PRE AND POST CONVERSATION CTA

Improving An existing video chat platform to increase user activity and satisfaction

In a group of three, we were given the task to create Junto's call-to-action feature for their computer program after an event. Additionally, Junto aims to enhance its brand by introducing these extra services. To achieve this, the new design will help users understand their role in Junto's community. This will lead to a more engaging and fruitful experience for Junto's customers and potential clients.

Client
Junto

Timeline
3 weeks

Team
Jameka Josephs
Zenia Kim
Tomomi Tsukioka

Role
UI/UX Designer

Background

Junto is a video chat platform where people can have organized group chats about different topics like news or social issues. They believe that real connections happen when conversations are in smaller, more personal groups. Their goal is to encourage interaction and create communities among peers.

Users can sign up to create or join virtual chats without any scheduling or facilitation, similar to an automated book club. Organizations can create conversation guides and invite their audience to join in and interact with others on the website.

There are three event types users can experience:

  • In a hosted event, a host guides rooms with limited participants.

  • In a hostless event, unlimited participants join smaller breakout rooms for conversation. Group votes determine the progression between sections.

  • In a livestream event, unlimited participants watch a live stream and then enter smaller breakout rooms. This transition from live stream to breakout rooms may occur multiple times.

Stakeholder Interview

Before starting our research, we spoke with Ben Turtel, the founder of Junto, to learn more about what he wants to achieve with his platform. After our conversation, we established the following objectives for our project. Our main goal was to find a way to get more users involved and to better understand their opinions. As our overall vision, we aimed to stay true to Junto's values while creating a welcoming and positive community for our users.

During our stakeholder interview, we decided to focus on three areas for improvement:
1. Introducing a waiting room before users enter conversation rooms
2. Including a post-conversation call-to-action to encourage users to continue the conversation.
3. Considering a different color scheme.

Task Analysis

We then analyzed competing apps that provide similar places for discussions like Junto.

Discord

    1. Click on “Register”

    2. Enter phone or email

    3. Enter email

    4. Register by username and password

    5. Enter date of birth

    6. Create account

    1. Create your own server or start from template

    2. Choose “For My Friends” or “For Community”

    3. Discover “Featured Communities”

Facebook Groups

    1. Click on “Create New Group”

    2. Name group

    3. Choose type of privacy

    4. If private, choose type of visibility

    5. Invite friends by typing name or selecting from suggestions

    6. View desktop preview

    7. View mobile preview

    8. Press “Create”

    1. Select “Join Group”

    2. Answer questions

    3. Submit answers

    4. Cancel request if wanted or await approval

Geneva

    1. Click on “+” button on side navigation

    2. Select “Create Your Own Home”

    3. Customize rooms in your home

    4. Name home

    5. Add a home description

    6. Choose a home color

    7. Choose a home privacy setting

    1. Click on “+” button on side navigation

    2. Select “Create Your Own Home”

    3. Tap on “Already Have An Invite?”

    4. Invite link from clipboard will be automatically copied to join

Element ANALYSIS

We studied three companies and looked at their actions before and after certain activities. Our goal was to see what strategies our competitors were using.

Zoom

Zoom has a waiting room for users to wait before joining conversations. Users can use this time to get ready. Hosts can also use this time to prepare for participants, ensuring a smooth transition.

Uber

With Uber, users can rate their driver with stars or give a compliment. They can also leave a thank you note or provide feedback to help us improve. These options let users feel heard and have a say in future improvements.

AIRBNB

Like Uber, Airbnb also offers the user the choice to rate their host with a compliment or star ranking.

They may also leave a private note to give suggestions or express gratitude.

As you can see, we reflect on positive reinforcement.

USER INTERVIEWS AND SURVEYS

Through research, we gained insights into our users' thoughts and actions, as well as their overall perception of Junto's platform. To collect data, we conducted ten user interviews and a survey with ten participants. We then organized all the gathered information through an affinity mapping session. From there, we chose "I" sentences that define our users, such as:

  • I value in-person conversations.

  • I can accept differing opinions.

  • I need to trust the platform where I share my thoughts.

  • I feel at ease expressing myself in safe environments.

  • I would like to engage in enjoyable activities while waiting.

  • I want to know the people I will be discussing with.

Personas

We created two types of user personas to better understand and focus on the needs of our main user groups. The primary persona is River, who often participates in online discussions. The secondary persona is Jaisha, who is very familiar with Junto's platform.

