Bombas
01. Overview
I was originally brought on to help facilitate the implementation of a vendor feature that would help solve this challenge. However, the feature came with unforeseen technical constraints. This case study outlines how I was able to create multiple workarounds to overcome these limitations and increase SMS sign ups by 100%.
Role
Product Designer (In House)
Team
1 Product Manager • 3 Developers • External Vendor
UX Methods
Data Analysis • User Flows • Wireframing • Prototyping • A/B Testing
Timeline
2023 (2 months)
Industry
E-Commerce
Product Type
Website
Success Criteria (KPIs)
02. Problem & Initial Solution
To sign up for SMS on the site, users had to go through our new customer promo modal.
The highest drop off happened during the second opt in. The assumption was that the amount of friction required to double-opt in was the problem.
We brought on a vendor who introduced a feature called two-tap functionality. I helped facilitate the implementation.
This would mean on mobile, instead of users being prompted to check their text messaging app, users would be automatically taken to their text messaging app. Where they would have a premade message ready to send. The assumption was that by removing the friction of having to change apps, users would be more likely to convert.
03. Technical Constraints
To utilize the new feature, we had to replace our entire flow with the vendor’s. During QA, I found the vendor lacked email validation functionality.
I checked analytics to gauge the impact. About 30% of entered emails were recognized, confirming we needed email validation.
But this uncovered an opportunity. We had a chance to reach a new segment of users.
04. Design
While the developers were researching the technical constraints, I created 3 different solutions for 3 different scenarios.
05. Testing
Due to technical constraints, we proceeded with A/B testing the error message solution.
Results
I hypothesized the drop in emails was caused by removing the "Micro Yes" screen.
The vendor’s technical constraints forced us to remove the “micro yes” screen, which had previously increased email sign ups. We expected a drop in emails, but it was steeper than anticipated.
To counter the drop in emails, I retested with updated copy changes to the email success screen.
The “micro yes” theory suggests that getting users to say yes to a small ask first, primes them for a bigger one. When I first tested the “micro yes” theory we had two well performing variants: one with an interstitial screen (production) and one where we framed the copy of the email capture screen to resemble a yes/no question. For this test, since the interstitial variant wasn’t an option, I used the copy change to help cover the gap in sign-ups.
Results
06. Redefining the Problem
Email sign-ups stayed low, so we reverted to the original flow. I reviewed the test for other opportunities. The data showed a rise in desktop SMS sign-ups, even thought that device did not have two-tap functionally.
The only difference was in the “double opt-in screen” design. I hypothesized that users were unaware that they had to opt in again. I suspected that the vendor's UI made this clearer.
Based on the research, I shifted our focus to the two key problems we discovered.
New Problems
07. Final Solution
We tested and implemented the recommended solution I designed earlier, with some additional UI changes. This resulted in 100% increase in SMS sign-ups.
Without the vendor’s limitations, we implemented the solution I recommended earlier. This meant that users with both recognized and unrecognized emails were prompted to sign up for SMS. I also updated the “double opt-in” screen UI to match the vendor’s, making users more aware the process wasn’t complete.
