Role
User Research
Product Strategy
UI Design
Interaction Design
Usability Testing
End-to-end UX/UI Design Process
Tools
Figjam
Notion
Maze
Figma
Timeline
5 weeks
The Problem
As a business, Wim Hof would like to increase the rate of new users converting from a free to a premium paid plan during the 20-day cold shower challenge. In order to increase conversion rates, the business believes their 20-day cold water shower challenge needs to be easier for users to complete with healthy metrics motivating new users’ progress.
As well as making the overall 20-day cold water shower challenge easier with motivating metrics, the business would like the option for users to journal their daily cold water experience and even share this with friends to improve referral rates.
Usability Review
To help me better understand the product, our team conducted a usability review to identify pain points and wow moments in the existing experience. Some of initial reactions to the app centered around some frustrations users had about not being able to revert decisions made in the app. Also, the overall design of the app lacks some inspiration and consistency.
Competitor Benchmarking
With a usability review complete, I moved on to competitor benchmarking to help me identify standards in competitor products that could be used to improve the existing experience.
Business & User Frustrations
Following a usability review, we defined the primary and secondary business and user frustrations.
Primary Frustration
No Primary CTA
When users open the app, it’s not obvious that the 20-Day Cold Shower Challenge is a primary CTA resulting in not seeing a high conversion rate for premium subscriptions.
Secondary Frustration
Before the user completes a session in the 20-day challenge, there are too many decisions to make. The user feels overwhelmed and is more likely to back out of the challenge or close the app.
Once the user starts the cold shower timer, there is not an option to stop the timer just in case they click it by mistake. Also, if you make this mistake and the app believes you completed Day 1, there is no way to reverse this decision which may result in a frustrated/defeated user.
Problem Space
New users of the app find it difficult to embrace the Wim Hof method due to a lack of motivation to continue this routine. Our solution should provide a clear pathway for users to subscribe to a premium subscription, journal and share their experience, and complete the 20-day cold shower challenge.
How Might We…
With a picture of the problem at hand starting to come into place, we jumped into the ideation phase and worked through the solution design model, identifying users actual behavior, and optimal behavior. This allowed me to form a "how might we" statement to begin forming a solution.
How might we make it easier for new users to complete their first shower challenge?
The reason we chose the first HMW was because it addressed both business and user goals, adding value to both areas - increase conversion of new users (from free to paid), as well as help new users complete the challenge.
Ideation
To avoid following the first idea, I conducted a series of ideation techniques. This allowed me to consider an array of solutions. Following ideation I mapped what could be improved or added to the product and what the impact of each idea would be for users and the business.
In order to align our team on the priorities of our project, we did an impact effort matrix. We focused after on the quadrant that shows ideas that were high impact but low effort, as it would help our team focus on ideas that could save on time and resources, but would deliver the best impact to both users and business.
Our #1 priority we would focus on resulted in “Notifications,” which had, after comparing all other ideas in the same quadrant, the lowest effort and highest impact.
What can we add
A simple journaling experience that translates into motivating and delightful data displayed to the user.
What can we improve
Making the 20 Day Cold Shower Challenge as easy as possible to complete.
User Flows
To help improve the user experience, our team developed a new user flow that included a large 20-day challenge CTA on the home screen and the ability to easily journal, view their results, and share at the conclusion of each session.
Rapid Prototyping
Before diving into Figma, our team sketched some low-fidelity wireframes of our new user flow. Sketching helped us rapidly iterate on the original idea and visualize a solution without committing too early to hi-fidelity screens.
Styles & Components
To help give the Wim Hof app a more cohesive look, we developed a new design system that included increasing the saturation on their current colors.
High Fidelity Prototype
After developing new UI styles and colors, our team jumped into Figma to design a high-fidelity prototype of the new and improved 20-day cold shower challenge. To help improve conversion rates of premium subscriptions, our goal was to help guide users through their first cold shower workout which would culminate with a CTA that allows them to set a reminder & upgrade to a premium subscription.
Usability Testing
With the prototype created, we formed a testing script with scenario and tasks for the user to complete to validate the prototype with real users. To test the prototype our team used Maze and gathered feedback following every task.
Test Outcomes
Having tested the prototype, we learned users found it easy to complete the cold shower challenge which should improve premium subscriptions and leave users feeling delighted in tracking their progress.
Three Key Learnings
1. When a user experiences information overload with many decisions before starting a task, they are less likely to continue and complete what they are doing.
2. We learned that iterating wasn't just a part of the ideating process, but also an essential part of the research synthesis process. It’s about sifting through and going back to see the research with fresh eyes.
2. Being open to the ebb and flow of different phases of the design thinking process, understanding it's not linear. Utilizing a holistic approach is key.
Next Steps
Given more time and resources, our team would have enjoyed ideating and building out robust community features within the app and adding in gamification elements to make being on the app fun and engaging.