By unbundling puzzle content from the core product, can a standalone puzzle app deliver revenue growth for TNL?
There is an audience of puzzlers who aren't willing to subscribe to the full Times News Limited (TNL) proposition but would pay for a puzzles-only product at a reduced price.
Validate whether unbundling puzzle content from the core product will generate customer revenue, with the logic of converting those who are not willing to pay for the full news app into subscribers.
There was a business assumption that offering a broader range of puzzles and games may be an opportunity to attract younger audiences; in-direct competitors that solely offered brain and memory training games were analysed, in addition to direct publishing competitors.
The primary goal was to understand motivations for engaging with puzzle content. I also wanted to investigate customer motivation behind subscribing to the complete Times product if predominantly only engaging with puzzle content. Five hundred customers completed the survey.
I interviewed ten 'Times mindset' prospects to gain qualitative insight into their behaviour playing puzzles. I also wanted to understand their desire for a dedicated paid puzzles app from The Times.
“Frankly I subscribe to get the puzzle section. If that were not available I would cancel. 'Rest of the paper is fine, but the puzzles seal the deal for me”
I wanted to test how prospective customers interacted with the app in their first session following generative research. So I mapped out a 'new user' flow to help inform wireframe solutions.
Though minimal from an information architecture perspective, I wanted to gauge participants' mental models and expectations when navigating through discovery tasks.
Participants were asked on a scale of 1 (very difficult) to 5 (very easy) where they'd rate their ability to navigate the app.
“I like the layout of the Crossword category screen and how it shows puzzles available by date...It would be good to have a way to only show the puzzles I like to play”
The original business challenge was to gauge the prospect's will to pay for a dedicated puzzles app from The Times. A small timeframe was set to get an MVP into stores to test consumer desire.
Engineers were in place to commence development, so I needed to hand over high-fidelity designs.
Store reviews provided varied feedback on usability, features and price points, giving helpful insight on where improvements could be made.
Great to have all the puzzles to save downloading and printing - better for the environment. Very well designed. Hope they add the Codeword too.
The app said it was free but as soon as I downloaded it said I had to pay a subscription, I wish it had said that before I’d downloaded it!
This is not free, it requires you to subscribe - there is a 7 day period during which you can cancel. I didn’t, I just deleted the app, waste of time.
Much better than using the puzzles within the Digital Times app. With this app you have historical puzzles as well as todays, plus you have Killer Sudoku, which is missing from the The Times Digital app.
It’s OK, but it is really annoying to have no simple way of changing to “note mode”. The button to switch to note mode should be on the same screen as the puzzle.
Clean, simple app and loads of challenging puzzles...However, the app keyboard is smaller than the system keyboard, and supremely annoying. Perhaps the worst part is completed puzzles don't show as completed!
Continue running subscription price and free trial A/B tests to find the optimal offer that helps retain customers. Then, depending on budget approval, continue customer research, design exploration, and testing to deliver an optimal product that provides revenue for the business.
