Onboarding (Items 1 to 5)
The first-run experience shows users their first value moment within 2 minutes of sign-up.
2. The onboarding flow has a clear progress indicator so users know how far they are from completion.
3. All required input fields during onboarding are justified. Every field that is not necessary has been removed.
4. There is a clear skip or do this later option for non-critical setup steps.
5. New users who abandon onboarding receive an automated follow-up within 24 hours.
Navigation and information architecture (Items 6 to 10)
6. The main navigation contains no more than 7 items. Everything else is nested or accessible through search.
7. The active state of navigation items is visually clear at all times.
8. Users can reach any primary feature within 3 clicks from the dashboard.
9. The page hierarchy is consistent across the product. Heading levels follow a logical structure.
10. Search is available wherever users are likely to look for content or features.
Forms and inputs (Items 11 to 15)
11. Error messages explain what went wrong and how to fix it. They do not just say invalid input.
12. Required fields are visually marked and the marking is consistent throughout.
13. Form validation happens inline, not only after submit.
14. Long forms are broken into logical steps with progress indication.
15. Autofill is supported for common fields including name, email, and address.
"Forms are where most users abandon a product. Every unnecessary field and every unclear error message costs you users."
Feedback and system status (Items 16 to 20)
16. Every user action that triggers a system process shows a loading state.
17. Success confirmations are present for all important actions.
18. Empty states have a clear call to action, not just a blank screen.
19. Destructive actions (delete, cancel, remove) require a confirmation step.
20. Error states at the system level (connection loss, server errors) show a clear message and a recovery path.
If your product scores below 15 out of 20, a structured UX audit is likely to surface quick wins that meaningfully improve your activation and retention metrics. The Agintex design team conducts full product audits with a prioritized fix list. Get in touch to schedule one.
About author
Tobias oversees software, product engineering, and connected systems at Agintex. He writes about technical architecture, IoT integration, UI/UX engineering, and what it actually takes to ship a product that works at scale.
Tobias Lane
Head of Engineering
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