Onboarding Microsoft To Do

Role

As the UX Designer, I:

• Led the end-to-end design of the onboarding experience from scratch
• Collaborated with PMs, engineers, and researchers to align on constraints and goals
• Brought motion design into the process to make the first moments with the app feel dynamic and polished
• Facilitated remote usability testing during the early days of the pandemic, adapting methods for unmoderated, distributed participants

Impact Snapshot

• Enabled ~66% of new users in testing to reach the “aha” moment before sign-up, maintaining conversion while unlocking new trust and engagement benefits over the existing account-first flow
• Cut time-to-value to under 2 minutes and ~5 purposeful clicks, faster and more engaging than competitor flows
• Pinpointed why the remaining 34% dropped off and produced a validated concept for exploration-before-sign-up onboarding. Though not shipped due to pandemic reorgs, the findings informed later onboarding experiments within To Do

Overview

[Placeholder: Insert overview summary here]

Context

By 2020, To Do was seeing:

• 60% sign-up rate post-download, far below the 80–90% common in competitor apps
• A growing list of user complaints about being forced to create a Microsoft account to even try the app

We had no onboarding at all — just a sign-in screen. The absence of any preview was hurting adoption and trust.

Challenge

Business problem: The onboarding funnel was “skinny,” with too few users making it past the first screen.

User problem: Productivity tools are personal, and users were not willing to commit without knowing if To Do fit into their workflow.

“Maybe I can use the app without having an account.” — User feedback

Research

I ran a competitive scan of onboarding flows from leading productivity apps. Two consistent friction points emerged:

• Mandatory sign-up before showing value
• Extra step of creating a Microsoft/Hotmail account for new users

We also identified that “My Day” was To Do’s most unique and sticky feature — a daily reset list to plan your day — making it a strong candidate for onboarding focus.

Design

[Placeholder: Insert design solution details here]

Motion

[Placeholder: Insert motion design details here]

Testing

• Copy clarity issues — icons and text misunderstood
• Optional step confusion — skip behavior led to missed required interactions
• Testing artifacts — distractions in unmoderated sessions
• Minor UI friction — unclear tap targets and pacing

Decisions

[Placeholder: Insert key decisions here]

Influence

[Placeholder: Insert influence and cross-team impact here]

Future

[Placeholder: Insert future considerations here]

Reflection

[Placeholder: Insert reflection here]