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Background
Soundwave is a startup digital music streaming service started two years ago and has built a user base by offering a free product. Soundwave is at a point where the product has been well received by free users and now need to design an experience that will allow users to subscribe and pay a monthly fee.
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Business Goal
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Create opportunity for new users to subscribe to premium during onboarding process
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Create opportunity for returning free users to subscribe to premium in the sign-in flow
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Create opportunity for returning free users to become paid subscribers within the product
Target Users
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18-24 years old
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Very tech savvy
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Budget conscious
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Media is very important part of life
Role
Project Duration
90 Hours
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UX Research
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UX Design
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This project was expected to have the final deliverable within 90 hours so I created a project plan to divide the
work in the 2 weeks timeframe.
Problem:
Customers will subscribe to premium services if it is a necessity in their life and feel it's worth money if there is more contents to enjoy
Study Industry Leaders
As a preparation stage for the project, I decided to analyze how industry leaders have approached similar problems to achieve similar business goals.
Design Thinking:
A non-linear process
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I used design thinking process as a map for this project. Design thinking process starts out by pushing designers to understand the target users, keeping in mind of their real problem and come up with innovative ways to get around that problem. One of the best benefit of design thinking process is that it isn't a linear model, which encourages constant reiteration and helps designers spot issues and potential downfalls of product while sill in the development phase
Step 1: Empathize
I conducted user interviews to understand motivations of users that subscribe to premium media services. I wanted to find out what the reasons and features are worth paying for. I was given a list of target users characteristics for this project so I was able to quickly select participants that match those criteria.
Important Quotes
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"I cancel premium services based on needs”
"Some subscription services are too expensive"
"Youtube ads feel annoying but I don't have to subscribe because I can skip it or work around it to watch it free"
"Spotify Premium is a must because I cannot stand listening to ads in between songs"
“I have Netflix subscription because there is a large sections of shows”
Step 2: Define
Empathy map is a tool used to organize and synthesize information gathered form user interviews. It was a challenge to meet the business goal while making the flow user centric. So I used design thinking approach to define the problem in terms of users.
Step 3: Ideate
I used user flow as a method of ideation for a visual representation of the steps a user takes to complete premium subscription task. User flows help designers understand the user's journey through the products, identify pain points, and create more intuitive and user-friendly experience.
Click on the image to view
Then I quickly created wireframes in Figma to visually represent the layout and structure. Wireframing helps map out basic elements and functionality of a product before moving on to more detailed design work.
Step 4: Prototype
Next step was to prototype the wireframes created in the earlier stage to test and validate design concepts before investing more time into creating a high-fidelity design.
Step 5: Test
I conducted usability testing to five potential users to evaluate the low fidelity design. The goal of this usability test was to identify any usability issues and gather feedbacks from users on their experience.
Results...
From this round of usability testing, I was able to find out that the flow overall was very logical and straightforward. However some of the feedbacks I received needed some attention.
Premium upgrade at bottom navigation is unusual
Wishes user can get reminders of offer instead of seeing it every time log in
Although users mentioned how they dislike ads in the middle of the song, they understood it's as a marketing strategy
Upgrade CTA should be after explanation of premium benefits
Although this is the final stage of design thinking, this is not where it ends. As the design thinking process is iterative, the results from usability testing helped generate more ideas.
Repeat! Ideate → Prototype → Test
After iteration, I conducted second round of usability testing with five different participants. This time, I received more comments about how the app only focus on marketing its premium version, which is not very user centric. At this stage, I realized that the app was solely focusing on its business goal, not users. This made me go back to Define stage and revisit the problem and ideate again to refine the product so it is more user centered.
Before
Iteration #2
Advertisement moved to the end of the song
Modal UI changed from Apple UI version to add more app identity
Comparison chart between free vs premium. Added more information of its features
Contrast between free vs premium home page. Added podcast feature, which is only available for premium users
Final Version
What I learned
What a big mistake I made only thinking about the business goal in the early stage of designing! I learned the importance of usability testing and design thinking process. It guided me for constant reiteration and revisit other phases. Design thinking process always put users at the center of every process. As as I final product, I was able to come up with a solution for business but also making sure that it is user-centric.
Thank you for reading!
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