TikTok Usability Report: How to Attract New Users

From February to March 2025, I worked with Abena Gyimah and Sophia Harris on a UX research project to uncover how TikTok could better attract and retain new users. We explored user trust, privacy, and personalization issues through five research methods and developed actionable recommendations to help TikTok improve onboarding and usability.

• Role: UX Researcher

• Duration: February – March 2025 (8 weeks)

• Tools: Zoom, Figma, Miro, Canva and Google Forms

• Team: Collaborated with Sophia Harris and Abena Gyimah

Problem Statement

While TikTok’s algorithm is known for highly personalized content, new users often feel overwhelmed, under-informed, or mistrustful of how the app works. They don’t feel immediate value from the content shown, struggle with navigating privacy settings, and aren’t sure how to control their experience. This creates a drop-off risk early in the user journey.

Our Research Approach

To gain a holistic view, we used five methods:

• Desk Research – We examined articles, usage statistics, and reports to understand market position, algorithm behavior, and social commerce trends.

• Ethnographic Observation – We observed real TikTok usage in public settings (CU buses), noting habits, device handling, and social contexts.

• Competitive Teardown – We performed task-based comparisons of TikTok vs. YouTube Shorts across 8 critical user journeys.

• Usability Testing – We conducted 30-minute tests with new, frequent, and infrequent users to evaluate core TikTok flows.

• In-Depth Interviews – We spoke with 3 non-users to understand hesitations and expectations.

Key Insights

1. New users didn’t feel TikTok was personalized to their interests early on, leading to confusion and quick disengagement.

2. Privacy settings were difficult to find and understand, resulting in mistrust about data handling and safety.

3. Shopping features felt intrusive or “cheap” due to gamification elements that interrupted the video experience.

4. Our teardown showed that platforms like YouTube Shorts offer clearer privacy settings and onboarding support — factors that helped highlight TikTok’s key usability gaps.

5. YouTube Shorts offered better privacy clarity and more stable creator compensation, giving users confidence.

Recommendations

1. Interest-Based Onboarding Flow
   Introduce a simple preference survey at signup to guide the algorithm early and reduce irrelevant content for new users.

2. Smarter Shopping Integration
   Make TikTok Shop more subtle and personalized — avoid disruptive gamification and let the algorithm tailor product suggestions.

3. Centralized Privacy Dashboard
   Redesign privacy settings as a single dashboard, with simple toggles, clear feedback, and data-use transparency.

Impact & Reflection

This project gave me the opportunity to apply advanced UX research methods in a team setting with clearly defined goals and deliverables. I led the privacy and competitor analysis, and contributed to shaping actionable recommendations for TikTok’s onboarding and trust issues.

Working across five research methods helped sharpen my skills in synthesizing insights, evaluating platforms critically, and making user-first design decisions grounded in data.