As games become more complex, onboarding UX is a big deal for gaming companies. After all, getting new customers isn’t cheap. Once you have a new gamer’s attention, you’ll want to keep them.
Customers should be able to understand the fundamentals and play the game without becoming frustrated. But before they can do that, you’ll need to onboard them. Otherwise, they won’t be customers for very long. The onboarding experience should be straightforward and immediate, allowing them to onboard and quickly return to the game.
This article explains how gaming companies can create a safe and engaging onboarding UX design and provides you with a few bonus tips to optimize the player experience.
What Is Onboarding UX?
Onboarding user experience, referred to as onboarding UX, is the process of onboarding customers into your platform. It is collecting the information required to satisfy local and federal laws and protect your company from fraud. It also includes teaching new customers how to use the game with engaging tutorials and content. This article deals primarily with the verification part of onboarding.
Why Is Onboarding UX Critical for Video Game Players?
Having a strong onboarding UX is essential for many digital businesses. If you’re losing customers during this critical customer acquisition process, that’s money walking out of the virtual door. This is especially true for gaming companies. If players can’t immediately conquer the onboarding process, what chance do they have of juking the game? They’ll likely uninstall and move on.
7 Tips for Player Onboarding UX
You’ll want to ensure that your onboarding process is thoughtfully designed to get your audience back to the game in seconds. Here are seven essential tips that will help you safely and securely onboard and verify new players while retaining them as long-term customers.
1. Fraud prevention
Gamers need a frictionless and hassle-free process to provide their personal and credit card information. They must confirm that they are of legal age, ensuring that all applicable compliance regulations are being followed, and that the software license has been read and agreed to. That’s a lot, but the process must be easy for gamers and safe and compliant for regulatory purposes. Instnt supports instant verification, making collecting and verifying personally identifiable information easy.
2. Data collection
In addition to knowing who your gaming customers are for regulatory purposes, it’s essential for your segmentation and marketing efforts to collect the data needed. This information provides valuable insights, allowing you to precisely target customers and upsell them.
3. Identification verification
The onboarding process must verify documents, such as state or government-issued identification across all major countries. Fake identifications are easily purchased on the dark web, so the verification process should also require the user to take an easily uploaded selfie. Instnt technology, that matches photos to identification, prevents customers from using fraudulent images.
You need to know who your customers are and that they are not bad actors. Instnt provides KYC and AML verification that is fast, accurate and reliable. Facial recognition adds even more security. You’ll onboard 100% of good customers without rejecting up to 40% that you may be turning away right now.
4. Location verification
Onboarding customers may need to meet geographic jurisdiction requirements. Instnt’s geo-location verification ensures that customers can’t purchase services from prohibited or fraudulent locations.
5. Device verification
Device verification adds another layer of security, collecting device data and preventing attempted payment fraud or bot attacks. Using a one-time password, the device is authorized for the sessions and validated that it’s in the hands of its legitimate owner.
6. User behavior verification
Onboarding processes must be able to tell the difference between a human and a bot. The ability to do so upon onboarding stops fraudsters before they can do any damage. Instnt detects bots by verifying the behaviors.
7. Single sign-on
Once your players are up and running, you’ll want to be able to upsell them again more quickly. With Instnt, cross-selling is easy. Players sign up for one game and they’re effortlessly verified for anything else you offer them.
Additional Ways To Improve Player Experience
Of course, the user experience continues as new players become veterans. As promised, here are a few additional tips to ensure that your game remains a favorite.
- Build onboarding into the game design process: You want onboarding to be as intuitive as possible. That means understanding throughout the design process what gamers will need to know at each level so they’re not overwhelmed.
- Teach players to play the game: Provide a mixture of walk-through and hands-on tutorials that help players understand gameplay and the mechanics of the action.
- Require a minimal amount of information: Let players get started as soon as possible with a frictionless onboarding process.
- Keep your target audience in mind: There are plenty of people who play games but may not be willing to jump right in with little or no instructions. Show a few examples and guide them quickly through a challenge or two.
- Test the user experience: Determine where players encounter barriers or get into trouble. Anticipate their errors and provide them with the cues and information they need to keep playing.
- Provide engaging tutorials: Keep gamers in the immersive experience by providing tutorials for those who need them.
- Train them progressively: Avoid information overload. In addition to teaching the game, give players feedback and rewards early on to encourage them to continue playing.
- Keep enhancing the UX: Continuously teach users new features and showcase others they may have overlooked to keep them engaged.
Great Onboarding UX Retains Customers
If you want to attract more players and keep them engaged and loyal, onboarding is key. It is a critical piece of the user experience. Follow the tips above and they will help you put together a good onboarding experience for your customers.
If you want to grow your gaming business and ensure a safe onboarding process for your customers, check out Instnt. We have the solution you need to launch and upsell your games faster. Verify customers right away — without disrupting the user experience. Contact Instnt AcceptTM for a demo.