After a major dashboard redesign, new customers were dropping off in the first two minutes. The layout looked clean, but nobody had told them where anything was. I designed a 3-step coachmark tour to fix that, something lightweight enough not to feel like an obstacle, but specific enough to actually orient people.
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Go to Help center01 / Challenge
Overview
After a major dashboard redesign, new US Bank customers were dropping off in the first two minutes of their first session. The layout looked clean, but no one had told them where anything was. I designed a 3-step coachmark tour to fix that, something lightweight enough not to feel like an obstacle, but specific enough to actually orient people.
Problem
New customers landed on a blank dashboard they'd never seen before, zero transactions, zero spending data, no orientation. First-session drop-off was happening within two minutes of login, before users had experienced any product value.
Why it matters
First-session drop-off creates churn before a customer has experienced anything worth returning to. If they leave confused, they rarely come back. Getting orientation right in the first two minutes determines whether they become active users at all.
System context
This tour triggers once, on first login. It introduces the three core sections customers struggled with most, Accounts, Overview, and Insights, through a Pulse Beacon system that invites engagement without interrupting what users are trying to do.
Key insight
Users weren't confused by the product, they were confused by the layout change. They knew banking; they didn't know where US Bank had put things. The core challenge wasn't feature discovery, it was spatial orientation on a screen they'd never seen before.
Tension
The tour needed to be visible enough to guide without being intrusive enough to frustrate. Static tooltips had already failed, they either blocked content users were trying to read, or got dismissed immediately without being read at all.
Constraints
One tour. Three steps. Triggered once, never repeated. The solution had to work entirely within the existing dashboard grid, no layout restructuring, no new navigation, no new screens added to the flow.
My role
Designed the full coachmark system from concept through handoff, interaction model, copy strategy, motion design, and high-fidelity prototypes. Collaborated with a content strategist and engineering lead to validate feasibility.
Approach
Pulse Beacon (Entry)
Coachmark (Explanation)
Outcome
+12% first-week feature engagement and -9% support tickets on basic navigation within 60 days. Customers who previously called in to ask "where is my account balance" found it themselves.
02 / Impact
The problem wasn't the product, it was orientation. Once users knew where things were, they used them. The results confirmed that getting spatial context right in the first session has measurable downstream impact on engagement and support load.
+12%
First-Week Engagement
Increase in first-week feature engagement among new customers, users who took the tour were actually using the sections it pointed them to.
-9%
Navigation Support Tickets
Reduction in support tickets about basic dashboard navigation. Customers who called in asking "where is my account balance" found it themselves.
3×
Target Precision
Focused on exactly three sections, the ones mentioned most in support tickets and satisfaction surveys. Specificity over comprehensiveness.
What prompted this
"I do not like the new format. Before, I had everything on the main page. Now I have to search for it. It does not seem organized."
(Direct customer feedback that shaped the scope of this work)
03 / Solution
The feedback told us exactly what to fix. Customers weren't lost because the dashboard was bad, they were lost because no one told them what was where. This revealed that the answer wasn't a redesign, it was orientation. A Pulse Beacon appears on each of the three sections customers struggled with most. Each beacon opens a coachmark that explains the section in plain language, without blocking the screen.
Triggered only on first login
The tour fires once, on the user's very first session. It never reappears for returning customers. This meant the tour had to do its job in one pass, which shaped every decision about how much to say and how to say it.
Spotlight without blocking
When a coachmark is active, surrounding sections dim to 25% opacity. The relevant section stays fully visible so users can read actual content, not just be told it exists. This approach worked well on web, but I would rethink the opacity level on mobile where screen real estate is tighter.
Customer language, not bank language
Every coachmark was written to sound like a helpful colleague, not a product manual. We prioritized warmth and scannability over comprehensiveness, because this changed whether users actually read the guidance or dismissed it reflexively.
Guided Coachmark System, Live Preview
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Your overview
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Insights & updates
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04 / Key Decisions
Made the tour opt-in rather than auto-triggered
We needed to understand why previous tooltips were being dismissed immediately. This revealed that users didn't object to guidance, they objected to being interrupted mid-task. This led to the decision to use Pulse Beacons instead of modal overlays. We prioritized user agency over guaranteed viewership, because forcing the tour would have recreated the same dismissal behavior we were trying to fix.
Three steps, not a full walkthrough
We prioritized specificity (the three sections mentioned most in support tickets) over comprehensiveness (covering everything new users might encounter). A full walkthrough would have felt like work. Three targeted stops felt like a quick orientation, which is exactly the behavior we were trying to encourage.
Spotlight by dimming, not by overlaying
We prioritized legibility over visual drama. Dimming surrounding content to 25% kept the active section readable and in context. One limitation was that this pattern doesn't translate cleanly to mobile, viewport constraints mean dimming can feel disorienting rather than clarifying. If I had another iteration, I'd explore a scroll-anchored approach for smaller screens.
One-time trigger, no re-entry path
The tour fires once and never returns. This approach worked, it protected returning users from guidance they didn't need. One limitation was discoverability for users who skipped on first visit. Several mentioned they wished they could revisit it. If I had more time, I would have pushed harder for a "Retake the tour" option in account settings from the beginning, rather than treating it as a post-launch enhancement.
Curious how we got here? The research, design explorations, and motion prototypes are all below.