Empowering Hobbyist Users:

Increasing Conversion with Guided Onboarding

June - August 2025

Company: Xometry

My Role: UX Researcher & Designer

Problem Statement

Hobbyist customers seeking custom parts face significant challenges in making informed decisions during the quoting process, leading to churn in completing purchases. They lack clear guidance and education on their options, making it difficult to understand pricing, material choices, and manufacturing limitations.

Research Findings

User Pain Points

  • Non-enterprise customers frequently cited unclear communication as a top concern as detractors surveyed in the last year. 

  • Overwhelming options causes decision paralysis during quoting.

  • Users struggled to quickly understand and compare material, process, and cost alternatives.

Business Needs & Goals

  • Customer loyalty increases dramatically when a customer's first few orders are smooth and hassle-free.

  • Improving the quoting process for hobbyist users can significantly boost overall conversion with minimal effort.

  • Investing in new customers creates trust, resulting in bigger orders.

  • Increasing automated processes will reduce the need for manual support.

Solution: We introduced a personalized onboarding flow to segment users and a series of in-context tooltips to provide targeted assistance.

Track churn and conversion rates

How might we…

  1. Proactively communicate with users at critical touch points to empower users to feel confident and in control throughout the quoting journey? 

  2. Simplify the user interface and interactions to make our platform intuitive and accessible for users with limited technical experience?

Design Solutions

Prototype Highlight 01 - Guided Experience

Challenge: User research revealed that a lack of guidance made the initial setup and feature discovery a frustrating experience.

Prototype Highlight 02 - Tooltips

Challenge

Our findings indicated that students and hobbyists were confused about how to edit materials and selections.

Before

Prototype Highlight 03 - Exploring Options

By presenting this essential information up front, users can make confident decisions and know exactly what to expect when their custom part arrives.

Prototype Highlight 04 - Preventing Quoting Confusion

Impact: This approach streamlines the user journey, ensuring a relevant and frustration-free experience that addresses user needs proactively.

Solution

We introduced a distinct button style and a tooltip to draw attention to the "Edit Configuration" feature.

After

We've redesigned the materials and finishes selection process to provide an instant preview of each item's cost, properties, and visual appearance.

Our research revealed that users were often confused about the quoting process and frustrated when their selections unexpectedly triggered manual quotes. 

Future Considerations & Learnings

Testing our assumptions with users

The new design uses illustrations to explain processes and technology. Most importantly, the interface now shows recommended options and alerts the user when a choice will require a manual quote. This system is designed to prevent unnecessary manual quoting and make the entire ordering process more efficient and transparent.

NPS scores among non-enterprise users

Our goal is to create more promoters among students and hobbyists, building a long and trusting relationship that lasts from their very first prototype to their future, more complex projects.

Impact

This change reduced user confusion, making it easier for new users to customize their parts.