We were losing users with every ride.
How reducing account creation to a single email address increased guest conversions by 12%.
My Role
Contributions: Problem reframing, minimum viable account data negotiation, end-to-end flow design
The problem
Expresso bikes are installed in gyms across the country. Riders hop on, complete a workout, hop off. Most of them have no idea that their ride data could be saved or that there's an entire off-bike experience waiting for them. We were losing users with every single ride. The fix turned out to be simpler than anyone expected.
Initial thoughts
Product knew account conversion was low. The working assumption was that the signup touchpoint was in the wrong place. If we get it in front of users at the right moment, conversion would follow.
So we explored entry points.
But that wasn’t the whole problem
The ride selection screen was the only current entry point, and it was easy to miss. The post-ride moment was an obvious candidate. So were a handful of others.
But as I looked at the form itself, it was asking for too much. First name, last name, email, password - at the end of a workout, with a schedule to keep, that's not a signup form. It's a reason to leave. It didn't matter where we placed it. We were optimizing the location of a problem instead of fixing it.
The real question wasn't where to ask. It was what was the minimum we could ask and still create a usable account.
What does the system actually need?
I pushed engineering on minimum viable account data: what does the system actually need to create an account and associate a session with it?
The answer was an email address. One field, kick off a temporary password via email, let the user complete their profile later from a less time-pressured context.
The placement decision.
With the form reduced to a single field, the placement conversation got a lot easier.
The post-ride moment was the obvious winner. The user had just finished something. The value proposition was immediate and concrete: here's what you just did, give us your email and we'll save it.
What shipped
A post-ride account creation flow built around a single email address. New users could convert in seconds. The form went from 1:30-2:00 minutes of input down to seconds.
The account welcome email did the selling. Users got their temporary password alongside a full rundown of what an Expresso account actually unlocked: leaderboards, progress tracking, ride history. The pitch just moved to a better moment.
Guest conversions increased 12% in the first three months.