top of page

Melodia

Design premium features and increases the conversion rate for a music platform.

Project Context

Context

A startup company launched a free music app two years ago. At this point, the product has been well received and has a healthy user base of free users. They now need to design a premium experience with an evolved feature set to monetize their product. (This was a concept project)

Problem

As the company has growing freemium users, they want to increase conversion to paid plans, but their conversion rate is still low. Now the company is seeking a more efficient way to increase the rate.

Business Goals

  • Create the opportunity for new users to subscribe to the premium product upon registration in the signup flow.

  • Create the opportunity for returning free users to become paid subscribers in the sign-in flow as well as within the product (once logged in)

Solution

For new users:

  • Pop-up Ads during listening to music.

  • Upgrade to a premium reminder banner in the user's Library and Account.

  • A Free vs. Premium information screen in the onboarding sequence with a 1 Month free offer.

 

For returning users:

  • Pop-up Ads upon opening App.

  • Upgrade to premium banners when pain points occur.

MY ROLE

Solo

UX/UI Designer

UX Researcher

DURATION

3 weeks

40hrs/week

DELIVERABLES

  • User Research

  • Competitive analysis

  • User Flows

  • Wireframes

  • Logo & Branding

  • Prototype

  • Usability Testing

PLATFORM

  • Figma

  • Illustrator

  • Photoshop

Process

Discover

Gathering Clients Requirements

First, I read the project brief and reviewed the wireframes and prompts from the company. The existing flow does not have a prominent CTA to action throughout the free experience that gives the user to opportunity or a compelling reason to subscribe.

Client Questions

1. Is the sign-up flow the right place to upsell or get users to subscribe?
2. Should there be paywalls blocking certain media?

Competitive Analysis

To gain a deep understanding of how other industry leaders are solving this problem, I looked at Pandora, Spotify, and Youtube Music’s onboarding and in-app flow. I paid attention to how they communicated the value of premium features to users.
 

Youtube

Pandora

Spotify

KEY FINDINGS

  • Having a premium/upgrade button throughout the experience, not just on pop-up ads, will remind users of the offering. 

  • Labeling the button with the value proposition (i.e., 1 month Free) would be more convincing for users to try it out.    

  • Highlighting the premium button in settings will enable users to locate it more clearly.

Secondary Research

To make more informed design decisions, I gathered psychographics on the target audience (ages 18-24, tech-savvy, music lovers) and cognitive principles to increase conversion through secondary research.
 

Research Goals

  1. To discover how the major users (aged 18-24) behave with the freemium plan and find the opportunity for new users to subscribe to the premium product through user onboarding.

  2. To learn about how to get the opportunity for returning free users to become paid subscribers within the product (once logged in)

KEY FINDINGS

​Research uncovered many cognitive principles to leverage to boost conversion from freemium to premium.

  • Advanced Personalization — getting to know your user during onboarding, then pointing out specific items they might enjoy. 

  • Endowment effect — users having a higher perceived value of things they already own - offering a free 1 month trial upon onboarding may increase the conversion rate because users get to “own” the premium product for a month.

  • BJ Fogg's behavior model — people taking the right actions at the right time with the right motivation. 

  • Time To Value — the time it takes new users to experience value (or reach their first aha moment)

Meet the Potential User

Based on the target audience's secondary research and information provided during the project brief, I created this persona to guide my design decisions.
 

Persona.png

Ideate

I brainstormed solutions by synthesis research, including business goals, competitive analysis, and secondary research. I could validate these solutions:

 

  • A pop-up ad when listening to music, but not too often.

  • Upgrade reminder when users encounter pain points — clicking on a premium feature or pop-up ad during the music.

  • Labeling the proposition value (1 month free) to convince users to try it out.

  • Personalized homepage after upgrading. 

User Flow

I focused on the 2 user flows that were most relevant to the business goals:

#1. New User Sally is trying out the app and see if she wants to keep the app on her phone or not.
 

