Empowering Connections Between Event Hosts and Ticket Buyers
Client
Brown Paper Tickets (spec-client)
My Roles
UX Writing, Mobile Design, User Research
Team
3 UX Designers
Duration
10 Days
Overview
Brown Paper Tickets is a ticketing and event registration service that provides a platform for hosts to promote their events and attendees to buy tickets. My team was tasked with redesigning the brand’s existing desktop and mobile sites into a single responsive experience. In addition, the spec-client requested more options for hosts when creating their event pages, and an easier browsing experience for ticket buyers.
Opportunity
Connecting the site's two distinct user groups by optimizing their separate yet connected user flows
Problem
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Event hosts feel stifled by the lack of options when creating events pages
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Ticket buyers feel limited by the clunky, non-optimized mobile site when browsing, and confused/distrustful of the process’ migration to a new site upon checkout
Solution
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Robust event creation options that allow hosts to create their events pages as desired
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improved events categorization and search system that allows ticket buyers to more easily find events they’re interested in.
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Encourage mobile browsing through social connectivity.
Methods
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User Interviews
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Affinity Mapping
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Personas
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Secondary Research
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Wireframing
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Sketching
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User Testing
Tools
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Figma
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Paper + Pens
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Miro
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inDesign
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Photoshop
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Zoom
Research
How Do Buyers Browse?
User Interviews and Secondary Research
After auditing the site as a team, we dove into interviews with current and prospective users of the Brown Paper Tickets site. These interviews were conducted by my teammates, who then brought their data for our collective synthesis. I also conducted secondary research via reviews and testimonials from ticket buyers using BPT or similar platforms. Insights were only gathered when reviewers mentioned specific features or aspects of browsing that informed their continued browsing or purchase decisions.
Key Insights
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Users were often confused as to which category their desired event or event-type may fall under
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Users want direct, immediate access to their tickets on purchase
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Social connectivity is extremely important to users in this context. A friend's attendance or recommendation is often a prerequisite to a ticket purchase
Getting a Clearer Picture
Data Synthesis + Next Steps
After reviewing the data and mapping out users’ current journey for the site, we discovered the glaring pain points that must be addressed:
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Mutually exclusive, highly specific categories
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The specificity of categories confused users as to where their desired event type may fit. The mutual exclusivity of categories made browsing for specific, niche events difficult.
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A disconnected check-out experience
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When attempting to purchase a ticket on mobile, the user is redirected from a mobile site back to the main/desktop version. Not only is this site not optimized for mobile, the transition prior to payment entry dissolves user trust.
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No ticket access on-site
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Users expect the ability to view their purchased tickets immediately upon purchase, and being made to wait (and hope) for an email dissolves trust.
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Design
Empowering Browsing
Information Architecture
In creating a new mobile experience, I began rethinking the site's information architecture, particularly in relation to our research findings.
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All site content is user-generated. Users currently select from only highly specific categories to browse with no option to filter further by genre or category
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This restrictive system can limit ticket buyers’ browsing experience
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Instead of using highly specific sub-categories, we created high-level categories that can then be filtered down with multiple sub-genre and option criteria.
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New sub-categories are not mutually exclusive, allowing users to browse highly niche selections
Creating Connections
Social Functionality
Our initial user research indicated social connection as one of the largest motivating factors in purchase decisions for our audience. Because of this, we decided to implement social functionality within Brown Paper Tickets' site, geared towards the mobile experience.
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Customizable profile allows users to connect with friends
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Friends in attendance are displayed in events pages, informing users and enticing them to join in the fun
Where Are My Tickets?
Checkout Flow + Ticket Access
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The site's original checkout process was clunky, disjointed, and occurred across two separate sites.
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Users also expressed a desire to access their tickets immediately upon purchase
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Direct access provides a trust factor, meeting users' expectations while reducing the risk of a trust break down
Updated checkout flow
Creating Consistency
A Unified Experience
My designs for mobile were created in tandem with Laura, who designed the desktop experience. Sophie worked to keep our designs uniform with a design library that allowed us to scal identical elements to our respective designs.
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The original mobile experience redirected users to the desktop site upon checkout
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This shift confused users and damaged trust
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Users were likely to abandon purchases when directed to a secondary site for payment
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In creating a responsive site design, my team streamlined the checkout process to flow within one unified page
Testing
Validating Our Design
Usability Testing
Our team conducted 3 usability tests on both the mobile and desktop versions of our design. Testing validated our overall mobile design while highlighting some immediate areas for improvement.
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SUS score of 95
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Discovered need to rework the size of buttons' clickable area
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Discovered user confusion surrounding ticket access, caused by unclear subheading
Takeaways
Contextual Browsing
+ Social Connectivity
Wrapping Up
Following user insights lead to a mobile prototype that performed well. Refined information architecture created far more intuitive browsing that allowed users to tailor their experience to their tastes. Social connectivity met users' expectations and encouraged repeat use.
There are more revisions to be made, and several tweaks towards optimization. Overall, I found this to be a successful project where I was able to:
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Collaborate with a team of designers
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Lead UX Writing efforts
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Sketch, design, wireframe, and prototype my mobile design
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Conduct user research, synthesize data
