Microsoft GroupMe
Lifestyle Feature Integration
USER EXPERIENCE • INTERACTION DESIGN • PRODUCT STRATEGY
TEAM
Kaleen Chen
Maya Chen
Nima Sherpa
And Me!
DURATION
2 days
ROLE
-
Ideation
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User Research and Testing,
-
Wireframing,
-
Generating High Fidelity Mockups
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Roadmap Proposal
PROJECT TYPE
Client Design Sprint
How might we increase the user adoption and retention of GroupMe in campus communities?
Prompt
INTRODUCING GROUPME
GroupMe is Microsoft's messaging application that makes it easy for members to form groups and create private chat rooms.
Project
Overview
PROBLEM INTRODUCTION
Microsoft reached out to Berkeley's Design and Business communities to brainstorm ideas to increase adoption and retention of their largest user base i.e campus communities that could lead to potential virality among the latter.
EXISTING DESIGNS
According to user research and competitive analysis, the existing design missed basic messaging features, very few options for personalisation and no unique features.
No Unique Feature
Missing Basic Features
OUR SOLUTIONS
We proposed a 5 year growth plan that includes building of a GroupMe eco-system, with key partnerships with other companies addressing lifestyle needs of student communities, within the application itself.
This was proposed in addition to baseline UX changes that would promote the user experience of the application..
Multiple UI Improvements
Payment Integration
In-Chat Meet Up Scheduling
My
Design
Process
Discover Phase
TARGET USER DEFINITION
Given in Prompt: College students
We started with chalking out more details about given target user and created a user persona for further reference
Research
Overview
Research
Outcome
PRIMARY RESEARCH
8 Contextual Interviews
SECONDARY RESEARCH
Competitive Analysis
Statistics Surveyed
FROM PRIMARY RESEARCH
.
.
.
Pain points in the user flow were identified.
Unmet needs were recognised
Unsaid wishes could be extrapolated
This gave us a user story to work with.
FROM SECONDARY RESEARCH
Benchmarking against 6 competitors gave us the following insights into user needs highlighted during user interviews that are met by the former:
Provide options to personalisation
Have a large existing user base
Have a large international connectivity
Easy to delete messages
Are compatible with all formats for file sharing
Don't have adversitesments
Are end-to-end encrypted
Have a powerful search feature
Allow easy organisation of groups & messages
Define
Phase
INSIGHT GENERATION
Standard Baseline Chat Features Need to be Incorportaed
Delight Factors
Need to be Created
A Unique Feature needs to be Developed
More Options to Personalise the Application are Required
Project
Refinement
Wellness
(Baseline Features)
A long shopping list of opportunities identified for the target market, could be prioritised and broadly placed in 3 buckets as follows:
Usability & Aesthetics
(Performance Satisfaction)
Lifestyle Integration
(Delight Factor)
Existing User Retention &
Short Term Project Goals
New User Adoption &
Long Term Project Goals
FEATURE BREAKDOWN
We had identified key features to include in the re-design for each of the defined buckets (as seen below).
This helped us refine our problem and frame the final how might we statement.
Wellness
Group Moderation
End to End Encryption
Bullying Detection
Usability & Aesthetics
Robust file Transfer System
Option to Edit Messages
Barcode on Welcome Page
Robust Search Feature
Message Pinning and React
Lifestyle Integration
Peer to Peer Money Transfer
Event Planning
Bulk Ticket Booking
Student Organisation Discovery
Popular News Threads
Voice Message Feature
Different Emojis
Group Description
Message Threads
PROBLEM RE-FRAMING
How might we drive up GroupMe's user retention and adoption by incremental changes and integration of key lifestyle activities to engage campus communities?
Prototyping
WIREFRAMING
All the features were split into two major design points:
Features that addressed usability
Those that helped build the delight factor, introducing key lifestyle features
.
.
Record and share class notes
Features for Improved Usability
Integration of Key Lifestyle Features
Development
HIGH FIDELITY FRAMES
We took our wireframes to Figma post some refinement and discussions as well as feedback from our Mentors from microsoft.
Features for Improved Usability
Navigation to check campus events
Barcode to share for building in person connections
Navigation to check campus news
Tab to switch between private and group chats
Calendar to keep tab of student/user schedules
Intuitive slide to reveal group options
Easy to create new groups
Navigation to check publicly posted activities by contacts
Features for Lifestyle Integration
In chat time availability selection
Toolbar with all in chat tools integrating lifestyle features
Shortcut to schedule common time availability
In-chat money transfer feature
In-chat route planning shortcut
Shortcut to book group transportation
Proposed Roadmap
To address resources available and feasibility we proposed a roadmap to incrementally implement features, based on priorities
What can be done today
Benchmarked features, absent in GroupMe but widely known as baseline, integrated into the platform is proposed as the first step towards creating the new GroupMe experience.
What can be integrated in the next year
Creating a GroupMe ecosystem of lifestyle feature integrations within the platform.
What can be integrated in the next 5 years
Creating a GroupMe ecosystem of lifestyle feature integrations within the platform.
Rapid
Usability
Testing
We collectively collected the feedback of over 600 college students to test how much more likely they would be in using the re-designed application. Students were
97%
Of the survey population found the re-designed interface more intuitive
74%
Were more likely to adopt GroupMe with the new features
58%
Preferred the utility features (meeting scheduling etc.) over social features (news postings)
Stakeholder Presentation
The re-design was extremely well received by Microsoft's team.
Questions they asked were regarding the users we tested and our testing methods.
They appreciated our diverse ways of testing through social media for rapid feedback and while this wasn't a competition, our design received a special mention during the closing ceremony.
Closing
Thoughts
WHAT DID I LEARN?
This was my first design sprint with a stakeholder involved and it sure was something! Every decision we made, specially since we were proposing an overhaul in the offering, had to be verified with numbers and well thought out logic and and I learnt to do that efficiently and in a very short amount of time.
I also learnt to propose design solutions in a way that it speaks to business and user goals such that even non-designers see value in what I propose.
WHAT WAS THE HARDEST PART?
Deciding how to integrate a delight factor, thinking about how design can be combined with marketing to propose a "GroupMe Ecosystem" was something I'd personally never done before. This was the hardest part for me and was only posible due to the help of the mentors available during the sprint.
WHAT WOULD I DO WITH MORE TIME?
The next step would be to flesh out the interactions proposed for every new feature and external application integration and prototype the same. This would need a lot more time and iterative testing with users.
A Peek
Into Our Process
Left to Right: Ramyani Roy (me!), Nima Sherpa, Kaleen Chen, Maya Chen
Meet The Team!
