Twirlmate
Reducing friction in a multi-step flow
Overview
Multi-step registration flows often fail when they assume users will complete steps in a "logical" order. In this case, a contest registration platform required account setup before registration. But users arrived with one goal: register for a specific event. This mismatch between system design and user intent caused confusion, abandonment, and required manual intervention to complete registrations.
I redesigned the mobile registration experience, transforming a disjointed onboarding flow into a seamless customer journey; achieving a usability score of 89 (well above the industry average of 67) and reducing average time between sign up and checkout from 8 to 3 minutes.
Where: Twirlmate / 2025
My Role: As the sole designer and developer on the project, I leveraged my visual creativity and coding skills to solve a critical user experience bottleneck while ensuring technical feasibility.
Assumptions ≠ Reality
The platform assumed users would create accounts first, then register for events later. So when users arrived with immediate intent to register for a specific contest, there was a 4-click gap between the end of the onboarding flow and the desired registration page.
Real users, real revenue loss
As the only person managing customer support, I saw the problem firsthand:
Customers: frustrated with the system architecture
Directors: concerned about fewer attendees and lost revenue
My business: increased customer support and manual registration effort
Best UX over quick wins
I explored 3 solutions to the problem and weighed the tradeoffs between them:
Option 1: Post-Setup Redirection - After account creation, redirect users to find their contest again on the event list page.
Pros: Lowest technical and design lift
Cons: Didn't fully close the gap between account setup and registration page (3-click gap remained)
Option 2: Context Preservation - Use backend functionality to remember which contest users were registering for and redirect them after account setup.
Pros: Medium technical lift, no UI changes needed
Cons: Still a disruptive experience (took users away from their primary goal)
Option 3: Contextual Account Creation - Embed account setup directly within the registration process.
Pros: Kept the user in the context of the contest and maximized flexibility for both new and returning users
Cons: Largest technical and design lift (major feature overhaul)
I ultimately went with option 3 because it provided the best user experience: attendees could remain focused on pursuing their primary goal (contest registration) while satisfying system requirements (account setup) all in one continuous flow.
5 minutes faster, 36% more usable
Usability testing with 5 target users showed:
Task completion time dropped from 8 minutes to 3 minutes (62.5% reduction).
Usability scores jumped from "marginally acceptable" (SUS: 67) to "excellent" (SUS: 89).
Users completed the flow without confusion or manual intervention.
