Global Player
Signed-In Experience
Overview
Global Player is home to some of the biggest commercial radio stations in the UK such as Capital Fm, Heart and LBC. There, users can listen to 17 different stations and access exclusive content from their favourite radio brands. The digital listening platform is available natively across mobile, web, smart speakers and TV.
Background
I worked as the main product designed on creating the sign-in gate solution. The purpose of this project was to increase the amount of first-party data collected to counter the recent IDFA changes. The project was meant to ensure Global Player could continue offering tailored content recommendations without having to rely on on-device data capturing.
The process
Understand business goals
Capture more first-party data
Counter IDFA limitations
Increase percentage of signed in usage
Empathise with users
The project kicked off with discovery research. That meant talking to users about their expectations and pain-points when it comes to data collection. This work also included conversations with business stakeholders to clarify why the need for certain bits of data and how it would be used.
Findings
By speaking to real people, we've unveiled a series of concerns that are triggered whenever they are asked to give away data:
'I dictate the terms' - people don't like being forced to give away their information
'That's too personal' - asking for too much data could make people feel under threat
'Acquired right' - users associate the radio with it being a free service
'Part of modern life' - people are familiar with the concept of sign in gates
'Make it quick and painless' - data collection shouldn't overshadow the whole experience
'What do I get in exchange?' - there must be clear reasons and value in giving away data
Metrics of success
Talking to users has given us a good idea of how the success of this project should be measured:
Sign-ins - the percentage of users signing in
Sign-ups - the percentage of new account creation
Registration - the percentage of form fields filled during registration
Ideation
With all this knowledge on board, we then started discussing how we might to start addressing the business goals and meet users' needs. The process included conversations with engineers, product managers, commercial teams and data analysts. All ideas were sense checked which left us with the following options:
Gamification
It relies on users gradually filling out a profile page to obtain the ultimate prize - the expert user badge. For reasons I cannot disclose, it didn't make business sense to go down this route. Additionally, there would be little perceived value for our users.
Contextual data collection
Based on the idea of asking for data in context with what users are doing. This would be undoubtedly the smoother solution however, the immediate knock-on effect from IDFA changes meant certain bits of data were required to keep the overall user experience quality.
Sign-in gate
The chosen solution. Though not frictionless, people are familiar with the concept. Also, there were ways we could make the journey better. It would also provide us with the much needed first-party from the get-go.
Sign-in gate idea
Testing & validation
Through Invision prototypes we've quickly tested the sign-in gate solution. It validated some of our assumptions and highlighted pain-points such as:
'Not enough transparency' - users didn't understand why the data was needed
'Huge jump' - to go straight to a signed-in experience was a huge step for our existing users
'I just want the radio' - Global Player's value was not obvious to people
Final product
Initial results
App logged in sessions doubled in the first few weeks after launch
60% of web sessions now logged in
No significant drop in other KPIs
See the Sign-in Gate live on: