Music for everyone
Spotify has emerged as a go-to platform for music and podcasts in a majority of markets in the world. This case study dives deeper in Spotify Podcast
Redesign
Case Study
Research
Podcast
2 days : Individual Project
User Experience Design
Problem Solving
The Brief
Find out what engagement means to podcast listener and reimagine Spotify Podcast experience
Create a User Experience around podcast listener, identifying how longer content can be consumed by users and how their overall engagement can be improved.
Goal
Reimagine podcasts experience
Add additional value for the podcast users.
Users
Podcasts listeners on spotify.
The Design Process
DISCOVER
DEFINE
DEVELOP
DELIVER
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Understanding the Area
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Secondary Research
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Market Research
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Primary Research
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Research Insights
-
User Persona
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Scenario
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Empathy Map
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Needs and Requirements
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Brainstorming Ideas
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Information Architecture
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Use Cases
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Solutions for them
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Future Scope
Understanding the Area
What is Spotify?
Spotify is a music streaming platform : biggest in world by no. of subscriptions. It was launched in 2008 & as of Mar 2020, they have 248mn monthly active users.
What is Podcast?
A podcast is a collection or series of digital audio/video files. Each individual recording is called an episode.
Spotify and Podcast
In 2015, Spotify started podcasts & in last two years, Spotify has spent $900mn on podcast-related acquisitions to win the podcast market.
Today spotify has an increasing no. of active podcast listeners however the listening experience can be improved.
Secondary Research
Understanding Podcast users : Consumption Motives
Source : https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461444820963776?journalCode=nmsa ; https://www.jou.ufl.edu/insights/understanding-podcast-users-consumption-motives-and-behaviors/
01
Entertainment, information, and audio platform superiority were the most important motivators
02
Listening settings, width, depth, and routine of listening affected the motives of the Users
03
Podcasting was considered a distinct medium with unique characteristics
Understanding user : Behaviour
Who Listens To Podcasts?
49%
12-34 years old
40%
35-54 years old
22%
Above 55 years old
How Often Do People Listen to Podcasts?
25%
6.5 hours/week
22%
22 hrs/week
Where Do People Listen to Podcasts?
80%
Commuting
70%
Doing Housework
60%
In Free Time
How Do People Listen To Podcasts?
65%
Phone/Tablet
25%
Desktop
10%
Smart Speakers
Engagement means different to different people, it depends on the type of podcasts they listen, the mode of listening, their personality and more. The experience can also be divided into two categories :
While Listening
Post Listening
Understanding what Engagement means to a User
Live streaming podcast episodes
Being able to rate / see the ratings
Featuring listener questions in episodes
Answers to emails and messages
Listeners engage with each other
In person / one on one interactions
Being able to save parts of podcasts
Transcript of the podcast
Having a listener community
Being able to share it with friends
Market Research
Understanding other Apps in Market
The next step was look at good podcast apps in the market and see what sets them apart from the others. I downloaded and added some screenshots of the same to analyse them better.
Pocket Casts
Discover
Options
Speed/Sound
Sleep Timer
Show Notes
Opens Browser
Transcript
Copy/Search
Key Features :
01
Cross-platform syncing
02
Auto episode downloading and cleanup
03
Discover new podcasts based on listening habits.
04
Simple set-up for organizing downloaded podcasts.
05
Trimming out silence & changing the speed of the podcasts.
Google Podcast
Discover
Details
Episode & Info
Queue
Home - Add Fav
Show Notes
Sleep Timer
Speed/Sound
Key Features :
01
Listen at faster playback speeds or skip over silences.
04
Add podcasts directly from google search
02
Queue up episodes for a seamless listening experience.
05
Easily keep track of your listening history, downloads, & subscriptions.
03
Allows you to listen anytime & picks up exactly where you left.
Himalaya
Personalize
Episode
Send a tip
Import
Permission
Directions
Key Features :
01
Platform to listen to others as well as to start your podcast
04
Keeps track of your listening history, downloads.
02
Sents a wide range of topics and podcasts
05
Gives you customization and selection of topics
03
Allows you to listen anytime & picks up exactly where you left.
Apple Podcast
Browse
Search
Year wise filter
Episode Info
Options
Personalize
Now Playing
Information
Key Features :
01
Stream millions of shows, from biggest names to independents.
