Adding a feature to send in-app book recommendations to friends.
Product
Adding a feature to the Goodreads app
Role
UX/UI Designer | Solo student project for Designlab UX Academy
Timeline
4 weeks | 80 hours
Primary Tools:
Figma, Fathom, Zoom, and Maze
Background
With over 125 million members and a database of 3.5 billion books, Goodreads is the world's largest site for readers and book recommendations. While Goodreads users tend to have high brand loyalty, that doesn't mean users are completely satisfied by the product.
Research Goal: I want to uncover what keeps users coming back to the Goodreads app and to learn about the challenges they face when using the app, so I can enhance the current user's experience. In doing so, it would build value for users, increase engagement, and increase brand loyalty.
Implementing this feature removes a step for users, who have been recommending books in person or through texts. They can now recommend books to a friend directly in the app.
While Goodreads has been a household name for many years, new competitors are popping up on the market with more advanced features. It is also losing its younger audience to apps like TikTok and Instagram. One of its strengths is its large, active community. Goodreads users, who value community or have friends who use the app, are more likely to keep returning.
Research Questions:
“How do you track the books you read?”
“How do you usually choose your next book?”
“Where would you like to see Goodreads in five years?”
100% of participants get book recommendations from friends.
5/6 participants enjoyed seeing a feed of what their friends were reading, reviewing, and doing on the app.
I’d like to explore ways to help readers to find their next book easier because they don’t trust book recommendations on Goodreads.
How might we make the process of finding the next book easier?
How might we make users feel confident in the book recommendations suggested for them on Goodreads?
Motivations:
"Reading is for enrichment! It's important to me to gain different perspectives and to learn from and about others." She feels that reading makes her better and has a goal to read more.
Pain points:
Can find it difficult to find time to read.
She doesn't trust book recommendations on Goodreads to help her find new books.
Finds that BookTok's algorithm is better.
Dislikes the manual entry of tracking her reading progress.
Motivations:
"Reading helps me escape reality by taking me on an adventure to a new world." She loves to dive into a good series. She stays motivated by reading books back-to-back and by checking her reading stats.
Pain points:
Finds that the app's UI feels old and outdated.
Wishes more of her friends used Goodreads.
Doesn't want to engage with the overall Goodreads community but with her own friends.
Feels that the current rating system isn't comprehensive enough.
At this stage:
Explored potential layouts and UI elements that adhered to Goodreads current design system.
Created screens for the main task flows and edge cases.
Established where the book recommendations would live in the app based on current users' mental models and existing flows.
Average usability rating of 4.2/5
Average usability rating of 5/5
4/5 users completed task flow 1
5/5 users completed task flow 2
4/5 users said they would use this feature if it were added to Goodreads
3/5 users mis-clicked on the page when the keyboard appeared
2/5 users were confused between "Share" and "Recommend"
1/5 users failed to complete task 1 due to a prototype error caused by not accommodating an edge case
Fix prototyping errors (i.e. keyboard hotspots) that led to users mis-clicking on the screen.
Explore ways to differentiate “share” and “recommend.”
Fix the prototype error in the first task flow that led to one mission unfinished path.
Add clarity to the process of selecting friends to send book recommendations to by disabling options after one has been selected.
Users were confused between "Share" and "Recommend."
One user failed to complete task flow 1 due to a prototyping error, in which I didn't accommodate for an edge case where the user may want to send a recommendation without a message. As a result, they didn't see a confirmation screen at the end of the flow.
6/6 users stated that reviews were an influential factor in their decision-making.
All interviewees mentioned that they would like to see a more modern, updated UI.
Integrate Audible into Goodreads app to make it easier to track audiobooks in the app.
