Smoobu was created with a clear mission: to simplify short-term vacation rental management. By handling the complexities behind the scenes, it allows vacation rental hosts and property managers to focus on delivering exceptional guest experiences.
After being acquired by HomeToGo, Smoobu set out to enhance its product experience and improve engagement among everyday users, many of whom weren’t tech-savvy.
In this conversation, Dasha Frantz, Smoobu’s Product Designer, shares how Userpilot helped the team achieve these goals. By leveraging Userpilot’s onboarding and A/B testing features, they successfully increased channel conversions by 17% in the French market.
Get The Insights!
The fastest way to learn about Product Growth, Management & Trends.
Challenge: Improving the product and user engagement
After being acquired by HomeToGo, Smoobu found itself with two urgent goals:
- Modernize a legacy codebase and switch to a data-driven product design approach.
- Strengthen connections with everyday users who often need more guidance.
We’re trying to improve the product, but also create a stronger connection with our users, especially when our personas are less tech-savvy.
– Dasha Frantz, Product Designer at Smoobu
Solution: Finding a product growth tool to streamline adoption
Smoobu wanted an all-in-one solution for in-app guidance, interaction tracking, user feedback, product analytics, segmentation, and A/B testing.
They evaluated multiple tools in the market but quickly discovered various drawbacks with each option. Some were too expensive, while others had complex pricing structures. Some solutions lacked essential features like A/B testing and interaction tracking, while others had a clunky UI and lacked the necessary security features.
Ultimately, they picked Userpilot because it was cost-effective while offering an all-in-one solution.
We went with Userpilot because the list of features was quite wide. We also found the UI very intuitive and easy to use.
– Dasha Frantz, Product Designer at Smoobu
Here’s how Dasha and the rest of the Smoobu team used Userpilot to achieve its goals.
Onboarding flow to guide users
By combining different UI patterns, Smoobu used Userpilot to create an onboarding walkthrough to help users navigate the app and connect to one of its top five most-used channels.
The onboarding flow walked users through each step to get their channel connected smoothly. And once they were done, a celebratory slideout popped up to acknowledge their effort and make the moment feel rewarding.
This walkthrough was designed to trigger right after a user signed up (their first session). To encourage channel connections, a follow-up modal appeared during their second session as a reminder.
If users still hadn’t taken action, a persistent banner was displayed on the product UI to nudge them toward connecting a channel.
Smoobu took a data-driven approach to building walkthroughs. Whenever they spotted high drop-off points, they added extra tooltips/UI patterns to improve user understanding and encourage successful channel connections.
A/B testing to evaluate flow effectiveness
The Smoobu team then conducted an A/B test to evaluate the impact of triggering a channel connection tutorial on new users after creating an account.
Using Userpilot, they tested two variations: one group was shown the channel walkthrough immediately after sign-up, while the other group received no guidance. Both groups were part of their French market.
Improve User Engagement with Userpilot
Additional Userpilot features leveraged across different campaigns
Beyond the onboarding flow discussed, Smoobu also took advantage of additional Userpilot features to enhance other campaigns.
Localization to cater to a diverse user base
The Smoobu team was also a fan of Userpilot’s localization feature.
Their user base spans ten languages, so the localization feature enabled them to translate copy on the fly. Not only did this serve as a personalization factor, but it also helped the team seamlessly guide diverse audiences through their app.
Session replays to identify bugs and errors
To ensure a seamless product experience, Dasha and her team relied on Userpilot’s session replay feature. It allowed them to identify bugs within the user journey and address any errors that emerged during the localization process.
With Userpilot’s Session Replay, we can quickly spot issues, identify pop-up errors, and troubleshoot localization problems. It’s been incredibly useful for bug checks and improving the user experienece.
– Dasha Frantz, Product Designer at Smoobu
In the future, they also plan to use session replays to analyze user behavior and uncover opportunities for improvement.
Results: 17% Greater conversions in the French market
By comparing results from the A/B test, Smoobu saw 17% more conversions (channel connections) in the French market. In other words, users who completed the walkthrough converted 17% greater than those who weren’t shown it.
The gains extended beyond just conversion lifts. Dasha and her team could design flows quickly, and the all-in-one nature of Userpilot enabled them to play with multiple features within the same platform. They also plan to leverage Userpilot’s resource center soon to further assist their user base.
Userpilot also improved internal workflows with the design and onboarding teams working together to ensure users took desired actions.
I’d definitely recommend Userpilot. It allows us the flexibility to move fast, experiment, and really understand what users need. It’s helped us speed up processes and create a smoother user experience.
– Dasha Frantz, Product Designer at Smoobu
How can you use Userpilot to steer users toward success?
With Userpilot, you can achieve similar outcomes to Smoobu – driving user success by delivering precise guidance when it matters most. Here’s how:
- Interactive walkthroughs: Walk new users through crucial steps the moment they sign in. By combining different UI patterns (modals, tooltips, banners, etc.), you can highlight key features at a glance.
- Resource center: Give users an easy place to find help docs, FAQs, videos, or access chat support – all without leaving your app.
- Path analysis: Spot the paths that lead users to achieve success events and then refine those paths for unsuccessful users.
- Session replay: Watch how users interact with your product in real-time to analyze user friction and fix problem areas quickly.
- A/B and multivariate testing: Evaluate which flows bring in the most positive results. Choose one from the three tests offered: controlled A/B test, head-to-head A/B test, and controlled multivariate test.
👉🏻 Like what you read? Book a demo with Userpilot and see how quickly you can move users toward success!
Try Userpilot and Take Your User Experience to the Next Level
About the author
