Fugo Studio UX: Product design

Discovery

Background

I noticed that users were not fully utilizing Fugo Studio features they had previously identified as valuable. Additionally, some users opted to complete certain tasks using alternative methods outside the app, rather than leveraging the designated functionality within the platform.

Users had previously requested and actively used several apps and features in Studio. However, over time, their usage declined. Our initial hypothesis was that as the number of features grew, some of them became less discoverable.

Context

Users often attempted to manually recreate designs that could be efficiently generated using specialized Fugo applications, such as the Menu App or the Cloud Storages, Video Wall, and other Studio features.

There was no dramatic difference between features adoption and retention rates, which were almost the same, so the issue is in their discoverability.

Goals and objectives

Enhancing the discoverability of studio apps and features.
Increase the number of clients accessing the paid-plans apps.
Driving greater user engagement with the app to gain deeper insights into their UX.

Problem definition

User interviews

We invited 9 individuals from solo entrepreneurs and small business cohorts, along with 5 individuals from large corporate businesses, to investigate their preferences for alternative design tools and identify what they miss in Fugo Studio.

We asked users how they run their business on digital signage, plan marketing and corporate budgets, choose the design tool and why, create visuals, and so on focusing on identifying friction points in the Studio UX.

Research insights

Users mostly used Canva to create visual materials. They praised it for its intuitive creation flow, where users make decisions on what they want to show rather than what app or feature to use for it. (For example, they want to create a menu or stream video, but they don't know what app or feature to use for it.)
Users often started designing in Canva by selecting a template.
Users found the template preview in Studio messy and not representative of horizontal orientation.
Big corporate users mostly used screens for presentations, announcements, and dashboard sharing. They needed more templates and quick access to the dashboard feature.

Analytics and interviews showed that users who explored and activated Studio features usually returned to them, but others didn't explore them. So, there should be no problem with feature values, and we moved on to improving users' feature exploration stage.

Scoping

Based on research and discussion with the team, we settled on the deadlines and agreed on implementing the following solutions:

Highlighting Popular Apps on the Start Page: Positioned the most frequently used apps on the template page. So, the start page provided multiple entry points into the Studio workflow, allowing users to begin with a template or app.
Creating default onboarding playlists that introduced users to popular and often requested features.
Refining the Apps Tab: Reorganized the Apps tab by grouping apps based on specific use cases for clearer navigation.
Improving the Templates Tab: Grouped templates by use cases and aligned their orientation to match that of the screen for consistency and ease of selection.
Expanding Template Options: Introduced more templates built around app functionalities, enabling users to explore and understand app capabilities by selecting and customizing templates.
Testing a New Studio Flow Entry: Proposed testing a new entry point for the Studio workflow with a popup suggesting content creation scenarios to guide users seamlessly into their tasks.

Usability test

We conducted moderated usability tests, showing the prototype to 7 users and gathering their feedback. Our primary focuses were understanding their perception of the new screens and insights, as well as how they approached designing specific content.

Usability test insights

The feedback we received was generally positive.
Users expected to see Dashboards in a separate tab rather than in the Apps tab.
Users found a popup redundant; they were okay with starting with templates.

I developed the moderation guide, conducted the interviews, and analyzed the findings.

Execution

As users reported they expect to use Dashboard from a separate tab, I provided a design for this solution.

We also implemented all the solutions that received positive feedback from users.

To enhance the Template tab instead of the masonry layout, I designed a solution where the displayed templates adapt to the screen orientation. When a horizontal screen layout is selected for the canvas, only horizontally oriented templates are shown. Similarly, vertically oriented templates are displayed for vertical screen layouts.

The default playlist created in Fugo Studio, featuring elements from the onboarding process and popular content types, would improve the discoverability of both the playlist and Studio features. Additionally, there is potential to further personalize playlists tailored to specific business niches selected during registration.

Results and evaluation

We implemented the design, tracked user actions, and calculated differences after a four months.

We observed an increase in users actively engaging with key Studio apps, while fewer users resorted to replicating the app's functionality through alternative, less efficient methods.

Here, I highlighted just one iteration of improving the Studio's UX. Overall, as a result of my work on the Studio, the metrics measured after six months showed:

We measured Time to Value (TtV) with a specific focus on new users, particularly new content-creating sessions. For this group, we defined TtV as the time taken from when a user opened Fugo or the template page to the moment they added an app or template to the studio canvas. We compared this metric before implementing the changes and again four months afterward (to allow the onboarding of more new users). The results revealed a 50% decrease in TtV, dropping from 7 minutes to 3.5 minutes.
Conversion to Paid Plans: increased from 7% to 10% after users discovered and used Studio features during the free trial.
Adoption Rate of Key Features: rose from 37% to 63% among new users, with significant improvements in the feature exploration phase.
Support tickets regarding Studio usage: 3 to 0.5 per month.

Fugo Studio