Onboarding project | Playo

Question: Can you recall the last time you played badminton by the road in your neighborhood or in an open area like a nearby park?

Answer: Yes, but only before PLAYO's existence!

While on it's mission to empower the common man to play more sports, PLAYO has actually elevated & democratized access to QUALITY SPORT FACILITIES across Tier 1-2 cities in INDIA!

Be it Badminton, Swimming, Table Tennis, Football, Basketball or niche racquet sports like Tennis, Squash and off late, Pickleball ; PLAYO, with its first mover advantage, has put visibility and accessibility of the sport at the forefront for anyone who aspires to play any particular sport in URBAN INDIA.

Playo Overview:

Playo helps users book venues to play sport and also find new members to play as well. It's a digital platform (website/app) primarily focused on sports enthusiasts, enabling them to not just discover and book a time to play their favorite sport, but also to engage as a sports community and grow.

More info here - https://playo.co/

💡Its interesting to note that the App messaging is not consistent - For Google Play Store is different from Apple App Store.

ELEVATOR PITCH

“Tired of not finding sports venues or finding players to play with? Playo lets you instantly book and reserve courts, tables, or pools as per schedule and also connect with local/neighborhood players - all through a single app.

It's a perfect destination for urban professionals, teams, and sports enthusiasts to explore all things sports.

Who said Fitness can't be fun? Try a SPORT! Join thousands who are already active on Playo!

VALUE PORPOSITION

1. Convenience: Easy to Book courts, instantly / anytime, with updates on real-time availability.
2. Community: Ability to find players, join a group or team, or compete in leagues tailored to one's particular skill level.
3. Varied Options / Choice: Choose and access a wide network of trusted venues and trending sports, across categories.
4. Engagement: Stay active and build friendships through shared passions and interests.

ICPs

ICP Prioritization

We will consider both ICP 1 & ICP 3 as they clearly tick the boxes of ICP Prioritization criteria in terms of Paying capability, frequency and adoption curve

User Research

• Spoke with 5 users who have been using Playo for quite sometime now (from 6 months to 3 years).
• Some of them have expressed to give time over the weekend for the conversation.
• Will document the user calls and collate later.
• Got a chance to do the onboarding journey with 1 new user to understand what he perceived of the onboarding journey and what challenges / difficulty he found in activation.

User Goals:

ICP 1 - The absolute SO, WHAT for using the product were 2 things -

a. Availability of Venues across locations, b. convenience of rescheduling for any last minute change of plans.

ICP 3 - The absolute SO, WHAT for using the product was

Ability to pre-book and keep it on calendar

JTBD

How to do an onboarding teardown?

Take screenshots of each page of the interface, note each interaction and user touchpoint, and assess based on user empathy:

1. What is working well on the screen and why?
2. What is not working and why?
3. What changes/improvements do you suggest can be made? Why do you think that would be better?
4. Where does the “aha” moment occur?
5. Evaluate your onboarding on the cognitive biases.

PLAYO Onboarding Teardown

PLAYO - Onboarding Teardown.pdf

Parameters to track your activation metrics:

• D1, D7, and D30 retention
• DAU / MAU
• Subscription rate vs retention
• Average TAT
• User Cohorts
• Acquisition source
• Product reviews
• Add more based on specific context

Reminder: This is not the only format to follow, feel free to edit it as you wish!

ACTIVATION METRICS

Points to remember while validating activation metrics

a. Does it impact retention curve?

b. Does it increase Word of Mouth?

c. Does it improve LTV?

Activation metric for PLAYO is

X amount of bookings done in Y amount of days

I would follow / track the following metrics to impact activation

1. D7 & D30 Retention. WHY? --> Helps me measures short-term stickiness and habit formation of user.
2. M1, M2, M3 Retention rate. WHY? --> Understand if there is a pattern of engagement, and also indicative of product loyalty - Is he or she coming back for my platform features?
3. Time to Value -- What is the average time taken for my first PLAYO booking. WHY? --> It will indicate if my onboarding is smooth or has friction to work on. Also indicates opportunity for further optimization
4. Rate of Activation -- # of users booking / becoming playpals / creating the first game. All indicate my success towards onboarding.
5. Drop off Heatmaps -- Understand UX challenges or customer journey frictions. What type of flows are users going through. Enables to improve product experience on the overall scale.
6. Payment Page Completions & Referrals -- Look for leakage / payment failure, Improve Revenue + LTV indicators.

Hypothesis 1: Habit Formation with weekly Engagement - 2 bookings in 1 week

Reasoning:

• Repeating one action creates a "habit loop," increasing app dependency.
• If my users have 2+ bookings/week, then they exhibit more intent towards M1 retention
• There should be focus on converting "average" (1–2 bookings) to "active" (3–4) users via reminders, rewards, or bundled slots for M1 retention

Hypothesis 2: Referral-Driven Communities - WOM or 3-5 referral per user.

Reasoning:

• Referred users have higher LTV. With Playo, the referral is through great first playing experience and WOM.
• 3-4 bookings per week.
• Group booking or multiple hosts from same group together will lead to increased stickiness to repeat usage with the product.

Hypothesis 3: Sports Group members - Played or hosted 5 games or more.

Reasoning:

• Group members are users who participate in individual games and are on the look out for partners or for players in their skill level (Amateur / Semi pro / Advanced / Pro).
• Users who play 5 games in 30-45 days or more in these communities can be considered active users - given the affinity to engage with the community.
• Users host games and can also add a layer of filter to screen the individual before accepting them for the game - there by enabling security and easy engagement.