TriDot – Cutting Friction, Driving Growth.
Led a product design overhaul that removed friction, increased user trust, and accelerated time to value.
The Challenge: Increase Conversion by Delivering Value Sooner
TriDot’s original onboarding created user drop-off at nearly every stage — over 20 steps stood between new users and their first workout. I led a cross-functional initiative to reimagine onboarding from the ground up, reducing it to just 5 essential steps. By combining product analytics, user testing, and a re-architected flow, we increased conversion by 275% and dramatically shortened time-to-value for new athletes.
Using funnel analysis, I discovered something surprising: although ~90% of users completed onboarding, only ~4% actually converted. Users didn’t understand what the app did or why they should trust it.
Before the Fix: A Long, Confusing Path to the Home Screen
The original experience lacked basic UX standards like a progress bar or clear explanations. Most critically, it never answered the user’s silent question: “Why am I being asked all this?” Yet, the fact that users powered through such a burdensome flow signaled one thing they believed in the product’s potential.
Designing a Streamlined, Trust-Building Onboarding Flow
We started by collapsing the process into five clear steps:
1
Enter personal information
2
Enter physical attributes
3
Calculate Swim Dot score
4
Calculate Bike Dot score
5
Calculate Run Dot score
We frontloaded onboarding with brief educational screens, introducing key concepts and reassuring new users that they could onboard at their own pace. This gave beginners breathing room while reducing anxiety and confusion.
Introducing the Dot Score Assistant: Onboarding Without the Overwhelm
To further reduce friction, I designed the Dot Score Assistant. A chatbot-style guide that helped users estimate their fitness metrics through simple choices, not calculations. This allowed beginners to stay in flow without the stress of missing data or uncertainty.
Instead of requiring users to think and calculate, the Assistant prompted intuitive decisions, keeping users moving forward without hesitation.
Faster onboarding time
Fewer drop-offs from beginners
Increased accuracy of data inputs
Boosted user confidence and trust
More Than a Redesign: A New Way of Working
We removed gating. Now, users could land in the app, explore their dashboard, and onboard at their own pace with guidance and progress feedback to give them a sense of accomplishment.
Basic profile info
Onboarding dashboard
Physical attributes
In-app education
Results: From Friction to Flow
This initiative became the blueprint for future launches, turning design into a strategic partner and restoring a sense of shared ownership in product quality. This was more than a facelift, it was a foundation for the future. The best part: I got to grow and grow with an amazing team.
275% increase in user conversion
Reduced onboarding from 23 steps to 5
Increased clarity, trust, and data accuracy
Created scalable onboarding for both beginners and advanced athletes
Established a high-functioning agile product design process
My Role
I led the product design overhaul for TriDot’s onboarding and early user experience, helping turn a complex, high-friction journey into a clearer, more confidence-building path to value. My role centered on reducing friction, improving trust, and aligning the experience more tightly to activation and conversion goals.
What I Did
- Reframed onboarding around user clarity, confidence, and speed to value rather than data collection alone
- Simplified the flow to reduce unnecessary complexity and make the first experience feel more approachable
- Introduced guided education and support moments to help users understand what the product was doing and why it mattered
- Designed assistive UX patterns that reduced hesitation and helped users move forward with less confusion
- Improved the connection between onboarding inputs, user goals, and what users saw after setup
- Partnered with product and engineering to prioritize the highest-impact experience changes first
- Helped position UX as a measurable growth lever tied to activation, trust, and conversion