HP Print Setup & Onboarding

2021 - current

NorthStar vision
Bridge the physical and digital customer journey
Boosted cloud onboarding rate, NPS, CSAT
Data-informed decision-making via A/B testing

PROBLEM

Lengthy setup, unclear instructions, and vague service offerings complicate printer installation. Lack of aligned goals and ownership hindered improvement efforts.

GOAL

Create the quickest and easiest printer setup experience that inspires lasting engagement with HP.

MY ROLE

Led the Setup & Onboarding design team, driving experience-led strategy and strategic collaboration across large cross-functional teams to balance user needs with diverse organizational goals.

1. User-centric Vision to Drive Alignment

When I joined the HP Setup & Onboarding team, I found a long-standing history of challenges and a strong desire for change. While improvements initially seemed straightforward, the root issues ran deeper than just addressing user needs.

1.1 Problems

The setup experience is the biggest factor influencing product review star ratings, and according to the post-setup survey, it is the top complaint among users.

DEVELOPED MARKET VS EMERGING MARKET

One-size-fits-all solutions fail to meet the diverse needs of global users

IoT PRINTER & FUTURE-READY SERVICES

Service offerings come at the “wrong time”. Not matching user’s mindset.

MIS-ALIGNED & CONFLICTED GOALS

Unclear ownership to define success and prioritize improvements.

50+ PRINTERS FOR CONSUMER, SMB, ENT

Heavy-lifting to launch new printers: resource, quality & time-to-market.

Customer Journey Pain Points: Data-Informed

1.2 The Ideal Setup Experience

An Ideal Experience connects product sensory cues with the aspirations of home consumers and home business users. It reflects how users want to feel during setup (“I made the right choice”), the emotional benefits (“I’m excited”), and how HP can deliver them through features (“opening should be inviting”) and sensory elements (“colorful packaging”).

Based on qualitative research conducted in partnership with Lextant Research Firm, involving 23 participants from Columbus, OH, through co-creation group interviews. The study focused on three HP printer segments: Confidents, Embracers, and Warriors in the developed market.

1.3 NorthStar For A Smart Printer

HP revolutionized the printer market with smart, cloud-enabled devices that deliver value beyond hardware. But this shift complicated the traditional “download driver and print” setup. Executives aimed to reimagine setup as a fast, intuitive experience that engages users with services from the start.

Click to play with sound on

The NorthStar concept was well-received

After presenting the NorthStar concept to senior leadership, it has generated significant excitement across the organization. The initiative required collaboration across multiple teams, and with the support, buy-in, and sponsorship of leadership, I led an agency in planning an in-person workshop, bringing global teams to San Diego for a three-day event.

2. Strategic Workstream Planning For Vision Delivery

Leveraging the NorthStar vision and organizational insights, I identified seven key workstreams and partnered with an agency to lead an in-person workshop in San Diego. Global Directors, architects, and cross-functional leads collaborated to establish ownership, align roadmap priorities, and define success metrics for the upcoming printer release.

2.1 NorthStar Workshop

A 3-day in-person workshop united 31 attendees from 9 cross-functional teams—including Product, Program, Design, Software, Cloud, Firmware, Quality, Support, and Services Product Management—to share progress, address challenges, and align on priorities for roadmap planning.

Key Findings On Challenges And Opportunities

Prioritized Program-level Requirements vs Platform-level Improvements

It's essential to distinguish program-level requirements that need early investment years before a printer launch from platform-level improvements that benefit all current and future programs.

2.2 Leadership Briefing: Strategy Roadmap And Success Metrics

I presented the post-workshop report to senior leadership, outlining the strategic approach and anticipated impact of the aligned priorities.

Strategy Backoog & Workstream Current Status

The workshop gained momentum and surfaced multi-year improvement opportunities. I continued driving progress by refining the roadmap and identifying initiatives for the next printer release that align with timeline and investment constraints.

