Increasing user retention and lowering development costs
Led cross-functional team to improve core app interactions with physical product
Product Background
OVERDRIVE is an app-controlled racing and battle system that blends physical toy cars with digital gameplay
Challenges
Business
User engagement numbers were lower than target
Development
App architecture slowed new content and iteration
Approach
I researched user metrics and customer feedback and determined app interface and physical behavior of cars as the highest ROI targets
App Interface Issues
Physical Behavior of the Car Issue
Resistance
Investment Hesitance - Spending time and resources
rearchitecting the app that was already working
Inertia - Interface had been the same for years and few in the company saw the need for change
Keys to success
Gathering allies - Getting marketing excited by the possibility of bigger, bolder look of app
Reducing Cost - App architecture changes would lead to greater flexibility and lower development costs in the future
Increasing KPI - Clear path to increasing retention addressed a product wide performance target
App Interface Improvements
Physical Behavior Improvements
(AKA "Snap" to Lanes)
Results
Improved Engagement
Increased user engagement through number of games played in each session
Improved App Architecture
Changes led to a more modular engineering architecture making it easier to update the app
...and a more modular architecture led to diversifying product lines and revenue
