Browse Experience Enhancement

Overview

In Q1 my team and I were tasked with examining and improving the current state of the browse experience on My5. From data collected, it had been discovered that several users of the site either left without watching a piece of content or got overwhelmed with the library of content and chose to leave.

My5s methods of sorting, filtering and categorising content were areas identified as main causes for why users were struggling to identify content to watch or not reaching the type of content in which they were interested in.

Role

Designer

End-to-end research and product design, including conducting early-stage user research, journey mapping, UI and UX design, prototyping, user testing, A/B testing, and strategic decision making.

Project length

Feb 2022 - June 2022

The Why

Before commencing with any research, I chose to examine some of the problem areas My5 had that could be causing drops in numbers of users finding and getting to final content. Based on research previously carried out around the problem and navigating through the old experience I came up with a few problem areas that could be beneficial in fixing My5s problems.

Reducing the cognitive load required to identify content to watch
Browsing for a new programme or movie to watch can very quickly become a tiring task with no clear end in site, The old My5 experience didn't support all persona/browse types.
Improve ability to re organise content when in a specific genre, Just like in e-commerce experiences when browsing or searching users have the ability to fine tune and direct their browse either taking their results to the thousands or even just down to 3 if needed. Could My5 new browse benefit from such functionality.
Utilise sub genres in place to organise results
My5 could benefit from using sub genres, much like other streaming providers, this could benefit their users by providing a more curated library of content to browse through.

These were by no means the final trouble areas but were significant areas to make a start on for improving browse. Without complete common knowledge of the problems this exercise was effective in helping me quickly.

The who

As well as understanding the problems the current experience had, it was vital to understand the who and their behaviours around browsing for content on streaming platforms such as my5. Due to time constraints 4 personas were adapted based on secondary research done by platforms such as Roku as well as third party research agency we collaborated with.

I collated 4 persona types, each having a different approach to browsing and ways of discovering content. Alongside some journey mapping was done to understand where the problems could be arising and confirm that the areas of concern were indeed worth examining.

How was the problem being solved

A key aspect of the work being done was understanding how these problem areas were being solved by competitors both here in the UK as well as internationally. Dusring the competitor analysis I looked at key areas that would help identify patterns and flow that could either be relicated for My5 or could be obvious examples of how we didnt want the problem solved.Key areas examined wer the methods of navigation for getting to browse, on some platform type of content was slit early on in the journey, in other situation users made this decision after selecting browse. Filtering & Sorting, this was a big are as there seemed to be alot of the same patterns of solving the problem but none unique enough to ensure all persona types were plaesed. And Lastly the way content was displayed was improtant to see, to know that there was no huge differences that were causing the issues with users not selcting content.

Aligning on success

A huge aspect of the process was understanding that by the end of the ideation and development stages the final solution had to be universal, meaning it could easily apply to all platforms such as connected tv, web and native, but also the various networks such as nickelodeon, BET, MTV and much more. This meant connecting with both dependecy teams but also designers across the various platforms.

Wireframing ideas

Several ideas and strategies were developed to begin visualising the end solution for users. Some solutions adopted styles and patterns known to users and were excellent to test. Such as the e-commerce approach taken in the first iteration. The simple Idea behind the iteration was, if we presented users with familiarity would that work in our favour and encourage them to browse more easily like they do on e-commerce websites.

A better way of getting there

One key aspect of adjusting the journey and experience for users was to see if changing the way users found and navigated to specific content would improve their entire experience, through reducing fatigue and confusion. Some variations tried utilised e-commerce patterns as we were aware.

Fine tuning results

When a user chooses to fine-tune their results, they may be hoping to see more niched-down options to go over. As an approach, the team and I considered various potential filters that could help users better get to a piece of content they wanted to watch. This approach was more towards the Specific Browser or the Routine Browser.

Validating the new browse approaches

Following ideation sessions, I built out prototypes to be tested with users remotely using usertesting.com, in total 14 sessions were run, ages ranging from 21-49 and UK based, in order to emulate the ideal My5 viewer. Key testing goals were :

To learn potential users perspectives on navigation
To learn users definition of the browse and homepage
To discover the strengths and weaknesses of the designed approaches
To understand users opinions around content discovery process such as filtering & sorting

Results and takeaways

Based on the 4 web prototypes shown to users they shared their feedback on the usability and ease of the process, throughout users identified feedback in line with initial assumptions made by myself and the team. These results allowed myself and the product teams to effectively narrow down options and conclude on the most effective approach. Overall the most prefered option by users seemed to be Version 4. Majority of users found the solution to be mconvenientuent and heavy aligned with what competitors within the market were doing meaning there was more familiarity.

UI Refinement

In the last few sprints while working with dependency teams, I worked on other ways we could potentially improve the UI of defined approach. This would help ensure the final solution was both functional but also visually effective in encouraging users to discover new content and watch content.

Final results

Current and Final designs are in the works and being specced for development.