Bringing Community to Catch
This project was made for Catch
Release date: Q2 2024
Results: TBD. (Shifts in the company's direction, alterations to the business model, and team reductions may have an impact on both the proposed designs and the scheduled release date.)
Roles
Research
UX Design
Visual Design
Copywriting
Prototyping
Deliverables
Market Research
Competitive analysis
Surveys
Usability Testing
Low-fidelity concept explorations
High-fidelity mockups, prototypes, specs
Problem
Upon reviewing our current user experience and analyzing customer feedback, it has become evident that although Catch offers a platform to explore partner brands, it currently lacks a personalized discovery experience. This limitation hampers the breadth of offerings users can organically explore through our product. Consequently, it impacts both the attraction of new customers and the retention of existing ones.
Solution
New categories + personalized recommendations across the product
Introducing a community tab
Focuses on product instead of brands (new)
Showcasing user recs + employees/experts recs
Introducing User Reviews (trusted sources)
Creating a backend system of mapping data from review that power new recs
Fostering a more trustworthy and informed shopping environment
I supported research process and we identified these findings:
1-
Users demonstrate a strong preference for offerings that offer monetary benefits, leading to a narrow discovery experience focused on familiar brands. This tendency results in underutilization of Catch's platform, with even popular brands remaining undiscovered.
2-
Users heavily rely on recommendations from friends, family, influencers, and community reviews to explore new products and make informed decisions.
3-
Engagement on external social platforms indicates an opportunity to harness community sentiment and traffic to enhance our product experience.
4-
Interview insights reveal that users prefer photo reviews over video reviews for quick and efficient content scanning.
5-
Many users exhibit brand loyalty, opting for familiar brands while using Catch and showing limited interest in exploring products from new or diverse brands.
Hypothesis
By introducing new social features within the app, we will be able to reduce reliance on external recommendations and cultivate long-term loyalty among users.
*We based this on a persona developed through user research insights.
Ideation
Concept #1
Incorporating a standard star rating system alongside a dedicated merchant detail page to display all brand-related reviews.
Concept #2
Builds on our value proposition (cost savings for users) as social proof and introduces a chat feature for user advice sharing.
Concept #3
Leverages a review system based on tags and written feedback to generate community-powered recommendations.
User Research Findings
1-
Overall response to new social features was positive. Participants valued how the product became more organic, human, and personal.
2-
In-app review submission without sharing personal or sensitive information is preferred by users; photo reviews are accepted, but videos are not.
3-
Users find the new tag system simple and valuable, allowing for new categories to be surfaced and introducing a layer of personalization that aligns with their preferences.
4-
Participants found the conversation feature both exciting and valuable, providing a more direct avenue to address their specific queries without navigating through the standard reviews.
#1
Collecting and showcasing a large number of reviews requires a detailed and labor-intensive process, which presents challenges in terms of development and maintenance.
#2
Sharing internal metrics on users' savings per brand may pose potential drawbacks, particularly for brands with lower numbers.
#3
Introducing a chat / conversation feature entails a substantial engineering effort that exceeds our current capacity. Projected to be built in a future phase.
Final Designs
Design Rationale
The proposed design significantly improves brand and product discoverability by fostering community engagement. It also strengthens trust and optimizes shopping decisions through social proof features and community reviews.
Prototype