Freemium model

This was DAZN's first major partnership with another brand to create new subscription offerings in it’s existing eco system.

My role: Lead UX.UI across discovery & engagement domain · Web, iOS and Android

Problem space

DAZN’s existing offering was pure paid subscription based model, with a new partnership with the NFL DAZN was moving to a freemium model allowing fans to engage and watch content for free whilst providing paid premium content.

Focus

How might we communicate what content is free versus what is part of a paid subscription
Will users understand why they have to provide their email address to watch free content
How might we help users to create a free account in the fastest way whilst building trust
How might we understand what information is most important to users about the content they are purchasing

Research & insights

I used an iterative process, incorporating feedback from user testing to guide the final solution. This included creating Figma prototypes, running unmoderated tests, and gathering insights from analysis sessions.

Visual treatments

To help solve the problem of ensuring users understood the difference between free and paid content I conducted a series of tests to understand the impact of visual treatments on content.

This involved testing multiple models, based on either text or icon variants, the outcome of multiple rounds of testing proved users preferred icons over text based labels as it removed any ambiguity of misunderstanding the text to denote paid premium content.

Users psychology on signing up

To understand user sign-up behavior for free content, I conducted user testing with an end-to-end prototype. I asked open-ended questions to learn how much personal information users were willing to provide. Recognizing password creation as a friction point, I tested various methods, including auto-generation, login codes, and manual input. The findings showed that while users preferred speed, they trusted manual password entry more than system-generated ones.

Users psychology on decision making

Knowing what information a user required before making a purchase was the main focus of this test, I focused on asking a series of open ended questions with a UX writer to determine how we should present information and in what order of importance.

Design decisions

The design process was iterative and collaborative, using usertesting.com to test hypotheses and make data-driven changes. Regular demos with engineering and product teams helped identify and address technical constraints early.

Scalable paywall

I developed a set of re-usable paywall components that were triggered when a user clicked on premium locked content. I focused on creating scalable components for multiple platforms that had elements you could turn on and off based on needs. This modular approach was taken to ensure the new design language could grow for future rights acquisition and help grow the design system

Scaling my account

The existing structure of a users account only considered a single subscription, I developed a new architecture that would allow the business to grow with multiple subscription packages and add ons. This was done by creating defined areas where users could manage core subscriptions, content packages and feature add-ons in their respective spaces rather than all in a single space like it was previously.

Visual framework

I introduced iconography in the forms of locks on all premium content to help define the difference between paid and free content. This pattern was scalable across multiple rights, territories and languages.

Sign up flow

As the user could now sign up multiple subscriptions across DAZN from multiple touch points it was important to illustrate how the sign up process worked across the product. To do this I created a flow diagram that gave a holistic view of how a user would sign up and the result of any input they can complete during the process.   As well as giving a holistic view this helped to create a single sign up and uniform sign up method across the product.

Working with engineering

Design specs were created for each platform, and demo sessions were held with engineering teams at key milestones for feasibility feedback. The project involved close collaboration with engineers and product teams, enabling a phased release and efficient market launch with incremental updates.

Release 1

This focused on providing a set of scale-able paywall components across all platforms, a visual framework to identify paid content and an updated structure to my account to include partnerships.

Release 2

This included new subscription plans along with free trial and discount promotions in the catalogue. By defining a set of scaleable paywalls in phase 1 this meant I was able to re-use components.

Release 3

This phase was focused on converting free users to paid, this involved adapting the sign up flow to offer a premium DAZN plan when registering for a free account. In addition we also launched a new partnership with Women's football which involved a further iteration on the paywalls which is now the framework for all future paywall experiences.

Outcome

This project created the foundations for the future of the DAZN platform, it has allowed the business to grow and acquire new rights that has resulted in content reaching the users hands faster than before.

+14%

Total subscriptions YoY

+11%

Average weekly views

+70%

Engagement of paid subscribers on a weekly basis