Video Chat
Helping daters feel comfortable and confident about going on real dates with people they met online.
My Role
Lead Product Designer
and Reseacher
Collaborated With
Frontend and Backend eng,
Product manager, UX writer
CX and Data Analytics
Duration
5 weeks
Product Type
Zero-to-one
New Feature
Mobile- iOS
How did we get to the solution?
The next step was to learn what the ideal dating experience could look like for people going on virtual dates. I led qualitative research interviews with 14 users to find more insights about what was missing from the experience and how we could improve virtual dating for them.
Shaping the solution though qualitative research insights
Identifying the solution through quantitative data
Based on a quantitative survey that over 20% of our monthly active users took, we learned people were going on virtual dates but lacked the means to do so through the app.
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INSIGHT 01
Safety and privacy are crucial aspects of virtual dating
Outside of CMB, women were uncomfortable sharing their personal contact details with strangers to set up virtual dates, because they didn't want to fall prey to scams or harassment.
INSIGHT 02
First dates are supposed to be low-stakes.
Virtual dates often dragged on and became uncomfortable because people didn't know how to end them politely.
INSIGHT 03
Assessing if there was chemistry was harder
It was harder to pick up on signals during virtual dates about the other’s interest in them.
The Solution
We created a virtual dating experience that was Secure, Low stakes, and Efficient.
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Our goal was to create a video chat that would help our daters with a 'vibe check'.
What is the problem?
Covid19 made going on in-person dates riskier. The Covid19 pandemic restricted people’s ability and willingness to go on dates with complete strangers.
The risks outweighed the benefits, so people became more picky about who they went on real dates with, to keep their covid pods small and safe.
How did we know it was a problem?
Socializing was discouraged during Covid19. People didn’t go out and our usage declined by 20% as a result. We interviewed daters to learn more about how they felt about finding love in time of Covid19.
While chats are important, they can't replace face-to-face interactions, which is ultimately how real connections are made.
How might we help people make an initial connection so they can decide who they'd like to go on real dates with?
How did we make video chat Secure?
Keeping contact information private
Keeping everything on the app would keep everyone's information anonymous, and prevent the need to exchange emails or phone numbers that could potentially lead to safety issues later.
Mutual consent from all involved parties
Strangers video calling you out of the blue (even if they have good intentions) can be an off-putting experience. It often gives some daters 'the ick' before they even get to know the other person.
Once messages are exchanged from both people in the chat, video chat is unlocked and introduced to the daters.
Daters have to match first. If they try to cold call their date, they're educated that to unlock video chat they must chat with their match first.
How did we make video chat Low Stakes?
Time box it, like speed dating
The goal of these virtual dates was not to replace in-person ones. It was to help daters decide who they felt a connection with and wanted to meet in person responsibly.
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By time-boxing video chat, we took away the awkwardness of never-ending calls. People wouldn't have to come up with excuses to move on with their day.
How did we make video chat Efficient?
Ghosting and guessing games are a waste of everyone's time, and can be emotionally draining. So letting someone know if you're not interested sooner is better for everyone.
A post-date check-in to see if there's interest
After the video call ends, we check-in with both daters to understand how their date went, and if they'd like to see each other again.
Signaling interest to your date
Assessing interest over virtual dates can be harder than in person. As part of post-date check-in, we ask daters if they want to continue seeing each other and we communicate if there's mutual interest.
Rolling out to all users
We started by launching this features in some of our key markets like New York and Hong Kong. After we saw adoption, we gradually rolled out Video Chat to 100% of of all our iOS users.