What Elevator Mirrors Can Teach Us About User Onboarding
How Top Tech Products Use Psychology (Not Speed) to Perfect Their Onboarding.
You know that feeling when you're waiting for an elevator, and it feels like forever?
There's this fascinating story about that from Rory Sutherland, vice chairman of Ogilvy. People were complaining that an elevator took too long to arrive. The obvious solution? Spend $1 million to make them 5% faster.
But someone had a different idea: add mirrors. Cost? Just $100.
The complaints? They disappeared overnight.
Why? Because people were now distracted while waiting. The actual wait time hadn't changed, but the perceived experience had changed completely.
This got me thinking about product onboarding.
When users sign up for a new product, they want to use it immediately. Every extra step between them and the actual product creates frustration. Yet, as product builders, I know you need user information to deliver a personalized experience.
But we often fall into the "efficiency trap." We obsess over:
Reducing the number of fields
Optimizing form validation
Decreasing load time by 5%
Here's the surprising thing: reducing perceived effort is 2-3x more effective than just making the process 5-10% quicker.
Most products try to solve this by making the signup process faster. But what if we're focusing on the wrong thing? What if, like the elevator mirrors, the solution isn't about speed at all?
Enter the progress bar—a simple yet powerful tactic that makes the signup experience less painful by showing users exactly how close they are to the finish line.
Let me show you how major tech companies are nailing this:
1. Grammarly
During the signup flow, Grammarly asks new users about what they use the app for. This is where most new users will churn. So, making the finish line look shorter (four steps only) eases the perceived effort to complete. It's like seeing yourself in that elevator mirror—you're still waiting, but now you know exactly where you stand.
2. Duolingo
Duolingo is crushing it when it comes to managing user psychology by:
Framing the process upfront: "7 quick questions"
Showing clear progress through each step
Ending with motivation: "Here's what you can achieve in 3 months!"
This creates a complete narrative arc that keeps users engaged through completion.
3. ClickUp
For a project management tool, ClickUp needs substantial information to understand their users. Instead of apologizing for "God knows how long," they:
Break the process into clear milestones
Use encouraging words, like "Don't worry, …"
Make each step feel like an achievement
This changed the experience completely. What could be a tedious process turned into a well-crafted journey of customization that users couldn't have expected.
Bottom line
At the end of the day, whenever you ask users to do something that could potentially frustrate them, the solution isn't always to make it faster. Sometimes, it's about putting yourself in their shoes and asking:
"How do I make this process less painful?"
The problem you are trying to solve is psychological rather than technical. It's about making users comfortable doing things they aren't supposed to do rather than making them do it faster.
🔑 Quick takeaways for your next sprint
Map out where users might feel stuck or uncertain in your onboarding
Add clear progress indicators (but keep them simple!)
Break down complex processes into smaller, less daunting steps
Think about your "mirror solution" - what could make the wait feel shorter?
Instead of optimizing things marginally, why not think about how you can make this an enjoyable experience?
Question for you: What's your clever "mirror solution" for making users forget they're waiting?
PS: Found this useful? Share it with a fellow product builder who's working on their onboarding experience!