is “bottomless,” why would anyone buy a large? It struck me as a brilliant way to hide the ending.
Restaurants worldwide try to refill your drink before it is empty. In the United States, the goal is to keep adults from making noise through a straw. Make sure people never feel that the experience—or your hospitality—has ended.
Experience-design mistakes in this area are all about barriers. Eventually you try to upload too many files, create too many projects, or listen to too many songs. A message appears: “You can't do that unless you pay.”
This digital bouncer turns you away at the door for failing the dress code. Naturally, that drives customers away.
What if the message said: “This is an advanced feature for our most professional users—people like you. Go ahead and try it. If you like it, we can upgrade you to a premium account with unrestricted access.”
Both messages communicate the same thing. One of them, however, treats the user dismissively.
Basecamp is a strong example of hiding the ending. It does not display messages such as “Sorry, you can't do that.” Unlike many SaaS products, it does not wait until you have used too much and then require an upgrade before you can continue. Instead, upgrading unlocks new features that were not previously available.
Takeaway: Do not keep telling users “no.” Do not let them crash into the ceiling of the service and then force them to use the product timidly. Reward their usage instead, and congratulate them when they upgrade so that the step feels positive.
Although this article discusses excellent restaurant experiences, it has deliberately avoided the complete dining experience and the food itself.
The quality of the food was not what impressed us most. The customer onboarding experience was.
Designers: What kind of restaurant are you building?
