My Role
Founding Designer
Timeline
May-August 2023
Tools
Figma, React Native
Methods
Introduction
In this case study, read how a lean team of one lead designer and a lead engineer join forces to create an app that helps users optimize their A.I. prompts. Over the span of a mere 3 months, I worked with an engineer in React Native to launch an MVP of a product we believed in.
Blank Canvases
We as humans don't do well with blank canvases. So, when we saw that ChatGPT and other A.I. tools provided little to no onboarding or assistance, we knew that this would be a problem for users who were not tech-savy. We sought to help people write better prompts, without having to hire or become a prompt engineer.
So, we set out to create a product that made the power of A.I. accessible to everyone.
CLICK TO EXPAND
Market Research
We began by taking a deeper assessment into the market, what segment of the market we would target, and what would set us apart. To do so, my partner and I analyzed consumer trends and conducted a thorough competitive analysis to assess strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities.
Audiences
From our research, we set out to target two audiences with our product: individuals with low technological literacy, and individuals who are moderately technologically literate, but would like to further optimize their A.I. usage.
Group A
Wants to learn how to use A.I.
Low tech literacy
Group B
Wants to optimize A.I. prompts
Moderate tech literacy
Feature Prioritization
We ideated all potential features, and prioritized using an Action Priority Matrix. The north star throughout this exercise was providing the most value to our audience's and resolving their most troubling pain points.
Sketches
I sketched solutions of these features, and we established the app's information architecture.
CLICK TO EXPAND
Monetization Strategy
We wanted to strike while the iron was hot. To get the MVP out as soon as possible, we chose to monetize the app through a free/premium model, rather than a subscription model, which would be more time and cost intensive to develop.
Within the free version, we wanted users to be able to get a taste for what the app offers, but put a one-time pay wall behind quality-of-life features, such as saving prompts and accessing prompt history.
I created a design language to communicate to the user which things were free and which were premium: blue was free, anything in gold was premium. When users would navigate to these premium features, an overlay would appear prompting them to upgrade.
Marketing Strategy
I designed the app store thumbnails, created the marketing collateral, and established the brand messaging which would speak to our audiences best.
Boosting SEO
We knew that our primary method of outreach would be the app store's search engine. With this, we spent time boosting the SEO, utilizing common keywords within our copy.
Launch
With this, we launched the MVP to the public, and we could not have been happier with the result.
Conversion Rates & User Adoption
To our immense satisfaction, our user base steadily grew, and we achieved a steadily growing user base with premium conversion rates of over 6%.
Incorporating User Feedback
Using user interviews, anecdotal feedback, and A/B testing, we implemented changes into the app that would better fit user needs. Additionally, we noticed that our user base composed largely of one audience—those with low technological literacy; so, we decided to continue to push this segment of the market, altering our brand messaging to further target these individuals.
Reflection & Learnings
I learned a lot from this fantastic experience. Playing the role of product manager, project manager, product designer, and marketer, I learned how to more efficiently balance multiple simultaneous initiatives within an agile environment.
What I would do differently would be to niche down sooner in order to more specifically target a segment of the market. Though, I am satisfied that we analyzed the trends of our users, and pivoted quickly as a result. As the Promptly user base continues to grow, the team continues to make improvements and updates to refine the experience and value added to our users.
© Luke Lewis 2024