3. Establish Blueprints To Stabilize, Standardize & Scale

3.1 Complex Ecosystem & Setup Paths

Escalations and conflicts with the new printer programs

While NorthStar workshop aligned organizational goals and priorities, individual printer programs requested all improvements and sought clarity on what would be ready by launch—resulting in confusion and tension throughout the product lifecycle.

Some user needs and preferences were not addressed in the NorthStar

Telemetry shows that 20–30% of users don’t use the companion app for driver installation or setup assistance, leading to setup difficulties, self-resolution attempts, and frequent negative reviews due to unclear instructions—ultimately lowering overall product ratings. While the designed setup path works well when users follow the guided linear journey, actual user behavior often varies based on individual habits and preferences.

Legacy Setup Guide: only instructed users to go to 123.hp.com to get HP software

3.2 Enhanced Product Website Strategy To Satisfy 100% User Needs

The existing printer website was underutilized and lacked value as a key user touchpoint. The new site offers clear setup instructions, app and driver downloads, troubleshooting support, and printer feature references. It also provides an alternative setup path for users who prefer not to use the companion app.

Legacy printer website: 123.hp.com

New Printer Setup Website: hp.com/start/Envy6100e

3.3 Enhanced Strategy Validation

With the enhanced strategy, we focused testing on two key touchpoints—Quick Start Guide and Printer Setup Website—targeting home printer users. Over 1.5 years, I led multiple rounds of testing and continued post-launch design iterations, influencing product priorities to drive ongoing improvements.

Dual Setup Path Strategy

Primary setup app path and the enhanced alternative setup website path

3.3.1 Quick Start Guide Research Objective

We evaluated participants’ understanding of the two setup paths presented in the Quick Start Guide, focusing on how clearly the information was communicated and how confident users felt in choosing and following their preferred path. We also measured their overall satisfaction with the experience, identifying areas where confusion or hesitation occurred to inform future improvements.

3 rounds of user testing (2023-2024)

In-person (N=36)
Remote moderated (N=18)
Remote unmoderated (N=412)

The revised Quick Start Guide offers two clear setup paths, allowing users to choose their preference while still supporting the business goal of increasing app adoption.

3.3.2 Printer Setup Website Validation And Learnings Post-launch

I collaborated with the UX research team to conduct initial remote testing of website content, focusing on user sentiment and clarity. While prototype feedback was positive, issues surfaced post-launch when users encountered ink and alignment setup errors.

OfficeJet Pro Qualitative Testing - Mocked Prototype Testing

20 x 2-hour in-person user tests with eye tracking
Target users: Home, Home Biz, Micro Biz
Test stimuli: Printer Setup Website figma prototype + printer hardware prototype + simulation control panel figma prototype

Key Findings

Hardware setup is straightforward, with minor initial confusion around ink cartridge orientation.
The new setup process integrates well with the product page, offering a seamless and intuitive alternative to traditional guides.
Clear instructions support smooth transitions between hardware, control panel, and product page.
Most users (16/20) preferred the digital guide over physical copies, citing it as a better alternative. Those who disagreed valued having a printed version for future reference or sharing with others in their organization.

Post-Launch Leadership Escalation: Best of 2025 Printer - HP OfficeJet Pro 9125
Post-launch surveys revealed user confusion due to unclear instructions, prompting escalation from senior leadership and concerns about the Printer Setup Website strategy. I synthesized the feedback and identified key improvements to address the issues and restore leadership confidence. Partnering with the product manager, we successfully deployed the design improvements to production.

Ink Installation Errors: Key Driver of User Confusion

Users did not insert the cartridges correctly, preventing the carrier from moving and causing the printhead alignment to fail. They were unable to find troubleshooting information for the carrier and alignment issue, and were unaware that incorrect ink cartridge installation was the root cause.

Action 1: Improve discoverability of 'Get Help' & 'Learn' sections

Before

After

Action 2: Improve ink installation guidance by providing quick, in-context access to detailed animated instructions. This approach balances easy-to-follow static steps with immersive visual guidance.

Action 3: Help users to get to a more comprehensive support site if they still encounter issues.

