Quick onboarding, progressive disclosure and innovative engagement features.Consumer mobile is a hard industry: high customer acquisition costs due to competition, retention challenges, niche addressable markets and many more obstacles.Growing sometimes involves hand to hand combat: Evan was willing to try anything to get users. When he was home in Pacific Palisades, he would go to the shopping mall and hand out flyers advertising Snapchat, said a former Snapchat executive about the initial growth of thecompany.But once in a while, an app crack thecode.They figure out a distribution channel, partner up with the right influencers, ship an amazing product and make itwork.Todays post is about one ofthose.Ladder is a coach-driven strength training app that was launched in 2019. During the last 5 years, it has become one of the best rated App Store apps in its category, grew 500% last year alone and raised a $12mm SeriesA.Patrick Murphy of Tapestry VC, a fund that participated in their latest round, summarizes the apps edgewell:Ladder has built engagement levers similar to social apps, but instead of selling your attention to advertisers, theyre genuinely helping you by keeping you excited to work out. We think its only a matter of time before Ladder is a household name in consumerfitnessFrom a UX perspective, lets see how they pull thatoff:By the end of this article youll notice theyve got a great product. But before sticking around, users need to experience it.For fitness apps, the Aha! Moment happens once they complete one workout (or more)thats when the apps dynamics become clearer. Ladders goal with their initial flow is to have users go through that experience as soon as possible.In growth speech, we want to shorten time-to-value, have users go through a fun workout and show them all the app has to tooffer.How Ladder gets usersinTo get you started, theres a quick 3-step video-driven sequence. What stands out here is how they do a very good job making onboarding easy and attractive:Explanations with videos are less boring than justtext.1 click and 3 screens between the splash screen and the next section of the app is a very easy set ofsteps.They present the concept of an influencer being the coach and that youll become part of a team. This is novel and creates a curiosity gaptheres something beyond just building a workoutplan.Great, but until now theyve only quickly introduced theapp.To highlight what I find interesting next, well need contrast.You see, most fitness apps ask tens of questions on the name of building your workout. Things like what are your goals?, have you worked out before? are common place. Frequently theres also a bothersome sequence asking for your weight, height, equipment andmore.Because of these unnecessary questions, onboarding becomes ashore.I registered to Ladders 4 main competitors and counted the amount of steps between download and beginning aworkout.The difference is startling:Ladders onboarding is much easier. The next screen after the 3-step introduction is a list with huge cards where you decide which goal resonates with you themost.One step, one clear decision.Its OK for Ladder to offer less customization because their value proposition is exactly around workout programs that fit a specificgoal.Through copy, they also reduce the perception of commitment needed to take each step. They let users know you can go back on your decision later on so its psychologically easier to moveforward.All that puts you in the right mental space to keep flowing through each onboarding step.I picked Coach Coreys Forged because becoming a part-time bodybuilder is every designers dream.Great, were insidenow.Getting people to do their firstworkoutWeve moved forward fast, but remember: theyre still trying to get us to do a couple of workouts. I didnt get any value from ityet.The Aha moment is when the user realizes the value in a product.- WesBushAfter picking my favorite program, the first thing I notice is that regardless of the team, every Welcome Workout is30.That makes the barrier to finish a workout very lowits reasonable for most people to fit that into their schedules and get started. Its a great way to shorten time-to-value.Another detail here is that many features are locked until you get your first workoutdone.This progressive disclosure approach creates curiosity. It makes users think what else is there to see about the app while also putting the main next action in focus (starting a workout).Multiple mentions about the notion that Im part of a team contributes to making me feel curious. I can see through the main section that I have teammates and wonder what that is as it is a novel concept from what Ive seen in multiple fitness apps homescreens.First workout and making people stickaroundOnce you get started, in-workout experience is overall good but not much different than others. Its a permission to play in the industry afterall.Now, there are some details that make it standout.First, the app further introduces us the idea of teammates through a reaction featurea way other users can cheer you on mid-workout, triggering a lively emoji explosion on yourscreen.When youre done, youre given a tally of all the support you received. It serves as a visible reminder that your teammates digitally have yourback.Theres also a shared image board where you can post a post-workout picture.Lots of teammates share and it looks like a virtual celebration wall, creating sense of bond. Being part of this tribe feels engaging and motivating, theres a sense that youre on a team that is in a similarjourney.Ladder also does a great job reinforcing your progress: streaks are a popular gamification feature but they can backfire you missit.As UX consultant Peter Ramsey putsit:As the value of a streak increases, you want the cost of losing that streak to increase too. Thats why they work. But as a result, if they do lose their streak, the user now has to incur or suffer the thing that they were trying toavoid.To solve for that, Ladder highlights different types of progress, not juststreaks.Whether you hit a new milestone, spent >100 calories or simply showed up, they make it clear that a win is awin.After acknowledging all you gained, youre back on the homepage.With the first workout done users get access to more features. That allows us to see how big of an importance they put on engagement, community and social features.Out of their 4 main tabs, 2 are related to the notion of teams and being social (chat tab and teamtab).And thats likely a big part of theirsuccess.I spent time going through Reddit, Social Media comments and App Store reviews, and most of users mention Teams and Coaches as part of the reason they lovedLadder.It makes sense. Fitness journeys can be lonely: you, the gym, the treadmill, headphones and thats it. Their well executed social features makes us feel were on a path and have others by ourside.Premium Pricing for a PremiumProductAfter youve gone through the Welcome workout, they prompt you to pay for the subscriptiontheres a free trial option but no freeplan.It stood out to me how much more it costs when compared to its competitors.Growing fast while being the most expensive option in your category is quite an accomplishment, but to me it is not surprising atall.When you compare it to the more generic, faceless apps in the space, its clear why Ladder can thrive while charging$180.From the moment you hit the splash screen, the design quality of the app stands out. The UI is clean, intuitive, easy to use. They also leverage the charismatic, high-energy coaches well and add new layer of appeal, giving users the sense theyre part of something more exclusive and exciting. Its a high-value signalthis isnt just another fitnessapp.In the end, Ladders success shows how investing in design and UX can pay off. Theres a market for quality and some users are willing to pay a premium when an app goes beyond and deliver a truly engaging experience.I write frequently on products UX, design and growth. Sign up uxbreakdowns.com if you want to keep up todate!Lets connect on X aswell!How Ladder onboards and keeps users engaged was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.