Marketplace Curtsy redesigns onboarding
Peer-to-peer fashion marketplace Curtsy recently completed a six-week redesign project to simplify its sign-up and onboarding process. The effort focused on reducing cognitive overload and communicating the app's value upfront to accelerate user activation and improve retention.
- The redesign project was guided by user data showing a significant drop-off rate during the initial sign-up process, indicating that the app's value proposition was not being communicated effectively to new users. - One key change was to present the benefits of using Curtsy to users *before* asking for permissions like notifications, a strategy designed to increase opt-in rates by first establishing the app's value. - The project also involved A/B testing different user flows, including the possibility of creating separate onboarding paths for users primarily interested in buying versus those focused on selling. - To better align with its Gen Z user base, the redesign updated UI elements like form fields and placeholder avatars with a cleaner, more current aesthetic, and added the Curtsy logo to build brand affinity. - The redesign successfully reduced the number of steps in the sign-up process and decreased the app drop-off rate during brand selection, leading to an overall increase in 30-day user retention. - Curtsy was founded by students from the University of Mississippi and initially launched as a dress rental app for sorority members before pivoting to a broader peer-to-peer sales marketplace. - The company targets Gen Z women (ages 15-30) and differentiates itself from competitors like Poshmark and Depop by focusing on casual sellers and the trend of rotating wardrobes rather than just cleaning out closets. - As of early 2021, Curtsy had raised a total of $14.5 million in funding and was facilitating tens of millions of dollars in transaction volume, having experienced 10x growth since 2019.
