Designing for growth and retention at Woba.
Woba is the largest subscription based office platform in Latin America. In this project, I designed the possibility of adding favorite coworking spaces to a list using the hook model to engage and retain users.
+153%
+26,7%
And those who have at least one space added to a list after creating an account, have a +26,7% activation rate, (people who book a coworking space in the first seven days) compared to those who didn't.
Those who add a space to a list, have a +153% more retention compared to those who didn't.
The what
Browsing through different coworking spaces, with different amenities and characteristics can be a complex task for users, in different sceneries and contexts.
After a series of research methods, such as moderated users interviews, context analysis and a correlation study using data analysis, we identified that users are more likely to book a coworking space where they already have been before.
The team and my role
Team: Product Manager, Data Team, Developer Team, Product Design
My role: Lead Product Designer.
My contribution: User Research, Context Analysis, Moderated Interviews, Stakeholder Management, Visual Design, High Fidelity Prototype, Design Strategy.
The why
Since users are more likely to book a coworking space where they already have been before, to drive conversion and user's growth we came up with an hypothesis based on the habit loop/hook model.
By (digitally) encouraging users to repeatedly visit the same coworking space (a "favorite"), we could foster a sense of familiarity and comfort. This repetitive behavior where saving a space (cue), visiting it frequently (routine) and booking it (reward, would help users form a habit loop, thus leading to growth and retention.
User research
We've scheduled 8 users interviews, and our goal was to qualitative identify patterns and insights to better validate our hypothesis.
💡 Some key findings:
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Users tend to book the same coworking space because they are familiar with it, they know what they will encounter.
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Interviewed users are more likely to visit a new coworking space, if it has already been visited by a colleague - they tend to trust their peer's recommendation.
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When it comes to other cities, users are also likely to book a coworking space where their colleagues have already been, in a context of remote work this is specially important as some users travel to work in other cities and states.
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Users like to "curate" new coworking spaces prior to book - analyzing its amenities, location and traits.
The strategy
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Trigger: Users organically discover coworking spaces they like and are prompted to save them to a personalized list.
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Action: With minimal effort, users can name and organize their lists, making them more meaningful and tailored to their needs.
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Variable Reward: The ability to share lists with friends and have them contribute fosters social engagement, adding an element of unpredictability that keeps users returning.
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Investment: As users curate and refine their lists over time, they build a valuable resource, increasing their attachment to the app and making future bookings more intuitive.
By aligning this feature with user behavior patterns, the design not only simplifies space discovery but also strengthens Woba’s role as a go-to workspace management tool.
The how
As the core of the experience, with the goal of working on personalization, an important caracteristic of the habit creation, I designed the possibility of creating lists instead of a large generic list where users could save their favorite coworkings. Once a coworking space is added to a list, clicking on its card takes the user straight to the checkout, bypassing the product detail page. This streamlines the booking process, reducing friction and saving time.
Personalization
To work with social triggers, these lists can be shared among members of the same company. Members can view and add new coworking spaces to the lists which was shared with them. Users from the same city, for example can easily find coworkings suitable for both of them.
Keeping users engaged
So users already have something to keep them engaged even when they don't have any list, I decided that the first list they would see would be their company favorite coworkings. This would replace an empty state screen, coming as a default list. In this screen, users are able to check the most booked coworkings across the company, can filter by space type and region.
Conclusion and next steps
To gain a deeper understanding of how the "favorite" feature was impacting user behavior, we initiated conversations with our users through surveys and one-on-one interviews. This allowed us to gather valuable insights directly from those interacting with the platform, helping us identify areas for improvement and new opportunities to enhance the user experience.