Role
• User Research
• Product Strategy
• UI Design
• Interaction Design
• Usability Testing
Tools
• Figjam
• Notion
• Maze
• Figma
• Otter
Timeline
• 5 weeks
The Problem
In order to increase conversion rates, Wim Hof determined that their 20-day cold water shower challenge needed to be easier for users to complete. We discovered that the primary frustration was occurring at the pre-shower settings screen. Users were given an abundance of choices without clear labels or signifiers, which resulted in confusion and less users successfully completing the challenge.
The Solution
We made it easier for users to begin and complete the cold water challenge by progressively disclosing essential pre-shower settings and adding the option to create custom daily reminders.
Usability Review
To begin we conducted a usability review to uncover pain points and wow moments in the existing product. Our main goal with this step was to empathize with new users— focusing on the new user sign-up process and the 20-day challenge segment. To really put ourselves in users' shoes, we even dove into the challenge ourselves starting with 20 days of cold showers!
User Pain Points
Following a usability review, I defined the primary and secondary user pain points.
Primary Pain Point
The primary frustration identified is at the pre-shower settings screen. Users are given an abundance of choices without clear labels or signifiers, which results in confusion and less users successfully completing the cold water challenge.
Secondary Pain Point
The secondary frustration is at the home screen. Users are unsure where to begin due to the lack of a clear hierarchy. This results in less users selecting and completing the cold water challenge.
Competitor Benchmarking
With a usability review complete, we moved on to competitor benchmarking to identify standards and solutions from both indirect and direct competitors that might be used to improve the existing experience. We focused on five key metrics to help draw unique comparisons and insights from each competitor: learnability, efficiency, memorability, errors, and satisfaction.
Problem Space
Combining our initial usability review and competitor benchmarking helped us identify the problem space to ensure we ideated on a clear user problem.
How Might We…
Starting to understand the problem better, we then formed a “how might we” question in order to decide a direction for the upcoming ideation phase.
How might we ensure users feel confident during their first cold shower challenge so that they return in subsequent days?
Ideation
To avoid following the first idea, we conducted a series of ideation techniques. This allowed us to consider an array of solutions. Following ideation, we mapped what could be improved or added to the product.
What can we add
We chose to add the option for users to set a reminder for their daily cold shower to increase return rate.
What can we improve
We chose to improve the settings screen by walking the user through initial shower settings via progressive disclosure.
User Flows
Following ideation, we created user flows of the existing experience and improved the flow based on the idea that fit with business and user goals. Creating user flows helped us identify existing problems with the logic behind the interface and clarify the pathway in need of improvement.
Rapid Prototyping
After mapping our improved user flow we spent time rapidly prototyping a solution. Sketching helped us quickly iterate on the original idea and begin to visualize a solution without sinking time into hi-fidelity screens prematurely.
Styles & Components
Before creating the hi-fidelity prototype we established the product styles and interactive components in Figma to ensure an efficient and consistent design as we moved forward.
Old Flow and UI
Wim's original user flow was text-heavy and overwhelmed users with options that lacked clear labels or signifiers.
Redesigned Flow and UI
We made it easier for users to complete the cold water challenge by progressively disclosing only the essential pre-shower settings and adding an option to create custom daily reminders. We also simplified the overall interface design.
What We Improved: Pre-Shower Settings
We discovered that users were confused by the meaning of many of the shower settings and did not know what amount of time to select when getting started. Additionally, Wim recommends beginning with a warm shower, but there was no option to set an alarm for the transition between warm and cold showers.
To reduce this friction, our team added step-by-step instructions for the shower process and pre-set the recommended timer settings for beginners.
What We Added: Reminders
To increase user return rate, we added an option to set a daily cold shower reminder once users had completed their first day.
Prototype in Action
Our hi-fidelity prototype walks users through the essential settings to begin the first shower. After the shower, users are guided to create a reminder, which increases their likelihood of completing the challenge.
Usability Testing
After completing our hi-fidelity prototype, our team moved the prototype into Maze to get some user feedback. When writing our usability testing script, we broke our prototype flow into short, focused sections to test. Each segment had one task and one follow-up question for testers to complete.
Test Outcomes
Having tested the prototype, we learned new users quickly found the 20-Day Challenge CTA on the home screen and moved through the segment without friction. Our improvements should result in a more digestible and motivating experience for new users and increase the rate of users converting from a free to a premium paid plan.
Key Lessons Learned
1. Creating a clear visual hierarchy is one of the most effective tools for eliminating friction in a user segment.
2. Iteration is greater than perfection when it comes to designing excellent products. Putting a prototype into users hands early for usability testing provides the most valuable insights for where to invest time/energy while designing.
3. Every design decision should be powered by a "why" (user need) in order to create valuable products.
Next Steps
While the results from my unmoderated usability test included many positive outcomes, they also presented opportunities for me to learn where further iterations to the experience could be helpful. If I were to iterate further on the product based on these results, I would explore ways to incorporate gamification to keep users motivated and engaged throughout the duration of the 20-Day Challenge.