Pandora Landing Page Redesign
Project Description
After five years with a fairly simple landing page, the pandora.com landing page was due for a redesign to make it more engaging and informative for our millions of first-time visitors each month.
"Before" - Pandora's landing page for several years before this project.
Product and business goals of the redesign included:
A) improving conversion rates for our millions of monthly pandora.com visitors
B) better showcasing the strengths of Pandora's radio product and new features
C) continue to provide visitors with access to an immediate listening experience that gives them a taste of Pandora's secret sauce: the Music Genome Project.
Role: UX Co-Lead
My role at Pandora was a blend of design and research. This feature team was comprised of three designers: two primarily focused on UX (myself and another designer) and one primarily focused on UI. We worked very closely with the product manager on this project, while also collaborating with data analysts, engineers and the music curation team.
Ideation, wireframes, design, prototyping, UX Research
Our goal was to create an entirely new landing page experience for Pandora that would provide a more welcoming, engaging and informative experience for first-time users. In our design explorations, we prioritized several aspects:
One of many early wireframes developed during ideation sessions for the new landing page. This version became the existing pandora.com site.
- Continuous access to signup and login CTAs
- Providing direct search to create a station
- Letting visitors start listening to Pandora right away
- Offering a browse experience in the a vertical station picker. This had a few benefits: 1) providing single-click access to music for users who can't think of what they want to search for, and 2) showcasing a sample of the wide range of genres that Pandora contains, and 3) inviting the user to keep scrolling down the page.
- Showcasing the mobile app and educating users about the range of devices that they can enjoy Pandora with
I also met with the head of the Music Curation team to get data and insights about which stations would be the best fit for the vertical station picker.
I created wireframes with the other UX designer, and we pitched our ideas in design team meetings, to design leads, and to Pandora's Chief Product Officer. We wanted to be sure to get feedback and guidance from all the key stakeholders.
UX research
After designing high-fidelity wireframes, I partnered with an engineer to create an HTML prototype that would essentially look and act like the real thing. In order to support early validation of our design ideas, I designed and led a qualitative usability study using that prototype.
To execute the study, I recruited qualified users across a wide range of demographics, confirmed the PM's areas of inquiry, hypothesized potential areas of confusion, facilitated all of the usability testing sessions, led shareback sessions to inform stakeholders about the testing results, and wrote a report of findings for others in the company to learn more about the project.
The anonymous listening experience for a listener who has come to the site and launched a station but not yet created an account or logged in.
I had several questions and hypotheses to validate in the usability study:
- Would users understand what Pandora is and what creating an account would provide for them?
- Would users be able to quickly and easily start listening to Pandora right away?
- Would users understand how to navigate and control their listening experience?
- How would users react to a limited-time trial of the product?
- Would users be able to complete the signup flow quickly and without error?
- Would users be able to discover several new modules in the UI design, i.e. lyrics and artist bios?
The majority of users in usability testing were able to complete all of the tasks without difficulty. Only one task challenged users and suffered from low task-completion rates. (Specific details withheld.)Due to our commitment to rapid iteration and improvement, this issue was prioritized for immediate redesign which successfully eliminated the problem.
LAUNCH & results
As a result of strong collaboration and risk-taking, careful design validation in user research, and a commitment to a bold new approach, the new pandora.com landing page launched in late 2016.
The newly redesigned landing page accompanied the launch of the entirely redesigned website with new UI and UX for the logged-in radio-listening experience.
Users reacted positively to the new site, and we saw increases in metrics in several areas that continue to be monitored daily.
External reviews were also very positive and the overall website redesign was written about in TechCrunch, The Next Web, CNET, Digital Trends, Lifehacker, Fast Company and more.
I'm very proud to have played such an integral role in the creation of the new pandora.com website, and to be a part of the team that brought this redesign to life.
With the newly redesigned Pandora landing page and website, we continue to make the mission of Pandora a reality: to give you a personalized music experience that plays music you love and that continually evolves with your tastes.
