Instagram is one of the leading social media platforms worldwide with over 1 billion users. Currently, its sole source of revenue comes from advertising. 

I collaborated with two other UX designers to tackle the challenge of identifying and designing a new revenue-generating feature for the top-performing platform.

EXPLORING AREAS OF OPPORTUNITY

Online Surveys & Interviews

We kick-started the research process by surveying Instagram users in order to formulate a picture around their habits, pain points, and motivations. The data was synthesized via affinity mapping and we identified content creators as a user group with an area of opportunity.  

Currently, the Instagram algorithm benefits those who are actively engaged on the platform and have a large following. Micro influencers with 2000 followers and above have enough engagement to start charging brands for their posts. Instagram is continuing to market towards its influencer user group through the exploration of the new Creator Account feature.

To further understand content creators’ goals and motivations behind using Instagram, a second round of user interviews and affinity mapping was completed.

KEY INSIGHTS & PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

PROBLEM

Small-scale content creators struggle to effectively promote their content on Instagram.

Small-scale content creators are those with below 2000 followers and continuously working towards building up that following to gain traction on the platform and promote their brand.

Our data revealed that most small-scale content creators found it difficult to run ads on Instagram. The dollar-spent to value-received relationship was not justified. Most believed paid ads were more beneficial for large companies with big budgets rather than small independent businesses who were pulling money out of their own pockets.

Users also struggled to determine how to increase engagement on their posts and maximize their reach. Many of the strategies were learned through trial and error, which was an extremely time consuming process. The current analytics available on Instagram did not provide sufficient information on their posted content, followers and competitors targeting a similar market.

OUR CONTENT CREATORS

We crafted 3 user personas based on our user insights.

1. Emma the Advanced user

2. Pascal the Intermediate user

3. Hailey the Beginner

CONVERGING ON A NEW FEATURE

 We ideated several different possible features before finally settling on one.

The solution:

Instagram could create a subscription-based promotional feature that provides small-scale content creators with advanced analytics and a strategy guide.

This would be a complementary feature to the existing promotional ads small content creators were already paying for. For those who stopped paying for promotional ads, this would be a way to reintroduce them back into the revenue stream. Users can receive further guidance on where to direct their time and effort and how to effectively craft their strategies for a small monthly fee.

User Flow

TRANSLATING IDEAS TO SKETCHES & PROTOTYPES

Initial screen flows were sketched on a whiteboard to allow for quick changes. We wanted to ensure the new feature was well integrated with the current Instagram aesthetic without interrupting the overall user experience.

We then moved on to creating mid-fidelity wireframes on Sketch so we could push our testing out to users as soon as possible.

TEST, ITERATE & REPEAT

Usability testing methods: Contextual inquiry, A/B testing

The first round of testing was completed using mid-fidelity wireframes. Contextual inquiries allowed us to evaluate the intuitiveness of the screen flow and the discoverability of information. We also gathered feedback on the presentation of the additional analytics users wanted to see. It was a tricky balance between providing too much visual clutter and causing cognitive overload, to providing too little information and not effectively communicating the purpose of the analytic. 

With A/B testing, we tested the clarity of the design language and the consistency of the UI and button placements with Instagram’s current branding. Some of the A/B tests are shown below:

With the feedback received, iterations were made to the design and high fidelity wireframes were created for further user testing.

A summary of the iterations include:

• Organized strategy content in reverse chronological order to maintain consistency with current Instagram layout

• Adjusted screen flow to ensure user experience is not disrupted after subscribing

• Added drop down arrow to make filters more apparent

• Changing icons to be more consistent with the existing style of Instagram’s assets

FINAL PRODUCT

VIABILITY & KPIs

In addition to testing the intuitiveness of the feature and its alignment with the Instagram brand, it was important to consider the viability of this new feature and test the market fit.

Users that we interviewed all indicated they were interested in using the feature and would pay between CAD $5 to $40 for the monthly subscription service.

For continued performance measurement of the feature, it would be helpful to look at the following:

• Conversion rates – percentage of users subscribing to the new promotional feature

• Churn rates – percentage of users unsubscribing from the feature

KEY LEARNINGS & NEXT STEPS

Given the tight timeline, we weren’t able do as much testing as we wanted. In an ideal world, we would have access to the extensive amount of data on Instagram’s users rather than basing our decisions on a small population.

Moving forward, some additional aspects to explore include: 

• Conducting contextual inquiry with more target users to continue to identify areas of improvements in navigation and layout

• Allowing target users to try for free before subscribing

• Partnering with large influencers for strategy content

• Including the ability to book, rate and review businesses