Sonic Stargate
A digital product that sets itself apart from the competition by bridging the gap between consumers and the musicians they love.
A Music Streaming App With Heart
A look at how to increase conversion rates for a Freemium music streaming app
Duration: 1 month
Key Skills: Ideation, UX Writing, Wireframing, HI-FI designs, Rapid Prototyping Using AI (Figma Make), Testing, Branding
The Problem:
Sonic Stargate is a music streaming startup that launched just 2 years ago. It is a freemium model that has a mobile-web experience and a mobile app for both iOS and Android. The company’s business strategy was to first build a user base by offering a free product and then evolve the feature set so they could monetize on a premium (paid) product.
At this point, the product has been well received and has a healthy user base of free users. However, they now need to design a way for users to upgrade to a premium paid membership when first signing up. The product manager had this to say about improving the sign up flow:
“The existing sign up flow does not have a call to action upon registration that allows the user to subscribe. In addition, there is no compelling reason given to upgrade”
-Product Manager for Sonic Stargate
But What If:
We clearly lay out the benefits a user can expect upon upgrading to a paid subscription, basing said benefits on extensive user research. In addition, we allow users to easily sign up for a free trial so that they can experience these perks first hand.
And So:
I created a sign up flow for Sonic Stargate which both offers compelling reasons to upgrade and a pain-free path to a 3 month free trial.
Key Features
A Compelling Case to Upgrade:
Users need to know why they should pay for something, especially when they are able to experience a version of the product for free. To deal with this, I created a short scroll marketing page where the user could learn about the paid version.
No Credit Card Number Required for a Free Trial:
Users are wary of signing up for a free trial if it means having to give their credit card information. Using simply crafted UX copy, I let users know that they could sign up for our product with no strings attached.
Cleary Marking the Plan with the Best Value:
Users want to know what the best value is among multiple plan options. I designed a simple UI element to show this.
Bridging the Gap Between Users and the Artists:
Users want to be able to connect with and support the artists they love. I designed an artist portal, available only with a premium subscription, that allows artists to share news and sell merchandise directly to users.
The Research
In order to make the pitch of upgrading to a premium service more compelling, it was essential to find out what users wanted out of a paid music streaming plan. This meant asking them about what perks were important to them, and what pain points repelled them from making the switch in the past.
#1:
Users do not want to input their credit card numbers for a free trial. For many of them, it has become difficult to keep track or their subscriptions and payment dates, and they want to make sure they really love a product before they give their payment information.
#2:
Users do not want to have to experience ads if they are paying for a premium streaming service. While “ad-free” is the most basic and common feature in the freemium industry, it’s importance to users can’t be overlooked.
“Elimination of ads is probably the biggest reason to upgrade on most services these days”
-Rebecca on what perks are most important to her when choosing to upgrade on a freemium platform
“I would like to see artists treated more like an integral part of the company. They deserve to be fairly compensated for their hard work and creativity.
-Belisa on changes she would like to see to the music streaming industry.
“Free trials are perfect, when you don't have to input credit card information. This often leads to unnecessary/unintended subscriptions.”
-Galen on the factors that stop him from signing up for a free trial.
#2:
Users are not happy with the way artists have been unfairly compensated on streaming services. These users are very passionate about the music they listen to, and would like a larger portion of their membership costs to go towards supporting the artists they love.
User Persona
After conducting the user interviews, and taking into account the input from the product manager, I created a user persona I felt captured the kind of user Sonic Starship was trying to convert to premium.
User Flow
Now that I more clearly understood what users wanted out of a premium streaming service, I needed to design a user flow that allowed the user to accomplish some key goals:
Keeping these goals in mind I created the following flow that starts with a call to action upon initial sign up for the free version to the service:
Wireflows
Now that I had my major red-route user flow dialed in, it was time to illustrate some lo-fi screens.
A big part of the flow deals with educating the user on the perks available with the premium service plans. To do this, I designed a scrollable marketing screen.
The next step, after educating the user, was to design a painless path to signing up for a free trial:
Hi-Fi Screens
It was now time to translate the user flows and wireframes to hi fidelity designs that expressed the bold, hip branding I envisioned for Sonic Starship.
Defining and Designing Edge Cases
It was important to design some screens for edge cases that a Sonic Stargate user might encounter.
Testing and Iterations: First Round
I tested the prototype with 5 subjects over the course of 2 days.
The testing process uncovered some key issues I needed to address:
Testing and Iterations: Second Round
Now that I had sorted out the main usability issues for the sign in process, I retested the app with the same test subjects.
A new thing came up... not really a problem with the sign in flow, but more an idea about how to make the premium site more appealing.
“What if the artist portal was more like a social media site? People could get a long scroll content screen similar to Instagram, with all of the artists they follow”
Gaelen Evans, test subject
This thought gave me an idea for a next step for the app design... a more robust Artist Portal section.
Here is a sketch of the updated main Artist Portal:
This direction could not only be a way to boost premium conversion rates, but also to increase artist buy-in of the product, serving as a platform for them to connect with their audience on a deeper level.
In Conclusion
By taking a deep dive into the Freemium business model and the specific needs of Sonic Starship users, I was able to craft a compelling argument for upgrading to a premium membership. In addition, the research helped me design a seamless and pain-point free path to signing up for a free trial.
