Deezer
Redesigning Deezer's onboarding to help new users feel instantly at home by capturing their musical identity faster, accelerating activation and reducing early churn.
Deezer, one of Europe's leading music streaming platforms, serves millions of users worldwide.
As part of a two-week sprint, Deezer product designers Mael and Victor briefed us on a real challenge: the onboarding steps. The goal was not to redesign screens, but to rethink how new users shape their musical identity from the very first interaction, and how onboarding could accelerate activation, increase early engagement, and reduce post-sign-up drop-off. Within two weeks, we framed the problem, defined a strategic direction, and delivered a validated prototype.
The challenge: reducing early churn by helping users feel instantly understood when joining the platform.
In collaboration with Deezer
Mael Gajcanin
Product Designer — Deezer
Victor Cartier
Product Designer — Deezer
Onboarding at Deezer must do more than collect preferences, it must help users feel instantly understood.
A fear of starting over
Switching platforms feels like losing years of music history.
Musical identity is complex
Selecting a few artists doesn't reflect how people truly experience music.
Every minute counts
Too much effort causes drop-off. Too little prevents meaningful personalization.
6 qualitative interviews with users who have recently switched streaming platforms. Understanding how users experience switching platforms and what truly defines their musical identity.
Identity is contextual, not artist-based
Users define their taste through moments, moods, and situations, not through a list of artists.
“When I'm feeling low, there are certain songs. When I'm really happy, there are different ones.”
Sihem
Library transfer reduces friction
Selecting a few artists doesn't reflect how people truly experience music.
“I would have done it right away, but it wasn't suggested, so I didn't look for it.”
Clément
Musical DNA lives in saved tracks
The 'Liked Songs' playlist acts as a personal archive. Users listen by tracks more than by artists.
“I mostly listen to my liked songs playlist, it's my default way of listening.”
Nine
Early research revealed a core tension: users want to feel instantly understood, but their identity is too rich to be captured through simplified inputs.
Design opportunity: an onboarding that leverages existing history to generate immediate recognition without increasing cognitive effort
We translated user insights into a strategic onboarding direction focused on reducing emotional friction and accelerating identity recognition
What we analyzed
This allowed us to cross-reference
Problem reframed
How might we quickly capture a user's musical DNA to translate their historical collection into an immediate identity?
Creating a seamless first experience built around users' musical identity, reinforcing recognition from the first interaction to increase perceived value and reduce early drop-off.
Feature 01
Restore Musical Continuity
To reduce the feeling of starting from scratch, users can import their playlists and listening history in a few clicks.
Feature 02
Generate contextual playlists
After importing their library, Deezer generates playlists tailored to moods, activities, and moments, recreating the "soundtrack of their life."
User testing focused on assessing the onboarding's ability to drive activation by making the experience feel personal, intuitive, and trustworthy.
Objective 01
Smooth library import & continuity with listening history
Objective 02
Immediate sense of recognition
Objective 03
Relevance of context-based playlists
Objective 04
Reassuring & positive experience
Validated features
User testing validated both usability and desirability: the onboarding felt smooth, library import was intuitive, and context-based playlists generated genuine interest.
5/5 users
found the onboarding smooth and fast
5/5 users
spontaneously imported their music library
5/5 users
enjoyed the playful description of their musical profile
5/5 users
showed real interest in context-based playlists
Three key learnings emerged from user testing, guiding the next iteration of the onboarding experience.
Learning n°01
Users didn't recognize themselves: 3/5 expected familiar content.
Recognition drives ownership. → Surface familiar content from the imported library
Prototype 01
Prototype 02
Learning n°02
Users found the genre selection unintuitive: 4/5 found the wheel too complex and not personalized based on their imported library.
Personalization must be explicit and guided. → Pre-select and adapt genres based on imported data.
Prototype 01
Prototype 02
Learning n°03
Users needed more control before validating playlists: 5/5 wanted to preview and edit before confirmation.
Control increases engagement. → Allow preview and editing before saving.
Prototype 01
Prototype 02
Informed by user feedback, this refined version strengthens recognition, guidance, and user control. Click to see how the experience evolved.
The final concept was presented to the Deezer team, bringing together research, iteration, and product vision.
The Deezer team found the proposed direction relevant and aligned with the research insights.
They confirmed a key technical constraint: imported libraries do not include listening timestamps, meaning tracks played yesterday or two years ago are treated equally, potentially biasing the generated musical profile.
This limitation reinforced our intention to explore collaborative calibration as a next step, allowing users to refine and rebalance their generated identity over time.
Move from automatic detection to collaborative calibration. By making musical identity adjustable from the start, users can refine their profile, optimize recommendation relevance, and develop a true sense of ownership.
