MakeYourMaps

MakeYourMaps is a local guide app that allows users to view maps, discover local attractions and businesses, and determine routes, as well as to contribute to the app by reviewing or commenting on places of interest.

Year
2024

Type
Mobile App

Background

MakeYourMaps is a local guide app that allows users to view maps, discover local attractions and businesses, and determine routes, as well as to contribute to the app by reviewing or commenting on places of interest.

MakeYourMaps enables users to become contributors or local guides by allowing them to review/comment on places of interest. Together, these make up a global community of users who post reviews and photos, answer questions, add or update places, and monitor information flow on MakeYourMaps. Millions of people rely on their contributions to help them decide where to go and what to do.

The Data

The audience I targeted for my research are professionals with the money and time to travel frequently outside of their local areas.

Interviews and Surveys were conducted and revealed:

  • 90% of respondents use their local guide app before and during travel.

  • 75% of survey respondents expressed that they have to leave the app to research the places of interest.

  • 75% of the survey respondents stated they are more confident in reviews when they can see who reviewed it.

Respondents want:

  • The app to recommend certain places based on their location

  • A page to see the highest ranked places based on their location

  • To see verified users reviewing these places to gain trust

  • Ability to become verified based on the amount of reviews users leave

  • A voice to text function when searching locations

Persona

Problem Statement:

Users are having issues finding new and trustworthy places within the app when they are traveling. As a result, these users are having to look at the map for places then they leave the app to find the exact details and trusted reviews on that place.

  • Users are not able to easily find new places based on their location.

  • There is a mistrust of reviews when user see ratings within the app.

  • Users are finding the information they need from another source

Hypothesis:

Current Problems:

Adding a feature that recommends places based on a user's location will help users effortlessly discover top-rated spots in new areas, reduce their effort, and encourage them to stay engaged with the app.

Assumptions:

  1. Users Value Trustworthiness: Users prioritize finding trustworthy reviews and accurate details about places when traveling, which influences their decision to leave the app.

  2. Geolocation Functionality: Users' travel-related searches and needs can be effectively managed through accurate geolocation and mapping features within the app.

  3. User Engagement: Users are likely to stay engaged with the app if it provides seamless access to detailed and trustworthy information about places.

Risks:

  1. User Experience: Users might find the new features complex or difficult to navigate, which could lead to decreased engagement or frustration.

  2. Privacy Concerns: Enhanced location-based features might raise privacy concerns among users, potentially impacting their willingness to use the app or share location data.

  3. Market Adoption: Users might not adopt or value the new features as expected, leading to lower than anticipated engagement and potentially insufficient ROI on the development efforts.

Mind Mapping & Collaboration

Solution & Requirements

Product Goal:

Develop a recommendation feature where users get recommendations of places based on their location.

Functionality:

The main functionality of this feature will be to have a separate page within the app that is dedicated to recommending places based on the user's location that will recommend the highest rated places within that location.

Requirements (MoSCoW):

Solution: Recommendation Feature

Requirement 1: Set page for recommendations based on location (Must Have)

Requirement 2: 2: Recommendation page has search function where users can search types of places (Should Have)

Requirement 3: Algorithm suggests placed based on users reviews and places visited (Should Have)

Requirement 4: Send notifications to users that suggest places (Should Have)

Requirement 5: Create a saved page where users can save the recommended places for later (Could Have)

LoFi Mock Ups

Objectives & Key Results

Objective 1: Increased traffic on recommendation page

KR1: Achieve 50% of existing users visiting the recommendation page within the first quarter post launch.

KR2: 10% increase in survey results for recommendation page when asked, what are the best features of your preferred local guide app.

Objective 2: Increased reviews from users using the recommendation page

KR1: 25% increase in user reviews when attending recommended locations.

KR2: 5% increase in business partners(ie. locations) wanting to be advertised on the recommendation page.

Objective 1: KPI’s for Increased Traffic on recommendation page

  1. Frequency of users visiting the recommendation page

  2. Positive feedback

  3. Retention Rate - How many users are coming back to the recommendation page

Objective 2: KPI’s for Increased reviews from users using the recommendation page

  1. Number of users reviewing locations listed in the recommendation page

  2. Number of business partners paying for advertising

Future Steps

  1. Address any post launch issues

  2. Refine the roadmap

  3. Optimize sales and marketing efforts

  4. Monitor competitive landscape

  5. Enhance any user experience complaints

Summary

After using product management strategies and methodically, I am confident in the value added to MakeYourMaps by the features that my team devised and prioritized. We found that the key user base of frequent travelers leave the app and rely on other apps to do research for travel and gain trustworthy insights. To achieve the goal of increasing the user base and dominating the local guide app space, MakeYourMaps needs to be an app that users can rely on both before and during travel for all of their planning needs. The “Recommendation Page” feature will achieve this goal by allowing users to easily find exciting places when traveling.

Nexts steps will include validating the feature by conducting user research to determine the success of the new feature. In addition, we will be constantly looking to adapt the features within the app to meet user needs as well as drive business goals.