What is the best practice to collect user interests after onboarding?

Question

Im developing new social application mobile-first approach. My Signup \ Login is very short process (only user & email & password) and only if the user doesn't choose to use the provided social login options.

First of all, is there any professional term for deferred \ late account creation \ collecting information about the user? I mean the flow right after the user lands for the first time in the application.

So, back to the original question, what can be the best practice to collect user interests from closed set of question that can help later for better user experience? is there any limitation? any recommendation?
just for example I want to know if he is into TV-Series, if so, can he pick some from trending list? and then continue with more question? regarding other interests (of course related to the application).

Answer 1

Make it in a relaxed way for the user. After the onboarding you could Prompt him to "Make the app your! Choose what you like" but also let him skip so he could snoop around the app but also have him know that there are still steps needed to get the full experience ...

Use fun interactive questions with little friction. Like if you have a Yes / No question have the app slide to the next question when the user selects one of the two options not having him click an extra button with submit or such.

Answer 2

I would consider using a Progress Spectrum

They are still a slightly new concept in UX, but I see many places they could be useful. I have a wireframed version I threw together below on a past project. It is good for non-linear completion of things like profiles. This will encourage them to move through the additional (non-required) steps to provide you with the extra information.

If memory serves LinkedIn was where I saw it used first.

As for the actual collection for things like "Favorite TV Series" that is a value-added service and you shouldn't pester users about that before they have understood/bought into the value of your platform. (Asking upfront increases the Interaction Cost unnecessarily.)

So what you should do is wait until the users interacts with the area that the added information would enrich, then request it.

Finally, I am not aware of any specific term for post registration details collection. (Although maybe I just coined it? Also does it really matter?)

Answer 3

There isn't a set rule when it comes to profiling; you could trial and error to learn what works for your particular users. Depending on the demographic, people can be either very reluctant to part with their information, or want to label themselves as much as they can... and there's the people in between that.

As for the way to ask for information, there's again multiple ways to do it. I'm personally a big fan of this approach, and this one. They essentically turn it into a 'let's get to know each other' thing, where they tell you what's in it for you to go through this (more personalised content) and why that's a good thing (relevancy). If you make it easy to do with as little clicking and typing as possible, then you lower the effort bar significantly.

Answer 4

The best way I could think of is let the user play around and explore the application after the onboarding. The user needs to know what they can do and how they can use the application along with the value they can get through the application. Personalization should be like storytelling, it shouldn't feel like you are asking participants to fill out a form or select predefined option (in your case collecting interest). The user should the personalization is adding value. Asking users for their interest may be done over time... I would say a bit of storytelling and gamification