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My roles

User Research, Sketches, Wireframes,

Prototyping, UI Design

Timeline

November 2023

Tools

Figma and Miro

Overview

You is a fictional music streaming application that is looking to help clients transition the usage of the product from a freemium to a paid subscription model. Since the company has attracted a good amount of users, they thought it was time to step up and find a way to upgrade their service while benefiting from profit. 

Problem

The application could be used for free however the company wants a design that will keep their clients but find a way to get the clients to upgrade their services by paying a monthly subscription.

Solution

I have been contacted to design an app that creates an experience for first-time users and existing users. First-time users will be led to sign up for the premium services and then existing users will be asked to upgrade at sign-in or in the application. 

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Discovery and Empathsizing

Initial Research & User Insights

Competitve 
Analysis

I analyzed 3 different companies: YouTube, Pandora, and Spotify. I wanted to learn and identify key factors for successfully implementing the premium services model. I have broken my research down to what I like and dislike about the app and then what are some action items behind each one.

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LIKE 

  • Has access to various content, not only music: Music videos, original content, tv shows, and movies

  • Ad-free experience

  • Allowed to stream offline

DISLIKE

  • Ads can be interrupted in the middle of the content if not on the premium

  • Cannot download shows or music for offline streaming

ACTION ITEM

  • Ads can get annoying especially if the ads play in the middle of the song or video so it attracts more users to switch over premium

LIKE 

  • Personalized and looks out for music that the users might like so they will not get bored of using the app

  • Ad-free experience

  • Allowed to stream offline

DISLIKE

  • Free-users get adds in-between songs and not able to stream offline

  • Price is $9.99 and continues to rise

ACTION ITEM

  • Spotify is the highest and strongest competitor out there for music streaming services

  • Clients are attracted to the slick and interactive design

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LIKE 

  • Able to show different music choices that you may like. Radio-like setup.

  • Ad-free experience

  • Allowed to stream offline

DISLIKE

  • Is not personable

  • Cannot make playlists even on free and premium services

ACTION ITEM

  • Not the most popular because users cannot make personable playlists and enjoy certain music they want to hear instead they have to hear other random songs in between

User 
Interviews

This interview is conducted to dive further into the research on the patterns of what users go through before purchasing premium services. 

 

I interviewed 4 people who are in the ages between 18-24 years old.  

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Listed below are some of the questions that were asked: 

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Question 1

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Have you every subscribed to any services?

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Question 2

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What is the thought process of purchasing premium services?

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Question 3

What are the benefits you have noticed when getting the “all-access” to a service?

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Question 4

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How many services are paying the premium?

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Question 5

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Have you ever subscribed to any services?

Relaxing with Music

 
"Purchasing them was very easy with an upgrade to premium screen popping up once in a while and a big upgrade button when heading to the profile tab for most if not all apps."

Empathy Mapping

I created a fictional character based on the information I learned from my interviews. I organized that into empathy mapping. 

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Ideating

Wireframe and Prototyping

User Flow

This flow map shows the overall steps users will go through to complete the steps of subscribing to premium services. It is broken into 3 sections.

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1. Signing up for premium

2. Login/Sign Up

3. Premium services after sign-up/login (only for free users) 

Overall User Flow
Signing up for premium

1

2

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3

Wireframing and
Guerrilla Testing

After all my research, I am in the beginning stages of creating my prototype: Low-fidelity Mockup.

Guerrilla Testing Findings

After completing my wireframes, I conducted usability testing with 4 participants who fit the description of who this app would be made for. 

1. Most users said it was easy to navigate

2. All of the users were able to successfully sign up for premium 

3. Liked the option of only being asked once or twice to sign up for premium 

Branding
& Indenity

The name 'You' tells the user that this app is going to feel personable and customizable. The different shades of purple give a calm and fun look to the application. The trend of minimalism is applied because it attracts tech-savvy users 

High Fidelity
Mockup

The name 'You' tells the user that this app is going to feel personable and customizable. The different shades of purple give a calm and fun look to the application. The trend of minimalism is applied because it attracts tech-savvy users.

Validating

Usability Testing and Conclusion

Usability Testing

I conducted another set of interviews remotely with 4 interviewees. The goal of this interview was to get feedback on the app's core functionality. I wanted to learn what is the thought of signing up for a subscription in order to access convenient features.

01

Were you able to successfully sign up? How about logging in?

02

What did you think of purchasing the ‘You’ subscription process?

03

Why did you decide to subscribe to 'You' Premium?

04

What needs to be improved?

Prototyping Test Findings

All users that I have interviewed appreciated the simplicity of the UI design. They said it was straight to the point and everything was easy to find.
 
Most users said when using the freemium version of the application, it showed the message to upgrade the appropriate amount of times. It was not overwhelming and most of them weren't frustrated by the fact they saw those messages when clicking certain app features. 

The concerns I received in the interview were about some of the app features like not being able to type in blank boxes (email and password) or not being able to properly use Apple Pay. Those app features come to life after it is fully developed. 

Conclusion

Malguem is my second capstone and this time, I thought the process was much smoother and faster. I instantly knew what I had to do for each step. As soon as I saw the assignment for coming up with a way to make users subscribe to the premium services, I knew immediately what research I had to do. 

For my research, I thought the sketches helped a lot in designing the application. With the research of the industry leaders, I was able to deep dive into what attracts users to subscribe monthly services. 

Give it a try!

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