After building a user base by offering a freemium product, Encore now wants to design a premium experience to which users can subscribe and pay a monthly fee.
Generative Research, User Interviews, Affinity Mapping, User Personas, Jobs to be Done, Conceptual Development, Brand Development, Storyboarding, Wireframing, Usability Testing, Interface Design, High-Fidelity Prototyping
Figma, Miro, Photoshop, Google Forms
UX Designer & Project Lead
3 month sprint, completed June 2022
Design a premium experience catering to Encore’s target user group.
Present said premium experience in a way that converts free users into paid subscribers, thus creating a profitable revenue stream.
Survey Encore’s user base to design a premium experience uniquely compelling to them.
A business model allowing users to support the artists they listen to most.
A compelling call to action, converting 60% of free users to paid subscribers.
I started by analyzing 5 of Encore’s competitors and compiled the following list of features commonly offered in premium subscriptions.
I then conducted a survey of Encore’s target user base, asking them to select the features that would be most enticing to them.
Advertisement free listening polled the highest, followed by unlimited song skips and the ability to make & share playlists.
Directly supporting artists polled high at 71.4% This was surprising as only one competitor is currently using this feature.
I created a mind map exploring the various ways a live music lover could support their favorite artist.
Monetary support through streaming and telling others about them through social media stood out as the most effective ways to allow users to support their favorite artists through Encore’s premium experience.
Most streaming giants pay artists per play, with some paying as little as $.00038 per stream.
User Centric Payment Systems have been touted as being more profitable for smaller, indie acts. Rather than paying per stream. It divides a portion of the listener’s subscription fee equally among the artists they listen to in a given period.
While a User Centric Payment System would benefit artists behind the scenes, it was important to keep the user engaged through the process.
To do this, users would be notified of their top artist each month. They would be reminded of how this artist, among others, were benefiting from their subscription fee and would be encouraged to share their top artist on social media to build buzz.
In addition to supporting user’s Top Artists, a premium subscription would also include ad-free listening, unlimited song skips, and the ability to make and share custom playlists.
I then explored how these features would appear to a free user vs a premium user when listening to content.
Now that Encore’s premium experience had been designed, I needed to convert free users to paid subscribers.
After users had created a free account and explored Encore’s homepage, the following modal would appear.
I then tested this low-fidelity prototype on 5 participants.
While 40% of participants opted to sign up for a premium subscription, 0% could recall all 5 premium features offered.
Users are not taking in all the necessary information before making their decision.
While some users commented that they liked the comparison between a free and premium account, it was clear this information was taking up valuable cognitive load.
With these insights in hand, I conducted A/B testing to compare two alternative, high-fidelity screens. Both of which were designed to pare down the amount of information shown so as to reduce cognitive overload and increase conversions.
60% of participants presented with Screen A opted to sign-up for a premium subscription vs only 40% of participants who were presented with Screen B.
It was clear the changes made after the first round of testing were successful in decreasing the amount of cognitive overload users experienced when prompted to sign up for a premium account.
In the first round of testing, users were able to decline upgrading their account. In the second iteration, the option to decline was replaced with the option to be prompted again in one week.
This gives Encore an additional chance to convert this group of users to paid subscribers after they have been given ample time to explore the app.
By surveying Encore’s target demographic, I discovered which features were most compelling to this unique user base and designed a premium experience allowing users to support their favorite artists with a portion of their subscription fee.
Then, using insights gained from usability and A/B testing, I presented this premium product in a user flow that converts 60% of new users to paid subscribers.
I used the information gathered from competitive analysis to survey Encore’s target user group and discover which premium features were most important to them.
When surveyed, users expressed interest in certain features, however, when those features were presented to them using a lackluster CTA, users didn’t convert.
30% of users stated they “never” sign up for a premium experience when first prompted. If this app were to be implemented, I’d explore additional ways to convert this group of users.
