uCast Media
How Anticipatory Design Increases Ad Industry Engagement
Role: UX/UI Designer, Strategist (Remote)
Process: GV Design Sprint
Duration: 40 hours
Research Tools: Affinity Map
Design Tools: Figma, Fig Jam
A Matchmaker
My specific tasks were to redesign the experiences of New Campaign, Dashboard and Analytics pages.
At the same time, I led the team to a strategy that gives an edge over competition.
Being a “matchmaker” and not just a platform.
In 2020, big companies have spent nearly $1B in podcast advertising. The startup, uCast Media, found an opportunity by opening the market to smaller players and service 50% available podcasts for advertising.
The problem is that, most small businesses do not have access to podcast advertising while 97% of podcasters are not paid. To aggravate the problem, podcasters are required to have a minimum 50K minimum active listeners to be considered by existing advertising platforms.
uCast will remove such obstructions and match podcasters to small businesses.
Redesigning the New Campaign Experience
Intimidating and Lengthy
When we first worked on the project, we immediately noticed that the initial designs feel intimidating to use due to data overload.
So we started with user testing to gain further insights. Here’s what we’ve gathered.
Hesitant
“What will happen next?”
The participants haven't tried radio advertising before. They were a bit unsure on what they were actually doing and what to expect.
Frustrated
“Typical form”
This was not the feedback we hoped to hear. It was time consuming for them and they found it frustrating.
“The average attention span dropped from 12 seconds to eight seconds - shorter attention span than a goldfish”
So …
How might we make business owners feel confident when starting podcast ads?
It wasn’t possible to reduce the steps when starting a new campaign. But, we were able to improve the experience dramatically.
Let’s check the user flow below and see how we did it.
Expectations & Persuasion
The lack of clear expectations negatively impacts engagement and confidence.
Set expectations and show the benefit to persuade the user.
Below is the before and after screenshots.
Start a New Campaign - Before
Start a New Campaign - After
Quicker Matches
Requiring ten fields to get a match was lengthy and caused frustration to the user. Six of those were not even parameters needed by the algorithm.
Ask for essential parameters and the rest later. Cut to the chase. Delight the user.
Parameters Form - Before
Parameters Form - After
Redesigning the Dashboard & Analytics Experience
Static with Zero Impact
We then moved to the next task with a question in mind. “What is the difference between Dashboard and Analytics?”.
They’re basically the same. Dashboard is a summary, the latter is a detailed one. Separating them into two main pages doesn't seem to make a difference.
To dig deeper, we conducted secondary research and industry expert interviews. Here's what we got.
Data Graveyard
Jared Spool also mentioned that ”Dashboards leave room for tremendous error because users didn’t react appropriately.” It’s either they absorb data or just ignore them.
Let’s check our solution below.
Anticipate Needs
Not all small business owners know how to use analytics effectively.
As a matchmaker, anticipate and answer user needs ahead of time to encourage actions.
Build Connection
Showing updates and trends from other podcasts opens up new opportunities and possibilities for the user.
As a matchmaker, bridge the gap between parties to encourage actions.
Humanize the Product
Curated content and the use of emojis are some of the ways to humanize a product.
As a matchmaker, show how much you care to build trust and relationship.
Home - Before (Previously called Dashboard)
Home - After
Outcome
My role on the project ended here. Rand the CEO and Co-Founder loved the outcome and was hoping I could spend more time on the project. It was a great experience working with uCast.
Leveraging UX principles and strategies are key to a successful product. Anticipating user needs and reducing the burden of decision making, encourage engagement, repeat business and loyalty.
Remote Work Challenges
Time difference and the inability to join the daily huddles certainly gave some limitations. But when I started recording my screen and myself when providing work updates, the team collaboration was improved. Everyone in the team got involved in the process.
Curiosity to Strategy
What is a matchmaker? Does its job stop when a match is made? Or do you still help nurture the relationship? What are factors for a great advertiser-podcaster relationship?
These questions can expand the horizon for ways to improve the product. Exploring deeper on the “Matchmaker” concept can significantly gain more competitive advantage.
Meeting in the Middle
Fighting for the user is really important, but sometimes we have to compromise. Too much black evoke the feelings of emptiness and sadness, which I was completely against with. But since the team is focused on the launch, light mode will be added immediately after.