PRODUCT FEEDBACK

R A I S E

Alex LeDecember 2014

1. Improve Existing Engagement: New user activation and returning user conversion A. Increase new user activation (“First-Card-Purchase”)

B. Increase returning user purchase conversion rate

C. Measure and improve organic growth

2. Instrumented Growth: Introduce new mechanics to generate measurable, viral, installs A. Basic referral program – Invite friends to earn “Raise Credits”

B. Create a sticky network – allow users to “Gift” cards to friends, newsfeed for “savings & success”

R A I S E – I N T R O D U C T I O N

After reviewing the product, I gathered my feedback in two broad categories. In category 1, there are opportunities to develop more business value from existing engaged mobile users and existing install sources (whether those new users comes from existing word of mouth growth, paid acquisition or otherwise). In category 2, I explored mechanisms through which the product itself can generate it’s own new user installs via user-to-user virality features.

Most of my notes are rough, so I decided to polish up my feedback and present some experiment proposals for the first part of my notes – ways in which you can activate more users with a new New User Experience and by improving your first purchase funnel.

Fresh App Install User with a Wallet

S TA T E O F T H E P R O D U C T

The existing Raise iPhone app connects mobile users to the Raise marketplace of gift cards by enabling instant purchase and sale of gift cards. “Part 1: Improving Existing Engagement” is about developing as much business value as possible from the mobile users that Raise already has and is already gathering. Installs and engaged users are modeled below:

Fresh App Install User with a Wallet

1 A

The presentation put together here is a collection of experiment proposals for Part 1A: Increase new user activation rate (“First-Card-Purchase”) and decrease unactivated users.

S TA T E O F T H E P R O D U C T

C U R R E N T N E W U S E R E X P E R I E N C E F L O W

1 A . I N C R E A S E N E W U S E R A C T I VA T I O N

The existing New User Experience (NUX) flow aims to activate users by gathering background location permissions, explaining 3 features of the product (buy, sell and digital wallet), and then landing the users on the app homepage with a strong call to action to sell a gift card now.

1 A . I N C R E A S E N E W U S E R A C T I VA T I O N

The items outlined below in red present opportunities for experimentation and optimization. We develop 4 hypotheses based on the feedback outlined here and 4 corresponding experiment proposals which follow on the subsequent pages.

1 A . I N C R E A S E N E W U S E R A C T I VA T I O N

H Y P O T H E S I S 1 : O P T I M I Z E P E R M I S S I O N R E Q U E S T

1 A . I N C R E A S E N E W U S E R A C T I VA T I O N

Hypothesis: If we move the initial “Background Location Permission” request from the first screen of the NUX to a later more appropriate and contextual screen, we can shorten the early part of the NUX and increase user activation. We can also increase the conversion rate of users granting “Background Location”

Estimated Outcomes: • By prompting for “Background Location” more

contextually with a “double prompt”, comps show we can achieve 90% permission grants.

• ~3-5% increase in purchased gift cards for new users

Experiment Description: • Test Variant: Kill the first screen of the NUX. Double

Prompt for location when absolutely necessary (like when user first taps “Nearby”)

E X P E R I M E N T 1 : O P T I M I Z E P E R M I S S I O N R E Q U E S T

Start Here

Move the permission prompt to after the last screen in the NUX. If the user taps either “Nearby” or “Search” on this page, prompt for the permission at that time with a double dialog prompt.

1 A . I N C R E A S E N E W U S E R A C T I VA T I O N

H Y P O T H E S I S 2 : T I G H T E N U P VA L U E P R O P O S I T I O N

Hypothesis: If the NUX is focused on messaging a single value proposition, particularly the ability to “Save Money at Your Favorite Stores,” the NUX flow can be shortened and users can be directed towards the highest retaining features of the product – buying and holding a wallet of gift cards.

Estimated Outcomes: • ~4-5% increase in purchased gift cards for new users

Experiment Description: • Test Variant: Remove the final 2 “explainer screens”

from the NUX.

1 A . I N C R E A S E N E W U S E R A C T I VA T I O N

E X P E R I M E N T 2 : T I G H T E N U P VA L U E P R O P O S I T I O N

1 A . I N C R E A S E N E W U S E R A C T I VA T I O N

Streamlined NUX Flow Design • Communicate a single unique value

proposition to the user to keep them focused on activating/buying their first gift card.

• Allow the discovery of “Selling Giftcards” and the “Digital Wallet” later.

H Y P O T H E S I S 3 : D E S I G N H O M E PA G E F O R A C T I VAT I O N

Hypothesis: The current homepage has a large, high contrast call to action for users to “Sell gift cards for cash.” I hypothesize focusing new users on purchasing discount gift cards will yield a higher activation rate than focusing them on selling cards.

