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Adding a Message Scheduling Feature to WhatsApp
WhatsApp is a platform that is continually evolving to meet users' needs. My research for this project focused on messaging and communication, and I attempted to identify how I could improve this space. I interviewed frequent WhatsApp users to implement a new feature that might improve the overall experience.
My Role
UX/UI Designer
Timeline
80 Hours
Research
Kicking it off
WhatsApp is one of the world's most popular messaging applications, having surpassed 2 billion worldwide users. While its user base continues to grow, WhatsApp lacks features that some of its competitors offer.
What are WhatsApp competitors offering?
Understanding the problem
User Interviews
My goal was to improve the user's experience. As part of the process, I spoke directly with some frequent WhatsApp users about how they communicated through the platform. After conducting some user interviews, I found that most users struggle to communicate promptly owing to their busy schedules. Many users also struggle to remember important tasks or events.
Research
There's more to it than just scheduling
The instant gratification of texting can be great, but sometimes users may want to wait until an appropriate time to send a message. So it occurred to me that an integrated messaging schedule feature could allow users to easily keep up with their chat replies and establish the most convenient time for them to text back or start a conversation, because not every text message needs to be sent the moment you write it.
As I spoke with users about the issues they face when using WhatsApp, I found that they needed a way to schedule a message at their most convenient time. The interviews also uncovered another issue that gave me a second possible feature idea.
Note to Self
That is when the note to self feature comes in. When I asked participants how they remember tasks, events, and important things or dates, a pattern was uncovered and the most common way of doing so was to have a chat on whatsapp with themselves in which they type and send whatever they need to remember or have handy. To do so, users create a chat group with another contact and take them out immediately after so the only person left in the chat would be them.
That process would look like this:
Apart from being time-consuming, the problem with this "hack" is that users would have their "group chat" go to the bottom of their chats as they start to get messages from their contacts. Making it hard to find and keep at the top of their chats.
User
Ideation
User Persona
I learned a lot from conducting user interviews, including how people use the platform to communicate with others and the frustrations along the way. The next step was to create a persona to represent a WhatsApp user who highly values maintaining communication with others. I used Kev Vaugh as an example of my target user.
Ideation
Looking at the scenario
During this process, I tried to imagine what Kev might face in real life when communicating with others through WhatsApp. I drew a storyboard to illustrate this concept, identify at which stage the issue arises and how the message scheduling feature would solve it.
During this process, I tried to imagine what Kev might face in real life when communicating with others through WhatsApp. I drew a storyboard to illustrate this concept, identify at which stage the issue arises and how the message scheduling feature would solve it.
Is it better for users to interact with the scheduling feature/message within the chat or in a separate area of the app?
During a feature comparison I conducted, I noted that most messaging apps had the message scheduling feature inside the chat, which effectively avoided unnecessary extra steps. Still, I also had to keep in mind that during interviews users expressed concern about forgetting that they had scheduled a message.
By housing the message scheduling feature in a separate area while including the option to show the schedule icon next to the person's chats, the feature would remain accessible without causing visual clutter and adding unnecessary steps.
Click on photo to expand
Once I had a complete understanding of the target user and the frustrations they experienced, I was ready to brainstorm some ideas. By sketching, I quickly identified and mapped out issues related to the message schedule feature creation. Beginning with some How might we questions to get me started:
Design
Building the solution
Based on my research, I began by considering some design questions:
Design
How might we enable users to schedule a message?
How might we help users remember they have a scheduled message?
How might we let users edit, delete or reschedule a message?
UserFlow
Once I had a solution in mind, my next step was to map out the user flow. This allowed me to visualize the steps users would take when using the feature.
Designing the features
Having now an idea of how the message scheduling feature would fit into the existing app, I turned to my sketches to design hi-fi wireframes. I decided to also develop the "Note to self" feature as an extra.
Message Scheduling Feature
Note to Self Feature
Message Scheduling Feature
1/2
The Message Scheduling Feature
Breakdown
A common worry among users regarding the message scheduling feature was forgetting that they had scheduled a message. To help with that and make the user experience as seamless as possible I came up with the following solution:
Validation
With the screens designed, I proceeded to test the features. I was interested in knowing whether the message scheduling and the "note to self" processes were intuitive and easy to use and what the users' overall impression of both of them was. I developed a Figma prototype for this test.
Scheduling a text
Creating a note to self
Testing it out
Validation
Usability Tests Findings
The message scheduling and note to self features received positive feedback overall, along with good reactions in terms of being intuitive and seamless. All participants understood what they were and how to use them. Some participants suggested that maybe an introduction of the features would be helpful to let users know of new features in the app and clarify their purpose, as well as a way to view all scheduled messages.
What's next?
The overall experience was positive, but some areas for improvement include:
Final Thoughts
To create a solution that I felt was useful to WhatsApp users, I needed to approach the problem with a genuine interest in their habits, values, and frustrations. This project also led me to learn more about the reasons behind some apps' design decisions. Overall, I believe my research and user testing validated my initial assumption that a message scheduling feature is helpful for WhatsApp users who struggle with busy schedules, forgetfulness, or prompt replies.
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