Case study · Product Design

Improving Product Adoption at BlueOptima’s Predictive Assessment Platform

Designing a guided onboarding and tooltip-based product tour to help recruiters and hiring managers create job roles with confidence.

A live onboarding experience focused on reducing early setup friction and supporting long-term adoption by guiding users step by step through job role creation.

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Note on outcomes

This onboarding flow was shipped and used in production. Due to changes in access over time, detailed post-launch metrics are not included. This case study focuses on problem framing, design decisions and the shipped solution.

Project snapshot

At a glance

Role

Product Designer

Company / Product

BlueOptima · Predictive Assessment Platform

Status

Shipped · Live in production

Problem space

Product adoption & long-term retention

Users

Technical Recruiters · Hiring Managers

Responsibilities

Discovery, UX flows, wireframing, prototyping, stakeholder alignment

Deliverables

Onboarding flow · Tooltip tour · Wireframes · Final UI · Prototype

Tools

Figma · FigJam/Miro · Product collaboration

Success definition

Activation step

Job role created

First meaningful setup completed

Reduced uncertainty

Clear guidance

Progress + contextual help

In-product learning

Tooltip tour

Explains UI in context

Support signal

Less friction

Fewer “what next?” moments

Context

The problem

While BlueOptima’s Predictive Assessment offered powerful insights, long-term adoption depended on users successfully setting up and maintaining job roles—a critical step early in the experience.

For technical recruiters and hiring managers, job role creation required making decisions with limited guidance and confidence that the setup was correct before inviting candidates.

High cognitive load during first-time setup.
Limited contextual guidance when defining job roles.
Unclear next steps after entering the platform.
Different needs between new vs returning users.

Context: first experience impacts long-term retention — Context slide (from internal presentation): the first experience can shape long-term retention.

Goals

What we aimed to improve

Product goals

Improve early product adoption by reducing setup friction.
Help users successfully create their first job role.
Increase confidence in product value early on.
Support long-term retention through a stronger first experience.

Design goals

Provide guidance without overwhelming users.
Adapt to different user states (new vs returning).
Teach the interface in context.
Maintain user autonomy (skip/exit).

Hypothesis

Expected outcome

Signal

Step-by-step guidance improves completion of job role setup.

More users finish the critical setup step.

Completion of job role creation

Tooltip tours reduce uncertainty and speed up learning.

Users understand the dashboard faster.

Fewer “what is this?” moments

Adaptive onboarding respects experienced users.

Less disruption for returning users.

Lower skip frustration

Solution

Guided onboarding + tooltip-based product tour

The solution combined a guided onboarding flow (task completion) with an in-product tooltip tour (interface learning). Together, they supported different user states and guided users toward the activation moment: creating a job role.

Dashboard onboarding flow diagram — Onboarding flow: multiple entry points, optional guidance, and a path that leads to job role creation.

Dashboard product tour flow diagram — Tooltip-based product tour: contextual learning for key dashboard elements.

Welcome screen prompting users to take onboarding — Entry: welcome screen to start onboarding (optional).

Watchers step in job role creation — Guided step: structured job role setup with contextual help.

Completion screen confirming job role creation — Success: confirmation + clear next step (invite candidates).

Optional add-ons (if you want)

If you have wireframes, prototypes and feedback analysis boards, you can add them here as full-width figures to strengthen the process narrative.

Design decisions

Key choices and trade-offs

System vs one-off tutorial

Onboarding was designed as an adaptive system to support different entry points and user states, rather than a single linear walkthrough.

Tooltips over modal walkthroughs

Tooltips kept users in context and minimized disruption while teaching key UI areas during real usage.

Progressive disclosure

Complex decisions were broken into smaller steps to reduce cognitive load and build confidence gradually.

Autonomy (skip/exit)

Users could skip or exit onboarding to avoid frustrating returning users or interrupting workflows.

Feedback

Testing and analysis

I ran two feedback/analysis sessions to validate clarity, comprehension and the perceived helpfulness of guidance. Key themes informed refinements to copy, sequencing and tooltip density.

Feedback analysis session 1 — Session 1: themes, pain points and suggested improvements.

Feedback analysis session 2 — Session 2: validation of improvements and remaining opportunities.

Learnings

Adoption is a product problem, not just usability.
Contextual guidance works best when optional and progressive.
Different user profiles need different levels of help.
Reducing uncertainty can be as important as simplifying UI.

Next steps (what I would measure)

Job role creation completion during onboarding.
Drop-off points inside onboarding and the tooltip tour.
Time to first meaningful action after login.
Tooltip usage and dismissal patterns.

Technical Interview Platform Redesign

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Contact

Pedro Mugartegui

[email protected]

Based in Paris, France 🇫🇷
Open to work worldwide.