‘YouCredit’- Earn as You watch— A UX case study
Introducing a new feature on YouTube to encourage regular users to subscribe to YouTube Premium.
Spoiler alert! This is a prolonged article but insightful too.
Why this case study?
- A while ago, I got an opportunity to participate in an online UX Design Hackathon conducted by Growth School.io. It was 48 hours of rigorous thinking, executing, scraping, fixing, iterating, and re-iterating.
- Generally, designers, especially beginners write case studies about apps and websites that they may have designed. Hence, I wanted to take a chance at this and showcase my data representation and visualization skills.
Team
So in this Hackathon, I got a chance to work with different creative folks in my team. This was a team effort along with my teammates Pooja, Shashank, Upasna, and Yamini. We divided the whole project into different parts according to everyone’s strong point but again everyone had done more or else every portion of the project.
Product Problem Statement
To begin with, we have given some problem statements, out of which we had to choose one. We chose the following:
In the current experience, there is little difference between free YouTube users and users who pay a monthly subscription. The only primary difference is the absence of Ads for paying subscribers which is not enough for Indian customers to pay. YouTube wants to increase its user base of paying subscribers in India. Create a more personalised experience for YouTube premium subscribers to help sell more premium subscriptions.
We found it very challenging to think of an offer to make the users buy the subscriptions willingly. When we think of YouTube, we just think of unlimited free content, thus, coming up with solutions that are different from the already existing ones, was really challenging! In an internet full of entertainment options, many of them already free, it’s tough to get people to open their wallets. Moreover, this problem statement was the only statement that didn’t land us to a single solution without digging deeper into it!
To begin with, we understood our problem statement and started narrowing it down; aimed at refining some aspects of it and understanding the real cause. On this basis, we framed our research problem statement:
In the journey set out to create a personalised experience for YouTube premium subscribers, as UX Designers, we first would want to understand the behavioral insights to why or why not users are inclined towards paying for subscriptions. Plan a research to identify patterns that motivate/demotivate users to pay for subscriptions.
With this research statement, we are trying to understand the actual cause behind users not willing to subscribe to YouTube Premium despite its popularity in India.
Desk / Secondary Research
It’s 1 AM & we indulged in extensive research. We started researching on a very broad level (Desk Research 1) — finding more about the user base of YouTube in India, finding insights on why people pay for Subscription Entertainment Services, features of already existing YouTube Premium model, how does the subscription model work in other apps, etc. I dug deeper & found that while nearly any apps can attempt a subscription model, they tend to be better suited towards certain types of apps like Content apps, Service Apps, Single Purpose Apps, Gaming Apps, Shopping Apps.
Major insights out of Desk Research:
- It’s very important to make the users feel premium.
- From the plain sight, we can conclude teens are among the most susceptible to FOMO (fear of missing out) because they highly value social acceptance and popularity with peers.
- Users are more actively invested in making sure they get as much out of your app as they can, resulting in a more engaged audience.
- The main interaction on YouTube is between the content creators & the users. The content creators make money through the YouTube monetization policy and the viewer gets awesome content. Hence the user is dependent upon the content creator for content dose and the content creator is dependent on the user for financial growth. YouTube makes money as the middleman.
- Studies show that an average person spends at least an hour or more on YouTube per day.
- Hardcore support for the users' favorite content creators is on the rise, especially in gaming(Live stream & gameplay videos).
- Patience and faith in a reliable app with great support and stable experience will bear fruit.
- Having features gives the user a sense of value for their money.
Users are paying for premium TV shows and movies with little complaint (Netflix, Hulu) on one hand. On the other hand, they’re also paying for amateur content from amateur broadcasters voluntarily and willingly (Twitch) when even YouTube creators with huge followings are having a hard time getting their fans to pay for content (YouTube Premium). Everything in the middle seems to be toiling, even when the content is “premium.”
I started really looking at each of the services, what they offer, their revenue models, and how users are responding to them. I’ve come to some theories about what users are really paying for and what low-earning services are missing.
