User story & summary:
As the Growth team, we want to better understand newcomer intentions so that we can more effectively support them as they begin contributing to the wikis.
Background & research:
Quantitative data shows high abandonment rates at this stage of the newcomer funnel, especially on mobile.
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2025/09/26/insights-on-mobile-web-editing-on-wikipedia-in-2025-part-i/
To complement existing quantitative data, we aim to gather survey insights that reveal newcomers’ intentions and challenges during this step. Specifically, we want to better understand:
- What proportion of editing attempts represent exploratory clicks or curiosity-driven actions versus genuine but abandoned editing efforts.
- Whether newcomers are confused by the editing interfaces (VisualEditor vs. wikitext editor) or unsure about how to begin making changes.
- If technical issues such as slow loading, unexpected pop-ups, or permission-related errors are contributing to abandonment.
- Whether messaging or design elements at this stage may unintentionally discourage continued engagement.
Survey details
References
NOTE: This survey should be implemented via QuickSurvey: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:QuickSurveys
@Jdlrobson can help support Growth Engineers with our initial QuickSurvey onboarding and questions.