PODINBOX

PRODUCT & UX DESIGN CASE STUDY

PODINBOX

A platform for podcasters to engage their fans and monetize their podcast.

OVERVIEW

IntroductioN

The goal of this project was to develop a product around podcast fan engagement, from the ground-up. In researching the space, we found many successful podcasters directly engage fans as part of their show. But, there was a lack of tools to help podcasters engage their fans.

The Problem

Podcasters who wanted to include fan audio clips into their show, didn’t have a great way for their audience to submit their voice messages. Podcasters wanted an easy way to send fans somewhere, record their message, and capture some details about the fan.

The Solution

The initial concept was simple. To design a SaaS product where podcasters can create fan page with an audio “inbox”, where fans can easily record their audio message from any web browser.

MY TEAM ROLE

"This was a ground-up project, with a small nimble team, so I had a wear a lot of hats. I did all the product, UX, and visual design for PodInbox."

USER PERSONAS

We have 2 core sets of user types: Podcasters and Fans.

Podcasters

Podcasters are customers, who use PodInbox to activate and engage their fans.

Alisha

My podcast is mostly a hobby. It's a weekly podcast, but I skip doing episodes sometimes, since it's not a top priority. I don't make any money from it yet...but definitely open to it, even if it's just a little. It helps justify some of the costs and time needed to run it.

"hobbyist"

Pat

Podcasting is a substantial aspect of my business. I already know the importance of fan engagement and open to tools that help with it. I'm not sure if I care about fan monetization, but open to it if it doesn't interrupt my core revenue from sponsorships and courses.

"professional"

Maggie

I'm the director of community engagement at WNYC. I'm always looking at how to better engage fans across our network of podcasts. I know fan engagement leads to audience growth and that active listeners increase value for our podcast sponsors.

"network"

Fans

Fans are podcast listeners, who use PodInbox to connect deeper with the podcaster, the show, and other fans.

Jennifer

I like podcasts, but mostly listen on my commute. I don't really follow any of the podcasters I listen to on social. I mostly just enjoy the show, maybe research something interesting I heard on an episode, but that's about it.

"passive"

Mike

I love podcasts and try to sneak them in whenever I can. I'm constantly learning new things from them. For YouTube podcasts, I comment in the chat a lot. I also follow my favorite podcasts on social.

"active"

Vivian

I love podcasts and couple of them are part of my weekly ritual. I can't live without them. I'm part of one podcast's membership community, and I donate to a couple others when the opportunity arises.

"supporter"

RESEARCH

Customer Development

Before designing the product, we spoke with over 30 podcasters, to learn their needs and pains with capturing audio from fans. This is what led us to develop a more fun and flexible audio capture product, than the current solutions they were hacking together.

Landscape Analysis

As part of the planning and ideation process, I did a landscape analysis to get familiar with all direct competitors, indirect competitors, and adjacent products. This helps me collect data points on useful design patterns and important conventions used in the industry. This also helps me ideate on product innovations, based on gaps in the market.

DIRECT COMPETITORS

I researched our key direct competitor, to get familiar with all their core features. We created a list of user stories against some of their critical features…and created another list of user stories based on their product gaps.

INDIRECT COMPETITORS

For indirect competitors, we focused on traditional voicemail and social media tools podcasters used to directly connect with fans. We examined the pros and cons of using such products for the purpose of fan engagement.

ADJACENT PRODUCTS

For adjacent products, we studied email clients, community platforms, and other group communication tools to learn useful patterns around messaging and community building.

Key Learnings

The most important goal of my research phase is to get familiar with some of they main UX/UI patterns we’ll adopt for PodInbox, and come up with some product innovations we want to include. Here’s an example of some findings…

USER STORIES

In my product design and UX design process, I rely heavily on user stories. This helps enforce a user centered approach for design, while keeping the entire product team and stakeholders on the same page.

MVP

For PodInbox, I first prioritized our high level user stories into what would become our MVP.