Discovery

Research, understanding users

Planning
I started off by creating a Research Plan in order to understand users. I wanted to understand common challenges that mobile app users of heroic encounter.

Conducting user research with limited resources
Typically, I would include user interviews in my research to understand firsthand how users interact with the product and ask follow-up questions during these conversations. For this project, I didn't have direct access to users since I was working externally. To overcome this challenge I did second hand research and used publicly available data to learn about users.

Online app reviews
‍As I was looking for areas of improvement, I did secondary research and gathered negative reviews of heroic from the google and apple app stores in order to expose issues users are facing. I grouped common complaints together using thematic analysis to uncover trends. (If the scope and budget for this project were larger I would gather 1st hand data from users during interviews)

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Main User Pain Points

I discovered two pain points and decided to focus on the first one due to the scope and timeline of the project. Let’s focus on this first one 👇🏾

1. The interface is overwhelming
   The app is overly complicated and confusing to use. To become "the best self-development platform in the world" the app needs to be simplified
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2. Users are unsure of what to do once they get the app
   Users cannot figure out how to accomplish their most important tasks.

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Evidence of the problem - user quotes

"I was talked into getting this app by someone close to me. I used it once since I got it, it's just way too confusing to use. I'd highly recommend any number of other apps to use that don't have similar issues that this one does."

"The first rule of habit formation is to Make It Easy. This app is a huge step backwards from the prior Optimize app and is far less user friendly and far more complicated to use. There must have been a lot of pressure to roll it out because it is objectively inferior to the previous product."

Key Insight

To become "the best self-development platform in the world" the app needs to be simplified

Customer Impact

"I have zero tolerance for things that are needlessly complicated these days, so I am just throwing up my hands again…" - Heroic User

Company Impact
The complicated interface is impacting adoption and retention causing some users to quit using the app before experiencing the benefits of self-improvement. If these issues are not addressed, the app will not be adopted and used enough to reach the goal of 51% of humanity flourishing by the year 2051, business growth will also be limited.

Ideas for Improvement

Make the layout easier read at glance
Create more visual separation between the sections.
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Prioritize the Habit Tracker
In order to create a world where 51% of the world is flourishing the app should be mainly focused on the habit tracker that helps create heroes. This is the core functionality of the app that leads to a measurable improvement in well-being. Users should be driven to this most important area. This can be done by exploring the following:

• “Your Protocol“ which contains habit tracker is always shown first right under “Soul Force Score“ whenever you open the app. You should also be able to access this easily from anywhere within the app. Advertisements for upcoming events are of less importance than habit tracker and the layout should change to reflect this
• Show your progress towards your goals for the day on the first level without needing to click into the habit
• Make it more clear when a habit has been completed for the day
• Make it more clear that habits are swiped to be completed

Before finalizing solutions solutions I created some rough sketches to experiment with different layouts for the home screen.

Conclusion

I enjoyed making Heroic easier to use so that more people have the opportunity to be their best self and become their own heroes. Even with the platform having good overall reviews there is still room for improvement.

What I Learned

I have adapted user research to many different constraints in the past but this was the first time I had to learn about users without direct access to them. This was the biggest challenge for this project, I learned how to take advantage of online data to build an understanding of users

What I would do differently next time - measuring outcomes
If I did this again and had more resources, I would interview users directly and, if I had access, review the company’s internal research repository. This would allow me to learn first hand, instead of via second hand research. I would also also measure the effectiveness of the work using the following:

• Assessing the usability of the redesigned habit tracker
  Since users said that the app was overwhelming and complicated the usability of the redesigned habit tracker should be measured using the system usability scale (SUS) to see if it improves compared to the current version. The usability score of the current tracker should also be compared with the average usability score of 68 to see where it stands compared to this standard usability benchmark.
• Measuring the readability of the redesigned sections
  I would measure task completion time and see how long it takes users to find each section on the home-screen. This test would be conducted before and after the redesign to measure the impact of the update. User are confused by the current version of the app, I expect that making the sections easier to read at a glance would simplify the interface making it easier to understand.
• Retention Rate
  I would measure retention rate continually, before and after the re-design. Although retention rate is influenced by multiple factors, I want to be aware of a possible correlation between this redesign and retention. Heroic needs to attract and retain billions of users if the platform is to be used to create a measurable change in the well-being of 51% of humanity by the year 2051. User retention rate needs to be trending upward for this to happen.

Next Steps

• Quick Wins
  Create more opportunities within the app to invite friends to join, starting with adding a share button in the upper right corner of the cards on the home-screen. This would help Heroic in it’s goal to improve the well being of the majority of humanity while also letting users share their progress with friends further motivating them to continue with their self-development habits.
• Simplifying all sections of the app
  Since users mentioned that the entire experience was confusing I would take this same approach and apply it throughout the app. This would create clear differentiation between all the sections in the app making it easier to read. The principles used to improve text hierarchy used on the home screen / “Today” part of the app can be applied to the rest of the platform.