Summary
Chatterbug Streams is a new language learning mobile app from the original members of GitHub. I worked as a design lead in a small design team led by Tom Preston-Werner (ex GitHub CEO) and fellow designer Amy Brumet (now design lead at Whimsical). This was a complete greenfield project that was initiated by the CEO Scott Chacon. Scott wanted to break into the mobile language learning market with a different approach to traditional flash card-based apps. Based upon the assumptions of the management team my role was to help build out this new vision quickly and iterate on it using user research and data analytics.
Home, Streams Chat Tab, Shorts
We started with a small MVP that Scott had coded himself and used that to test with users. The app's central principle is something called 'Streams' which are 10 minute live videos that happen throughout the day focusing on situational content. Users can tune in live or catch up later, afterwards they are tasked with quizzes to test their knowledge. Our first round of research suggested that users wanted shorter video content to fit in with their busy schedules, so after stakeholder discussions, we quickly implemented a new feature called 'Shorts' which took elements of 'Streams' and made them into bitesize learning content. The result of this change showed a dramatic increase in user retention along with positive reviews in both app stores. The app continues to be updated with new features regularly, as the founders seek to grow the app's user base to help with their next funding round.
Quizzes, Subtitles, Earning XP
I continued to speak with users on a rolling basis every quarter to make sure we were headed in the right direction. It became clear however that after interviewing a set of both promotors and detractors that we weren't doing a good job at challenging the users with what they had learnt. They saw the app as a listening comprehension tool and not much else. The detractors also had strong mental models about what a language learning app should include. Features like flashcards, grammar drilling, subtitles etc. With this feedback, we in the product team went about proposing innovative new opportunities to help re-engage these detractors and to retain existing users.
Quiz Overview, Profiles, Study Groups
Learnings
We all know this, but user research is key to product-market fit, even if you do have a strong vision for what your product should become. It was clear that the management at Chatterbug didn't take user research as seriously as other startups and we had to push and sell them on the idea that conducting proper user interviews would get us to product-market fit quicker. My key learning from this is that if in doubt, ask your users!
