Audible Redesign
Disclaimer: This project was not affiliated with Audible. Ideally, I would have worked with Amazon and have had access to official data/ metrics as well as access to prominent users to evaluate my design decisions. This case study was completed as a personal project as part of a UI/UX Design certification.
About Audible
Audible, a subsidiary of Amazon is a subscription
service which allows users to stream and listen to
audiobooks/podcasts through the web app or their
the mobile device for a monthly fee.
What I Did
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Research (Survey, User Interviews)
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Define (Persona, User Flow)
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Develop (Sketches, Wireframes and Usability Tests)
Role
UX Researcher & UX Designer​
Team
Individual Project
Tools
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Miro
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Wireframe.cc
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Photoshop
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Illustrator
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Discord
Timeline
Sept 2022 - November 2022
BACKGROUND
"How can we help users feel more engaged on Audible's mobile platform?"
Problem
Many people feel that Audible's UI could be improved. While doing research on Audible, I learned that Audible has about 12% churn every month. The data suggests that almost half of the churn is a result of the below-par UI of the mobile app. Many existing users also seem to have issues navigating the app intuitively and also struggle to stay engaged on the platform over long periods of time.
Constraints
Some of the constraints I faced while taking on this project was adhering to brand guidelines. I had to focus on recruiting existing Audible users to gain the most insight.
Solution
Leveraging the strengths of the current design and improving upon the weaknesses. Redecorating certain layouts to be informative, intuitive and visually appealing. Also improving on the personal statistics feature to make it more engaging and rewarding.
UNDERSTANDING USER PROBLEM
Survey and User Interviews
I sent out 15 surveys and conducted 10 interviews with Audible users through online communication.
Research Goal
Identify the points of user disengagement while using Audible's mobile app.
01 Accessibility and Viewability
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Almost 80% admitted that they lost interest after arriving at the Library screen. This page needs to be more accessible to individuals with a variety of abilities/ limitations.
02 Important Features Hidden
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Users find that high priority features such as the PDF button are hard to access. Important buttons need to be more accessible to improve the user flow.
03 Poor Interface
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Over 90% of users agreed that the profile screen lacks polish. Many people felt that the current personal statistics feature isn't exciting and could be improved.
04 Cluttered Buttons
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Over 50% of people felt that the audio player screen had too many buttons. About a fifth of those people felt that the buttons were confusing and hard to access.
What should I improve?
I realized that people mostly had issues with the UI and the visual aspect of the app. I decided to focus on improving the Library, Audio Player, and Profile screens. I started out by creating basic drawings of what these screens could look like.
DEVELOP
I started to build some rough digital wireframes and tried a few different layouts for the Library, Audio Player and Profile screens.
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Key decisions after several iterations:
01. Add different viewing options on Library screen
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- Show off book titles more boldly
- Create a book view filter
- Key information available below the book titles
02. Audio Player screen buttons redesign
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- Make high priority buttons more accessible
- Relocate unnessary buttons
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03. Clean up UI / Create visually appealing incentive
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- Make Profile screen more visually appealing
- Implement user incentive through in app rewards (i.e. badges, trophies, etc.)
Wireframes and User Testing
I then created mid-fi wireframes to test the redesigned content. I conducted some usability tests and some AB tests before moving forward with the hi-fi wireframes. Although the users thought the visual aspect of the design improved, there were still some frustrations that were identified during the test.
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- Need to see key information below book titles
- Horizontal scrolling is annoying
- Can the user still scroll while the filters button is on?
Choice A
Choice B
FINAL PRODUCT
Address the Frustrations
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- Minimizing horizontal scrolls by having a longer Library page
- Make viewing books more comfortable while highlighting key information
- Reorganizing button layout in the Audio player screen
- Improving the visual appeal/ user incentivization on the Profile screen
Library Screen
Most users prefer being able to see the cover of their favourite books, but some users prefer sifting through their collections efficiently. The new library screen offers superior viewing options while still displaying key information.
Audio Player Screen
Users now have access to important buttons in highly accessible places. Less relevant buttons have been relocated to the More page. Icons have also been changed to more intuitive options.
Profile Screen
A complete revamp to the existing Profile screen. Users can now see their Audible statistics on this screen and can toggle between different metrics. Users can also access the Badge Collection screen, membership details and customer support from here.
Profile Screen (Membership Details)
All the relevant information about the user's membership can be found here including the number of credits they have, subscription plan, renewal dates as well as a feature to buy more credits.
Easy to access, easy to use.
TAKEAWAYS
Pay close attention to the users
During my research, I learned that I could gather data in the most subtle ways. Since I was conducting my research online, I had to get creative with the way I gathered data as I interviewed users. I had to get comfortable with watching their facial expressions and actively listen to what they were saying. I took notes on any directly/ indirectly communicated information, which ended up being valuable in the end.
Put personal opinions aside
Since I use Audible regularly, I've had my fair share of frustrations with the app. However, I found myself guiding users to answer questions that reflected what I thought while conducting user interviews and user testing. I quickly realized that this would be counterproductive to the project and started from a more neutral standpoint. I ended up gaining new insights and ideas that I otherwise wouldn't have thought of.
NEXT STEP
Measure success
Since this project is not affiliated with Audible, I do not have access to the actual data and metrics of the current design to be able to compare it to my redesign:
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However, some key metrics could be:
- How much faster are users able to accomplish their tasks?
- How many times do users check their profile page?
- What is the user satisfaction level of the app overall?
- What percentage of users toggle the different viewing options?