Redesigning An App's Information Architecture To Increase User Retention Rate

Sustainability | Mobile App

Orchestrated the redesign for minimal clicks, removed unnecessary content, and added visual progress indicators, boosting user retention from 46% to 50%.

Three iPhone screens with images of the Earth Hero app screens

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Earth Hero is an eco-conscious mobile app that empowers users to take climate action through personalized goals, emissions tracking, and sustainable lifestyle tips. As the UX Strategist, I led cross-functional collaboration with designers, researchers, and content writers to improve user retention and engagement. Our focus was on optimizing the app’s information architecture and navigation to create a more intuitive and task-completable experience for users.

PROBLEM SUMMARY

What was the issue with the app?

A redesign of Earth Hero’s primary navigation and overall information architecture was necessary to streamline task flows and reduce friction points in the user journey. A UI audit and user testing identified key usability issues, such as frequent task abandonment and high drop-off rates, despite the app achieving a six-week retention rate of 46%, significantly outperforming the lifestyle app industry average of 10%. While retention metrics were strong, the goal was to optimize the experience further by eliminating pain points and creating a more intuitive, task-completable interface.

SOLUTION SUMMARY

What changes were made to the pain points that caused the 46% retention rate?

Based on the research, I restructured the app to eliminate 2 pain points around the "My Actions" tab; location of the tab and usage of its features. To eliminate these pain points, the following changes were made:

1) Location of the tab: User testing revealed that the "My Actions" tab, previously nested within the "My Emissions" page, was overlooked due to poor visibility. To enhance discoverability and create a more intuitive experience, we repositioned it alongside the "Browse Actions" tab—grouping both action-based features in a single, easily accessible location that aligned with user expectations.

The before and after image of the placement changes made to the "My Actions" tab

2) Usage of the features: Leveraging UX best practices, particularly visual hierarchy, we redesigned the UI and navigation flow within the "My Actions" tab to guide users through tasks step by step. These changes improved comprehension and made it easier for users to follow through and complete individual climate actions with greater confidence.

The before and after image of the UI changes made to the "My Actions" tab

PROBLEM BREAKDOWN

Analysis of Pain Points

Through previous user testing and feedback done by the researcher, it was understood that users were experiencing confusion when beginning a task due to navigational flows and elements that did not correlate with their assumptions and expectations. By collaborating with the researcher and designer who conducted a UI audit, I began to analyze the pain points on each of the main navigation pages on Earth Hero.

Existing Design

WHAT HAS THE ANALYSIS OF THE PROBLEM BREAKDOWN TELLING ME?

Project Scope

Based on the current pain points on the app, the project scope was established as the following: ' To restructure the main navigation tabs and pages within the Earth Hero Mobile application to ensure an intuitive user flow and corresponds with UI standard mental models '

WHAT FEATURES DOES THE APP NEED TO OVERCOME THE PAIN POINTS?

User Stories

I then created user stories using the pain points to establish what features are needed from the user's perspective. Once the user stories were validated by the researcher, I created user flows for each user story to be sent over to the designer. The designer used the user flows to redesign each screen with its needed feature.

User Story:
I want a concise landing page so I can explore all parts of the app and be easily directed to selected areas.

User Story:
I want to see how my actions are helping my emission target, so that I can continue to be motivated.

Sub - User Story:
I want to know where I can update app-related settings and account settings quickly so that it doesn't take me long to make changes.

Sub - User Story:
As a user browsing actions to add, I want to store/save actions that are not in progress to keep track of future actions that interest me.

Sub - User Story:
I want to see if I have been increasing or decreasing my pollution, so that I can better understand the results of my actions.

Sub - User Story:
Viewing my action list, I want to view my actions in progress so that I can remain motivated to continue taking action against climate change.

HOW WILL THE NEW FEATURES AND FIXED PAIN POINTS BE ACCESSED BY USERS ON THE APP?

New Site Map

Based on the user pain points identified and the User Stories created, I created a new Site Map to showcase the different screens and user actions that will be prioritized and redesigned for this project. The client wanted the team and I to focus solemnly on the main navigation pages: Homepage, Action, and My Emission, which made the profile section 'out of scope'. Since the current Site Map had the users confused with the "My Actions" tab under the My Emissions page, it caused users to leave the app. To fix this issue, we moved the "My Actions" tab beside "Browse Actions" under the Actions page. The new site map was shared with the design team to guide their designs.

THE SOLUTION

Final Designs

After the content writer reviewed the content on each designed screen, the following final designs were implemented using the new site map and user flows for Earth Hero's redesign of their navigation bar's Information Architecture.

Images of the redesigned screens on the Earth Hero mobile app

WRAPPING UP

Future Roadmap for Earth Hero

The designs and documents were handed off to Earth Hero's internal team to conduct and publish the redesign of the mobile app's Information Architecture. Success of this redesign was established by the increase in user retention which went from 46% to 50%, as it meant that there was an increase in the average number of actions achieved per user.

Learnings

Some of the insights the research team had collected, was previously considered by the internal Earth Hero team but hadn't been incorporated due to reasons such as budgets and constraints
The importance of conducting intra-team meetings was a valuable learning for me as it helped shape the road map for our project and assisted in our async work, which allowed us to provide a hand-off document that was well appreciated by the client