Ahead app User Funnel and Engagement

Now we'll be deconstructing the Ahead apps activation funnel. Let's dive into it.

The first screen, "Clear B," presents a proposition that's pretty good and fair. I think you'd agree it's a smart thing to do. We definitely want to get on good terms with our emotions, but getting to the real subject now, the second screen is something I actually don't remember seeing with other subscription-based apps, especially in the mental health and productivity-boosting space. This is where the Ahead app stands out.

Ahead is a productivity-boosting app, and one of its unique features is this little check mark. On the most important screens of the app, you'll come across this signature-like placeholder. You’ll have to checkmark it when you’re ready to work, specifically in the context of your personal growth.

It encourages users to give it a fair shot, and I think what it does, compared to other apps, is create a more engaging process for the user’s self-improvement journey.

In comparison to simply sliding to the next screen, Ahead’s onboarding process introduces more interaction. Rather than just progressing through the screens passively, this app actually gives me a better acknowledgment of why I am spending my time with it. This feature goes beyond what many other apps do, making the experience more engaging.

It also adds a bit of interaction to the onboarding process, which is a welcome change. I’m sure many users would agree that some apps make onboarding boring by bombarding you with questions. Ahead breaks that monotony by encouraging some level of engagement. Some apps might have just three screens, while others could go up to 15. But in Ahead's case, it keeps your attention, helping users finish the app's setup, especially when they know or expect to pay or sign up for a trial.

Ahead’s onboarding process includes a 10-screen questionnaire, with multiple-choice questions and interactive elements like sliding a wheel to answer questions. For example, one interaction asks whether you "get as hot as a jalapeno" or "stay cool as a cucumber." These playful elements bring something fresh to the experience, adding a bit of fun while keeping users engaged.

As a cucumber again, what do we see? We see here a similarity with Duolingo. That the language is, the language that just use here is a little bit ironic. There's a little bit of sense of humor, all of which are definitely necessary, especially for the apps that improve our productivity or mental state.

Right, you can't take everything too serious for too long. Even the most serious subjects, like your mental health. But however, we do get different sorts of onboarding screens, where we are incentivized to, you know, provide to think about it and to really, not just scroll through the screens once again, but to pick do you want to improve the anger? Do you want to deal with procrastination and so forth?

So one of the last screens we see that someone legitimate created this

This knowledge base, or what we're about to experience with the actual lab, and the name dropping here, you know, could not be any stronger. Now we proceed to the stuff that is interesting to us as product managers and marketing managers.

Notifications—because what they do is engage with the user outside of the application. So we have a screen explaining the value of receiving a notification, and after that, it takes us to the pay wall, which is also briefly explained.

So now, I did not start my free trial; I closed the app and then I had it for multiple days. I started to receive one notification a day. They all were different, and some of them arrived at the fixed time, so this is not ideal because we all use our apps at different times. But all of the texts were engaging. Some of them were shorter, some of them were longer.

So the app is really trying to figure out what notification is going to get me back into it. And even if none, at least I get a little more personalized engagement here.