THE PROBLEM
To understand Now users' response to the current Entertainment package, discover pain points and propose a solution to improve their experiences.
Now is a subscription internet television service operated by British satellite television provider, Sky. It is a very popular service in the UK, although some users have identified pain points with its website.
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My family and I often use Now TV to stream popular TV shows. I couldn't help but notice that many people I know had shared certain pain points with its streaming website.
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HIGH LEVEL TIMELINE
MAKE OF THE TEAM
KEY GOAL
3 weeks
Self-initiated solo project for user research and design.
Research Now users' response to the current website, discover pain points and propose a solution to improve their experiences.
MY ROLE
As the solo UX researcher and designer, I conducted guerrilla usability testing to develop a rich understanding of user habits and problems. I then used empathy mapping to analyse pain points and determine priorities. The next phase involved task flows to understand where in the process users were having troubles, I created Lo-Fi sketches and Hi-Fi clickable prototypes. In the end, I was able to validate with users and confirm the pain points are solved by the redesign. Now let's take a closer look at the design process as outlined below...
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Define
UNDERSTANDING THE USER
With a goal of understanding Now users' response to the current website, I interviewed 5 users while using Now TV's website to identify pain points. 2 out of the 5 users had never used Now in the past. I asked each user the following questions:
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1) What were your initial thoughts when you accessed the site? I then asked them why they felt that particular way.
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2) Now that you've logged in, can you search for a particular tv show to watch?
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3) Would you say that this product is working for you? I then asked them why they felt that particular way.
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4) What are your overall thoughts on the product and the experience that you've had?
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Define
To synthesise the users' needs, I organised my findings on an empathy map as depicted below. This is to better understand my research findings and to determine priorities as we move forward in the design process.
Based on the empathy map, I decided to focus on the following issues:
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Difficulty locating the menu option on the opening page.
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UI Visibility issues: the forgot password letter colouring is dark and is against a dark background.
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Difficult to search for different genres.
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Frustration over the need to download a separate TV player for laptop use.
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No option to Skip Intro at the opening credits of TV shows.
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To build empathy with target users and focus on their needs, I created this user persona.
Ideate
I created a task flow for the steps a user typically goes through to stream a TV show from Now's Entertainment package.
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The areas where users struggled or had pain points have been highlighted for the purposes of redesigning at a later stage.
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Framing the problems
The annotated sections are the parts of the user journey that were flagged to me as problematic during the usability testing.
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This task flow is very valuable as a visual aid for the redesigning process.
Based on the established pain points, I created Lo - Fi sketches to help realise concepts and test designs to see how any changes could improve the user experience.
Prototype
At this stage of the design process, I turned my Lo - Fi sketches into High - Fi prototypes to advance the design process and bring the redesign to life. Below are the screen comparisons side by side.
Original Now Website
Redesigned Now Website
The "I don't know my password" option had to be highlighted for users to identify. User feedback stated that the UI could be improved by having contrasting colours for easier readability. One user commented that "Forgot your password" is a more accurate statement for users who forgot their login details.
I renamed "I don't know my password" to "Forgot your password?". I also amended it in the same format as the sign in option for easier readability.
3 out of 5 users complained that this page was confusing as there were two 'start streaming' buttons, both of which have different functions. One to start streaming the show, Manifest, the other to start streaming a selection of other shows.
All of the users believed that this page was unnecessary and purely for advertising. They felt that the experience improved once they skipped to the next page where they were presented with a list of their streaming options.
Based on user feedback, the redesigned Hi - Fi prototype now skips directly to the Home streaming page from the login page. Users agreed that this was the web page that they found the most satisfying to navigate.
A user suggested that the search option should be wider and include different search options like genres, titles and people. They argued that users sometimes search streaming services for suggested shows when they are in the mood for a particular genre.
I have widened the search options at the top right hand corner of the screen. Users can now search for a show based on more general suggestions such as titles, genres or people.
3 Users expressed frustration at having to download a separate player to view the shows.
Users now have the option to stream the show at the press of a button.
When using the Now TV player, a user pointed out that there is no option to Skip Intro at the opening title sequence of a TV show. This option is available for other streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney Plus.
The user now has the option to press the 'Skip Intro' button to immediately fast forward to the start of the show. The viewer used to have to manually fast forward the opening credit scenes if they did not wish to sit through the opening title sequences.
A clickable prototype was created to test my ideas and validate the redesign. This prototype allowed me to test users on the focused tasks, gain empathy with their experience and to understand what worked for them and what required further improvement. The prototype focused on the particular tasks that I planned to test users on.
Validate
Below is a visual representation of how users responded to the testing before and after the validation stages of the redesigned Now website. Each filled circle represents a rating out of 5 for usability.
Conclusion
Following 2 - 3 weeks of user research, analysis and redesign, I was able to validate the issues and the design amendments that I made by testing my Hi - Fi prototype with 5 new users. The results are as follows:
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5 out of 5 users could select a new password.
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5 out of 5 users were able to navigate their way to the main menu.
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5 out of 5 users were able to locate search options based on genre, people and titles.
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4 out of 5 users had no complaints streaming a tv show. One user did suggest a full redesign of the UI colours from scratch.
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5 out of 5 users were satisfied with the option to skip the intro.
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LESSONS LEARNED
Small changes and tweaks to a streaming service can optimise the user experience.
In a short space of time, I was able to confirm that small amendments made from user feedback would result in a more user friendly experience. I also learned the importance of validation through user testing.
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This was my first time conducting guerrilla usability testing. Admittedly I found approaching new people daunting at first. However, by stepping out of my comfort zone and simply observing user behaviour, I was able to improve their satisfaction when using Now's streaming service. It was a very rewarding experience.
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I think for future case studies of this nature, I would collate data on how often users stream from Now and maybe consider its impact from a business perspective. A competitive analysis may also be beneficial, as users often referred to Now's competitors such as Netflix and Amazon Prime.
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Note: This case study was a self-initiated project done purely to fulfil my passion for UX. I was not contracted by Now nor have I ever worked for them.