
UI/UX case study for adding an app feature
Duration: 2 Weeks
ToolsSketch |
My ResponsibilitiesTeam Plan |
Team MembersTaylor Owens (myself) |
Research: Defining the Problem
Overview
SeatGeek is a desktop and mobile app that allows users to buy and sell event tickets online. For this hypothetical project, I was in a team of three people. The objective of the project was to find a way to make purchasing multiple tickets easier for groups of people within the SeatGeek mobile app.
The Challenge
With personal payment apps like Venmo, the team knew we needed to build an app feature that resolved splitting payment in a way that third-party payment apps do not.
User Interviews
We first sent a survey through our campus Slack channel to find people who had purchased groups of online tickets within the last few months. We then conducted six in-person interviews divided between the team. We wanted to learn what pain points and hesitations ticket buyers had before buying for groups.
From these interviews we found ticket buyers:
- Want transparency about the cost of their tickets including fees.
- Often plan for events.
- Buy groups of tickets so they can sit with their friends.
- Want their friends to be financially responsible for their ticket.
The Problem
Allow users to buy multiple tickets but make sure their friends are financially responsible for their tickets.
Our Solution
Build a feature that allows users to purchase their tickets and reserve unpaid tickets for their friends to buy within a 2-hour window.
Design: Creating the Prototype
User Personas
We then developed two personas based on our research.
We recognized that our main user would be someone who plans their events in advance and enjoying coordinating events for their friends.
User Flow and App Map
Our idea was to integrate this new feature into the current checkout process.
From here we created a user flow and app map to organize the number of pages needed for later usability tests.
Group Sketching
With so many ideas in our head, we found it easier to sketch pages in a group setting and iterate on our thoughts in real time.
We used a whiteboard and saved our work for reference with photographs.
Wireframes
After our group sketching session, we used Sketch to create wireframes.
These wireframes were uploaded into InVision and used as the prototype for user testing.
Usability: Testing the Prototype
We first created a paper prototype to fix our design before the screens were made digital and became more challenging to adjust. We then conducted three usability tests using our paper prototype and three tests using our digital prototype. We asked testers to imagine they were buying two event tickets for themselves and two for their friends.
The paper and digital prototypes included two main features:
- A checkout page that allowed users to determine how to split the tickets.
- A “group status” page where users can check which members of their group paid for their tickets.
Takeaways: What We Learned
Users did not read the text explaining how splitting tickets would work.
We attempted to add an initial pop up to explain the process and took away the following text describing the same process. More testing would be needed to confirm our addition helped solve the issue.
Users felt overwhelmed with the amount of text on the checkout page.
We reduced the amount of text shown on the page. However, we were concerned that by putting the fees under an accordion this would decrease the visibility of the fees. More testing would be needed to ensure users can still find the fees during checkout.
To further test our feature we would need SeatGeek’s insight as to if reserving seats is possible.
Because the nature of the project was hypothetical, we had to make many guesses as to the practicality of reserving tickets for a period. However, we required the purchase of at least one ticket. We also reduced the window of time needed to purchase a reserved ticket. To validate our idea, we would need insight from SeatGeek.
What I would do next
- Work on the notification text to make sure it is clear and not overwhelming.
- See if there was a way to integrate Facebook with the group contact information page.