Exploratory Study: Subscription Services

Overview

I championed and led a study to uncover user needs, pain points, and barriers to subscribing to subscription services. Findings and insights led to creating a journey map highlighting opportunities for designing a compelling subscription experience on our video products. Next steps included an evaluative study in which we uncovered a hidden element of delight that tied back to the user needs.

When
Nov-Dec 2022

Duration
4 weeks

Outcome
Journey map highlighting opportunities and a follow up study to evaluate designs and how well they meet needs.

Skills

  • Contextual Inquiry

  • In-depth Interview

Stakeholders

  • Video product team

  • Video UX design team

  • +play product team

My Process

Problem statement

Verizon created +play as a way for customers to discover, subscribe to, and manage their digital subscriptions through Verizon.com. As we explored how to integrate the +play offerings into Verizon video products, like Fios TV+ and Stream TV, I realized there was a critical gap in understanding in user needs and barriers. More specifically, there was an opportunity to understand how users currently subscribe, what motivates them, and what challenges they face.

Without a clear understanding of customers and their subscription experiences, product and design teams risked making assumptions that could lead to a poor user experience and low adoption. To bridge this gap, I championed and led an exploratory UX research study to uncover user needs, pain points, and barriers to subscribing through Verizon so that we could design a seamless and compelling subscription experience.

Challenges

We already knew that users often don’t remember all the services that they have, so we took this as a challenge to come up with some ways to help users access this information. One way we did this was to include an exercise where participants write out all the services they could remember on virtual sticky notes. They were asked to move them either under their name or under someone else in the household. The idea was that thinking about and seeing the list in an organized way might help jog their memory in different ways. We also pointed them to the exact location within their smartphone settings where they could see a list of subscriptions through their mobile OS. There were a few participants who found some subscriptions they had forgotten about. Finally, participants were reminded that if they thought of any others services, we could add them at any time. The interview was structured in a way where we could come back to anything new as long as we had noted it on virtual a sticky note.

+play on Verizon.com

Outcome and Next Steps

Analysis of the qualitative data led to a findings and insights represented in a journey map. The journey map was a useful tool because it highlighted opportunities to design a seamless and compelling subscription experience on our video products.

Next steps included a follow up study to evaluate how well designs met these opportunities. In that study, we uncovered a hidden element of delight that needed to be more discoverable to meet user needs for the manage part of their journey.


Journey map based on qualitative data (blurred to protect confidential information)

My Methodology

Research Objectives

1. Describe existing behavior for subscribing to digital services:

  • How do participants discover, subscribe to, and manage digital services?

  • How do these behaviors fit within their household dynamics?

  • What motivations and considerations drive their decisions?

  • What pain points do they experience?

2. Identify opportunities for integrating digital subscriptions with video products:

  • What are participant experiences with subscribing/transferring subscriptions through a third-party video product?

  • What factors influence their willingness to subscribe via a third-party video product?

  • What are the key drivers and deterrents to subscribing through third-party video products?

Methodology

To answer our research questions, I conducted individual interviews remotely that up to 90 minutes. During these sessions, participants took part in a contextual mapping exercise followed by an in-depth interview.

Sample Size: 14 participants (to ensure 12 completed interviews)

Criteria:

  •  Mix of male and female.

  • Mix of ages to account for behavior differences reported by Deloitte Media Trends Study. (It reported higher sensitivity to subscription prices and more churn among younger users.)

  •  All subscribe to at least 3 streaming video services, with most reporting much more.

  • All personally subscribe to at least 1 other type of digital service (e.g. health, music, gaming).

  • All use a CE device or smart TV to stream their video services to a television screen.

  • All are Verizon customers.

Data Collection

Each participant participated in an exercise where they listed all the services they subscribe to as well as those others in their household subscribe to. They were then asked to sort the services into groups by who is responsible for managing each service and whether they are free or paid. They were then asked to describe their map and answer follow up questions as part of the in-depth interview.