04
Continue listening on the different Apple devices
02
Follow shows and save your favorite episodes to your library.
05
Discover new shows through expert curation
03
Play offline and listen anywhere, data-free.
Competitive Analysis
A competitor analysis, also referred to as a competitive analysis, is the process of identifying competitors in your industry and researching their different marketing strategies.
Understanding Apps based on features
Primary research
Understanding Spotify App first hand
To understand the pain points myself I explored the application and analysed how we can improve the User Experience
Open app, searched for podcast
Search icon, Found section
Went to search inside, same search button
Joe Rogan, Couldn’t find last played episode
Wasnt in filter
Tried clearing queue, not an option
Speed
Queued, no option to clear
On clicking Options
Sleep Mode
Share
Played it
Typed the name of episode
Turn off timer, not visible in 1st fold
No indication of selection
Selected
No indication of selection
Option to pin point start, but not end. No option to save
If I download podcast, it automatically adds it to list called “Your Episodes”. But I can’t find where to view / manage Your Episodes.
"
"
User Interviews
I conducted five detailed interview of podcast users based on semi-structured questionnaire around Spotify Podcast. These are some of the pain points discovered through that.
Understanding Podcast User
Spotify lacks many of the "smart" features like trim silence, volume normalization, more granular speed controls.
"
"
Spotify's podcast organization system feels like a copy-paste of the music one. It does not feel like it was built for podcast listening
"
"
I have my spotify home screen made almost entirely of podcasts, even when I have never listened to them.
"
"
I cannot arrange episodes in the order that a I wish to listen to them, especially if I have followed a lot of different shows.
"
"
Usability Testing
Understanding Painpoints in a User Flow
I conducted a usability testing on one user, the Tasks given to them was around already identified pain points.
Task One
Open the spotify app, and listen to the podcast by The Ranveer Show with guest Ankur Warikoo.
Opens App
Clicks on the search button
Clicks Podcast tag he accidentally discovered
Finds the Ranveer show
Couldn’t find it
Looks for in-search option
Searches The Ranveer Show Ankur Warikoo
Gets the episode
Mistakes filter text to a button
Opens Filters
Task Two
Try taking and sharing some notes from the podcast episode.
Looks at transcript
Finds a pen and paper
Realizes it is not clickable
Takes notes
Research Insights - Pain Points
I then analysed and came up with these research insights in three categories :
Spotify Player & Features
Discovery & Usage
Can’t Import Podcast
Unable to save parts of podcasts
Social Aspects
Lack of in app community
Unable to create playlist
Unable to see last viewed episode
Unable to search in podcast list
Can't use Transcript of podcast
Queue behaviour is confusing
No option to Modify audio & pitch
Don’t have option to Trim Silence
Users can't engage amongst them
Unable to share notes/parts
Not Featuring listener questions
Persona
26 years old
Daksh Sharma
Tech Consultant
Lives in Gurgaon
Tech Saviness
Social Media Usage
Software Understanding
Mobile Apps Usage
Motivations
Frustrations
Goals
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Listens to podcast from early age
-
Want to learn about AI tech
-
Want to make informed decisions
-
Spotify is where my music is, so started listening podcasts here
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Unable to navigate freely in the app
-
Unable to find last played podcast
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Unable to take notes & share it
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Can't even trim silence in the longer episodes
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To have smart list of podcast easily accessible
-
Continue playing from before
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To be able to take and share notes
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More features in the podcast player
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To highlight the audio
Empathy Map
I then moved on to make an empathy map of the persona in order create an understanding of user needs, and therefore get aid in decision making.
Understanding User's Needs
"Who will concentrate on such long audio?"
"I can't even listen to what I like now"
"The queue behaviour is confusing."
"Wish I could at least share text with my friends"
FEELS
"A long episode can't be cut or what?"
"Why can't I add podcast to a playlist?"
"Why does player queue change when I switch?"
"They shows lyrics in music, don't they?"
THINKS
DOES
"Plays podcast & records using voice recorder"
"Starts liking the episodes they watch"
"Carry a notebook to make notes"
"Takes screenshots of episodes they like"
"Good that my music & podcast are in same app"
"Why can't I share audio snippets of podcast?'
