Retention Improved. No New Features. Just Better Flow.

Sharing this because we often chase retention through features, when the answer is already sitting in the product, unnoticed.

In one of my projects, most users were skipping the Content Library and jumping straight into building their own content pieces from scratch. It took them longer, didn't spark much enthusiasm, and we couldn't understand why Library usage was so low, hovering around 15 percent.

We assumed users preferred creating from scratch. We also assumed the editor needed fixing, maybe better templates or more customization options.

But after 10 user interviews, watching how they actually used the product, and running a deep path analysis through Amplitude, I found something else entirely.

"Create a pic my client being happy"

The Real Problem

Users didn't even see the value we had already built. The Content Library was tucked in a sidebar, labeled vaguely as "Resources." New users didn't register it as a shortcut to their goal.

The pop ups explaining the Library were dismissed instantly. We had a tooltip on first login: "Check out our Library for ready made templates!" Users closed it within half a second without reading. Classic banner blindness.

The flow nudged users into manual work when a faster, easier path was just one click away. After signing up, users landed on a blank editor screen with a blinking cursor.

The product was practically saying: "Start from scratch." Meanwhile, the Library, which could have saved them 20 minutes, was hidden in the navigation.

What the Data Showed

Path analysis revealed that the 15 percent of users who did discover the Library had 23 percent higher Day 7 retention and completed their first content piece 40 percent faster than those who started from scratch. They also came back more often in the first week.

The value was there. Users just weren't finding it.

This reminded me of a case I read about Dropbox. Early on, their signup flow buried the core value proposition, explaining features before showing users how to actually use the product. When they restructured onboarding to get users to their first file upload faster, activation rates jumped significantly. The product didn't change. The path to value did.

The Fix

So instead of building new features or redesigning the editor, I proposed:

• Changing the entry point so new users start directly in the Content Library, not a blank screen

• Renaming it from "Resources" to "Ready Made Templates" to make the value instantly clear

• Adding a strong CTA on the first screen: "Start with a template (faster)" vs. "Create from scratch"

• Reducing the number of decisions before they hit first value. One click to pick a template, one click to customize. Done.

We ran an A/B test with the new flow on 30 percent of new users.

The Result

A 12 percent increase in Day 7 retention for new users. Library usage jumped from 15 percent to 47 percent. Time to first completed content piece dropped by 35 percent.

And here's the kicker: we didn't add a single new feature. We just removed friction and made the existing value visible.

Sometimes the Product Isn't Broken. Just Hidden.

This happens more often than we think. We pile on features assuming users need more, when really they need less clutter and a clearer path. I've seen this pattern across multiple products: meditation apps burying their best guided sessions three taps deep, SaaS tools hiding their most powerful automation features in settings, e-commerce apps making checkout harder with too many optional fields.

The instinct is always to build more. But sometimes the better move is to step back, watch how people actually use what you have, and ask: are we making this too hard?

Because if users can't find the value you've already built, adding more value on top won't fix retention. It'll just make the problem worse.