Deezer

Deezer, a French music streaming company founded in 2007, offers access to millions of tracks, albums, and playlists. Present in 180 countries with 11 million users, the app is expanding beyond being just a DSP (Digital Streaming Platform) to becoming an ESP (Experience Service Platform).

My team and I met with two Deezer team members, Victor Cartier and Tom Abourmand, who presented the challenges they were facing with their "Music Quiz" feature.

Launched in 2022, this feature allows users to challenge friends or test their music knowledge. Despite having a steady user base, it hasn't grown, and its visibility is declining, requiring an enhanced value proposition to attract new users. As a former user of Deezer, I was eager to dive back in, understand the issue, and rediscover how the app has evolved.

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My role

To design the best solution to the problem within the given time frame (two weeks), we covered each stage of the double diamond approach iteratively. I personally focused on user interviews during the testing phase and on prototyping our solution.

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The Results

We chose to implement targeted improvements to the overall experience of the feature, focusing on its competitive aspect between users to ensure engagement, retention, and the acquisition of new users.
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• 4 out of 4 test users found the gaming experience stimulating
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• 3 out of 4 test users expressed a desire to challenge a friend 

"It’s easy to play, quick and intuitive."

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[scroll to discover the process ↓]

Let's start with a open question:

How can we improve Deezer’s consideration and acquire new users?‍

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How do we know it’s a problem?

The Deezer team provided us with insights into how their users perceived the feature, as well as the pain points they encountered:

• Initial engagement but lacks retention
  The feature generates strong interest upon first use but fails to encourage users to return or think about playing regularly.

•  Not aligned with user intentions
  Generally, users open the app to listen to music, not to play games. The spontaneous use of the feature is hindered by the lack of mechanics that create challenge or fun, preventing it from tapping into its viral, competitive, and community potential.
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• Limited and irrelevant song selection
  ‍The blind test channel offers a limited and often irrelevant selection for users, even though they can play with any playlist in Deezer’s catalog, including their own playlists. Most users are unaware that they can create their own blind tests.

• Preference for solo over multiplayer
  In multiplayer contexts, users often prefer solo mode due to difficulties in the multiplayer experience and its current lack of added value

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How they play? [u.research]

We chose to interview potential users, whether they were connected to the music world (artists or fans) or regular users of gaming apps. We also had them test Deezer's feature to better understand their expectations, gaming behaviors, and to observe their reactions.

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We learnt

• [3 out of 4 ] Users seek competition with friends rather than strangers
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"I would invite my friends either through a personal message on an automated message.” Yasser

• [3 out of 4 ] Users would like to be able to play asynchronously

“If I send my buddy the invitation at 3pm, he won't be able to play. He'd have to do it at the most convenient time for him.” Greg

• [4 out of 4 ] Users find the game lacking in clarity (ranking, points system, opponent's position…)

“Didn't really understand the points system - I guess it has something to do with speed?” Yasser

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[Refinement of the problem]

How can we enhance Deezer's appeal by clarifying and stimulating the game experience, and boosting friendly competition to attract new users?‍

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Following user interviews, it became clear that to address Deezer's challenges, we needed to focus on improving several stages of the Music Quiz (before, during, and after the game).

The goal wasn’t to overhaul its functionality or design but to enhance the user experience. This approach would help meet Deezer's objectives of boosting social interaction, viral potential, and quality differentiation.

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How can we play differently?

We analyzed other applications to understand their user experience, differentiation, and the strategies they use to invite other players or the patterns driving their viral success. From there, we sketched a solution around three key themes using a mind map:

• Boosting the notion of competition 🕹️
• Make points and ranking displays easy to understand 👁
• Allow more asynchronous play ⏱️
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Optimizing and virality | Crazy8

With these insights in mind, we generated several ideas aligned with our goals and selected the following:

• Option 2 / Opponent positioning: Knowing their opponent's position motivates users to score points to win. This ensures a compelling gameplay experience, enhances virality, and strengthens the social aspect of the game
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• Option 3 / A wide range of rankings: At the end of the game, users can see not only their score but also various rankings (global, regional, etc.). This encourages them to improve by playing again if unsatisfied with their score, or to challenge others to climb the ranks (while knowing they can also be challenged).

We discarded Options 1 and 4 because they were either difficult to implement and test within the given timeframe or did not fully meet our objectives. However, we have not ruled them out entirely, as they could be considered for future improvements.

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Our v1

The ideas were refined and prototyped as follows:

• Incentive to challenge: We proposed more personalized invitations featuring humorous GIFs alongside the user's score to encourage the recipient to take on the challenge.
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• Improve gaming experience: While retaining the game's mechanics, we added the opponent's position during gameplay and provided feedback on their responses to enhance the overall experience.
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• Clearer rankings: The score screen was revamped to allow users to see which song earned them the most points, as well as their ranking across different categories.

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Testing

With version 1 ready, the only step left was to test it to ensure we were on the right track. We asked each interviewed user to start a game after being challenged by a friend. Our testing guide focused on three objectives:

• Understanding the score
• Encouraging replay and challenges
• Comprehending the asynchronous and challenge-based gaming experience

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We learnt
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• [4 out of 4] Users want to compare the number of points won or lost

"I'd like to see the points I gained on each song compared to Emilie.” Alexandre
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Solution⚡:  Improving score information with more details of the number of points scored.

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• [3 out of 4] Users understood that they would be playing asynchronously.

"It’s easy to play, quick, and intuitive."Maxime

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• [4 out of 4] Users are reluctant to accept the invitation and the score displayed is not easy to understand.

“Maybe I should understand Emilie's score before I do it, it's not very significant for me because I don't know whether 202 points is a lot or not.” Olisha

‍Solution⚡:  Review the invitation's appearance to ensures that the challenge will be met.

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• [3 out of 4] Users expressed a desire to challenge a friend.

"It’s easy to play, quick, and intuitive."Maxime

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• [4 out of 4] Users were frustrated to find that their ranking was only available after downloading the application.

“I'm thinking that by clicking on ranking. Maybe it'll compare me with more people who did the same blind test.” Maxime

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‍Solution⚡:  Simplify access to the ranking.

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Iteration to v2

Thanks to the feedback from the tests, we were able to make the necessary corrections and propose a v2.‍

You can try the final prototype here

Or just enjoy the show below ↓

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Final learnings

While we've been able to improve the gaming experience, there's still the problem of attracting and acquiring new players, which isn't easy to answer. At present, with competitors like Spotify, it's difficult for Deezer to assert its place as an ESP.

The Music Quizz is a good approach, but needs to evolve if it is to stand out from the crowd. The feature could evolve to include partnerships with influencers, artists, etc., offering live games to subscribers (e.g. Twitch / Instagram, Tiktok). The issues of virality and acquisition would thus be quickly addressed.

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