Users can swipe through trending offers and select personalized offers
Subzy
Subscription Service Management Mobile App
Project Overview
Subzy is a conceptual mobile app designed to explore the problem space of managing subscription services and recurring payments. This solo bootcamp project was completed over a 90-hour period between October and November 2021.
My Role
As the sole product owner, I led the end-to-end research and design processes to develop Subzy, following each phase of IDEO's design thinking process. With a total of 90 hours to spend on the product as a whole, I allotted the most hours to the low and high fidelity design phases, focusing on Subzy's information architecture and visual design in order to deliver the highest quality prototype.
The Problem
Subscription services are extremely popular among consumers today, delivering a range of products on a recurring basis. The average number of subscriptions per consumer continues to rise, making the management of these services more difficult. Consumers can encounter "surprise charges" after subscriptions are automatically renewed without their knowledge. While this results in wasted money, many believe that canceling their subscriptions is not worth the effort.
The Solution
Subzy is a mobile app designed for consumers to easily manage the numerous subscription services that they have, including those that begin as free trials. Subzy gives users an overview of their spending on subscriptions, some of which may be unknown to begin with. Subzy also notifies users of upcoming payments, auto-renewals, and expirations of free trials. This provides users with the opportunity to cancel any unwanted services and to lower monthly spending.
Research
Secondary Research
The average U.S. consumer has 12 paid media and entertainment subscriptions, with millennials (consumers ages 25 to 40) having an average of 17. With the right features, Subzy would make managing such a high number of subscriptions easier.
According to a 2016 Hiatus survey, 62% of consumers paid for unwanted subscriptions because they did not disable auto-renewal. Even so, 19% stated that canceling their subscriptions takes too much effort. These statistics alone made auto-renewal notifications and an easy cancellation process two important features to incorporate into Subzy.
Competitive Analysis
Exploring Subzy's direct competitors helped to identify beneficial features and UI elements to include while developing the app. I evaluated TrackMySubs, Trim, and Truebill and their abilities to meet three main user needs:
See an overview of subscriptions and spending
Unsubscribe from a subscription
Receive notifications of upcoming auto-renewals
View my complete competitive analysis findings here.
Ideate
Sitemap & User Flow
I created a sitemap and user flow diagram of the Subzy app in Lucidchart to illustrate the user experience at a high level. These would help to ensure that user needs were being met while users explored the app.
Low Fidelity Sketches & Wireframes
I first sketched Subzy's critical screens using the Crazy 8's method: the main Subscriptions screen and the All Subscriptions screen, displayed after users select the "See All" button. I then designed wireframes which built upon the sketches' designs and accounted for the remaining user flows.
Guerrilla Usability Testing
I imported my wireframes into Marvel to create a prototype for a guerrilla usability testing session. The testing quickly identified one major usability issue regarding navigation that was crucial to fix. Users were also unaware of when their subscriptions would be auto-renewed. Both of these issues were addressed during the next phase of the design process.
Design
Mockups
After developing the Subzy brand's logo, color palette, fonts, and iconography, I created numerous high fidelity mockups in Figma. Usability issues uncovered during guerrilla usability testing were resolved as the mockups were created for all user flows.
Prototype
Prototype Design
I used Marvel to create an interactive prototype after Subzy's high fidelity mockups were designed. The prototype would be used during usability testing.
Test
Usability Testing & Iteration
I conducted four moderated remote usability tests via Zoom to validate my design choices. All users reacted positively to Subzy's visual design and features. No major or critical usability issues were uncovered. Feedback led to some small improvements to the Subscription Details screen, where users enter information to manually add a subscription service to Subzy:
I also further developed certain areas within Subzy, such as the Offers section of the app that lists various money-saving offers related to users' current subscription services and apps. Users were then able to explore Subzy further, providing a more complete in-app experience.
Conclusion & Next Steps
Feedback from usability testing proved that Subzy successfully enabled users to more easily manage their subscription services thanks to its features and user-friendly design. The Offers section of Subzy increased the app's ability to meet users needs, allowing users to further reduce spending. As a designer, I am very proud of Subzy's appealing visual design and its success in meeting user needs. However, I am even prouder of designing the app in a span of just 90 hours.
During usability testing, one user stated that "I thought of it all" in terms of Subzy's features. However, the next iteration of Subzy will include a Recommendations section. This will suggest new subscription services and apps to users based on those that they currently subscribe to.