Sign-up flow
The steps a new person goes through to create an account, from the first click to being inside the app.
What it is
A sign-up flow is the sequence of screens that turns a visitor into a user: enter an email, verify it, maybe add a name, and land somewhere useful.
Every extra step loses people. Ask only for what you need right now; collect the rest later. Decide where sign-up appears: after someone has seen the value, not as the first thing on the home page.
Sign-up and sign-in can share code but should feel different. Sign-up should build excitement; sign-in should feel like a welcome back.
How to ask for it
“People need to make an account.”
“Sign-up flow: a visitor can try the editor without an account; when they click Save, ask for their email, send a 6-digit code, then ask for their name, and drop them back where they were with their work saved.”
"Make an account" says nothing about when or how; describing the sign-up flow step by step controls drop-off and context.
You've seen this in
- NNotion's email-then-code sign-up
- FFigma's "Continue with Google"
- DDuolingo letting you start a lesson before creating an account