Transforming the product: uncovering user needs and shifting from music streaming to a collaboration social app
Product Strategy. User Research. Social Network. Mobile App
“When you've exhausted all efforts and find that you can't meet the needs of some dissatisfied users, try changing your perspective. Look at the segment of happy users and identify how you satisfy their needs. Then, find ways to expand this segment of happy users.”
ROLE
Lead Product Designer
YEAR | DURATION
2020 | 2 years
TEAM
CEO: Marcus Welch
Product manager: Corey Freelan
CTO: Bill Josten
Lead Product Designer
YEAR | DURATION
2020 | 2 years
TEAM
CEO: Marcus Welch
Product manager: Corey Freelan
CTO: Bill Josten
The Challenge
In May 2019, I joined Quadio as the company's first UI/UX designer. About 8 months after joining, we launched our MVP: a music streaming social app exclusively for college students. The platform catered to two user groups: music creators and student listeners.
Overview of Quadio 1.0 on mobile
Very soon, we found issues with the activity and retention rates of the listener user group. The activity (playback, likes, comments, message sending) and retention of the music creator group were performing well. However, the activity and retention rates of the student listener group were significantly below the average level overall. The low engagement was also hurting the satisfaction of music creators, as they wanted their music to be heard.
The report identifys the listener engagement issue
“How might we solve listener engagement issues so that there will be a healthier balance between the user groups and ensure stable growth?”
The Approach
Initially, I aimed to increase listener engagement with the platform. However, after researching listener behavior, I found they preferred using their current streaming platforms, creating a significant challenge to change this behavior. So I changed my approach, starting to focus on understanding what we did well and identifying potentials from it.The Process
The first step involved teaming up with the product manager to conduct an analysis of existing user behavior data. We identified user segments with better retention rates, discovering that users who actively used the chat function and engaged with 'Skills' or 'Looking for' tags had higher retention.
The user behavior analysis graph
Subsequently, I sent an open-ended questionnaire to this user group, asking, “What is the primary benefit you have received from Quadio?” The results highlighted the positive aspect of users finding new collaborators on the platform.
The survey answers we got from high retention user group
Presenting these research results to the founders, I suggested we should focus on cultivating collaboration between music creators. However, the founders did not initially accept this suggestion due to concerns about the small market size.
Undeterred, I conducted further in-depth interviews with 8 users who had completed the survey. This additional research revealed a new opportunity: the creators' market in need of collaboration was more extensive than initially thought. Stories emerged during the interviews, such as music creators collaborating with visual artists on video projects and YouTubers collaborating with musicians.
To strengthen my case, I created a representative user persona, 'Myles Hoffman,' and communicated this insight to the founders. I backed up my proposal with marketing reports found online, indicating the growing creator market in Gen Z. This time, the founders embraced this new direction.
The persona I created
The Outcome
With this new direction, I led the design of the new app focused on fostering networks among college creators. This involved a complete rebranding of the interface to appeal to the Gen Z generation.
