Wyze, a company dedicated to making smart home technology accessible to all, has gained popularity with its flagship product, Wyze Cam.
Their premium subscription service, Cam Plus, offers advanced AI detection features to over 1 million camera users.
However, many Cam Plus users struggle with managing their in-app subscriptions, primarily due to the fact that the entire process is done outside of the Wyze app. This fragmented experience has led to high customer support costs and limits the ability for Wyze to offer solutions to retain users who consider canceling their subscriptions.
Design a solution that will provide Cam Plus users with an easy way to manage their in-app subscriptions, all while reducing Wyze's customer support costs and subscription churn.
As a Product Designer at Wyze, I routinely scheduled meetings with the Customer Support team to go over tickets related to the Wyze app user experience.
Ever since the launch of Cam Plus, one of the most significant concerns associated with it has been the in-app subscription management process, which occupied a majority of the Cam Plus support tickets.
Alongside the Customer Support team, I analyzed these existing support tickets to gain an understanding of why users were struggling with managing their in-app subscriptions.
We found that an overwhelming majority of users faced difficulties with way-finding outside of the Wyze app, which highlighted a need for an internalized in-app subscription management process.
At the time, users would need to exit the Wyze app and go to either the App Store or Google Play Store (depending on device type) to manage their in-app subscription.
When analyzing these findings with the PM, we came to the realization that solving this issue would not only make our users happy and reduce customer support costs/tickets, but also provide Wyze with opportunities to win users back during the cancellation process.
Recognizing these clear user and business benefits, this project has been made a priority for the next release.
Before jumping into ideation, I had to keep in mind several unique characteristics about Wyze subscriptions in their current state to ensure I can design the best possible solution.
Firstly, Wyze stands out from other smart home industry competitors by ditching pre-packaged plans with fixed device limits.
Instead, they require users to choose a subscription based on the specific number of cameras they want to cover.
This unconventional approach brought a unique challenge to the project.
Furthermore, with users relying on the App Store / Google Play Store to manage their in-app subscription, they lose sight of which camera(s) are associated with their purchased subscription plan. This may increase confusion and cognitive load for users when they want to make changes.
By moving the in-app subscription management process internally, there was a clear opportunity to bridge this gap.
I started sketching out ideas for the new in-app subscription management experience that brings a user's own cameras into context, including common use cases.
The cancel subscription use case was created in collaboration with the marketing team to help reduce churn—by asking users why they are canceling their subscription, with solutions to win them back.
I then proceeded to review and iterate on these sketches further with the PM, design team, and other stakeholders before creating a prototype for testing.
I created a prototype utilizing the existing component library—to allow for design consistency and to help reduce code duplication for future development.
A total of 12 Wyze users tested the prototype, with assigned tasks of upgrading, downgrading, and canceling a Cam Plus subscription.
Of all the tasks performed, canceling a Cam Plus subscription was found to be the toughest.
Out of the 12 participants involved, 8 encountered difficulties with canceling—5 eventually managed to figure it out, while the remaining 3 participants were unable to cancel their subscription at all.
As participants were speaking out loud while completing this task, a majority expressed that they expected a "Cancel Subscription" button on the page but couldn't find it.
To reveal the button, participants needed to reduce the device quantity to 0, either individually or through the "Clear" shortcut in the top navigation bar.
Initially, I included an easily discoverable "Cancel Subscription" button in my sketches, but faced pushback from the marketing team to find the right balance with discoverability.
Making the button too noticeable might encourage cancellations, while making it too difficult to find could increase customer support tickets.
However, it became evident from the usability test that the button was too difficult to find, which necessitated a change in the opposite direction.
The new iteration allows the "Cancel Subscription" button to exist without requiring users to adjust the device quantity, allowing for the perfect balance between visibility and subtlety—all teams ended up agreeing with the direction of this new approach.
After applying finishing touches, I handed over the design to the development team and was an available resource throughout the following sprint.
Following the implementation of the new in-app subscription management experience, Wyze experienced a ~75-80%* reduction in related customer support tickets and an ~8-10%* reduction in subscription churn a month after launch.
*All confidential information has been redacted for this case study.
Moving forward, I will closely collaborate with the PM to observe user feedback we receive in our community forums related to in-app subscription management to identify potential design improvements we can make in the future.
Whether you're wanting to collaborate or simply curious about my work, let's connect!
david@davidgilman.co
