Subscription Management Mobile App Design
Role:
UX Designer, User Journey, Wireframing, Prototyping, User Testing
Background:
This project was focused on designing a mobile app that helps users manage their subscriptions and cut any unnecessary spending.
Problem Space
Subscription business model is being adopted across nearly every industry and is projected to continue to grow. Free trials and cancellation dates are easily missed and users end up paying for services they are not utulizing.It is easy for people to underestimate how much they spend and on what.
The Solution
Design Process
Learning
User Stories
As a user I want to be able to see all of my subscriptions in one place in order to have a comprehensive view of my spending on subscriptions.
As a returning user I want to unsubscribe from subscriptions in oder to reduce needless spending.
As a consumer I want to know when a subscription is about to be renewed so I can decide if I want to continue or not.
Secondary Research
I had a limited timeline so I decided to run a competitive analysis of similar subscription management apps. My objective was to understand how competitors preset users with their subscription information and what features they offer.
I first thoroughly reviewed each competitor's product and mapped out their user journeys. From there I did a full audit of the product. I looked at the onboarding experience, strengths, weaknesses, and overall design experience. ​
Key Findings
-
Most companies made users manually add subscriptions, there was only 1 indirect competitor who had the ability to link to bank and auto populate subscriptions.
-
There was minimal ability to customize subscriptions
-
Information on subscriptions was primarily presented to users through folder and card organization
-
Competitors utilized a Calendar to highlight upcoming subscriptions
User Interviews
I interviewed 5 people to understand how they track their finances especially subscriptions. I gained valuable insights into their processes.
“I have an idea of what subscriptions I pay for but I am probably missing some. Just last month I realized I was paying for a subscription I wasn’t using. “
Manually tracks finances, incosistantly updates
70% Unaware of what all they are paying for/ how many subs they have
If it is a difficult cancellation process (ex: requires an email) she forgets and continues paying for it
Persona
To define my target audience I created a user persona based on the insights from my user research.
Ideate
User Flow
With a clear definition of my target audience I started to map out the user flows for all use cases.
Sketches
Low Fidelity Wireframes
From the sketches, I transferred the designs into low fidelity wireframes.
I ran a usability test with the low fidelity wireframes to get honest feedback before designing high fidelity screens.
Test
Finding 1: Users struggled navigating how to add a new folder
Solution:
-
Added pre-created subscription label/ tags
-
Option to filter subscriptions by label and month
Round 2 Testing
Users were not utilizing the date filter on the main subscription page. They would rather check the date through the calendar page.
Final Solution:
-
Simplified subscription tags, users can add directly from the main list
-
Removed date filter
Finding 2: Users prefer to cancel subscriptions on their own and not directly through app
Solution:
-
Removed cancellation option from features.
Finding 3: Users preferred more details on reporting tab
Solution:
-
Made it easier and more obvious to filter month and year on the report page
Finding 4: 50% of users preferred to open app to view subscriptions, 50% prefer it listed in calendar
Solution:
-
Enable notifications option
-
Option to link calendar to personal Gmail, Outlook, or other email account.
Final Designs
-
Onboarding Process: Added a simple onboarding process to walk users through how to use the app.
-
Connect bank account and pre-fill subscriptions.
-
Categorize subscriptions through tags.
-
Report page shows categorized total spending over time.
-
In App Calendar with option to enable reminder notifications or link to personal 3rd party calendar
Results
“I am trying to feel more empowered about my spending. I use tools similar to this to help me keep track of everything”
“I always end up paying for subscriptions I don’t use for a few months too long. I could see myself using this to manage my subscriptions”
-
SUS increased from 27% in Round 1 of Usability Tests to 81% in Round 2, pushing the ranking from Good to Excellent.
​
-
The task success rate for red routes reached 91% during the second round of usability testing.
Reflection
If I had more time
Test again
-
I would have liked to test the updated onboarding process with learn as you go techniques
-
Updated process to add a new subscriptions