Enabling User Engagement through Friendly Interface Design
| Role: Product Management Intern
| Duration: May - Aug 2021
| Supervisor: Nico Beck, CPO of Experify
To enhance a web plugin that connects potential buyers with those who already own the product for an authentic product review, I worked with Nico, the Chief Product Officer, to review Experify's product and market. I specifically conducted a holistic UX audit, performance analysis, and user interviews to ideate and prototype a new product UI which increased user conversion rate by 41%.
Introduction
Experify is a plug-in added onto online shopping sites to connect those browsing the products with those who already own the product. Potential buyers can locate product owners around them, inquire about the product, and possibly set up a meet-up to "experience" the product.
As a product management intern, I began by performing a UX audit, following a user's journey step by step and taking a look at the analytics. Then, I conducted user interviews, identified areas of improvement, and ideated possible solutions. I finished off the internship by creating a prototype on Figma and brainstorming potential expansion ideas.
1. UX Audit
I conducted a step-by-step product review, both from the perspective of a product customer, product owner, and site visitor. I organized the findings on a Miro board.
To take a look at the broader picture, I mapped out the general user flow for product customers and product owners, identifying where the customer might possibly exit during the process.
Given access to analytics, I reviewed the numbers and gathered insights.
Through looking at the analytics, user flow, and the step-by-step evaluation I performed, I listed out possible opportunities for improvement — both in terms of UI usability and the bigger concept of Experify's product.
2. User Interviews
Next, I conducted interviews using Experify's implementation on the Radon bikes site. I collected five users of various backgrounds who may come across Radon's site looking for potential bikes to buy. After collecting insights and feedback, I synthesized the observations to draw out areas of the product that need improvement, along with potential solutions.
It looked like the main area Experify's plugin needed work on was the initial click — enticing the browser to get them to 1) notice the product, 2) immediately understand its purpose, and 3) click on it.
Even when the users clicked on the plugin, many were hesitant to sign up and actually reach out to the locals. There was a need for the plugin to be accessible without signing in, along with a guarantee that these locals would respond to the shoppers without a wait or uncertainty whether they would receive a response.
3. Ideating and Prototyping a New UI
To make the plugin more noticeable and understandable, along with increasing the conversion from users clicking on the plugin to actually contacting the product owners, I decided to carry out the idea of implementing a live chat function, where the online status of product owners would be indicated (this would mean that some sort of mobile text/email integration would have to be done on the product owners' end, to ensure they instantly receive and can reply to inquirers' messages) for the potential buyers. To visualize the idea, I created simple wireframes on Figma.
[BEFORE] Clicking on the plugin takes user straight to a map view
At first sight, it's unclear what exactly the plugin button does
Users are hesitate to reach out, since they don't know when they'll hear back
Many do not immediately understand the purpose of the map
[AFTER] Clicking on the plugin takes user to a familiar chat UI
Allows users to see who's online - makes owners more approachable
Users are more likely to reach out with a sense of guaranteed fast response
A chat UI is easier to navigate, since it's closer to what users expected to see
4. Brainstorming Product Expansion
The CPO had an idea of expanding Experify's plugin into a gig economy, so I explored the idea by brainstorming possible ways the product could grow, making sure to align with current business goals.
Here are a few rough sketches on how the gig economy idea might roll out on a web and mobile app.
5. Implementation of Idea
After my internship, Nico took the idea of a chat UI and implemented it into the plugin. Conducting A/B testing against the previous button UI, it led to a 41% increase in user conversion rate. It was cool to see the idea rolled out!
BEFOREAFTER
Overall, through the 10-week internship, got to experience:
looking at product analytics, knowing what to measure and how to interpret and implement the data
conducting user interviews and gathering insights
a glimpse into what a CPO does, and how fast a startup iterates upon feedback and ideas
Special thank you to Nico and the Experify team for this opportunity — I had a great time working with them!