Challenge

Despite the fact that 80% of IROKOTV’s revenue was generated from international subscribers, its home page was designed primarily to sell its product offering to the African market.

Preliminary research involving trend analysis of over 300 LiveChat logs revealed it was falling short in a few key areas for prospective international customers.

I set out to better understand the needs and product evaluation process of IROKOTV’s international customers, and design an acquisition experience that more effectively communicated the product’s value.

User Research & Personas

Speaking with a representative sample was critical to gaining an accurate picture of IROKOTV’s international audience. Using Google Analytics data, I created a Google Data Studio dashboard to focus recruiting efforts and to create a new foundation for visualizing demographic data.

Once the research audience was defined, I worked with the development team to run targeted notifications in key areas of the platform UI to recruit qualified candidates for phone interviews.

Results from over 20 phone interviews revealed key differences between the life experiences of IROKOTV’s international and African customers, thus the service’s value to them.

In Africa, It’s About Content

African consumers have access to a plethora of ways to get their fix for Nollywood. Their primary purchase motivator is content - hence why the old home page was simply a form, pricing, and a hero featuring the hottest title on the platform.

Abroad, It’s About Culture

International customers aren’t looking for just entertainment, but a deeper connection. When asked why they chose IROKOTV over Netflix or other providers, they cited feelings of homesickness, or the desire to connect with their African roots.

Personas

I used this data to craft our first international product personas, highlighting areas where the existing home page was not selling to their needs.

The Platform Seeker

This user is fed up with watching free Nollywood on YouTube. It’s difficult to find, and time consuming to verify the quality. They arrive at the site’s home page via search or our YouTube channel hoping to learn more about the service, only to find a single promotional image and a simple call to action.

The Quick Fixer

This user hears about a movie or series via friend or family member, a Nollywood fan site, an actor they follow on Instagram, or from a trailer on YouTube channel. They arrive at the specific movie or series page on the IROKOTV site via search engine or direct link, only to be redirected to a login page.

Solution

For this redesign, we narrowed in on Platform Seekers. The new home page would need to showcase our variety of content, and feature the latest Nollywood blockbusters and titles starring top actors.

Hypothesis: a greater variety of content on the home page will lead to increased engagement, a higher registration conversion rate, and a lower bounce rate.

Early Concepts

We decided to develop and A/B test 5 variants using Google Optimize and Google Analytics events. I sketched out early concepts for the team to weigh in on before moving to wireframes in Figma.

New Google Analytics Events

I worked directly with the development team to setup a new events structure in Google Analytics so we could fairly and accurately track and compare engagement across the variants.

Completed Mocks

I worked alongside a fellow Product Designer to bring the wireframes to life, providing a variety of themes that felt both unique and on brand.

A/B Testing

We A/B tested all 5 variants against our control home page for 8 weeks, monitoring engagement conversion rate, registration conversion rate, and bounce rate. I also monitored each page for usability issues using FullStory.

After the first A/B test, it was clear that although they had a higher bounce rate, variants with an email form on the home page generated a better registration conversion rate than those with simply a button.

We decided to create a hybrid variant - combining the highest performing modules of each of the original five variants for a final test against control.

Results

The new Hybrid variant netted us an up to 26% increase in registration conversion rate, an up to 13% increase in overall engagement, with no impact to bounce rate.

Additionally, the Customer Support team noted a significant reduction in the volume of LiveChat queries regarding basic service information like what titles are available to watch.

Head over to IROKOTV to see the new design in the flesh.