Auddia

Lead Product Designer

D2C - iOS / Android - JAN 2022 - MAY 2023

My Role - Lead Product Design, User Research, User Interviews, Journey Mapping, Sketching, Wire framing, Screen Flows, Visual Design, Interaction Design

Steven Parisi - Design Facilitator

As the Lead Product Designer at Auddia Inc, I collaborated closely with senior leadership to synthesize and prioritize the vision for our innovative podcasting app. My role extended to conducting comprehensive research and analyzing user analytics to inform strategic decision-making, ensuring that future features were not only aligned with the company's goals but also optimized for an enhanced user experience. Through effective communication and strategic design thinking, I played a pivotal role in shaping and advancing the product in alignment with Auddia Inc's overarching vision.

How might we seamlessly integrate visual elements, such as embedded videos, into our podcasting app to create an immersive storytelling experience that captivates listeners and enriches their auditory journey with complementary visual content.

Vodacast

What is it?

Vodacast is an advanced podcasting application designed to optimize listener engagement while offering diverse monetization avenues for content creators. A primary feature distinguishing our app is the implementation of comprehensive in-app "episode feeds." This unique capability enables creators to establish supplementary feeds accompanying their audio podcasts, enhancing the storytelling experience for listeners. These feeds encompass a range of multimedia elements, including photos, videos, and external links, providing a multifaceted and immersive content delivery platform.

The Opportunity

Market Size

The podcasting industry is experiencing unprecedented growth, with a staggering 116 million monthly listeners. This surge is reflected in robust advertising revenues, currently reaching $842.3 million per month.

Listeners Want More

Podcasters presently rely on external sources for monetization, necessitating users to engage in additional steps, thereby creating an added burden on the audience.

Lack Of Interaction

Existing podcast applications employ a "set it and forget it" approach, offering minimal avenues for fan engagement with content creators.

The podcasting landscape has evolved into a thriving market, with key players such as Spotify, Sirius XM, iHeartRadio, and Amazon demonstrating its robust viability. These industry giants have invested significantly in podcasting platforms, indicating a growing demand for diverse and engaging audio content. The competitive presence of major players underscores the market's potential and highlights the opportunity for a podcasting app company to carve out its niche by offering unique and innovative features within this dynamic and expanding ecosystem.

So why hasn’t the app seen user adoption?

It All Starts With The First Step

In instances of uncertainty, commencing with a heuristic evaluation serves as a foundational step. Our involvement was solicited to revamp the application, originally conceived as a podcasting initiative led by proficient developers and engineers, lacking user experience insights. Our systematic examination of the application involved a thorough page-by-page assessment to pinpoint any evident UX missteps. The following artifacts encapsulate key findings from our initial evaluation.

Jobs To Be Done

Heuristic Evaluation

Application Analysis

Information Architecture

Easy Wins

Hicks Law Violations

There were lots of features crammed into key screens, causing mental overload for users.

You got all those teeth (Issues) and no toothbrush (Prioritization)

System Visibility

Screens and pages were void of indication where users were within the app. Users were easily lost within the system.

Key Value Prop

Our key value prop is buried within the system and lacks proper UI to support it’s functionality.

The Sacred Dance

In propelling forward, our company's Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and Product Subject Matter Expert (SME) assume integral roles as catalysts, actively participating in Vodacast's roadmap development and providing approval at each juncture. Following the presentation of immediate UX enhancements or "easy wins," our discourse shifted towards the app's future. Significant features slated for development were discussed, capitalizing on the expertise of our newly formed product team. During this initial alignment, the primary focus was on enhancing user engagement with podcasts and implementing features to facilitate creator monetization, both of which were subsequently addressed through various prioritized features.

Key Drivers

In the escalating density of audio content creation, coupled with consumer information overload, the imperative to efficiently discover and access content across diverse services becomes pivotal for the app's success. My design approach is strategically grounded in addressing the following key areas.

User Engagement

Numerous functionalities will facilitate reciprocal communication between podcast listeners and creators.

Content Visualization

An exclusive brand page that provides podcast creators with a consolidated, single-page interface serving as the centralized launch point for their shows.

Time To Get Sketchy

Single Source Of Truth

Users have the capability to view and engage with all content released by creators, coupled with a seamless in-app mechanism for initiating monetary contributions.

Sketch, Sketch…

I ideated numerous concepts and collaborated extensively with my product team and developers to explore diverse possibilities. Subsequently, I generated low-fidelity wireframes and prototypes for testing. The result yielded four distinct views: Discover, Immersive Podcast, My Stuff, and Brand Page.

A Story In Numbers

Research

With an array of feature requests from stakeholders, the pivotal question arises: are these features aligning with user preferences? To ascertain this, a comprehensive testing phase ensued. Following weeks of design iteration, a set of designs was finalized for prototyping and subsequent user testing. In this initial round, I conducted moderated testing with six daily podcast listeners, screened for active engagement with their chosen shows through social media or other channels. Utilizing lookback.io for prototype testing, I meticulously analyzed and synthesized insights from the interviews, providing actionable feedback for further iteration to stakeholders.

The Numbers

Our objective is to gauge users' comprehension of the Vodacast app and its key features, encompassing the New Navigation, New Player Tray, Brand Page, Polls, Merchandise, Notifications, Tipping, Talk Back, and On-Demand Episodes.

This endeavor seeks a comprehensive understanding of the human experience concerning interactions with Vodacast, delving into specific details. Additionally, it aims, albeit to a lesser extent, to ascertain the prevalence of certain experiences or expressions of specific needs.

Primarily an investigative exploration, this initiative is designed to identify challenges within the Vodacast app. Drawing from the Nielson Norman Group's insight that 80% of usability issues can be revealed by testing with just 5 users, we opted for a cohort of 6 individuals for this assessment.

12

Screener Completed

40

Listened to a podcast today

87

Listened to podcasts in last 2 days

100

Listen to podcasts weekly

Insights Into Features

Let’s Make it

Key findings from our research underscored the imperative to reassess the emphasis placed on our primary value proposition within the app, specifically the "Immersive Podcast" feature. The diverse interpretations of "immersive" among test participants prompted a strategic decision to elevate Immersive Podcasts to a dedicated tab in the main navigation, accentuating its significance and providing users with direct access to specific podcasts along with supplemental feeds. For a detailed account of the stakeholder buy-in process for this adjustment, kindly refer to the attached presentation. Additionally, recognizing the need for a more precise in-app terminology, we addressed the misinterpretations associated with the term "on-demand" TV services by renaming it to "exclusive." This adjustment aims to convey the exclusivity and premium nature of the content, aligning with insights gained from user testing on different terminologies.

Balancing User Needs With Business Goals

The initial user research revealed multiple areas for improvement, notably in content discovery through genres, immersive shows, or a combination of both. However, for the MVP, considerations of business goals and organizational capacity guided the prioritization of key focus areas. These encompassed simplifying user experience, enhancing discovery and engagement of immersive shows, and aligning with overarching objectives of user engagement and retention. The strategic emphasis was placed on personalization, discoverability of immersive podcasts (a core differentiator for our app), and facilitation of content creator monetization. Recognizing deficiencies in the previous app, particularly in editorial and discovery strategy and user experience, the redesign was strategically undertaken to comprehensively address these shortcomings.