Audiobooks.com
Product redesign - new features
Coherent Solutions
3 months
Role: Leading designer
Jul 2022
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Overview
Being an audiobooks.com user, I noticed some inconveniences within the product. I took it as an opportunity for an interesting project.
Audiobooks.com is a platform where users can browse and listen to audio books, podcasts and other audio content via web or dedicated mobile app.
The problem
Audiobooks.com is losing audience for competitors which offer better value and user experience.
Hypothesis
1. Adding a car player feature.
2. Adding a narrator voice change feature.
3. Introducing a better way to find a wanted place in audio.
The goal
Gain competitive advantage by improving existing user experience and value proposition while maintaining brand consistency.
How will success be measured?
Rate of 5* ratings change on the app store
Net promoter score
Survey results
App link share rate & app invitation share rate
Conversion rate from free trial to subscription
Number / rate of users
# of active users
User purchases
Churn rate
Understanding the user
Screening survey
6 user interviews 1 : 1
At this stage, when having to know business better, it was essential to look at the situation from the another perspective – user's side.
The goal of this stage was to empathize with a user to get a good understanding of user needs, their goals, motivations and pain points.
Main research findings
The feeling book enthusiast
The goal-oriented busy bee
The dutiful learner
The scope & from 'what' to 'how'
After analyzing business and already knowing user needs, I needed to update my early hypothesis:
Car player feature
audio note feature
Impact Map made for each persona helped me to choose features that would bring most benefits.
Once I knew what features I will work on, I needed to find the best way realize them. I started ideating how could I address users' pain points and help achieve business its goals.
Looking into product's IA mapping I identified opportunities where could new features be integrated (marked in bright yellow).
Wireframes
When I already knew where user should see these new features and how they interact, I started visualizing them on a screen.
Audio notes and updated audio navigation
Menu with new features
Narrator voice change
Usability testing & result
Later, I completed Usability Testing to find out if users can complete tasks within the prototype without major challenges & find out areas of friction.
Usability testing & KPI's
Moderated & unmoderated
Time on task
Conversion rate
Main usability testing findings & refinement
Users would like to have separate buttons for bookmarks and notes.
Icon and / or wording under "Bookmarks" and "Notes" seemed confusing.
Long icon tap interaction seemed unusual for leaving a voice note
Update - a more common interaction widely recognized by users.
Users often do not notice a 3 dot menu on a book cover.
Update - new placement allows good contrast despite of book cover color.
Users often do not notice a 3 dot menu on a book cover.
Impact and next steps
During research I found out what pain points exist and that solutions for these problems would be in high demand.
Narrator change - would help to increase happiness, engagement into content and more audio books would appear attractive for users.
Voice note feature - would help to make more out of users' time while using the app.
Improved player controls - would allow users to catch up on the content quicker and save their time.
Next steps
Usability testing round 2.
Additional research on player navigation and controls to help users find a necessary place in audio quicker.
Proceed with other functionalities that were confirmed during research.
What I learned
Do not try to include all potential features and changes in one release. It's better to have a smaller scope but research and test it well.
It is crucial to first analyze business in order to describe opportunities well.