I solved this problem as a side project, motivated by my own challenges with managing subscriptions. I also aimed to practice my design skills and hopefully learn along the way. I mainly focused on identifying problems and coming up with solutions.
This was a one-person project where I performed the user research, came up with ideas, designed the user interface and documented everything.
Personal Concept Project | March, 2021 | 2 weeks
Roles: Defining the problem, Ideating, Prototyping, Testing and Iterating, Mockups and Documentation.
Process
I will use a simple framework to break down my project:
Simplifying my process: Understand, Identify and Execute.
Understand
The Problem
In a subscription based model, customers are charged on a regular interval (weekly, monthly, half yearly or yearly), based on a pre-agreed price. This helps companies sustain a uniform income and they can continuously provide a better quality of service. [Source]
However, this can be a problem in the customer’s perspective, as it can get difficult to manage several services and their expenses throughout the year.
Some extra complexities can arise due to the following reasons:
1. The services are often of different prices.
2. These services don’t necessarily start at the same date (like the start of the month). Therefore, subscriptions distributed throughout the month are difficult to keep track of.
3. All subscriptions are not periodically the same. Subscriptions periods may be weekly, monthly, quarterly (3 months), half-yearly (6 months), and yearly.
4. Some services offer a certain period of free trial before charging the customers.
Therefore, it can be hypothesized that a specialized product for easier management of subscriptions will be useful for people.
The People
Talking to people about their usual problems and habits helped me to uncover some interesting insights and cases that I had missed to consider.
Some people often use different email IDs and phone numbers for different subscriptions, often confusing which one is for which.
People sometimes subscribe to services to try a new offer for once, but they get charged when they forget cancelling it.
People may use different payment methods for different services, choosing those that are quickly available for transactions.
Some people like to keep their number of subscribed services low, so that they don’t have to worry about the mismanagement of money.
I also mapped out the User Journey of
- Taking a new subscription,
- Paying for it for the first time, and
- Getting notifications for subscription renewals.
By making a step by step story, I was able to empathize with the users, understand their context and figure out new ideas.
I also realized that getting unclear notifications of bank transactions for a service can also cause people to worry about their expenditure on subscriptions.
Identify
Opportunities (Ideas)
Using the insights from research and user journey, I was able to identify several areas of opportunities. I explored several ideas from a high-level perspective first, and then delved deeper.
IDEA #4
Subscription Wallet: SUBpay
A centralized subscription management and payment app. Transact once and the app will take care of paying the services timely.
This is a novel idea and one which seems to align directly with what I initially aimed for. It can have the pros from idea #3 and idea #1. There can be quick links to unsubscribe, add, or upgrade services.
Pros of SUBpay:
Expenses management from one place.
Complete list of active services and charges.
Peace of mind regarding bank transactions and timely payment.
The individual payments will be automatically handled by the app — renewing the approved ones (default) and cancelling the rejected ones (upon selection).
Assumptions:
The subscriptions services will be willing to accept payments from the SUBpay wallet.
The process of unsubscribing will be a quick one, using only the SUBpay app.
Modification of a service will be taken in the website/app of the service provider, not on SUBpay. This is because services have their own way of advertising the subscriptions and benefits.
Tradeoffs:
Customers will have to trust the SUBpay wallet system for timely payments.
Creating a wallet with timely payments may be a lot harder for development than IDEA #3.
One big assumption that can make this app practical for business is:
If people have a peace of mind regarding subscription management and payments, they will be willing to buy more subscriptions without hesitation.
Important Areas (Project Goals)
Defining goals is like keeping a map in a long journey. I referred to these goals frequently while designing the app.
GOAL #1
Keep a list of all Active Services and their details.GOAL #2
Easily add or modify a service.GOAL #3
Option to cancel services that are no longer needed.GOAL #4
Peace of mind regarding expenses.
Being aware of the expenses towards subscriptions and not getting any unexpected charges.GOAL #5
Identify Zombie Subscriptions.
Services that people intend to use only for a month to try a new product, but forget to cancel it until they are already charged.GOAL #6
Be aware of free services that are about to be charged soon.
Execute
Prototyping and Iteration
Test and Iteration
For testing the UX, I gave the test-participants some basic tasks to perform while they spoke about their actions. I tested two or three elements at a time, which helped me to iterate more quickly than if I had waited for completing the whole prototype.
Final Designs
SUBpay App Screens
Main Screens of the app.
Process of adding a new service to the SUBpay Wallet.
Interactions in Cards.
Other important elements of the app. Left: Sample of notifications that the user will get in the app. Right: Viewing due payments in different months.
Final Thoughts
With these designs, I tried to achieve 6 Goals that were set for the app and tried to design the screens around them.
Given more time and efforts:
I would have tried considering a system to link the SUBpay wallet to the purchase of subscriptions. This way, users can quickly add the service to the SUBpay wallet without opening the app and adding website details.
I also haven’t addressed secondary things like accessibility, dark mode and interaction animations for this prototype.
Although it took some efforts to focus on the small and the big details at the same time, this project was a lot of fun. I had the opportunity to try new things and get more confident with my design skills. I hope to try more interesting projects in the future.
A project like this is even better when more people are involved for contributions and bringing different perspectives to the table.
If you liked this project and would like to discuss a future collaboration or just wanna have a quick chat, feel free to reach me out on LinkedIn.
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