Guide
What is a user flow? A plain-English guide
A user flow is the path someone takes through your product to get one thing done, like signing up, paying or cancelling. Writing it down is the cheapest way to find problems before they are built.
A simple example
Here is a free trial, written as a flow:
- Visitor clicks "Start free trial".
- Signs up with email.
- Enters a card.
- Uses the product for 14 days.
- Is charged for the first month.
It looks complete. But what happens if the card is declined on day 14? Does anyone remind them before they are charged? How do they cancel? Those missing steps are where most of the cost hides.
The steps people forget
- The unhappy paths. A payment fails, an email never arrives, a link expires.
- The way out. Cancelling, downgrading, deleting an account, exporting data.
- The heads-up. Reminders before a charge, confirmation after a change.
- The second person. The teammate who gets an invite, the admin who has to approve.
How to describe a flow well
You do not need a diagram. A few lines are enough: who it is for, the steps in order, and what worries you about it. For example: "Team leads at small businesses. Sign up, add card, 14-day trial, then charged per person. Worried about refunds." That is exactly what Pixatom asks for to start a pre-flight check.
Check it before you build it
Read your flow and ask, at every step: what if this goes wrong, and how does the person find out? Or let Pixatom do it: it draws your flow as a map, marks the missing steps and backs each gap with evidence from real apps.