Removing a redundant confirmation step increased activations by 20% for a B2C social commerce business
At a B2C social commerce business, removing the WhatsApp confirmation requirement from the activation flow increased activations by 20% on average, with no loss of quality: for every 5 activations that already happened, there were now 6. The same security check already took place later in the flow, so the step only added friction.
Profile
B2C social commerce · Seed
Problem
The activation flow required a WhatsApp confirmation that repeated a security check done later on. The step added no extra protection and made users drop off.
Solution
Cut redundant friction: remove from the flow what is already checked elsewhere, without giving up security.
What we did
- We identified the WhatsApp confirmation as the main friction point in the activation flow.
- We confirmed that the same security check happened later, within the flow itself.
- We removed the requirement and measured activations over the following month.
Result
+20% activations on average, that is, one more activation for every five. There was no loss of quality, because the security check was still done later in the flow.
Key learnings
- Before removing a step, make sure what it protects is still protected somewhere else. That's what separates removing friction from opening a door.
- Every extra step in the flow costs conversion, and redundant ones cost it without giving anything back.
- The cheapest gain is usually inside the funnel, not in paid media. Before buying more traffic, look at where the traffic you already have is being lost.
Do it yourself
List every step of your activation flow, from sign-up to the first valuable action, with the pass-through rate of each. The step with the biggest drop is the first candidate.
For each step, ask what it protects and whether that's already checked elsewhere in the flow. If it is, the step is redundant and can go. If it isn't, move it to after activation instead of cutting it, and test the change on part of the traffic.
Ask an LLM:
I'll paste the steps of my activation flow with the pass-through rate of each one and what each step checks. Identify the 3 steps with the biggest drop and tell me which are redundant, meaning they check something that is already checked elsewhere. For each one, suggest whether it should be removed, postponed or simplified, and propose an A/B test with the success metric and the quality metric to watch.