Case Study:  Onboarding Users into the New Cheezburger iOS and Android Apps

While at Cheezburger, I led the team responsible for the desktop, iOS and Android products.  We created a brand new app, from inception to launch. The launch of the Cheezburger app earned us a spot in the "Best New Apps" category and over 50,000 new installs (Dec.2014).

The foundation that was first built for iOS was then used as a starting point for the Cheezburger Android App (launched Mar.2015); a wonderful example of Google Material Design.

During the Beta and launch of the new app, we identified some issues that needed to be improved upon, here was our process:

  • DISCOVER:

    • Recognized problems we were solving for:

      • Users feel overwhelmed when landing within the app

      • Unsure what they should do first

      • Expending too much effort to simply see their favorite content

    • Validated problem set with interviews of current customers

    • Revisited Personas, Customer Journey and Empathy Map

    • Competitive Analysis of other humor/content apps...how do they handle onboarding?

  • DEFINE:

    • Evaluated Business Requirements

      • Addition of new in-line native advertisements and multi column view to allow for more ads (and more content views)

    • Evaluated Tech Requirements and Limitations

    • Established metrics to show success: in-app survey, app reviews, tracking new sign-ups, feed customization, depth of content exploration

  • IDEATE, TEST, PROTOTYPE:

    • Designed a multi-pronged approach that would handhold, train, lead, declutter and prioritize features to provide most value to the users

    • Created rough wireframes which led to medium fidelity mockups for testing

    • Used mockups within Flinto to test clickable prototypes

    • Refined interactions based on results from testing

  • BUILD & DEPLOY:

    • Delivered Interaction Specs, design assets, & redlines for development

    • Worked with engineering to implement, prepare for launch

  • MEASURE:

    • Examined our success metrics (in-app survey, app reviews, tracking new sign-ups, feed customization, depth of content exploration)