B2C (Dating)
Psychology-Driven Onboarding: Boosting Revenue by 11%
Psychology-Driven Onboarding: Boosting Revenue by 11%
+11.12%
Payment Revenue Boost
Payment Revenue Boost
+8.43%
First-Time Paying Customers
First-Time Paying Customers
800,000/mo
800,000/mo
Fraud Messages Blocked
Fraud Messages Blocked
Overview
Cupid Media operates a portfolio of 33 niche dating sites across 200+ countries, serving 55 million members. However, the platform was suffering from a "Quality Paradox."
The registration process was too easy. Users could sign up and jump straight into the platform with almost no data. This led to:
Empty profiles made real users skeptical.
Scammers could easily create accounts and spam users (5.9 million fraud messages/month).
Without trust or investment, users weren't upgrading to paid plans.
My Role: I led the UI design and technical specification writing. I worked closely with stakeholders to modernize the interface while navigating significant technical constraints.
The Goal: To increase revenue by 5% and decrease fraud communication by 10%.
The Strategy: The "Sunk Cost" Principle
We didn't just design the screens; we redesigned the behavior. We hypothesized that by using the Sunk Cost Fallacy principle - requiring users to invest time and effort upfront - they would be psychologically more likely to invest money to "protect" that effort.
The Solution: Strategic Friction
We introduced a mandatory 13-question onboarding wizard (with 4 required questions) immediately after registration.
1. The Questionnaire (The Investment)
Users were guided through a series of questions about themselves and their ideal match.
UX Logic: A progress bar visualized their investment.
Adoption: Despite the friction, 54% of users voluntarily completed even the optional questions, proving high intent.
2. The "Hard" Paywall Landing
Immediately after the last question, instead of a "Success" message, we dropped users directly onto a skippable Upgrade Page.
The Psychological Trigger: The user had just spent 3-5 minutes building their profile. When presented with the payment option immediately after that effort, the impulse to upgrade was significantly higher than in the control group.
3. The Quality Loop
The questionnaire acted as a natural filter.
Fraud Filter: Bots and lazy scammers bounced off the questionnaire, reducing fraud messages from 5.9M to 5.1M per month.
Social Proof: Real users now had richer profiles (15% more photos), leading to higher quality conversations and better retention.
Results & Impact
The new flow was A/B tested against the control group over 7 months, and the results validated the behavioral psychology approach:
Payment revenue increased by 11.12%, more than double our 5% goal.
We acquired ~1,440 additional first-time paying customers per month (+8.43% lift).
By adding friction, we blocked 800,000 fraud messages monthly (-13.14%), creating a safer environment for our paying users.
Overview
Cupid Media operates a portfolio of 33 niche dating sites across 200+ countries, serving 55 million members. However, the platform was suffering from a "Quality Paradox."
The registration process was too easy. Users could sign up and jump straight into the platform with almost no data. This led to:
Empty profiles made real users skeptical.
Scammers could easily create accounts and spam users (5.9 million fraud messages/month).
Without trust or investment, users weren't upgrading to paid plans.
My Role: I led the UI design and technical specification writing. I worked closely with stakeholders to modernize the interface while navigating significant technical constraints.
The Goal: To increase revenue by 5% and decrease fraud communication by 10%.
The Strategy: The "Sunk Cost" Principle
We didn't just design the screens; we redesigned the behavior. We hypothesized that by using the Sunk Cost Fallacy principle - requiring users to invest time and effort upfront - they would be psychologically more likely to invest money to "protect" that effort.
The Solution: Strategic Friction
We introduced a mandatory 13-question onboarding wizard (with 4 required questions) immediately after registration.
1. The Questionnaire (The Investment)
Users were guided through a series of questions about themselves and their ideal match.
UX Logic: A progress bar visualized their investment.
Adoption: Despite the friction, 54% of users voluntarily completed even the optional questions, proving high intent.
2. The "Hard" Paywall Landing
Immediately after the last question, instead of a "Success" message, we dropped users directly onto a skippable Upgrade Page.
The Psychological Trigger: The user had just spent 3-5 minutes building their profile. When presented with the payment option immediately after that effort, the impulse to upgrade was significantly higher than in the control group.
3. The Quality Loop
The questionnaire acted as a natural filter.
Fraud Filter: Bots and lazy scammers bounced off the questionnaire, reducing fraud messages from 5.9M to 5.1M per month.
Social Proof: Real users now had richer profiles (15% more photos), leading to higher quality conversations and better retention.
Results & Impact
The new flow was A/B tested against the control group over 7 months, and the results validated the behavioral psychology approach:
Payment revenue increased by 11.12%, more than double our 5% goal.
We acquired ~1,440 additional first-time paying customers per month (+8.43% lift).
By adding friction, we blocked 800,000 fraud messages monthly (-13.14%), creating a safer environment for our paying users.