Inspiring app users with user generated content

The Brief Inspiring and compelling customers

Research and insights highlighted a user need for inspiration through community-generated content. The objective was to provide users, particularly those in "browse" mode, with compelling visual content in a gallery format on the app's home screen. This gallery would display user-generated posts linked to products featured in the images, offering direct access to product details. An MVP approach was adopted to deliver the component and measure engagement.

My role

I worked as an end-to-end experience designer within a multidisciplinary mobile applications scrum team. My responsibilities included:

• Conducting research to define user needs.
• Ideating and conceptualizing user journeys and flows.
• Creating wireframes, prototypes, and conducting usability testing.
• Ensuring designs adhered to accessibility standards for mobile apps.
• Following Apple and Android design guidelines to implement best practices.

The Challenge Content curation

A critical aspect of the project was implementing a new API to integrate user-generated content. This required close collaboration with another team to enable the mobile app to pull and display the content in a grid format effectively.

High-Level Goals

• Enable users to easily view user-generated content.
• Link products in posts to in-stock items with seamless navigation to product detail screens.
• Utilise mobile app accessibility features, including voice-over capabilities.

The Process Browse and Shop

1. Research

• Investigated approaches to inspire users in "browse" mode.
• Explored methods to drive repeat visits and establish the app as the primary platform for shopping and browsing.

2. Competitor Analysis

• Analyzed similar features implemented by competitors, identifying their strengths and weaknesses.

3. Ideation and User Flows

• Mapped potential designs, user journeys, and entry points to integrate the UGC feed seamlessly into the app.

4. Wireframing and Prototyping

• Developed low-fidelity wireframes and mockups to present to stakeholders for alignment.
• Collaborated with developers to ensure technical feasibility and identify constraints.

5. Accessibility and Design Standards

• Ensured the design met accessibility standards, leveraging voice-over capabilities to improve usability for all users.
• Adhered to platform-specific design guidelines (Apple and Android) to maintain a polished and intuitive user experience.

The Results Positive initial results

The UGC component was successfully rolled out to 100% of customers before Christmas 2022, following a successful testing phase. Key metrics included:

• Engagement: Initial click-through rate exceeded 0.3%.
• Scrolling Behavior: 0.2% of users scrolled to the end of the gallery, indicating potential for improved engagement with additional filters and onward journey enhancements.
• Repeat Engagement: 12% of users who interacted with the component on their first visit engaged with UGC again during subsequent visits.
• In-Session Exploration:
  • 48% of users who viewed one UGC post went on to view another during the same visit.
  • 30% of users explored three or more posts in a single session.

These results underscored the potential of UGC to engage customers and drive further interaction. Future developments aim to enhance functionality with improved filters, additional content, and more robust onward journey options to increase these metrics further.

The UGC component rolled out successfully to 100% of customers before Christmas 2022 (following a successful test period). With an initial clickthrough rate greater than 0.3%. and 0.2% of customers scrolling to the end of the gallery homepage component (suggestings with more content/filters/onward journey they may also click through).

Customers who clicked on the component on first visit, 12% of them engaged with UGC again on a subsequent visit.

48% of customers who viewed 1 UGC post, went on to view another in the same visit, and 30% of customers went on to view 3 posts. This is positive that customers are able to navigate around but again, we hope that developments for this year can help increase this number!