THE DATING PROFILE COACH

UX Case Study

In this case study, we'll explore my UX approach in how I would attempt to improve the way users submit their new or existing dating profiles through this app.

INTRODUCTION

The Dating Profile Coach app concept was born after a few active users on dating apps expressed frustrations with the poor presentation of dating profiles of potential candidates. Dating app users have found it harder to authentically connect or even “swipe right” when someone’s profile lacked pertinent information, had poor photo quality, or worse, falsified information on that person’s profile. As a result, this often led users to feel discouraged, frustrated, and hopeless (sometimes, “catfished”) about finding a true match on a variety of dating apps. The Dating Profile Coach app is attempting to take the guesswork out of authenticating dating profiles, by providing services that will help those who need help crafting a dating profile, or review existing profiles to make them better, thus increasing the potential for compatible matchmaking. Much like a resume review service, the goal of The Dating Profile Coach is to improve a user's digital “first impression” on online dating platforms. As a UX Generalist with a specialization in research, my role in this project is to explore opportunities to streamline the app’s intake process of dating profiles, in hopes of increasing the user’s satisfaction with the app.

THE PROBLEM

I believe users could be experiencing challenges with navigating how to submit their dating profiles through The Dating Profile Coach. In-app reviews and feedback, users expressed they found the submission step to be “cumbersome” or “too time-consuming.”

MY ROLE

In this case study, I served as a UX Generalist with a specialization in research. My role in this project was to explore opportunities to streamline the app’s intake process of dating profiles, in hopes of increasing the user’s satisfaction with the app. Here are the top things I worked:

User Persona Creations
Interviews
UX Strategy
Surveys
Competitive Analysis

MY APPROACH

I would have approached this project using UX best practices and common design thinking methodologies. In this case, I would compare my approach to using the 5-step design thinking process:

Empathize to understand what the users' pain parts are in the process of using the app.
Define the problem.
Ideation to formulate ideas that could potentially help users arrive at their desired outcome.
Prototype to design lo-fidelity to high-fidelity samples of the improved user experience.
Testing to gather user data insights to see if the shipped design helped users achieve their desired outcome.

SAMPLE USER PERSONAS

MEET HARPER

The On-the-Go Dater

Harper is a 25-year-old single woman who
lives in the busy city of New York City. Her profession as a graphic design artist and dog walker keeps her on her toes, so when it comes to dating, she struggles with time management. She is eager to date but struggles with the time to put together a solid dating profile. A friend recommended The Dating Profile Coach to assist her with putting together her profile.

MEET RYAN

The Social Butterfly Dater

Ryan is a 30-something independent woman who lives in the city of dreams -- Los Angeles. By day she owns an accessory boutique and by night, she enjoys catching sweet sunsets in Malibu. While she has thought about rejoining the dating app world, she felt overwhelmed by the process of reactivating her profile. The Dating Profile Coach popped up in her app store one day and it intrigued her to reach out for profile enhancements.

MEET KHALIL

The Hopeless Romantic Dater

Khalil is a 28-year-old single guy who lives in Detroit. He's is an aspiring singer-songwriter and he is a self-taught musician (he plays four instruments). While Khalil is not shy about taking the stage to share, he finds the online dating app world to be frustrating. He believes some of his challenges are not knowing what to put on these dating profiles because he feels "no one reads them anyway." He saw an ad about the Dating Profile Coach on a social media platform, so he decided to give it a try in hopes of finding true love.

"I like the concept of the Dating Profile Coach. It feels like a resume review service for dating (profiles). I would recommend it to friends but there are just too many steps to submit my information. I know it's a new app but I hope they change it."

From a Dating Profile Coach User

IDEATION

After collecting intel from users, I would present the user data collection to stakeholders and host ideation session(s) with stakeholders. Some things that were shared or used during these meetings, including but not limited to:

Discuss user flows and journey mapping in greater depth
Crazy 8 Method
SCAMPER Method

The purpose of these sessions is to generate as many ideas as possible to improve the way users submit dating profiles for review via the app.

PROTOTYPING

& TESTING

Based upon the ideation session(s), this will help define the best

path forward to begin prototyping and testing a solution. Depending on time constraints and budget, the most efficient way to get qualitative feedback would be to use:

Lo-Fi Wireframing
Paper Prototyping User Flows

However, if more time and resources are allocated, creating a high-fi prototype would be beneficial in usability testing and collecting qualitative feedback for users. Once testing is complete, I would want to share my findings with key stakeholders and make the recommendation to “ship it” or revisit ideation/prototyping and testing phases.

TAKEAWAYS

Assuming the prototype is finally shipped out, I would take this time to review takeaways and lesson learned from this project:

Revisit UX strategy -- determine if MVPs, SMARTS goals, etc. were delivered
Monitor user data since the prototype was shipped; present findings to key stakeholders
Highlight the biggest challenges or unexpected findings
Highlight lessons learned in this project