  • Primary Persona

    River likes being involved in group discussions. He enjoys learning from and connecting with new people and wants to find a platform that allows for close interactions with peers. His main desires are a place to express his thoughts and meet people who share similar views. What he really needs is a safe environment to share opinions and discuss various topics like gentrification, finance, and inclusivity. However, his main frustration is the lack of spaces for small, intimate conversations and the inability to have focused discussions on specific topics of interest alongside others.

  • Secondary Persona

    Jaisha regularly uses Junto, engaging in conversations weekly. She enjoys discussing her interests and staying informed on current events. Jaisha seeks a inclusive platform to build meaningful connections with other users. She values the ability to offer feedback, receive feedback, and suggest improvements. However, Jaisha sometimes struggles to feel included in conversations and finds certain discussions too subjective..

USER FLOWS

Our user flow demonstrates how the user goes from the main topics page to selecting an activity and then navigating through the user feedback.

Problem Statement

User wants a private online place to have deep talks, freely share thoughts and ideas, and make close friendships.

Solution Statement

To create a waiting room and allow users to give feedback, making them feel connected and part of the community.

Sketches

We each made drawings for Junto's "waiting room," "ratings," and "feedback" screens during our design meeting. We talked about the design elements we liked and might use in our final design. We changed the bottom menu in our final sketches, added things to do in the waiting room, and gave the rating screens a new look.

Color palette Revision

Through research, we found that users wanted Junto's colors to be more vibrant, so we made them more interesting. We tried different colors based on how they make users feel and how easy they are to see. We kept blue for trust, expression, and wisdom. We added orange for sociability, friendliness, and confidence.

EXISTING COLORS

HEX: #262734

HEX: #262F4C

HEX: #303B5F

HEX: #676771

HEX: #9BFBC2

PROPOSED COLORS

HEX: #183367

HEX: #1D428A

HEX: #2453AD

HEX: #9BFBC2

HEX: #FF7425

HI-FIDELITY MOCKUPS

We each made drawings for Junto's "waiting room," "ratings," and "feedback" screens during our design meeting. We talked about the design elements we liked and might use in our final design. We changed the bottom menu in our final sketches, added things to do in the waiting room, and gave the rating screens a new look.

USABILITY testing

We made some small changes to the initial designs and then created more detailed plans. We used Figma to make the designs clickable. We tested the prototype with six users.

We had four main goals for the testing: users should be able to go through the process in under seven minutes, understand the purpose of the waiting room with only one mistake, give feedback on conversations and participants within three minutes, and complete the donation process with no more than two mistakes.

We had a list of 14 tasks to test these goals. We asked users to understand the waiting room, understand the activities in the waiting room, rate conversations, rate participants, and read through user information. We recorded how long it each user to complete each task and how many mistakes they made.

All the users except one were able to achieve all four goals. One user couldn't complete the last goal because they didn't finish the feedback process. Overall, 96% of the users navigated through the design successfully.

DESIGN ITERATIONS

Our user testing gave us helpful information that will guide us in making changes and improvements to our design.

TIME TRACKER

Our first prototype didn't have a timer in each activity room. In the updated version, we added a timer so users would know when the conversation will start.

PARTICIPANT FEEDBACK

We asked users for their opinion on the star rating and found that it wasn't helping create a positive environment for feedback in Junto. Now users can only give good badges for participant feedback.

DONATION DETAILS

After seeing our presentation on how to donate, some people felt uncomfortable and uncertain about giving money to an organization without more information. In the next phase, we included the organization's logo and a short explanation.

PROGRESS TRACKER

Based on feedback, users found it hard to know how many more screens they had left to finish the end-of-conversation task. To address this, we added a progress bar to show users their current position in the process.

Prototype

Using our iterations, we updated our final design. Feel free to interact with our prototype in Figma.

What WE Learned

Through this group project, we learned how to collaborate with important people and meet business needs while considering the users. Our design made it easier for users to feel connected and involved in the community.

The prototype helped keep users engaged with their group by offering various options. In the future, we’d like to conduct more user interviews to understand why users would want to continue conversations even after it ends. We also decided that we would like to thoroughly test the user interface for usability, possibly with more testers.

Our client implemented our design proposal into the relaunch of their platform. From there we worked with our client for 3 more months to track the progress of the new platform, to further make improvements, and to collaborate with the developers on their team directly.