Dive Chat Retention

Problem

Dive Chat faced low user retention, hovering around 23% Monthly Active Users (MAU). Users found the app’s navigation system confusing and difficult to use, leading to high drop-off rates. The app’s interface was cluttered, making it hard to navigate between Event Chats, Group Chats, and DMs. Additionally, the onboarding process was lengthy and frustrating, causing users to disengage before they even got to the core features.

What were the key issues?

Unorganized user flow – Users struggled with navigating between different chat types (Event Chats, Group Chats, DMs), leading to frustration.

‍Cluttered UI – The app’s interface was too complex, causing users to feel overwhelmed and less likely to engage.

‍Long and tedious onboarding process – Users dropped off during the onboarding process due to its length, which decreased the likelihood of continued use.

‍Lack of immediate value – New users weren’t able to quickly discover relevant groups or activities, which led to them abandoning the app.

Impact

These friction points resulted in:
- Low retention rates (23% Monthly Active Users)
- High drop-off rates during onboarding and after initial interactions
- Low user satisfaction, leading to reduced chances of continued engagement

After implementing the new design changes, I achieved:

Impact

60% Monthly Active Users—a massive improvement in retention, from 23% to 60% MAU.

3x faster task completion—users completed tasks approximately three times faster in the new interface.

23 out of 24 users preferred the new onboarding flow over the old one during user testing.

Solution

To address these issues, I redesigned Dive Chat’s interaction patterns, focusing on improving navigation, simplifying the onboarding process, and offering better value to users from the start.

Several of the solutions and iterations

Tile Navigation

I simplified the navigation system by consolidating Event Chats, Group Chats, and DMs into one unified screen. This was proven to be the most efficient interface in usability tests, significantly improving user engagement and reducing friction.

Simplified Onboarding Process

I integrated auto-fill features and added group discovery earlier in the process. This allowed users to quickly sign up and start interacting with the platform without spending excessive time on onboarding.

User-Centric Design Adjustments

Through A/B testing, I refined the design to make it more intuitive, resulting in higher satisfaction and task completion rates. This was crucial in ensuring users felt comfortable with the platform from the start.

Process Simplified

How we solved each problem and tied it to impact:

‍Diagnosing user friction points → I conducted user interviews, surveys, and usability tests to identify where users were dropping off. This confirmed that the primary issue was with the navigation system and the onboarding process, not with pricing or content.

‍Impact: helped us prioritize user experience improvements over business model changes.

‍Improving the navigation system → I tested three interaction patterns: Bubble Grid, iMessage-like List, and Tile Navigation. The Tile Navigation system emerged as the most efficient, leading to faster task completion and better overall satisfaction.

‍Impact: users completed tasks three times faster, with significantly higher satisfaction rates.

‍Simplifying the onboarding process → By implementing auto-fill features and restructuring the onboarding flow, I reduced the time users spent onboarding and made the process more enjoyable. This significantly lowered drop-off rates.

‍Impact: users spent 23x less time onboarding, with an increase in overall engagement.

‍Enhancing group discovery → I introduced new features like Global Communities, which allowed users to find relevant groups early in the onboarding process. This added immediate value for new users.

‍Impact: users found and joined groups faster, leading to increased usage and retention.

Do you have a more detailed case study? ( with graphs, data, etc )

Yep! In notion! Read it over here.

How can I reach you?

I prefer email!

What other projects did you do here?

For a while, I was Dive Chat's only designer for mobile and web, so I led the development of the design system, the usability guides, and so many other projects I lost track. But generally, I worked with their growth, retention, and engagement.

What would you do different with more time?

I would prioritize building diversity in the team. Most of the team was very homogenous in many respects (used the same apps, were from the same Greek lifes, etc ) and I largely ignored recruiting efforts due to my pressure leading the design process. Most of these retention issues were born of the C-Suite trying to retain users like them rather than the users that were on the platform.

Thus, going forward I will be more involved in recruiting diverse candidates no matter where I work from now on.

Dive Chat - Retention

case study