Project Brief
Working through research, sketching, wireframing, testing and prototyping a mobile subscription tracking application
Sections
Project Goals and Restrictions
A popular subscription managing company runs a desktop-only website, and is now looking to create a mobile version of its product that can be used by a broader audience. The company realizes that adding mobile capability to their product will significantly increase their market reach as more than half of their potential users report preferring mobile applications. This will ultimately result in more business. The consumer research conducted by said company was collected and analyzed to reveal three consumer needs.
Consumer Needs
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Current users want to see all of their subscriptions in one place so that they can get a comprehensive view of spending on subscriptions
Returning users want to easily unsubscribe from a subscription so that they can reduce needless spending
Consumers want to be notified if any subscriptions are about to be auto-renewed so they can make a decision about the renewal
Limitations
The project is strictly limited to 90 hours. The final design must utilize elements of the original desktop version and include a working prototype by the end of the last design day.
User Insights
Who is using this subscription model?
Subscription based commerce is a quickly expanding. A study done on thousands of US shoppers conducted by McKiney and Company showed that 15 percent of online shoppers have signed up for one or more subscriptions and receive products on a recurring basis. These payment models often target younger, affluent urbanites and in a survey of more than 1,000 U.S.-based consumers, 95% of respondents believe subscription-based services will become more prominent in the coming years. Yet only 22% strongly favor subscription-based services, with 38% noting subscriptions add stress in their life.
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Balance Book should aim to reach a younger affluent demographic through more modern design choices while reducing the reported stress of subscriptions
What are users concerns with existing products?
Users in this age and tax bracket complain that managing apps ”feel like spam”. User's comparing the value of subscription managing services on message boards such as Reddit struggle to see a distinct benefit to the price of these services. Users report the model as predatory, tricking those who are unable to budget for themselves into spending unnecessarily
"Users find the subscription model to be predatory"
What Do Users Want?
A feeling of control
Shoppers like feeling that they in control of their financial situation, distilling complex information into simple data. Customers are usually in a higher tax bracket and of an age that demands simple and intuitive design over hyper personalization and extra features. Retaining a simple focused design will help avoid the reported "scammy" feeling of other apps
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Streamlined Process
If the service is less intuitive than the original method of subscription cancelation, the application’s appeal falls through. The process of cancelling a service has to take less steps than it would via a traditional bank statement and manual cancelation.
Example Flow | Rocket Money
Studying competitor applications helped to identify positive and negative elements that BalanceBook could incorporate or avoid respectively
Positives
Negatives
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Separate and identifiable menu option for recurring payments
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Unsubscribe button is easily accessible when menu is clicked
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Helpful guide bubble points you to the cancelation menu
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When cancelation is not possible, further directions are included
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All Vs. Upcoming tab do not need to be separate pages, Upcoming is already sorted into “due soon” and “due later”
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No section for “about to be renewed” subscriptions
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Filter section also lacking in “sort by renewal”
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Cancelation button should be at the top of the All tab, as it is a main user function
Actionable Features
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Section devoted to current subscriptions users successfully canceled
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Notification section to keep users informed on new or recurring subscriptions
3. Sorting options to view subscriptions
4. Guides to help along the way
Elements and Justifications
Elements and Justifications for the mobile application were collected from the list of actionable Items established in the research phase. Drawing from the consumer needs and insights research, the app was designed to be as simple as possible while fulfilling the user needs. Elements like the "Calendar View" provided redundant information to the user and were dropped from the list.
Onboarding
Users can set up their account and are introduced to the functions and abilities of the application
Home Page
Users see the subscription list, spending graph, cancelation instructions and sort options
Subscriptions List
Connected to a sort function, the subscription section is the main element of the page
Spending Chart
Directly below the subscription list, showing spending trends and upcoming spending trajectories
Notifications
Sorted to the top of the page, notifications section warns user of upcoming charges and concerns
Wireframing
A low-fi wireframe prototype was created from the main elements collected in the last step. Red routes such as "cancelling a subscription" and "sorting subscription list" were prioritized in order to test them with users.
User-Testing Session Insights
The wireframe prototype was tested with 3 users in order to re-organize and clean up features and routes that were deemed important to the overall success of the application. Users were asked to complete the following tasks and asked about general usability and intuitiveness along the way.
Tasks
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If you wanted to find subscriptions that were about to renew, how would you go about that?
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If you wanted to see all of your subscriptions how would you do that?
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If you wanted to see your yearly spending graphs, how would you do that?
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If you wanted to see only your most expensive subscriptions how would you do that?
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Cancel an HBO subscription
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Navigate to the notifications tab
Changing the Upcoming and Subscription Section
1. Users found some of the titles for the upcoming section confusing, it is not clear initially what it means and why it is separated from other general subscriptions
2. The wording for the Current and All filter on the subscription list is confusing, users are not clear as to is being sorted
Spending Report and Nav Bar
3. The spending report section was deemed lower in priority than the subscription sections and moved to the bottom of the scroll
4. The bottom nav bar was not used at all and was removed for clarity
Design Choices
The design system uses a monochromatic color scheme, relying on shades of green against a white background in order to not distract from the tasks at hand or alienate the target demographic. Red is used to draw attention to important and time sensitive elements on the app and stands out against the otherwise white and green theme to ensure users are drawn to important information first.
The font style Sarabun Regular helps lend the application a more modern feeling without sacrificing readability or clarity.
Prototype Highlights
Onboarding
Users can set up their account and are introduced to the functions and abilities of the application.
Users can choose their preferred method of adding new subscriptions and get a brief overview of what Balance Book needs to do its job
Next Payment
Users are immediately notified of their next payment and can view both yearly and monthly spending habits with said service
Subscriptions List
After the Next Payment section, the users can interact with and sort all of their current and past services
In App Cancelation
Upon deciding to cancel a service, users are shown the subscriptions pertinent information and then guided through the steps to cancellation before removing the element from the subsciptions list
Manually Adding Services
Users can add in other services that aren't tracked by their chosen bank, and manually enter the necessary information to see it in the subscriptions list
Final Thoughts
Upon completing the final prototype I went back to the 3 main goals of the re-design and made sure that I had successfully met the user needs.
Consumer Needs
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Current users want to see all of their subscriptions in one place so that they can get a comprehensive view of spending on subscriptions
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Returning users want to easily unsubscribe from a subscription so that they can reduce needless spending
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Consumers want to be notified if any subscriptions are about to be auto-renewed so they can make a decision about the renewal
Design Solutions
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BalanceBook's homepage prioritizes the comprehensive subscription list and allows users to dive deeper into their long term spending habits
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Cancelling a subscriptions is easily accesible and the user is walked through the steps necessary to reduce spending
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The highlighted Next Payment quickly directs users to their upcoming renewals
Given more time and the ability to further test and iterate I would change the prototype design to include more callouts and elements that guide users to the cancel subscription function in order to ensure it is as easy as possible. I would also personalize the graphic representation of the spending reports by conducting a round of interviews and determining which spending paramaneters are most important to the demographic.