Lottery syndicates

Tests and prototypes

Testing lifelike user interactions and flows before investing in production saves resources. Creating various wireframe versions helps find the best balance between usability and functionality. Aligning information design, user workflows, and validating through agent testing lays a strong foundation for developing a robust product.

I used Axure RP as it’s the best for high-fidelity prototypes. We wanted to test some serious interactions and features before production.

After the first version, I found out that my approach to navigation was incorrect as it can be simplified. I resigned from drop-downs (as they were confusing and foremost hard to notice) and used icons instead.

User tests

User testing is crucial for new product development as it uncovers user preferences and issues early on. By involving users in the testing process, teams refine the product to meet user needs, ensuring a better user experience and reducing development risks.

Initially, I was looking to test two things:
1. If users understand the product and the idea behind the lottery syndicates.
2. Usability test - If users will finish navigation tasks.

Testing was administered in person with subjects using the prototype application on provided devices.

First user tests - the results

All Users (issues and actions):
• Used the drop-down menu to navigate to their chances/see/add/cancel.
• Have struggled with the first purchase (+ button).
• Were not sure about syndicates (number of people, chances etc.) I wanted to know more about it.
• Didn’t notice or didn’t care about win-o-meter.
• Have no problems with finding things/navigation (cancel, add, view etc.)

Solutions and improvements that we can apply:

• The learning/onboarding experience should be bigger and cover much more info about the product.
• We could think about video/animation or modern-style tutorial images for every step. A user shouldn’t be able to skip it - as a part of the onboarding experience. For example, we can add a screen explaining that the user needs to press the (+) button to make a purchase. Please check the pocket jack example on the next page.
• Chances and syndicates: We should explain those to the users, how many people are in a syndicate, what is their share, etc.
• Win-o-meter. Users didn’t notice it, they ignored a percentage. Seems that the win-o-meter doesn’t have marketing value, the reason for that could test the environment and/or samples.
• We could create a tutorial on “how it works” to improve knowledge about syndicates.
• We should replace the button on the homepage with a more prominent CTA.

Potential actions that I can take, learned from my tests.

The problem:
Lottery syndicates aren’t easy to understand/communicate.

Solution:
To introduce a tutorial.
In the future, we will replace it with a more appealing version, but for tests, it was enough.

As I noted, learning experience/onboarding is an important part of the product.
I changed the flow and moved more options to the burger menu to make them more accessible. Users were looking there.

The second user tests - the results

I kept the same questions but changed users, as I didn’t want to test this idea on people who were already familiar with it.

Here is what I learned:
I’ve improved almost every point from the past test, but not the (+) button, but that was a matter of colour and shape, as it was very hard to notice on the grey scale prototype.

Here is what I learned:
I’ve improved almost every point from the past test, but not the (+) button, but that was a matter of colour and shape, as it was very hard to notice on the grey scale prototype. 

The second user tests - the results

Due to factors including development costs, timelines, and regulatory uncertainty, leadership made the decision not to proceed with launching this specific lottery syndicate initiative.

However, the user research I spearheaded provided valuable insights to inform future innovation and product development.

I was proud of my design and findings, and I learned many new things while working on this project. It was the beginning of a new role as I was elevated to a Lead UX Designer position.

The Placeholder Visuals

The team asked me to use the existing guidelines of our Spingenie brand. Created by the agency.