Reddit:
What stood out to me most is how easy it is to start using Reddit without giving them anything. You can instantly scroll, read threads, and even pick interests without making an account. This tells me that Reddit wants me to experience their online communities and value their content, and only later nudges you to sign up if you want to comment or upvote. By then, the user likely will sign up because they appreciate the product. This makes sense because their money comes from ads, so more views is better for their business model regardless of whether they are signed up. Even if 98% of users are anonymous lurkers, according to CS278. The whole experience is very “come in, look around, no pressure.”
Arc Browser:
Arc feels different from typical browsers because it’s designed for optimized user experience. It lets you start browsing right away without logging in, and then slowly encourages you to personalize things like your sidebar, spaces, colors, and key tabs. After doing that, it truly feels like your own personal browser optimized for how you work and what you work on. They only ask you to make an account if you want syncing or backups, which seems fair. You can tell they care more about getting you to enjoy using the browser and stick with it, rather than collecting your data immediately.
Robinhood:
Robinhood is the opposite. Before you can use the app you have to enter your legal name, address, Social Security number, job info, and link your bank. It’s definitely the most intense onboarding of the three, but it also makes sense because you can’t trade or hold money without that information. I’m sure a lot of people drop off during that process, but Robinhood would likely rather have fewer fully verified users who can actually trade than millions of casual browsers.
