Cliqz products are all about search and privacy

Cliqz is a web browser that gives users relevant search results without leaking their private data.

As part of a series of design efforts to increase retention, I redesigned the user onboarding. The focus of the onboarding was to reflect the marketing message and teach the users about the product's main features: privacy protection and integrated search.

ASKING THE USER TO TAKE ACTION

The greatest benefit of switching to Cliqz is the opportunity to regain control over one's private data, but many users didn't get it. There was a gap between what was advertised and the users' first impression after opening the application. Urging the users to "Turn on privacy" on the very first screen makes them aware of this core value.

SHOWING A PREVIEW OF THE BENEFITS

The Cliqz Control Center is the place where one can tweak privacy settings and keep an eye on third parties trying to take a peek at their personal data. Showing a demo of Anti-tracking and Ad-blocking lets the users preview the benefits of turning these features on before they even start browsing - which is exactly what they should do to stay private.

THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS

It's all about good timing, so during onboarding the key elements of the interface appear one by one in a meaningful order. Carefully timed animations bring the users' attention to what's important and help them understand the way forward.

KEEPING IT SHORT

Product onboarding is a critical step for user retention. Research shows that during the first usage of a product we can count on the viewers to form their opinion in under 30 seconds, so I made sure that the most important things were communicated early and clearly.

Something with high visibility needs mindful design

Cliqz Tab is the home page of the Cliqz Browser and Cliqz Firefox extension.

Because of the high visibility and strategic value of this space, this project was one that required an extra amount of mindfulness. In addition to being a very important touchpoint in the user experience, designing a start page comes with the challenge of having to incorporate in my solutions the requirements from a diverse group of stakeholders, including upper management and the marketing and content development teams.

The design development approach consisted of a series of small steps, paired with a lot of usability testing and frequent use of telemetry data to inform decision making.
The first release already resulted in a significantly higher engagement and increased the visibility of the product's core functionality: search. With later updates, the focus moved from the integration of basic functionalities to a series of incremental improvements to the user experience. The last version I worked on, finally brought a consistent look and feel to the browser and made search shortcuts easier to reach.

Bridging the concept from the desktop version to the iOS and Android app was another interesting challenge that I worked on by prototyping a few ways to adapt content and interaction to the mobile context.

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LEARNINGS

• When I joined Cliqz, it was still much of a technology-driven company. This surely improved my ability to collaborate with differently minded, sometimes challenging stakeholders.

• Shaping a third-parties reliant product available for Mac, Windows, iOS and Android creates a lot of restrictions for design and development. One of my learnings from my time at Cliqz relates to designing for consistency across platforms.