Estimated Outcomes: • ~10% increased searches for gift cards • ~3-5% increase in purchased gift cards for new users • Little to no reduction in users selling gift cards

Experiment Description: • Test Variant: Redesign the home page to remove the CTA to “Sell gift cards…”

and focus the new user on the discovery, search and purchase of discounted gift cards by making the search bar persistent on the homepage.

1 A . I N C R E A S E N E W U S E R A C T I VA T I O N

1 A . I N C R E A S E N E W U S E R A C T I VA T I O N

E X P E R I M E N T 3 : D E S I G N H O M E PA G E F O R A C T I VAT I O N

New Homepage Design • Search is front and center and the primary call to action is to “Find

and buy discounted gift cards. This should increase the number if new users buying first time gift cards.

• Navigation is moved to a TabBarController rather than a “Hamburger/Basement” pattern, a design pattern that is now well known to perform worse. A standard TabBarController should increase engagement with all parts of the app now that every other area of the app is one tap away rather than two.

• Sell gift cards is a persistent navigation item so users should still find and use the feature just as much (if not more) while not taking up a lot of screen real estate (unlike the previous full bottom bar CTA).

• Security gets a dedicated button in the top right of the screen. After surveying several prospective users, I found that security was one of the top concerns that new users had, so dedicating top navigation to a security explainer might be a good idea.

1 A . I N C R E A S E N E W U S E R A C T I VA T I O N

H Y P O T H E S I S 4 : R E D U C E P U R C H A S E F U N N E L L E N G T H

Hypothesis: The current card purchase flow is spread out over far too many pages and a new user is likely to bounce long before the purchase flow is finished. A shortened flow that focuses on a users first, single card purchase, does not require sign up and is generally streamlined should increase activation and improve retention.

Estimated Outcomes: • If you can accomplish the removal of 6 screens from the 16 screen first time purchase flow, I estimate conservatively a

15% improvement in gift card conversion once users select a card.

Experiment Description: • Test Variant1: When a new user selects a card for purchase with the “Buy” button, go directly to the checkout flow (don’t

just add to cart). • Test Variant2: When a user is checking out a card, do not require sign in until after the card is purchased • Test Variant3: Don’t require phone number verification until after the purchase is complete. • Test Variant4: Enable quick sign up via Facebook Connect

1 A . I N C R E A S E N E W U S E R A C T I VA T I O N

The current purchase flow is 16 steps. The test variations for experiment 4 will test the removal of some screens and the movement of some screens to the after the “Go To Wallet” button is tapped.

E X P E R I M E N T 4 : R E D U C E P U R C H A S E F U N N E L L E N G T H

1 A . I N C R E A S E N E W U S E R A C T I VA T I O N

Variant 1: Skip the cart and go directly to checkout if the user taps “Buy” on any gift card.

E X P E R I M E N T 4 : R E D U C E P U R C H A S E F U N N E L L E N G T H

1 A . I N C R E A S E N E W U S E R A C T I VA T I O N

Variant 2: Move “Sign Up” pages to after the purchase is complete. If security is an issue, require “Sign Up” or “Log In” in order to “expedite” the processing of the gift card purchase.

E X P E R I M E N T 4 : R E D U C E P U R C H A S E F U N N E L L E N G T H

1 A . I N C R E A S E N E W U S E R A C T I VA T I O N

Variant 3: The product already allows users to skip Phone Number Verification, as an experiment what if we moved “Verify Phone Number” pages to after the purchase for all users. If security is an issue, require users to “Verify Phone Number” after purchase in order to “expedite” the processing of the gift card.

E X P E R I M E N T 4 : R E D U C E P U R C H A S E F U N N E L L E N G T H

1 A . I N C R E A S E N E W U S E R A C T I VA T I O N

Variant 4: Test an integration with Facebook Connect to see if it improves signup conversion on the sign up page in this flow.

E X P E R I M E N T 4 : R E D U C E P U R C H A S E F U N N E L L E N G T H

FA C E B O O K C O N N E C T

R A I S E – C O N C L U S I O N

After using the Raise app for the last 2 weeks, I come away really impressed with everything you have built. I think there is a lot of low hanging fruit to increase user activation as I outlined in the previous slides.

I recognize that there may be a lot of pieces to the overall growth model that I’m missing (retail partnerships, paid acquisition, etc), but I tried to collect my feedback based on my experience with the product as it is.

The rest of my notes are structured in the same way as the high level outline below, but are very rough and not in presentation form. I’d love to continue the conversation.

1. Improve Existing Engagement: New user activation and returning user conversion A. Increase new user activation (“First-Card-Purchase”)

B. Increase returning user purchase conversion rate

C. Measure and improve organic growth

2. Instrumented Growth: Introduce new mechanics to generate measurable, viral, installs A. Basic referral program – Invite friends to earn “Raise Credits”

B. Create a sticky network – allow users to “Gift” cards to friends, newsfeed for “savings & success”