- When People Will Pay for Premium Content
Clearly, Netflix and Hulu have this nailed. They have a first-mover advantage, but it’s more than that. They both replace an existing behavior and they do it at a far lower rate than the incumbent services. For ₹499 per month, you can watch almost all the shows you’d normally watch on major networks and cable, on the device of your choice (even your beloved TV).
People pay for premium content when it replaces an existing behavior at a lower price and with equal or greater convenience.
2. When People Will Pay for Non-Premium Content
Livestreaming!!! Yes. Twitch (hyper-focused on gaming) & YouNow (no topic focus) are doing that. Yes, it’s not Premium but still, people are voluntarily and willingly paying. What they are paying for is personal interaction and community around a specific topic. It’s not just personal interaction (chat rooms) or just community (social media). It’s the combination of both and a charismatic broadcaster talking about a relevant topic.
People will pay for non-premium content when they feel they have a highly personal stake in it. This is when users make the connection between enjoying content and the need to support the creator.
- Another interesting insight is that content creators on YouTube enjoy the benefits of a YouTube premium user viewing and participating on their channel without the premium user realizing. Content creators enjoy a lot of benefits as compared to the general viewer or user.
- How does the subscription model work in other apps?
We got inspired by a gamification model used in “Zombies, Run!” to increase its subscriber count.
Hypothesis
Based on the research on a fitness app Zombies, Run! we got a better understanding of the real-time application of the premium subscription model. We got more understanding of the gamification model through the “gifted subs” feature on an online streaming platform called, TWITCH. We thought of incorporating the gamification model as a feature within YouTube. Thus, we came up with a hypothesis that the gamification model may attract more users towards YouTube premium.
Gamification is not just a gimmick. Gamification works because it triggers real, powerful human emotions — Happiness, intrigue, excitement, attraction…These are positive user experiences. And positive user experience leads to better engagement, loyalty and higher sales!
Primary Research
Initial User Definition
Based on the secondary research, we came up with deciding our target users. We further carried on with the primary research in order to validate our hypothesis and gradually orient ourselves to an optimum solution.
“YouTube is the top service for entertainment streaming in the younger demographic.” — A SURVEY BY Gen Z.
Based on this, we formulated a short user screening to shortlist users whom we can interview. From the survey, we got to know about the behavioral insights of the users, what is their primary mode of online entertainment, the hours they spend on YouTube, etc.
Further five semi-structured interviews were conducted with different aged people from varied backgrounds and working professions to gain a deeper understanding of the scenario. The interviews mainly aimed at answering the following questions:
1. How often do you use YouTube? Tell me more about some of the channels/content creators you follow and why?
2. If given a platform, how would you support your favourite channel/content creators?
3. Do you have premium subscriptions of any apps that you use? What apps have you subscribed to? Kindly guide me through the features that encouraged or discouraged you to make a decision to purchase the premium version for that application?
After consolidating the interview data we reached the stage of bridging the gap between our qualitative and quantitative analysis and proceeded to create live artifacts- Empathy maps and User Personas for the two category users, that we had selected from our research- Gaming and Education.
Empathy Maps
User Personas
Some common pain points we derived like — less engaging platform, the platform could be more user-centric, after launching the YouTube Premium, YouTube has started pushing more ads, the way to contribute to content creators and live interactions were missing.
But these data were not enough to justify our Hypothesis that we took just after our Desk Research 1 and our Primary research. In order to validate the collected insights on the basis of some qualitative data, we reverse-engineered the process and jumped to Desk Research 2. This aimed at analyzing the figures of the current user base in India, who are active in watching YouTube content in various categories. We drilled down to two popular categories that consisted of the major chunk of the users- The education category — with users more than 20 million and the Gaming category — with users more than 12 million; 24 gaming channels had more than a million subscribers in India. The primary way in which these channels create content is through live streaming which has seen a 10x growth over the last three years on YouTube.
