I redesigned onboarding for CNET’s price-comparison extension, reducing early uninstalls and generating an estimated $25K in annual revenue by helping people see the product work.
Overview
CNET Shopping is a Chrome extension that compares prices across thousands of retailers. After installing it, users saw a static page explaining its features, but they didn’t get to see the comparison tool in action.
The problem
Exit surveys suggested that new users found the extension confusing. With 28.8% uninstalling within 48 hours, I wanted to test whether helping people use the product straight away would give them a reason to keep it.
My role
I led the redesign with PMs, content designers, and engineers. I reviewed competing products, ran user testing, and designed the new flow. I framed the problem around retention and made the decisions about which steps to cut so people could reach the price comparison sooner.
Research
My review of competing products gave me four principles: let people interact immediately, use clear copy, show the product visually, and reveal information as it becomes relevant. I used those ideas in an early prototype, then tested it in eight moderated UserTesting.com sessions.
The final design
The final version replaced the static page with a three-step tooltip flow that starts immediately after installation. Users choose a real product, watch the extension compare prices, and see the best-price indicator highlighted.
Tradeoffs
Removing email sign-up meant deprioritizing a stated goal to acquire “power users.” Removing the pinning step meant betting that seeing the product’s value would matter more than a visible reminder in the browser. I chose retention as the priority for onboarding and removed both steps to help users reach their first comparison sooner.
Results
Four months after launch, the 48-hour uninstall rate was 28.1%, down from 28.8%. That was a reduction of 0.7 percentage points, or approximately 2.4% relative to the original uninstall rate.
Using the team’s revenue benchmark, we estimated that the improvement was worth approximately $25K a year. The result supported our decision to let people try a real price comparison before asking them to sign up or pin the extension.
Reflection
I had worked on CNET Shopping before and knew the product well. That made it easy to assume new users understood things they hadn’t encountered yet. Testing with first-time users helped me see where the instructions and steps were still asking too much.
The project also made prioritization more concrete for me. Email collection and extension pinning both had a purpose, but keeping them in this flow made the first experience harder. I learned that prioritizing sometimes means deliberately setting aside one business goal to protect a more important one.