Case Study: Rebuilding Onboarding for HealthStart — From 45% Drop-off to 11%

Design · 6 min read

HealthStart, a teletherapy marketplace, faced a steep drop-off during onboarding: 45% of new signups abandoned before completing profile setup required to match with therapists. User interviews revealed people felt overwhelmed by questions about insurance, therapy goals, and availability all at once. The team hypothesized that progressive disclosure and soft defaults could reduce perceived effort.

The redesign split onboarding into three short, staged moments tied to success milestones: basic identity, therapy goals, and payment/setup. Each stage offered an optional skip with a ‘complete later’ microcopy and contextual help icons that revealed example answers. Designers built a lightweight in-app progress tracker and introduced segmented welcome emails for users who left mid-flow.

A 10-week pilot using Amplitude funnels showed completion rates rose from 55% to 89% and day-7 retention improved by 22%. Qualitative follow-ups indicated users appreciated knowing they could complete profile items later without losing momentum. The team documented the staged onboarding pattern as a reusable component for other products in their suite, with guidance on when to use soft defaults and when to require information for legal or safety reasons.