#2. Returning user Sam started to like the app and wants to use more features but gets annoyed by the ads and limited features for freemium. He wants to  upgrade to premium and own the product. 

Prototype

First User Testing (Lo-Fi Wireframes)

For the first round of the test, I made a Lo-fi wireframe and focused on the basic user flow, and validated the effectiveness of CTA and Pop-up Ads.

I conducted usability testing with 5 participants. All users are aged 21-25 and very familiar with music streaming apps. All the participants were able to complete the tasks easily in general, and they were able to spot the right icons for each task and finish the routes. But I also found a few issues during the testing:

MAIN ISSUES:

#1. 2 out of 5 users seem a bit confused with what “outdoor” means in the category.

#2. 5 out of 5 users think 2 Pop-up Ads are too much.

#3. 4 out of 5 users wished there was a skip button on the Ads.

#4. 3 out of 5 users wanted to see the differences between the Free and Premium versions.

ITERATIONS TO SOLVE TO PROBLEM:

#1. I changed to “focus” instead of “outdoor” to reduce the confusion.

#2. I reduced it to only one ad to avoid overwhelming users.

#3. I put an X button and also a Skip button to empower users to control the page.

#4. I created a comparison page for users to see the value of the premium plans.

Design

I designed the brand logo and color scheme to effectively express the brand's personality, which exudes excitement, energy, boldness, and a hip vibe. In line with Spotify's platform redesign, which introduced a dark theme to enhance the focus on albums and artists, I incorporated a dark background into our design for the same purpose.

Iteration

Second User Testing (Hi-fi wireframe)

I developed a high-fidelity wireframe based on insights derived from the low-fidelity usability testing. In this iteration, my primary focus was on effectively conveying the premium value to users. To ensure a comprehensive evaluation, I enlisted the participation of 5 new users to test my high-fidelity prototype.

"RECOMMENDED"

Utilizing an intent-based marketing approach resulted in generating high-quality leads.

​

As a result:

All 5 users instinctively chose the recommended option.

"COMPARE PLANS"

Incorporating a plan comparison feature facilitated seamless product comparisons for users.

 

As a result:

All 5 users expressed a positive preference for this feature.

​

MAIN ISSUES:

  • 2 out of 5 users found the profile icon and greeting to be excessively crowded at the top of the screen.

  • 1 out of 5 users reported that the white text on the blue background appeared faded and challenging to read.

  • 4 out of 5 users indicated that they didn't perceive a significant difference in their personalized homepage after upgrading.

SECOND ITERATIONS:

  • To alleviate crowding, I relocated the profile icon from the left side to the right, creating a better balance and spacing.

  • In order to enhance readability, I changed the color of the profile button from blue to purple.

  • To make the impact of the upgrade more immediate, I moved "Made for Sally" to the top of the screen so that users can recognize the difference right away.

Following the upgrade, users can promptly experience the changes through:

  • Switching the profile color from pink (indicating freemium) to the brand's premium blue.

  • Replacing the Ads banner with personalized content displayed as "Made for Sally."

Validation

  • Users naturally anticipate encountering no more than one advertisement.

  • Timing the call-to-action (CTA) correctly is of utmost importance.

  • Allow users to establish activation and discover the product's value initially.

  • Labeling the button with the value proposition, such as "1 month Free," effectively persuaded users to try the premium offering.

  • Adopting an intent-based marketing approach (Recommended) has proven to be effective in generating high-quality leads.

Reflection 

Throughout this project, I have acquired a deeper understanding of the media industry and user behavior. I have come to appreciate the significance of strategically placing CTAs, timing them correctly, and understanding user intent when addressing challenges.

​

If I were to continue working on this project in the future, I would prioritize conducting additional user interviews to delve further into user behavior. I would also gather data to pinpoint the moments of highest conversion and investigate the primary reasons why users might choose not to upgrade.

bottom of page