3.4 HP App Quick Wins For Immediate Blueprint Enhancements

As the strategist, my role varied across initiatives due to their different stages and unique challenges.

OS Integrated WiFi Connection

Situation: Connectivity remains the top issue impacting setup and onboarding. One major pain point is entering the Wi-Fi password—users often need to locate it, which delays the process. This can trigger printer beacon timeouts, requiring a reset and troubleshooting, leading to user frustration and potential setup failure. We've developed a solution that integrates with saved Wi-Fi passwords on iOS, Android, and Windows, so users no longer need to re-enter them during setup. However, enabling the solution required investment in a hardware chip and firmware capabilities.

My role & actions: I represented the Setup & Onboarding team during the early stages of the program process, providing requirements and sharing recent improvements to ensure alignment with the program team. I also presented telemetry data demonstrating a significantly higher success rate with the integrated Wi-Fi feature to justify the additional cost.

Outcome: I secured buy-in from printer program teams to cover the chip cost and allocate firmware and QA resources to support this user-centric solution.

Engagement during long loading

Situation: While optimizing load times and system performance, we identified two cloud connection points that consistently exceed a 3-second threshold. Though they can load in under 10 seconds, slower internet speeds may extend this to 30–60 seconds.

My role & actions: I led a junior designer in creating various UI pattern concepts that make content easily digestible while preventing users from navigating away from the current setup path. I collaborated with a UX writer and product managers to explore content strategies that keep users engaged during the loading process. I then partnered with a UX researcher to test user preferences regarding both the content and interaction within the UI pattern concepts.

Outcome: After testing, we finalized the content snippets, interaction model, and optimized the loading animation and messaging for clarity

Real-time Hardware Setup Guidance

Situation: The in-app hardware setup guidance provides real-time communication between the printer and the app, which allows it to show step-by-step instructions based on the user's physical installation progress, detect errors, and provide troubleshooting guidance. However, there is a performance issue when the printer's communication is delayed, which has caused users to feel stuck or to quit the app prematurely, thinking the setup was complete. Because fixing the performance issue requires a platform-level effort, a short-term solution is needed.

My role & actions: I guided a senior designer to create a new design pattern, which enables users to bypass system delays and move forward with the installation steps. To address the common errors users experience during the ink and alignment stages, I collaborated with the hardware program designer to find the root cause and instructed a UX writer on providing self-guided troubleshooting.

Outcome: Not requiring firmware support, the new solution can be deployed to both new and past products. Users can easily locate error codes and retry steps once the issue is fixed. This has also given the printer program team confidence that fewer users will encounter problems during hardware setup.

First Printout

Situation: The first printout is a key moment for informing users that setup is complete and allowing them to print a test page to check the printer's quality. I discovered during design audits for new printer programs that the printout design, despite multiple release updates, had not been implemented as intended, causing some printer families to receive an outdated version. To address this, I worked with the product manager to prioritize the issue and collaborated with the engineering team to estimate the feasibility of the update..

My role and actions: After aligning on a release target, I led a cross-functional remote workshop to gather business-promoting content from three product managers and ideate across three design teams. The design team was initially skeptical due to previous failed attempts to get business partner alignment for a first-printout redesign.

Outcome: The ideation workshop aligned the Home, SMB, and Solutions teams on four key selling points (KSPs) to promote features in the HP app. It enabled the design and UX writing teams to move forward with a celebratory printout concept that highlights color and resolution. I partnered with engineering to confirm the feasibility of localization and dynamic rules, ensuring accurate deployment across regions. With early alignment from key business partners, the new design was successfully launched in the target release.

3.5 Stabilized New Printer Launch Cycle & Improved Efficiency

Setup & Onboarding Blueprint Baseline Specs

After driving the key strategy and quick wins for HP app improvements, I created a simplified view of the blueprints to effectively socialize the experience and requirements with cross-functional stakeholders.

