BlockerX App
BlockerX is an adult content blocker app that also blocks gambling, gaming, dating and limits social media apps. It helps users to improve their productivity, focus, and relationships by removing their dependency on digital content.
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Problem Statements
Problem #1
Low engagement in the community forum
In this domain of "Porn Addiction", a strong community is crucial. Porn addiction communities follow the same principles as alcohol addiction groups, where interaction with others struggling with the same problem is crucial.
An average post in the community forum was getting an average of 10 likes and 3 comments. Not enough users were interacting in the community.
Research
Since large online forums are already well-established, the best approach was to look at the top websites and apps that also had forums with an active userbase.
The app that executed this the best was Reddit.
One standout feature that Reddit provided was allowing page admins to pin any post to the top of the page feed.
This meant that every time a user saw the page, the pinned post would always be visible at the top.
The pinned post always had the most most engagement.
Solution
Using the best practices and proven methods from pre-existing community forums, I implemented a pinned post feature in our app's forum. The pinned post was highlighted with an orange border. It also had additional text at the top of the post stating "Pinned by BlockerX". Posts from random users and also posts from BlockerX's official account would be pinned on a three-day rotation to keep the feed fresh.
Result
The pinned posts saw an average of 20x engagement as compared to normal posts. Users started having conversations in the pinned post's comments.
Problem #2
Drop-off during onboarding
The app requires users to give accessibility permissions so that it can accurately block adult content. This permission is asked from the user during the onboarding flow so that the app can start blocking immediately. However we saw a huge drop-off in this step of the flow, which meant that less users were entering the app and using it. Users were not clicking on the "Go to settings" button, and almost half of those who did click on it didn't give the required accessibility permissions to our app.
Research
Firstly, I researched the best practices used when asking users for system permissions.
These were available on Quora and Google's forum.
Then I looked at Google's own policies where they provide guidelines and correct practices.
I discussed with the developers about scope of showing custom UI overlays in the Android system settings.
Solution
I designed the permissions screen to be more friendly and adhere to the guidelines provided by Google. The instructions guide that was previously a video was converted to a looped gif.
I added an instructions overlay over on the accessibility permissions screen to recap the steps before the user proceeds to complete the flow.
Result
Step 1 saw a reduction in drop off by 43%. Step 2 saw a reduction in drop-off by 39%