Revamping Audio News Infrastructure

Enhanced user retention through strategic repositioning of Audio News as complementary consumption

Type: Work, Baidu App

Time: Dec.2017 - Feb. 2018

Role: Design Lead / UX Designer

Overview

Baidu App, a leading mobile platform in China, combines search and news feed services and reaches over 1/3 of China's population monthly. Since late 2017, I've been involved in designing its innovative feature, Audio Feed News, which transforms written articles into listenable content.

Background

Since 2016, Baidu App has focused on personalized Feed News, amassing a wealth of content and users. The launch of Audio News in 2017 marked a new direction, leveraging text-to-speech technology to convert text-based news into audio formats, thereby diversifying content consumption and setting Baidu App apart from competitors.

User problems

When I joined the Audio News team, I learned that the product initially attracted many early adopters post-launch, but few stayed engaged over time. To understand the reasons the dropping Daily Active User (DAU) and poor retention rate, I collaborated with the user research team to conduct a user survey. Over 3000 responses highlighted significant product positioning and usability issues.

Users are confused by the dual interaction modes due to their similar interface.

In the existing design of the Baidu App, reading and listening experiences are treated as two separate interaction modes within the feed news listing page. Users must tap a button to switch between these modes – reading mode for articles and listening mode for audio news. However, the almost identical appearance of both modes leads to user confusion. This approach triggered tremendous user confusion, and was identified as a primary factor in user experience problems and declining retention rates.

User want to access to news landing page under listening mode.

Currently, in reading mode, users tap on a news item to access its detailed landing page. However, in listening mode, tapping on a news item initiates audio playback, preventing access to the news article’s landing page. This design has led to confusion among users. They have expressed a desire to access the full news article while in listening mode and have also shown a preference for starting audio playback directly from the news landing page.

Product re-envision

Our studies indicated that Audio News had an unclear position and a confusing user flow. Collaborating with the product management team, we shifted the focus.

Design goals and matrices were defined to support the new product positioning.

Refine UX to supplement reading with listening.

Enhance the news feed to emphasize reading while integrating an easy-to-use listening option. Redesign the user journey for intuitive transitions between reading and listening.

Clear visual differentiation.

Develop a distinct visual hierarchy to differentiate between modes, enhancing intuitive use and overall user experience.

Instructive user guidance.

Implement clear prompts and instructions, particularly for activating and using the listening feature within the context of reading.

Direct access to audio from articles.

Enable users to easily access and initiate listening directly from news articles' landing pages.

Quantitative metrics: DAU, Retention Rate and Total News Played.

Qualitative metric: User Satisfaction, assessed through usability testing.

Redesigned News Feed

In the revamped design, audio becomes a supplementary feature to the text-based News Feed. Once the listening mode is activated, users have the flexibility to read articles, listen to them, or even do both simultaneously. On the news list page, a simple tap on an article allows for reading, while tapping the play button initiates listening. This functionality extends to individual article landing pages as well, where users can start listening with just a tap on the play button.

The redesign addressed user confusion by introducing an on-boarding modal for first-time activation of the Read-Listen Mode. The modal delivers clear visual and auditory instructions for user guidance. After dismissing the modal, users see the interface switch to Read-Listen Mode. Play buttons appear, and the first news item on display automatically begins playing, ensuring users immediately understand the new functionality.

Now, users can easily access any news article's landing page while listening and start playback with just a tap. Improved usability features include highlighting the paragraph being read and auto-scrolling the page to keep the current paragraph in view. Users can also tap on different paragraphs to control playback directly.

Test results

Usability Testing

In collaboration with the user research team, we conducted usability tests involving 18 participants, including both new and existing users. Participants compared the current product (Test A) with our redesigned version (Test B). The findings demonstrated clear advantages of Test B over the existing design.

A/B Testing

We also implemented an online A/B test comparing Test A and Test B. The results showed that Test B outperformed the old design across various key performance indicators.

Official launch and continuous improvement

Following these positive outcomes, the redesigned Audio News feature was officially rolled out to all Baidu App users in May 2018. We observed significant improvements in retention rates and daily active user numbers.