Accelerate time-to-market with confidence in product quality

Blueprints clarified setup and onboarding expectations for each printer program, reducing cross-team friction and significantly lowering my time investment—enabling me to support four programs at different launch stages simultaneously.

4. Optimize Account Sign-up & Service Enrollment During Setup

With the Blueprint baseline and product launch stabilized, the Setup & Onboarding team focused on optimizing account sign-up and service enrollment. Drawing on years of qualitative research, I developed data-driven hypotheses and designed experiments to balance user needs with business goals. Through cross-functional collaboration, we ran global A/B tests via Optimizely and large-scale production experiments to refine app flow timing and key selling points (KSPs) for account creation and Instant Ink enrollment—boosting metrics without compromising user satisfaction.

4.1 Problems: Setup Friction & Confusion Between HP+ & Instant Ink

HP+ is a smart printing system loyalty program in developed markets that incentivizes account creation by offering cloud features, extended warranty, and an extra month of Instant Ink, an ink subscription service, during setup. However, it introduced friction, leading to negative user sentiment, setup failures, and printing issues for non-compliant users. Since its 2021 launch, HP+ has consistently received negative feedback in pre-launch printer user testing. This sparked ongoing tension between Printer Product Managers, who advocate removing the offer from setup, and Solutions Product Managers, who support its placement to drive cloud strategy adoption. Our design team faced a persistent challenge balancing stakeholder demands with significant user pain points during setup.

Timing & Education

The timing of presenting HP+ and Instant Ink doesn’t match the user's mindset
Unclear/lack of user education and guidance for the HP+/Instant Ink offer and software solutions

Instant Ink

Instant Ink enrollment is lengthy and complex
Instant Ink visual design is disjointed with HP+ offer and the rest of setup screens
Instant Ink is offered after HP+, and users may not see the offer if they declined HP+

“I just want to print something, let me do that before asking me to sign up for some deal.”

Desket, UK

“I’m just going to skip this here, ... I really can’t be bothered to think about this sort of thing whilst I still in the middle of setting it up”

LaserJet, Germany

“I saw the warranty and free ink. I thought it would be a nice idea. I would have liked to go back to see. I would not have presented this in the beginning.”

OfficeJet Pro, US

“I think HP+ is the advertisement for the ink,...it still comes down to its an ink service plan. And you get an additional year warranty”

DeskJet, US

4.2 Strategic Intent To Solve The Problem

Align with users’ expectations by moving the HP+ offer to post-setup, ensuring the printer functions first
Remove the confirmation step and repeated offer when users decline HP+
Decouple HP+ and Instant Ink offer
Reduce barriers for Instant Ink trial enrollment

While these changes could improve user sentiment and reduce setup friction, they risk lowering key business metrics—leading to hesitation from leadership to proceed.

4.3 HP+ Value Prop A/B Testing - Optimizely

Because changing the setup flow sequence required significant architectural updates, I partnered with the product manager and UX writer to kick off the refinement of HP+ value propositions and to support any visual design updates were needed. Product managers then continue to drive incremental experiments with a third-party A/B testing platform. The team experimented with different messaging, order, and quantity to clarify HP+ and Instant Ink, aiming to incrementally improve business metrics while minimizing disruption.

Key Metrics:

Acceptance Rate: users who clicked on “Activate HP+” on the HP+ offer page
Overall Activation Success/Activation Rate: The main metrics for the A/B testing. It measures users who made it through the HP+ pages (offer and requirements) and successfully set up an HP account (Also known as conversion rate)
Statistical significance is calculated based on the activation rate.
Instant Ink Enrollment Rate/II Thanks: users who made it through Instant Ink enrollment and are signed up for Instant Ink

A/B testing framework

Each test began with a hypothesis and included one control and multiple variants, each differing by a single element to ensure clear, actionable results.

Experiment examples (100+ rounds launched over 1.5 years)

Experiment result

4.4 "12-minute" Setup & Onboarding Initiative
NPS and telemetry data revealed a sharp divergence in setup time between detractors and promoters beyond 19 minutes. Executives have set a target of 12 minutes or less for setup completion.

