Overview

Context

Camelo is a scheduling and workforce management app for shift-based businesses. Only 47% of new users made it to the core activation moment (publishing their first schedule) before dropping off.

I led this project as sole designer, from auditing the existing flow through shipping the redesign.

Solution Overview

I redesigned the onboarding from a rigid, scheduling-only flow into a flexible, product-wide system.

Outcomes

The redesigned flow shipped in early 2026. Activation rate climbed from 47% to 59%, a 12-point improvement.

Research & Discovery

What the data and recordings revealed

Funnel analytics

The funnel told a clear story: Create workspace (100%) → Add business info (82%) → Add team members (61%) → Publish first schedule (47%). The sharpest drop — 14 points — came right before the activation moment.

Session recordings

Users jumped between pages, misread colored text as links, and skipped past tooltips and the onboarding checklist entirely. Only 7% watched the onboarding video. Passive, always-visible guidance wasn’t working.

Customer feedback

Customer success team flagged two recurring complaints: users struggled to invite employees, and schedule publishing was confusing. A follow-up survey confirmed it — 21% of recent customers described onboarding as “confusing.”

Auditing the current flow

Flow structure

The onboarding pushed users down a rigid path that didn’t reflect how they actually worked. Steps were out of order — after adding team members, the flow immediately asked them to add employees again. The checklist focused entirely on scheduling, leaving the rest of the product without any guidance.

Friction at key moments

Users had to scroll through a long position list with no filtering. There was no way to add a position while adding a team member. Blue text was mistaken for buttons.

Competitive analysis

I analyzed direct competitors — Homebase, Deputy, When I Work, Connecteam, 7Shifts — and apps known for strong onboarding.

A few patterns stood out:

• Incentives: extra trial days or rewards tied to completion
• Flexibility: users could skip steps, start anywhere, and collapse or hide the checklist
• Focused core steps: set up business info, add team, hit the activation moment — nothing more

Process

Explorations & iterations

I worked closely with product, engineering, and customer success to explore ways to guide new users without making setup feel rigid or overwhelming.

Every exploration was guided by three principles:

I moved quickly through lightweight iterations, testing interactive prototypes with 5 users and 5 teammates. Methods included unmoderated walkthroughs, internal reviews, and post-launch analytics and session recording reviews.

Rethinking the onboarding checklist in Home

The existing checklist sat prominently on the Home page and was almost always ignored.

We explored layouts to see if it was worth keeping there. Ultimately we removed it, with plans to reintroduce it as part of a later Home customization feature.

Exploring onboarding panels across feature pages

I explored onboarding sidebars and bottom panels across key feature pages to guide users in context.

The real constraint was content — each page would need its own onboarding copy. Since the team wanted to move quickly, we prioritized a simpler general checklist first.

Early schedule setup modal

I explored a more ambitious setup modal where users could configure their schedule before ever touching the Scheduler — choosing shift fields, display preferences, and block colors. The idea was to make the schedule page feel familiar from day one.

Testing showed users were confused by concepts they hadn’t encountered yet (block colors, schedule views). We moved those settings into Scheduler advanced customizations.

Updating outdated modals and copy

The original modals used outdated fields — one fixed location, one shift time. The app had grown to support client job sites, multiple shift times, and newer workflows, so I updated the modals to reflect this without adding friction for new users.

I also rewrote the UX copy throughout. Much of it had drifted behind the product as it evolved.

Final Design

The new onboarding flow

A dedicated Get Started page

After signup, users land on a dedicated Get Started page showing all 5 steps, a progress bar, and the trial day reward for each step. Completed steps are checked off and struck through. Users who don’t want it can remove it from the sidebar entirely.

Floating checklist

The floating checklist follows users across all relevant pages, so guidance shows up in context, not just on a single dedicated page. Users can collapse or hide it whenever they don’t need it.

Enhanced setup modals

Key changes:

• Pre-select positions based on industry
• Expand Locations to support fixed and client job sites
• Allow adding multiple common shift times for smart suggestions later
• Let users add a new position on the spot while filling in team member details

The most essential tooltips to get users started

Guided tooltip tours on feature pages were shortened and reorganized to be easier to follow.

I also added contextual tooltips tied to specific actions:

• Opening the Schedule dropdown for the first time triggers a tooltip explaining how Schedules work in Camelo.
• Creating a few draft shifts triggers a tip about drag-and-drop.

Completion moments and rewards

Completing each step triggers a congratulations modal with confetti, bonus trial days, and a clear next action. Finish all 5 and users earn 14 bonus trial days total.

Impact

The results

The redesigned flow shipped in early 2026.

The full funnel shifted:

• Before: Create workspace (100%) → Add business info (82%) → Add team members (61%) → Publish first schedule (47%)
• After: Create workspace (100%) → Add business info (80%) → Add team members (77%) → Publish first schedule (59%)

Session recordings showed less backtracking and fewer signs of frustration. Customer success reported fewer onboarding-related complaints after launch.

Reflection

What I learned

What I’d explore next