Credit system copy

THE CONTEXT

un:hurd’s playlist feature generates an average of 3.5K pitches per month and is their top revenue generating feature. Users can pitch their tracks to a network of Spotify curators who will review it for a fee. If they like the artist’s track, they will add it to their playlist.

Despite the high usage rate, customer satisfaction surveys revealed a theme of discontentedness with the experience: only 50% of users on the iOS app reported being satisfied with pitching in a CSAT survey. Common complaints included price, not being placed on playlists by curators, and curators regularly exceeding the allotted response time of 7 days.

Introducing a credit system allows users to buy bundles of credits at a discounted rate, giving them better value for money. It also allowed for the possibility of users withdrawing their pitches when curators didn’t respond in time. This was not previously facilitated in-app; the onus was on users to reach out to us if pitches went overdue. The credit system opened up the ability for users to withdraw pitches to be refunded credits without their money leaving the un:hurd ecosystem.

THE CHALLENGE

Users who come to us to pitch seldom use the app for anything else. Their behaviour was already very engrained, so I wanted to avoid adding in any friction by requiring them to purchase credits outside of the pitching flow. Therein lay the challenge. I needed to create a clear and simple payment UX for a complex backend system. Users needed to be able to make one off purchases, sign up to our membership to receive the highest discount or purchase a bundle all within the pitching flow. All this while maintaining conversion rates.

TESTING ITERATION ONE

I designed version one and tested quickly as I knew this screen would need to be iterated over. I created a prototype in Figma and conducted 5 usability tests covering three different potential purchase scenarios: users with no credits, partial credits and users with enough credits to cover their full transaction.

As un:hurd is a music marketing tech solution and an agency serving larger clients, I ensured I included members from our agency team who are less familiar with the updates to get a more realistic view of how users might behave.

EVALUATING ITERATION TWO

With iteration two in hand, I led a workshop with our developers. I walked through each potential purchase scenario, including differences for users with free vs pro accounts, and discussed any technical limitations, of which there were many.

On iOS, we were scuppered by a 10 item transaction limit. Initially, we thought combining bundles on the backend would be a nice way to circumvent this, but our iOS dev informed us that items had to be of the same type.

Half of the session was also reserved for feedback on the design updates following testing. Some areas that needed further clarification became apparent, and I took this feedback away ready to iterate once more.

ITERATION THREE

The final iteration that made it into the product stripped the complexity way back. I live-designed with our Product Manager as we took the screen component by component and simplified each element down to it’s bare essentials.

Colour was removed (save for our Pro membership upsell, which needed to stand out) to reduce visual overwhelm, the breakdown of existing balance vs amount to buy was moved to the top of the screen to set the context for the payment option choice. Bundle deals were moved to a separate screen entirely to reduce cognitive load.

THE OUTCOME

Conversion from users entering playlist pitching to payment remained stable through this monumental payment transition, holding steady at 14% both before and after the credit system implementation.

Additionally, facilitating purchase of credit bundles increased revenue generated from pitching by 47%. The subsequent benefits to artists of bundle discounts and refund capabilities, in part, contributed to a 17% increase in customer satisfaction scores.