Case Study: Designing Subtrack, A subscription management app
Project Overview
It’s hard to keep track of all the products and services that we subscribe to each month. All we see is money deducted from our accounts for services that we might not even need or want anymore. A company has a product that keeps track of all of your subscription fees on websites, apps, services, etc. over the years.
This company now needs to create a mobile version of its product that can be used by a broader audience. Right now the company only benefits from desktop users but they know that adding a mobile-friendly version of their product will significantly increase their market reach (with more than half of potential users on mobile devices). This will ultimately result in more users and more business.
This project is a part of the UI/UX bootcamp curriculum.
Timeline: 90 hours
My Role: UI/UX designer
Software used: Figma
Important Information from the Product Manager
- The majority of their users are over the age of 30
- Their user base is an equal split between men and women
Design Process
Every stage of the design process just as important no matter what the order is. It was ensured that I understand the user, gain meaningful insights and offer the users problem for this solution.
Due to the time constraint of 90 hours research phase was limited to secondary research and comparative analysis.
Empathize
To understand the problem better the first step was to conduct an in-depth secondary research which also involved a deep dive into a comparative analysis of the subscription services in the market.
The next step was to empathize with the people in need of such a service and understand their frustrations and pain points.
Primary Research
Majority of the Millennials (largest working population) are saying
“Why purchase when we can get a subscription?”
In fact, in the course of the ongoing pandemic, 38% of consumers surveyed have tried a new digital activity or subscription for the first time.
With the increase in the no. of digital subscriptions therein arises a problem of
managing and monitoring the numerous subscriptions.
Competitive Analysis
After gathering sufficient context for the problem, I looked at some industry leaders who have achieved similar business goals and are solving similar problems. This audit helped in exploring the essential user flows, points of improvements and desirable features that can be included in our own project.
Problem Statement:
As a user of multiple digital subscriptions, How can I control and track my subscriptions so that I can reoptimize my monthly spending in subscriptions?
User Persona
Through all the information gathered from the primary and secondary research I was able to devise a user persona that would help in understanding and easily remember the goals, likes, dislikes, pain points and behavior of the user.
User Flow
After identifying the needs and pain points of the users the most essential user flow i.e. red route was drawn out for adding subscriptions to the application. This helped in visualizing the experience of our users and thus optimizing it to the best of my ability.
Low Fidelity Wireframes
The next step was to convert the sketches into wireframes that helped in determining the layout within the application without getting distracted by the colors, graphics and typography.
The visual language of the brand and the UI elements were determined to have a pre-defined Design System in place before deep diving in the high fidelity designs.
High Fidelity Wireframes
The first screen I designed was the homepage, the primary page every other screen was connected to inside the application. After a number of iterations I finalized the visual language of the screen which served as a guide for other screens. The detailed screens can be viewed in the the prototype video given below.
Prototype
Usability Testing
I conducted two rounds of tests, with 5 participants each, that fit in the application’s target demographic.
The prototype was then reiterated as per the insights gained at this stage.
This step proved to be very helpful in enhancing the experience of users even further.
