Onboarding project | Medium | Sumana Paul

Product name: Medium

URL: https://medium.com/

About the company:

• Medium is an established American online publishing platform that was launched in August 2012. Readers and writers can use the platform to read stories on various topics and write their own stories respectively.
• Medium has recently expanded its Partner Program to include Indian writers starting in August 2023, allowing them to monetize their content.
• Two kinds of entities can publish stories - individual authors and publications
• Key statistics about the company

1. No. of Monthly active reader = 100mn (globally)
2. 68% of Medium users use mobile/tablet for reading stories

• Product plan and benefits

Stage of the company:

• The purpose of the Medium Partner Program (MPP) launched in India in 2023 is to focus on allowing Indian writers to monetize their content based on engagement metrics. This program is expected to attract more writers and readers from India helping the company grow.
• 7.38% of the platform’s global readership comes from India making India its second-largest audience
• However, India is still lagging behind in terms of number of paid subscriptions. The company is directing its efforts towards encouraging Indian writers to write more so that more Indian readers/users of the platform engage with the platform and eventually upgrade to paid memberships

User research insights

I collected data on users of the product to understand customer profiles and what job do they hire the product for. Below are some data charts and insights.

Insight 1: In India, there are more number of readers than writers on Medium.

Insight 2: 78% of users are free users of the platform. It takes months to convert a free user to a paid plan.

Insight 3: 40% of users are considering an upgrade. Low hanging fruits/bottom of the funnel users. With continued use of the application, they will most likely upgrade.

Insight 4: Substack>Reddit>Quora> are some of the competitors of Medium among online reading, publishing, community oriented platforms.

Ideal Customer Profile analysis

JTBD analysis

ICP 1: The Thought-leader (please scroll right on the table to see the full table)

ICP 2: The Bookworm (please scroll right on the table to see the full table)

FLOW 1

First time app open to reading the first story

I chose to analyse this flow because the user experience from first-time app-open to experiencing the core value prop of Medium for the first time is highly important for the following reasons

1. optimizing the path to activation - making the journey as seamless and delightful as possible
2. establish trust at the first opportunity

Here I have analyzed every screen to discuss

• what is working with ✅
• what is interesting and unique, my suggestions with 💡
• what is not working with a red stop sign

On screens where I have called out what is not working, I have given a REIMAGINED version of that screen or block.

(Kindly maximise your screen to check the screen contents in detail. You can stretch out with 2 fingers on the touchpad to maximize. Thank you :) )

Screen 1 : Main copy and sub-copy both are consistent with the communication i.e. explore real stories from everyday people that open your mind

Screen 2:

• They are using Endowment effect to make potential users of the platform value it more by using words like 'yours'.
• Again, communication is consistent with screen 1 promising stories that readers can resonate with
• The sub-copy in Screen 2 is priming us of the experience that we are going to have ahead so that our excitement stays intact and is also introducing us to the 'follow' feature
• They are showing images of various personalities boasting of high-quality content

Screen 3:

• Too many topic names on one screen might result in cognitive overload. Users will take time to go through each and decide and select.
• Have created a Reimagined version of this screen below.

NEW Screen 3: This is the REIMAGINED version of the above screen where I have used progressive disclosure method to gradually reveal topic names so that

• users thoughfully make selections and get relevant stories on their feed
• reduce overload of information

Screen 4: This screen is what we get after we have selected the topics we are interested in

Observation : After selection, I continue to spend more time on this screen trying to make sure I have not missed anything. Ending up spending too much time on this screen.

Screen 5:

Recommendation page: Lists a mix of authors and publications to follow

Screen 6:

Telling users why they should turn on notifications by

• providing value upfront : communicating users how these alerts can enhance their experience (timely updates on exclusive content)
• creating a sense of FOMO : users will most likely not want to miss out on fresh stories posted by their favourite authors

Screen 7: Account Upgrade screen

What is NOT working

• Account upgrade screen comes before user reads a single story on Medium. Users are unlikely to pay before experiencing the core value prop even once
• 'Friend' account benefit is unclear. 'Friend' account is for 2 kinds of people. One, for users who want to share an interesting member-only story(story having a paywall) to a friend but does not want to ask the friend to pay up. Second, it is for writers who want to share their own monetised work (stories that have paywall) with their friends
• Medium has more readers in India(at this stage of the company) than writers. Hence, while listing the benefits, priority should be given to the readers's benefits. e.g - A large number of readers choose to listen to audio narration now. We should list this benefit in top 3.

