People don’t ever specifically want to sign in or create an account – they just want the features that being signed in allows. Somewhere between upselling and onboarding, they will run into the wall around your beautiful garden, and be forced to sign in if they want to get inside. I’ll review the ways you can make sure your gated garden isn’t covered in barbed wire. Although this talk is focused on authentication experiences, the ideas apply to many other kinds of features. I use authentication, and in particular my experience with it at SoundCloud, as a case study.

2. Beautiful
authentication
Tear down the barbed wire

3. Hi, I’m Tiffany
@theophani

4. Beautiful
authentication
Tear down the barbed wire

5. flickr.com/photos/fallstreak_holes/14394586240

6. flickr.com/photos/jonwiley/1465722671

7. Tear down
the barbed wire

8. Engagement
Engagement
Engagement

9. User value

10. The act of signing in
has no inherent
value

11. Some user
experiences are
best when they are
never “experienced”

12. Authenticated
experiences
have a high value

13. Signing in is a pain

14. Your product on the
other side is the
prize

15. Aim:
Pain < Prize

16. A lot of pain
= Barbed wire

17. The case study:
our old auth flow

18. How did we know
our authentication
was painful?

19. 1. Analyzing support
tickets

20. 2. Detailed
monitoring of
authentication
endpoints

21. 3. Usability tests

22. 4. Tracking the
conversion funnel

23. What was the nature
of the pain we
found?

24. Traps:
A punishment for entering an
expected situation that is not
ideal

25. Example Trap:
Forgetting your
password

26. Forgetting your
password is normal

27. Avoid traps:
Expect common
non-ideal situations

28. Doubled-edged
sword:
A feature that is meant to protect
you, but can also hinder you

29. Example doubled-edged sword:
Confirmation
modals

30. Example doubled-edged sword:
Passwords

35. Passwordless sign-
in is as secure as
password reset

36. Avoid doubled-edged sword:
Keep the protection,
remove the
hinderance

37. Russian roulette:
Forcing someone to make a choice
that might be wrong … or not

38. Example of Russian roulette:
Making people
choose whether
they want to sign in
or create an account

39. We prompt the user
to identify
themselves first

42. Example Russian roulette:
Making people pick
a unique display
name during
account creation

43. Avoid Russian roulette:
Remove risky
decisions

44. Friendly fire:
When your systems cause errors
for the user that are no fault of
their own

45. Example of friendly fire:
Wrong assumptions
about names

46. Example of friendly fire:
Wrong assumptions
about email
addresses

47. Avoid friendly fire:
Look at error logs
and fix bugs

48. Crossed wires:
When users misunderstand what
they are doing

49. Example of crossed wires:
People started to
create an account,
but ended up
signing in

50. Confusing language:
sign in / sign up

51. We changed to:
sign in / create
account

52. Avoid crossed wires:
Make choices
distinct

53. What do you
measure to see if
you reduced the
pain?

54. What do you
measure to see the
pain?

55. Task-completion
rate

56. Drop-off points

57. Time to complete

58. Usability tests

59. Volume of
support tickets

61. Thank you!
Tiffany Conroy – @theophani