- Gaming stats: More than 12M users and the average time are 5 hours and 16 minutes.
According to the FICCI Report 2020, the online gaming industry is expected to reach Rs.187 billion by 2022 at a CAGR of 43%. — www.financialexpress.com
- Educational Content Stats: Average time is more than 3–5 hours per day and the user base is greater than 20M. There are over 150 education and learning channels with 100,000 plus subscribers.
“India leads the way when it comes to learning on YouTube”: Don Anderson, head of family and learning partnerships at YouTube APAC
So finally after conducting Desk Research 2 and thereafter consolidating all the data we came to the conclusion that in order to enhance the user experience and make it more engaging, we need to connect user problems to the gamification model (our hypothesis) & that’s what we did!!
We improvised it to have a credit mechanism wherein a premium user will earn credits at a much faster rate than a non-premium user. Users can then utilize these credits for availing various offerings. Offering options will be made available to users in their accounts.
Solution
We’ve come up with a credit mechanism & we’ve introduced an incentive-based credit model called ‘YouCredit’ wherein a premium user will earn credits at a much faster rate than a non-premium user. Users can then utilize these credits for availing various offerings which also include supporting their favorite content creator. Offering options will be made available to users in their accounts.
But you’ll say for supporting the creators there are popular membership sites outside of YouTube like Patreon. Right? Yes, you’re right. But YouTube also has come up with a new feature which is in-house and keeps the creator and the users on the same platform as their content, it is the ‘sponsor/join’ button where one can take a membership of their favorite creator. You might be thinking then what’s new in ‘YouCredit’?
That’s where you’re wrong kiddo!! 😜
‘YouCredit’ is the system where the user is not spending it from their own pocket rather he/she is earning the credits by giving his/her valuable time. Interesting??
Here Subscribers and fans are given the opportunity to support creators whose content they consume freely. It’s common for subscribers to want to show their appreciation monetarily. So here they can do that by contributing their earned ‘YouCredit’. Having incentives or perks will also appreciate inspiring these followers to contribute. Subscribers get a new vessel to support the creators financially. this transaction of ‘YouCredit’ for rewards strengthens the bond between the creator and subscriber.
Introducing ‘YouCredit’
What is YouCredit?
‘You’ derives from YouTube and ‘Credit’ is the incentive earned. We decided to give it a Golden color to signify earning & to have a premium feel.
So basically, YouCredit refers to the perks that the users receive based on the number of hours he/she watches content on YouTube. The credits earned by the user could be utilized by him/her to purchase coupons or even support their favorite content creator by sending them some credits — this would help the content creator to feel motivated to create more for society.
The amount of credits earned by the regular and premium users would be different. The gap is maintained, keeping in mind that the regular users would get attracted by the kind of luxury premium users are having in order to redeem more benefits by earning more credits within the same time frame.
Extra Features of YouCredit:
- The content creators would be given YouCredits, by the supporting users in multiples of 100. YouTube would then monetize the collected credits for a content creator (which will be in multiples of 100). Just to keep the overall process of conversion of credits to money, simple.
- In addition to this, since the coupons would start from 1500 YouCredits for premium users (to avail luxury coupons) and 300 YouCredits for regular users (which premium members could also avail) →This is where FOMO comes in and regular users would definitely want to jump into Premium schemes. All the users would be able to use credits effectively from two months of starting to earn credits with this feature.
- Also the collected credits expire every 3 months for the user. This would ensure that an opening window is provided for 1 month wherein the user needs to be highly active in order to extract maximum profits.
YouCredit Pricing Strategy (Just an example)
Regular Users: For spending each hour watching a video, a regular user would be credited with 1 ‘YouCredit’ in his/her account.
Credits earned per month by a regular user (user spending 5 hours per day on an average) = 1*5*30 = 150 YouCredits
Credits earned for 2 months = 150*2 = 300 YouCredits
Premium Users: For spending each hour watching a video, a premium user would be credited with 5 ‘YouCredit’ in his/her account.
