Profile Setup Wizard and User Engagement

[shelakel]

I suggest that a wizard be created to guide a new user through setting up their profile and/or other sections.

It would be nice to have a percentage completed / quality score per profile section and an overall quality score to measure the completeness of information.

Create a detailed walk through/tutorial per section detailing what can be done and how to proceed. Give the user the option to exit the walk through with an option check box 'Don't show again' - also provide the walk through link on the page again just in case they want to go through it again.

There are numerous jQuery plugins that can do this in a simple fashion. Look at jquerypagewalkthrough and google 'jquery site tour plugins' for alternatives (I cannot post links yet, unfortunately).

Events should also be recorded for engagement analysis:

• Did the user finish the tutorial?
  
• Has the user updated their information/when was it last updated?
  
• Has the user used the functionality?
  

This would then allow for further gamification (increasing entertainment value) by keeping track of streaks (e.g. how many days in a row did they record a variable, how long do they use the website at a time, how often do they login).

But for now, the biggest issue is trying to figure out what you're supposed to do/be doing once you've hit that home screen for the first time. In the short run, a welcome screen for first time users can help by directing them on how to proceed (e.g. update their profile details such as ...).