2010-2012: Candystand & PCHGames
Grew PCHGames user base by nearly 40% over a one year period
Increased user time on site by 150%
Lifted site ad revenue 10% day over day, with marketable content capable of 300% registration spikes
Led the full production lifecycle, hands on, from pitch to launch
PCHGames Minipath: simple insight, big impact
Initial concept & strategy docs / Wireframes, briefs, & analytics specs / Presentation deck & pitch / Task setup, daily Scrum / Revenue & traffic models / Subsequent reporting
Overview
In mid-2012, the team at Funtank set about defining new sub-product for PCHGames that would solve key issues with the property while building toward an exciting future strategy. After brief deliberation, we decided to develop a consecutive string of ad-supported instant-win games, all backed with PCH's well-known million-dollar prize offerings. The games would serve as both a direct opportunity for the current audience, as well as an acquisition pipeline.
To support the effort, we implemented an Agile development process. Because of the improvements to our workflow, we were able to manage scope and launch on time with clear follow-up work and no lost momentum, as well as effectively coordinate with development teams in Boston and Poland.
Project scope & results
Concept development began in March, with wires completed and work underway by the end of the month. The project comprised three small custom games built externally, three integrated instant win experiences built in-house, API support for new sweepstakes, marketing materials for new emails and promotions, a new series of designs, landing pages, and back-end flow; and a carefully-composed revenue and traffic model; all backed by a home-cooked, highly-specific event tracking package run through Google Analytics.
The Path launched in August.Traffic and revenue immediately exceeded expectations, lifting the site's daily revenue by >10% overnight. Highlights include 300% registration-rate boosts on certain promotions, and a new and successful transactional email program.
PCHGames Site Refresh: making good things awesome
Initial strategy & briefs / Scoping & resource definition / Wireframes / Project leadership & handoff
Overview
Redesigns are always risky from a UX/UI perspective. The biggest challenge with this redesign, however, was that we were working in parallel with the overhaul of multiple other properties in the PCH Online vertical. This meant our work required the collaboration and support of not only many internal departments, but also had to be parallelized with multiple other products and PCH’s core data team, as the entire Online department collapsed its user bases into a single sign-on methodology.
Project scope & results
Work on the redesign started in parallel with ongoing updates for the Minipath, with many of the initial flats and wires hitting the conference room projector as early as September, 2012. I left the company after all strategic, analytic, and design work had been completed, and the refresh launched in March, 2013.
Candystand Site Refresh: future-proofing a legacy
2010: while recovering from the advertising downturn of the second .com crash, the Candystand team reflected. We projected our growth potential as a classic casual game aggregator and determined that the standard model of “more games, more ads” didn’t -- and wouldn't -- scale effectively. The solution: rebuild Candystand without ads, focusing on speed, wayfinding, and cleanliness of design. We built a revenue model that showed a strong potential to pivot Candystand’s growth by converting our strongest users to a low monthly subscription, and then backing the paid product with targeted acquisition. Concepts were tabled, but the team's acquisition by Publishers Clearing House in 2011 breathed new life into the idea.
Project dates & scope
Briefs were written and planning began in August 2011. Back-end development and shopping for payment providers began in September, creative was finalized in November, and we went to QA in mid-January of 2012. All told, we redesigned and rebuilt every page on the site, as well as a robust control system to manage ad delivery and user accounts. At the end of January, the project was frozen, which was an enormous bummer.