Credits earned per month by a premium user (user spending 5 hours per day on an average) = 5*5*30 = 750 YouCredits
Thus, on analyzing the gap between the credits earned by the normal and premium users (750–150 = 600), we can say that a FOMO feeling is created for the regular user as he would be tempted to buy premium membership so that he has more control over the variety of options he will be able to redeem.
Control to mitigate the potential Risk:
- Keeping in mind the chances of the credit system being misused, we have strategized in raising the price of the coupons so that the user really needs to watch more videos to redeem the coupons.
- Also, the upper limit of hours spent per day in order to earn credits is set to 6 hours. This is set in order to ensure that the users are not addicted and stuck in our new model, keeping in mind the well being of the user. Additionally, this would prevent our users from abusing the credit generation system (by simply playing YouTube in the background on PC for hours and generating credits).
Wireframes
Given below are some of the wireframe stages we went through before formulation the final User Interface.
Iterations
We tried out multiple versions (displayed below as stages) for coming up with solutions and then weighed the pros and cons to narrow down on the final wireframes which would be converted into Hi-fi UI.
Stage 1:
Stage 2: After refining
Stage 3: Final Wireframes
Final UI
Based on the pros and cons for the wireframes designed above, we drafted our UI to depict the YouCredit Feature:
Placement of YouCredit banner on the Home Screen: User would get to know about the newly introduced feature of ‘YouCredits’ right at the top of the screen. It’s placed right at the top of the screen (both for general users and premium users) so that user is notified and would want to explore more.
The ‘Gift YouCredit’ option is directly provided below a particular video and also right next to the subscribe button so that it becomes easier for the user to donate the credits to a content creator.
The Daily Screen time meter indicates the number of hours spent by the user (limit is 6 hours). It also tells the user from which videos they have earned the credits and where they have gifted their credits. The ‘Gifts’ tab let users donate their earned credits to their favorite content creators.
Within the coupon’s section, the user can redeem coupons based on how many YC credits he has earned. The premium coupons are different from the regular coupon, this is just to make users excited about the opportunities they can avail if they have a premium membership.
The About page simply briefs the user about what they can do with YouCredit.
Conclusion
Our model is giving an opportunity to the subscribers & fans to support creators whose content they consume freely. Having incentives or perks will definitely inspire these followers to contribute.
It is our hope that this Gamification model for credit earnings will help turn a normal YouTube viewer into a Premium YouTube viewer.
My Learnings
- Users’ satisfaction depends on more than just to provide better features.
- Since users are asking for more, we as designers, have to look for more.
- I also learned that active communication and short quick stand-up meetings were the keys to ensure the project’s success.
This project (Hackathon) was an interesting one & really fun. I was a little skeptical about whether I would like this initially, but it turned out to be something I really enjoyed working on. It was not an easy project but I can definitely say that I’ve learned a lot from it. There are multiple phases that need to go through before you arrive at your final output. In our case, we were really lost even after researching and interacting with the users. Honestly, until the wireframing part, we had no idea where we were going. But things started to fall into place eventually. Yup!! We recognized a gap in the platform and suggested a new feature that would definitely make the entire experience much better. I’m looking forward to experimenting and learning more. Last but not the least, our project won a standing ovation from the judges!
Pretty please with a cherry on top? Voila..!! We won the first prize in the Hackathon (Out of 16 teams). 🥳
I know this project is not entirely perfect, but at least I have learned some valuable lessons :)
“Waiting for perfect is never as smart as making progress.” Seth Godin
Next Step
Refined Interactive Prototype
I am currently working on the interactive prototype. Here we’ve only put screens of the final UI. Since I’ve just started learning UI, I need to work more on some mature prototyping tools such as framer to develop polished high fidelity mockups…
Testing
Since it was a hackathon, so we did not get that much time to do good user testing. But yes it does require multiple tests on our design iterations. I feel that I could still use more opportunities to improve on conducting user tests. So yes that I can learn in the coming days..
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