Favorite places for NAVER Maps
Naver Map is one of the most renowned map platforms in Korea. During my time there, my main task involved increasing the number of users for the 'Favorites' feature and addressing their demands.
Role
UX Designer
- Research & Ideation
- Strategy Development
- Led User Research
- Analysing User Data
- Data Flow & API Integration
- UX Writing
- Wireframing
- Spec DocumentationProject type
Launched service, Worked as full-time UX designer at NaverTimeline
10 months
(Mar 2018 - Jan 2019)Team
- 2 UX Designers(incl. myself)
- 1 UI Designer
- 2 Back-end Developers
- 2 iOS Developers
- 2 Android DevelopersAbout
the Maps
Naver Map is one of the most renowned map platforms in Korea.
During my time there, my main task involved increasing the number of users for the 'Favorites' feature and addressing their demands.
Goal
To make it more useful and easier to use
I redesigned the existing Favorites feature with the goal of making it more usable and useful.
Impact
After the release, we documented a 60% increase in editing actions such as adding a nickname and creating new lists.
Active Users
+23%
Saved places per user
+37.5%
Total saved places
+51%
Process
Focused on market positioning. Utilized evidence-based design.
Designing the “favorite places” of NAVER Maps, the search results, required understanding the existing design and ensuring consistency.
Background
We updated our “Favorite places” feature in Jan 2018.
However..
Good, but Not impactful enough.
After the Favorites feature was updated, the number of users remained the same, and the number of places saved per person remained unchanged at 1.7.
How can we encourage users to use places in their favorites more? What is the issue?
Evaluate previous flow
The ‘Select List’ was difficult to find.
Existing Save Flow
It can be frustrating to have separate and convoluted paths to edit and manage your saved places.
I analyzed the number of page views and clicks on events.
The “Edit” feature was rarely used.
I realized that our app features were not competitive
in the map services market.
User data
Female users saved favorites more often,
and 20-39-year-olds were more active.
Understanding our users
Based on the statistics and demographic data,
we defined a brief proto-persona.
And with the model, we recruited four interviewees and had a deep conversation.
From our interviews, we learned that users were unhappy with the convoluted editing and management of their saved locations, leading us to conclude that user frustrations and data points aligned.
Tackling a major unexpected issue
'Save Places' on NAVER Search and NAVER Map App have a different user experience.
In reality, the two products were not using the same databases. Users were confused about why they could not see their data across Naver Map App when they saved places on Naver App.
Findings
In conclusion, we have made three modifications to improve the 'favorites' feature to be more user-friendly:
To save and edit conveniently
It should be easier to save and edit places, whether on the map or in the Favorites menu.
Enhanced place information as personal content
Users want to save, manage, and share places as their own content.
Improved location storage performance
Improved API structure enables seamless storage and utilization of locations across the NAVER platform.
Final Design
New user flow Favorites
Users can easily save and edit with the save modal and ‘more’ button.
Feature 1. Folder selection popup
Before
Users struggle to location the folder selection popup due to a quick-disappearing toast. So, most of them end up using the default folder.
After
I enabled users to easily access the save and edit features on the map by simplifying the flow and incorporating a 'bottom sheet'.
Feature 2. The ‘Favorites’ page’s edit flow
I changed the screen structure of the ‘Favorites’ page to make the edit menu more accessible.
Feature 3. The ‘Sharing’ flow
I designed an architectural flow to evaluate all the action buttons and the flow for sharing lists.
Feature 4. Improved location storage performance
The API structure was revamped for multi-list location storage and unified the 'Saving' experience on NAVER. Users can seamlessly store, view, and utilize locations across NAVER.
Achievements
After the release, we documented a 60% increase in editing actions such as adding a nickname and creating new lists.
Active Users
+23%
Saved places per user
+37.5%
Total saved places
+51%
Takeaways
Experience planning using the location data API
When the reliability and quality of location information are improved, users enjoy using location-based services more.
The importance of goal alignment and clear communication with stakeholders
The different perspectives of the stakeholders led to gaps in understanding, which we overcame by adopting an agile framework, including weekly scrum meetings and bi-weekly review meetings to assess what had gone well and what needed to be improved.