Reimagined version:

• I have clearly defined 'Friend' access benefits for readers and writers both
• I have changed the sequence of benefits for 'Member' account

Screen 8: Homepage

• Point to note here is : Brand's focus is converting free users to paid. Hence first 4 out of 5 stories displayed on the homepage are member-only stories.
• However, free access stories must be there on the platform as more people will join and engage before realising the value of the platform and finally convert. Only 15% of user base of Medium is paid and as per my user research, users in India spend months with a free account before eventually paying for upgrade.

Source: https://www.axios.com/2021/03/24/medium-subscribers-buyout-ev-williams

Screen 9: Story page

First member-only story is free for a new user. Allowing free users to experience the value of a member account for free entices them to pay for an upgrade

(Aha moment for a new user right there!

Why?

• Users can realize the benefit of the platform by experiencing a high-quality story in full. Understanding the value can make them come back to the platform.
• This free access of member-only story to a new user can result in free to paid conversion as users are most likely to pay for a platform that provides value at the first impression )

FLOW 2

Feature usage flow

Analysed this flow because Medium is a fairly simple platform and does not have too many features. But the ones that are there are crucial for

1. boosting referral and wom
2. reading habit formation of users
3. library/list creation for users to come back to the platform frequently

Here also, I have analyzed every screen with ✅ 💡 and a red stop sign, and created REIMAGINED blocks wherever needed.

Screen 1: Engagement buttons frozen in the lower panel while accessing any story clearly states the importance of readers engaging with the writers and the community

Screen 2

Subscribe button: On clicking on this button, we

• subscribe to get an email whenever that author posts
• what does NOT work - subscribe to getting our personal email exposed to authors. This may not be a good idea as all readers do not want to contacted by writers outside Medium

Reimagined version:

• I have created a new dialogue box with a checkbox asking for permission to give personal email access to authors

Screen 3

Explore button : Takes us to the explore page where we get recommendations on trending topics and staff picks

Point to note here: Staff picks

• 'Staff picks' is a way to showcase high-quality stories that otherwise might get lost in the sea of stories
• It also help Medium to provide recognition to writers who are lesser-known or have just started

Screen 4

Library button: Takes us to the 'Your library' page where readers can access their lists.

Suggestion: In addition to 1 list called 'Reading list' we can keep some more lists here named 'project ideas', 'best of science' , 'personal finance' to nudge users to save more stories to these lists

Screen 5

Saved lists: Moving to the sub-page of 'Saved lists' in 'Your library' page, we see the instruction "save someone else's list and it will appear here".

What does not work:

• Unclear if they are asking us to save list of authors or other readers
• How can i access their list

Suggestion:

Here, they should show the names of authors/publications I follow linking to their profiles

OR

they should show the names of authors/publications I follow linking directly to their saved lists

Screen 6

'Highlighted' sub-page: Has list of all highlighted portions.

• This feature boosts accessibility of reading materials at a later date by readers imprving consumption
• This can also encourage content curation by readers

Screen 7 : 'Reading history' sub page - for avid readers , keeping a track of what they read can be motivating

Profile page: About section

Medium asks to write a short bio.

What does not work: Readers do not need to add a bio as readers cannot access anyone's profile unless they are a writer.

Reimagined version:

• Take this opportunity/screen space to ask users to write their first story. Also, mention 'friend link' benefit
• Ask to write a short bio and address it to writers telling them about the benefit of having a bio

Keeping in mind how we can keep leveraging the network effect, I have discussed 3 hypotheses that will result in keeping the positive feedback loop alive.

Hypothesis 1

4 stories read within 60 mins of app install

Explanation:

• If users quickly open stories, read them before opening the next one, it is most likely because they are excited about this new app addition.
• Success in this metric also could mean that they like the quality of stories they are reading, find them engaging and can spend more time on the app regularly
• More time spent reading on the app by readers benefit writers

Hypothesis 2

2 stories saved within 60 mins of app install

Explanation:

• Success in this metric means that users are loving the ‘save’ feature and will most likely reopen the app later to refer to the saved stories
• Saved lists also encourage creating a mini library that users can brag about to their friends

Hypothesis 3

Any engagement feature(clap, response, share) used at least 5 times within 1 week of app install

Explanation:

• Usage of this feature by readers can give writers on the platform some insight on topic preferences and can tailor their content accordingly. More engaging content written by writers will again attract more readers.
• Share story/share highlights feature can also bring in more readers increasing app installs and monthly active readers

Metrics I would be tracking for Medium: