problem
Designing a Captivating Onboarding Process, a Good Chat Room & Developing a Monetization Strategy
Bible Buddy originally kicked off as a WhatsApp chatbot geared towards nurturing Christian faith. With a whopping 60,000 faithful folks jumping on board globally, it became clear that keeping the chatbot running smoothly on WhatsApp without any money coming in was quite the financial tightrope walk. Thus, I had three problems to solve which are:
Smoothly transitioning the Bible Buddy experience from WhatsApp to a dedicated app, ensuring it's a seamless experience our users.
Designing a chat room that is similar to WhatsApp but has the brand identity of the Bible Buddy.
Figuring out how to make this venture sustainable by developing a solid monetization strategy. After all, keeping the lights on for Bible Buddy is crucial for its longevity and continued impact.
solution
Introducing Bible Buddy App: A Bible Chat App That Helps Christians Grow Their Faith
Awesome Onboarding Process
Making sure the onboarding process for this project is spot-on is super important. We've got a big group of customers - more than 60,000 users - who are switching from WhatsApp to our app, so it's essential that their transition is smooth as silk.
A Chat Room Similar To WhatsApp
A welcoming chat room that is similar to WhatsApp but still keep the brand's identity.
Monetization Strategy / Growth Strategy
We want everyone to feel welcome in our Bible app, which is why we've chosen ad revenue as our main source of revenue. Users can also choose to support us directly through donations or by giving their offerings and tithes.
Design Process
How Did I End Up With This Solution
user-research
Interviews With Founder And Users Of The WhatsApp Bot
Interviews are crucial in user research because they allow direct communication with stakeholders, providing valuable insights into their perspectives. I had the opportunity to engage in conversations with both the founder of the app and seven users of the WhatsApp Chat Bot to gain a deeper understanding of how they envision the app's user experience. Through these discussions, I uncovered two key insights that will significantly inform our design process:
key insights/takeaways
Smooth Onboarding process
Many users expect the onboarding process to be hassle-free and easy-going. Why? Well, think about it - if it's a headache to get started with an app, most people won't bother sticking around. Especially when we're talking about transitioning from a familiar WhatsApp bot to a new app interface, we've got to make it a breeze. If we want users to make the switch smoothly, we can't give them any excuses not to. That's why it's crucial to ensure the onboarding process is seamless and stress-free.
Should Be Similar To WhatsApp
Most users want an application that is similar to WhatsApp and other chat apps such as Telegram, Messager and others.
design opportunities
How Can I Translate The Key Insights Into Design Opportunities?
How Can We Make The Onboarding Process Seamless?
(Our First Onboarding process)
We worked through several versions of our onboarding process to make sure it was smooth and super user-friendly. Our goal was to make it as easy as possible for people to join our platform with minimal hassle.
So, we came up with an initial onboarding system that simply required users to provide their phone number, first name, email, and grant a few necessary permissions.
Second Onboarding process
We realized that some users were having trouble receiving their phone verification codes, and the expense of managing this process was quite high.
I brainstormed a simpler solution that would benefit both the founder and the users. We decided to implement a "Sign in with Google" option. The response was overwhelmingly positive, with users expressing their satisfaction on social media, confirming that they could start using the app seamlessly. Plus, we didn't receive any new complaints about sign-in issues after making the switch.
User experience
User Testing Phase
User testing is crucial during the product design process. It allows us to refine our designs based on real user feedback before moving into development. Here, I'll walk through how users will interact with the app after we've tested the prototype with 15 users.
Let’s Meet Grace
Grace absolutely loves the Whatsapp Bible Buddy bot! She often tweets about how much it has benefited her. With her prior experience using Bible Buddy, her insights are incredibly valuable.
Let’s Begin!
Grace starts off with the sign in process
Sign-in process
The sign-in process was seamless for her as it was very straightforward.
Chat Room Experience
The chat room experience wasn't new to her, it was exactly how she interacts with other chat apps and she likes the color interface.
Menu/Settings
The settings/menu can be found in a Unique spot because we've already got an Ads Banner at the top of the page.
In the settings, you can tweak the name the bot calls you during conversations. Plus, you've got options to log out or completely delete your account, if that's what you want.
Grace caught onto it pretty quickly. She recognized the settings icon and knew it would lead her to where she could make changes to her profile.
User Testing Results
It was a huge success as all our participants(15) in the Testing Phase were impressed with designs.
Product goal
The User Pain Points Have Been Addressed. How Can Bible Buddy Be Monetized & Grow?
monetization strategy
Ads Revenue
In order for Bible Buddy to keep going strong for the long haul, it's crucial for the app to bring in some income. Because it's all about spreading the word of the Bible, asking users to pay for subscriptions might not sit right. That's where ads come in handy. They help keep the app free for everyone while still bringing in some cash flow without burdening the users.
monetization strategy
Donations/Offerings
Another way we can keep Bible Buddy going strong is by welcoming donations and offerings. I've been brainstorming ways to integrate a "Donation/Offering Button" seamlessly into the user experience, so it's a gentle nudge for users to support Bible Buddy for the positive impact it brings to their daily lives.
What's amusing about this approach is that it all started with a tweet from a Bible Buddy user who was thrilled with the app and wanted to show some love to the creators. It just goes to show how important it is for us as product designers to listen to our users. Their feedback not only helps us enhance the app but also guides us in finding sustainable ways to keep it thriving.
GROWTH strategy
Share to Family & Friends
A fantastic way to grow an app's user base is by harnessing the power of word-of-mouth marketing—when users share their experiences and recommendations with their loved ones, it doesn't cost a dime.
So, how can we make this happen with Bible Buddy? Here's an idea: once a user has interacted with the bot around 40 times, a friendly pop-up could appear, encouraging them to support Bible Buddy by spreading the word to at least five of their family members and friends. It's a simple yet effective way to tap into the community's enthusiasm and expand our reach organically.
Reflection
Concluding Remarks
What I learned
Working on this project has been such a valuable learning experience for me. One big lesson I've taken away is just how essential user feedback is in shaping a successful application. After all, the whole point of building apps is to meet users' needs, right? So, their input is like gold dust for improving the user experience. Thanks to their feedback, we made some significant changes, like revamping our Sign-In Process and adding a Donations/Offerings feature.
One thing I really got the hang of during this project was remote User Testing using Figma alongside video conferencing tools like Google Meet and Zoom. Being able to see users interact with our designs in real-time was eye-opening.
Communication turned out to be another key skill I honed. Whether it was conveying my ideas to the founder, passing on user feedback to both the founder and the developer, or simply connecting with users during the testing phase, clear and effective communication was crucial every step of the way.
Future Plans
We're brainstorming an exciting idea to allow users to share their interactions with the Bible Buddy bot directly to their social media profiles. I've been digging into the research, and it's clear that leveraging social media attention can really supercharge our app's growth. I'm confident that enabling users to share their meaningful conversations will drive up conversion rates and lead to a significant expansion of our user base.
Key achievements
In just the first two weeks since launch, we've already hit over 6,000 downloads! And the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with an impressive 4.7 rating from 44 reviews on the Apple Store and an equally stellar 4.8 rating from 434 reviews on the Play Store. It's been fantastic to see such a strong response from users across both platforms.
