Only half of a mobile app's users use it more than once. Maybe they just got what they needed, but often they leave because they’re overwhelmed, not sure what to do or think they can’t get what they came for.

Good onboarding and introduction can drastically improve this, but it’s not easy to make it work for everyone. Some users like to be guided and hand-held, while others just want to explore. How can we support both types of beginners? Can we avoid a Clippy situation, an onboarding process that detracts more than it helps?

I spent 2 years at the MIT Media Lab investigating how to make it easier for kids to get started with Scratch, a coding environment for kids. In this talk I’ll share some key points learned along the way and demonstrate how to apply them in any onboarding process.