Assessing the current user journey setup time

Expert evaluation shows the power-to-print happy path takes ~21 minutes. Achieving the 12-minute goal requires cutting at least 9 minutes through major flow changes, hardware investments, cloud architecture revamps, and minimizing errors, performance issues, and setup deviations.

4.5 In-Market A/B Testing With Live Products
The service offerings (HP+, HP account, Instant Ink) are the longest and most friction-prone part of setup, often triggering negative user sentiment due to their placement. While other optimizations are underway, we need to assess the business impact of shifting these offerings to post–first print.

Key Metrics

Business Metrics

Account creation rate
HP+ activation rate
Instant Ink adoption rate

Experience Metrics:

NPS (Net Promoter Score)
CSAT (Customer Satisfaction)
Setup time

Strategy Experiments Phased Plan

Kicked off experiments with partners and business senior leadership support. Designed a series of experiments based on past user insights.

Control (Current production experience)

Key pain points

User sentiment is low. Lengthy setup & users feel offerings are presented at the wrong time during setup.
Service comprehension is low. Users thought HP+ is a subscription service, and were not clear on the requirements

Phase 1 - Printer setup first

Hypothesis: A quick and straightforward setup aligned with users’ mental models will increase satisfaction, confidence, and drive equal or higher service engagement.

Phase 2 - Account/Service enablement first as an IOT companion app

Hypothesis: Leading with the HP account value proposition, followed by the shortest setup—aligned with IoT app industry standards—will increase user satisfaction and enable stronger post-setup engagement through HP’s CRM strategy.

4.5.1 Phase 1 Result

We launched the experimental flow in the U.S. for Envy printer setup on iOS. Over three weeks, data from 3,000+ units was collected, including funnel conversion and setup satisfaction for both control and test groups.

Control

Experiment Flow Phase 1

Key Findings

High NPS scores correlated with shorter setup times, but business metrics declined, leading senior leadership to reject the flow due to perceived risks.

4.5.2 Phase 2 (In-progress)

Following the phase 2 launch, the team identified architectural discrepancies between flows. We initiated further testing to validate results and refined screen designs to streamline service offerings.

Control

Experiment Flow Phase 2

Partnering with the Instant Ink product and design teams, we explored alternative ways to present account value propositions. I led two rounds of qualitative research to understand user sentiment and preferences, informing production-level A/B testing.

Qualitative Research Insights

Remote testing N=56: Unmoderated N=48; Moderated N=8

Flow 3 performed best overall. Ranked highest for overall satisfaction. Resulted in the most account creations and Instant Ink enrollments. (Flow 4 had the second-highest).

Users prefer to see account benefits before the Instant Ink offer.
They favor progression from free benefits to paid services.
Best to present account benefits and Instant Ink offer separately.
Users struggle with text-heavy screens that make it hard for some to distinguish between the offers.

However, Flow 4 was the most desired flow from business stakeholders.

Launched experiments with flow 3 & 4 in US (on-going)

Experiment Flow Phase 2 - Flow 3

User onboarding value prop - Account benefits first, then Instant Ink as a separate offer

Hypothesis: Presenting HP+ benefits as part of the HP account value proposition—without separate HP+ branding—will reduce user confusion, boost account creation, streamline Instant Ink enrollment, and support future CRM growth.

Experiment Flow Phase 2 - Flow 4

User onboarding value prop - Instant Ink offer with combined account benefits

Hypothesis: Using the Instant Ink offer to lead engagement will widen the funnel and boost conversion and account creation rates.

5. Accomplishments

+13%

HAPPIER CUSTOMERS

Increased user satisfaction in comparison to predecessor products

+10PTS

NET PROMOTOR SCORE

Correlates to higher user retention rate and revenue growth

+7%

ONBOARDING RATE

Continuous A/B testing of data-driven value propositions drives incremental lift

4X

MORE EFFICIENT

Optimized design resourcing from a 1:1 to a 1:4 designer-to-program ratio without compromising quality