Saving DVR
A comprehensive review & update to the DVR experience
Project Details
AppleTV App | Samsung TV App | Roku App | Spectrum TV App
The Challenge
The DVR feature is one of the main revenue drivers and retention strategies for Charter’s video products. And customers were telling us that the DVR feature felt broken, out-dated, and confusing. Additionally, we were tracking a high error rate on recordings being set and saved from our analytics team.
For millions of customers the problem was two-fold: customers couldn’t quickly and easily set recordings; and once they set a recording, they couldn’t find it.
My Role
As the primary UX designer on this initiative, I was tasked with driving the overall solution through partnering closely with researchers to better understand the problem. Due to the large scale nature of this project, I regularly collaborated with product owners, developers and other designers to deliver this work.
Business KPI & Metrics
Improve the overall quality of the DVR experience
Reduce error rates related to DVR
Reduction in call volume to call centers related to DVR issues
The Client
Mapping the Problem
Starting with the Numbers
The catalyst of this project was reporting from Charter’s analytics team that revealed an alarming trend across the national markets of high error rates related to DVR usage. These findings triggered a market survey investigation into the problem from a customer’s perspective which yielded some surprising insights.
24%
Highest error rate of DVR households that experienced some kind of error in the process
67%
Percentage of surveyed DVR customers that preferred their previous provider’s experience for saving recordings
61%
Percentage of surveyed DVR customers that preferred their previous provider’s experience for finding recordings
Walking a Mile in Their Shoes
With that context, my approach began with creating empathy with our customers by understanding who they were, their behaviors, and their decision-making process specific to this product.
DVR Customer Personas
Customer Emotion Journey Map of Existing Product
PROBLEM STATEMENTS
After careful analysis of both the quantitative and qualitative data, two clear problems emerged:
Setting a recording can be burdensome and unresponsive.
Finding a previously set recording can be confusing and frustrating.
Exploring the Iterations
A Simple(r) Decision
One important finding that came out of the task analysis of the existing app was just how many decision points there were for users when setting up a recording. The solution I drove forward adapted the user flow which simplified the decision making moments, reduced choice overload, quickened action efficacy, and added clear feedback loops.
Location. Location. Location.
When analyzing the conditions around the second problem of finding recordings, a mixture of compounding factors emerged – confusing information architecture, misleading copy, and an over-complicated UX. So I began by mapping out a more intuitive mental model for users that would elevate visual cues and provide more feedback loops.
A Sampling of Initial Discovery Activities
Card Sorting to Address Ease of Discovery
Main Menu Design Explorations
UX Documentation - Logic & Wireframes
Some Late Data Curveballs
Although the survey findings were certainly insightful, it didn’t tell the whole story of the problem. While our technical teams triaged the error rates, the UX research team had synthesized some recent testing they had done around the usage of remote controls – specifically whether the remote played any role in issues revealed in the survey.
Their findings basically stated that when users were presented with a dedicated buttons on a remote, they preferred the analog input of the remote for finding recordings.
80%
Percentage of participants who preferred using the remote after being shown other ways to set a recording
100%
Percentage of participants who were able to open the guide and find the DVR section because of dedicated remote buttons
Measuring the Impact
Reducing Error Rates
Error rates were reduced for setting a recording to less than 2%. And only .5% for playing a recording.
Reduced households with a DVR error to around 3%.
Improving the DVR Experience
One of the big pain points felt on any TV experience is the amount of clicks a user has to go through to complete an action. With the restructuring of the UX in these designs, there was a reduction of clicks on both setting recordings and finding recordings by almost 50%.
Usability studies also showed a distinct improvement over the functionality and efficiency of using the DVR feature.
