30.4 million
people use online dating apps in the Unites States of America
20%
market growth over the next 4 years from $912 million to $1086 million,
app segment is growing the fastest
1 out of 3000
swipes lead to an in-person date
Bring the date back to dating App
At First Site
An Event-Centric Dating Concierge to Foster
Meaningful Connections
Dating apps opened up a world of meeting new people from the comforts of our mobile devices, but quickly grew to limiting interactions to online chats. How might we encourage passive individuals to spark real-world connections by leveraging the network of a digital dating?
Embracing the challenge of identifying and pursuing an innovative opportunity in a saturated market, I collaborated with a multi-disciplinary team over the course of ten weeks to prototype, refine, and pitch an event-focused digital dating concierge.
Product Management, Northwestern University, Fall 2019
Product Vision
At First Site is a digital dating concierge that addresses the constant challenge to find quality matches, get past chat, and interact offline.
It helps connect, prioritizes meetups, and creates meaningful interactions in exciting ways. It provides personalized date suggestions for each match that encourage meeting over mutually engaging activities; with easy bookings and reservations through the app.
Key Features
Integrated Onboarding
From as early as profile creation, At First Site engages users and gains their trust by simplifying the onboarding process to ask for just the essential information necessary to verify identity and express intentions with the service.
The added layer of safety through the Selfie Security feature makes transparent to users that accounts are verified for authenticity so we can maintain an environment of trust in the profiles users see through their matches.
Key Performance Indicators
-
Conversion rate of sign ups
-
% of users connecting through social media
-
Drop-off rate at selfie verification
Dependencies
-
Access to Instagram, Facebook and Google data
-
Ability to upload and verify information in account setup
Go to Market Roadmap
Revenue Predictions
740,000
Chicago residents that use dating apps
30%
market segment of Chicago dating app users we are looking to target in the initial rollout using viral marketing techniques
$420,000
revenue from year one of initial launch in Chicago
1.7 million
users after we roll out to top 6 cities in the U.S.
(LA, NYC, Houston, Chicago, Phoenix, Philadelphia)
$4.24 million
revenue after launch to top 6 cities in the U.S.
Subscriptions = $719,460
Sales of Tokens = $300 K
Sponsorship Quiz = $3.12 M
Booking Fees = $101 k
Process
Product Demo
& Pitch
The project culminated with a demonstrative pitch about detailing our product offering, vision, market segmentation, risks and mitigations, revenue prediction, and roadmap. We presented to an audience of over a hundred students and a renown product leader.
Product Requirements Documentation
To describe in depth how our product should be built, we produced a PRD entailing the product’s purpose, features, functionality, specifications, and behavior. A collection of user stories, success metrics, operational costs and potential risks served as a guide for to help build, launch, and market the product.
Wireframing, Prototyping, & Testing
With a better understanding of user pain points, we conceptualized key features to address these needs. We scripted user stories to identify user tasks, goals, and ideal outcomes. Through iterative design and continuous testing, we validated these features and designed a high-fidelity prototype.
Market Requirements Documentation
Through synthesis of our extensive research we identified the types of customers to target, analyzed the size of the market, and studied many competitors in the space. With these findings, we produced an MRD to define and describe what our target users want and value in our proposed offering.
Market Analysis & User Research
To better understand how to address the gap in the current market along with the pain points and needs of the users in this space, we conducted a wide range of research including surveys, user interviews, exploratory studies, competitive benchmarking, experience simulation, and SWOT analysis.
Opportunity Discovery & Sizing
Aiming for a market as saturated as digital dating services, our team wanted to identify a unique and novel competitive advantage that would clearly distinguish our product from competitors. The gap we identified and were drawn to in the dating app market was in extending the service offerings past the point of matching two people together.
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
Through this project, I learned the practice of and gained skills in taking a product from research to concept to launch while meeting design, business and technical goals and constraints. Merging qualitative synthesis with quantitative analysis, I was able to produce a wide range of deliverables to prove our unique offering could succeed in the market.
Feature
VALIDATION
From the insights derived from our research, we conceptualized a unique offering and generated functional product requirements to address unmet needs. Leveraging a demonstrative prototype we built through Figma, we were able to test each key feature we proposed against specified success metrics and gain .
User EXPERIENCE
I helped shape the design of our interface through collaborative wireframing, prototyping and iterating based on feedback gained from continuous user research with the goal of offering an authentic, engaging, trusted, personable, and novel experience to capture users' interests from the initial interaction.
COMPELLING STORYTELLING
In pitching our product vision through various stages of the project, I further honed my storytelling skills by capturing the attention and interest of our audience through compelling oration, visual communication, and interactive presentation. I leveraged statistic and anecdotal evidence to tell a story relatable to many.
Team Profiles
Jelani R.
Design Strategy
M.S. Engineering Design Innovation
"Played college football at Northwestern University"
Neha K.
Product Strategy
M.S. Engineering Design Innovation
"Find me by the retro video games at local barcades."
Karen W.
Market Research
M.S. Integrated Marketing Communications
"I set the dance floor on fire with my salsa moves."
John W.
User Experience
M.S. Engineering Design Innovation
"I was stranded on a deserted island during a scuba diving accident."
Joanne T.
User Research
M.S. Engineering Design Innovation
"I like bouldering and rolling on the grass."
Amy P.
Content Strategy
M.S. Integrated Marketing Communications
"I'm a foodie and chef, trained in Paris."
Competitive Analysis
Among these features, we recognized a trend towards curation. However, the top dating apps were built around minimal information systems and are now struggling to dive into these aspects of curation. The only apps that do record enough personality information like OKCupid don’t make the question answering part extremely fun or engaging.
Unmet Needs
Design Principles
Engaging
With an interface that draws users in, they feel motivated through signing up, building profiles and going on in person dates.
Modern
Users end up on dating apps for the convenience it allows. Our UI matches the standard maintained by modern interfaces to be relevant to our target users.
Personable
The UI layout portrays every user profile distinctive from each other, allowing users to appear unique through their individual personality.
Trusted
We want users to feel safe in being romantically vulnerable knowing the profiles existing in the system are genuine of the person they represent.
Authentic
We empower profiles to show more depth through personality by showcasing more personal information that is not purely superficial.
Transparent
Our algorithm will provide the resulting profiles users request through their filters, goals and dating values. Users will be guided in curating their profiles to match the results they desire.
