Building trust from the start

After downloading Dashlane, new users are asked to create a Master Password — the key to all their stored passwords and private info. It can be an anxiety-inducing task.

Context

Data told us that this necessary step was a major friction point for users and led to a lot of early churn.

Process

Teaming up with a product designer, I ran guided and unguided user testing sessions to uncover issues with the original flow. We discovered that users found the task unexpectedly hard — they knew they couldn’t use the same password they use for other sites but still didn’t want to forget it. We also noticed that the progress copy was negative as they started to type. Users would see this, thinking they were making a mistake, and then restart.

Solution

I rewrote the title, highlighting the future value of completing the task. I also rewrote the progress copy to encourage users and build their trust. We ran user tests on these improvements and iterated on the idea three times until we were happy with it.

Results

In interviews, users reported that the messaging in the new version made them feel supported and gave the app a distinct personality, which they reported as critical in their decision to continue using it.