Onboarding with multi-intent queries: Headspace's A/B test

The bottom line

Letting users pick several reasons for using Headspace during onboarding, instead of one, raised free trial conversion by 10%. It shows that capturing varied needs lets the app tailor its offerings and turn more free users into paid ones.

Key takeaways

• Headspace changed onboarding from a single reason to multiple reasons for using the app. Users often have more than one need.
  • Example reasons: anxiety relief and mindfulness.
• The multi-intent approach was meant to tailor the app's offerings to each user. Better tailoring was expected to raise conversion from free to paid.
• The test produced a 10% increase in free trial conversion. That result supports the multi-intent design.

The test

Headspace let onboarding users select more than one reason for using the app, aiming to better fit their varied needs.

• The onboarding flow moved from one choice to several.
  • Users could pick reasons such as anxiety relief and mindfulness together.
  • The app category is onboarding, and the app is Headspace.
• The goal was to raise conversion from free to paid users.
  • Tailoring the app's offerings to users' varied needs was the route to that goal.

The result

The multi-intent onboarding lifted free trial conversion by 10%.

• Free trial conversion rose 10%.
  • The gain came from the multi-intent redesign of onboarding.