"Why can't I add podcast to a playlist?"
"Why can't I copy paste the transcript?"
SAYS
User Scenario
Understanding Problem Statements
I have explored problem statements in form of user scenario to be able understand how a user behave the way they do, their goals to be achieved & sometimes define the possibilities of how the user can achieve them.
A day in life of Daksh : An avid spotify podcast user
Daksh leaves for work
Daksh comes back home from work
Opportunity Areas
Defining User's Needs & Requirements
Being able to use Transcript of the podcast
Being able to share notes/parts with friends
Able to trim silence/decrease podcast
Creating playlists and highlights
Notifications about new episodes
Option to Modify the audio & pitch
Consistency in music & podcast players
See last viewed episode in a podcast series
In app community for listeners
Information Architecture
Re - defining App Hierarchy
I have made this Information Architecture keeping in mind the needs and requirements I gathered throughout the research, and have focused majorly on Podcast Section of the App.
Different Use Cases discovered
Not being notified on new episode released of the podcasts the users follow.
Inconsistency between the music player and podcast player
Use Cases
When a user gets back to his liked podcast channel where he had listened to half the podcast, he still won’t be able to see the episode on top, he has to scroll through all of them to find that episode.
The audio experience in listening to podcast on Spotify is not very customizable. We can only customize the speed of the audio and sleep timer.
The User cannot make written notes even if the transcript is available
The User cannot send audio clips from the podcast
Lack of In App community
Solutions
Solving various Use Cases
Problem Statement :
Not being notified on new episode released of the podcasts the users follow.
Solution :
New Arrival section in the notifications
Before
After
New Arrival section
Problem Statement :
Inconsistency between the music player and podcast player
Solution :
Adding Queue and Mark Favourite(Heart) even in Podcast Player.
Adding Queue & Mark Favourite (Heart)
Before
After
Problem Statement :
When a user gets back to his liked podcast channel where he had listened to half the podcast, he still won’t be able to see the episode on top, he has to scroll through all of them to find that episode.
Solution :
Adding continue listening as podcasts are long and active listening is tough for a long duration
Before
After
Adding continue listening
Problem Statement :
The audio experience in listening to podcast on Spotify is not very customizable. We can only customize the speed of the audio and sleep timer.
Solution :
Adding additional features without taking any new real estate of the screen.
Icon for 1x is changed to speedometer to show more customizable options.
On clicking that, we get existing feature but added trim silence & enhance audio.
Before
After
Before
After
Icon Change
Trim Silence
Volume Boost
Problem Statement :
The User cannot make written notes even if the transcript is available
Solution :
Being able to copy or highlight transcript from the available transcripts. I tried two ideatons
Ideation One :
A highlight button on clicking that, the audio pauses, and its ready to be selected. In case of copy, it will be copied to the clipboard and in case of highlight a name pop up appears. Post naming it will move to the Library
Before
After 1
After 2
After 5
After 4
After 3
I
Similar interaction like lyrics
Expand
On clicking Highlight
On Highlight
On skip / name
Ideation Two :
On long press the audio pauses, and it's ready to be selected. In case of copy, it will be copied to the clipboard and in case of highlight it will move to the Library directly
Before
After 1
After 2
Expand
Similar interaction like lyrics
After 4
After 3
On long press
On Highlight
Problem Statement :
The User cannot send audio clips from the podcast
Solution :
Being able to send audio clips from the podcast. I tried two ideations
Ideation One :
On long press the audio shows selection of audio, the length of which user can customize
Before
After
Long press
Ideation Two :
Share button which ideally opens the share from (minutes) option will have start and end minutes.
Before
Share
After 1
Toggle
After 2
If we look at the existing interactions, the user is familiar with the second one. However I believe that the first interaction is more efficient and clean. The users will not have to use keyboard for this.
Problem Statement :
Lack of In App community
Solution :
Being part of the Podcast Community that a host will be able to see, post comments in or like comments, & the users can join the community to view other comment, reply to them as well as post comments of themselves.
Before
Icon
After 1
Join
After 2
Future Scope
Other future Use Cases
Some other problem areas which can be solved are :
Spotify queue being an issue when the media changes from music to podcast and vice versa.
Interactive podcast for better user engagement.
Search with-in the podcast series
Importing Podcast from other sources
