Eventbrite Internship

Eventbrite

Marketing Planner

SummaryI interned on the Boost team as a product designer. To address a key challenge, Boost, a marketing solution that amalgamates Eventbrite's marketing features with ToneDen's paid advertising capabilities, needed to enhance user engagement, and diminish churn rates. The existing marketing tools within Boost operated in isolation, separate from the core ticketing strategy, causing confusion for creators who associated marketing exclusively with their forthcoming events.

To solve the problem, we devised a comprehensive planner and marketing calendar. This tool offers creators a unified perspective of marketing capabilities, offering guidance on recommended actions and heightened awareness of timing and scheduling for marketing activities. Moreover, the planner aimed to expand the number of creators utilizing at least one marketing tool, ultimately elevating the lifetime value of creators who subscribe to Boost services.

RoleUX & UI Design
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Team1 Project Manager
3 UX Designers
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TimelineSummer 2023 (19 Weeks)
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ToolsQuip, Figma, FigJam, UserTesting

ProblemEnhance the utilization of Boost's marketing tools, reduce churn rates, and establish a cohesive centralpoint for tool recommendations.
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GoalMotivate creators to engage with a minimum of one marketing tool and lay the groundwork for the future integration of additional tools.
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HypothesisBy offering a centralized hub for marketing tools, we aim to incentivize more creators to experiment with at least one tool, recognize the value of subscription, and potentially explore additional tools down the road.

Modeling Phase 1

Early Concept Testing

Following the development of initial concepts, we proceeded with usability testing to gain deeper insights into creators' perceptions of the marketing calendar concept.

During the testing phase, participants viewed the marketing calendar as a valuable scheduling tool that effectively guides the execution of their overall marketing activities. They also expressed a strong desire for a solution like a marketing calendar to streamline their marketing approach, as they currently rely on multiple spreadsheets and tools to manage their marketing plans.

Upon reviewing the filled calendar page, participants understood the functionality and purpose of the marketing calendar and were excited about the tool.

Calendar Test Plan

Concept 1: “Empty State”
After the presentation of this screen, we posed the following questions:
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1. What are your general impressions of the "Marketing Calendar" concept?

2. How would you articulate the intended use of a Marketing Calendar?
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3. Who do you believe would benefit from utilizing the Boost Marketing Calendar?
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4. How easily did you grasp the description of the Boost Marketing Calendar?

5. Based on the provided information, how inclined are you to explore the Boost Marketing Calendar?

Concept 2: “Filled State”
After displaying this screen, we asked the following questions:

1. Please provide your interpretation of the content depicted on the calendar using your own words.

2. What types of tasks do you anticipate being able to perform using a Marketing Calendar such as this?

3. Rate the ease or difficulty you experience in understanding the purpose and operation of the Marketing Calendar.

4. In your opinion, how valuable is it to have a tool like a Marketing Calendar at your disposal?

Results

Overall, participants understood the concept of a marketing calendar and recognized the value of using one

Macro and Micro Themes

2 out of 8 Participants
perceived a marketing calendar on a micro level, categorizing it as a "scheduling tool."

6 out of 8 Participants
viewed a marketing calendar more expansively, considering it as a strategic planning tool for outlining and implementing their marketing strategy.

Phase 2

Shifting the Focus to Tool Utilization

Based on our initial research findings, we decided to shift the focus of our marketing calendar to a marketing planner. This new focus would allow creators to receive personalized recommendations, provide a centralized location for tools, and learn more about the tools that we offer.

Smart Recommendations
Providing smart recommendations based on popular tools this planner gave us the ability to drive tool usage across platform.

Event Focused Marketing
Following our initial explorations, we decided to incorporate event filtering to focus marketing efforts on specific events.

Wireframe Explorations

Developing Structure

Communication with engineers early help everyone understand each other’s needs and create a better foundation for the planner.

Considering Size Constraints

Limiting the scope of the MVP planner was important step of the planning process – what features would have the largest impact for this first iteration.

Exploring Function

While we explored this MVP design we also wanted to explore future Northstar designs to guide future iterations and development.

Additional Planning

Working with product marketing and product analysts, we worked as a team to define rules for recommendations and marketing tips.

When to recommend email campaigns.
Defining how early to share tips.
Connecting other marketing tools through the planner surface area.

Utilizing Prototypes

With a few prototypes we were able to get quick feedback from cross platform teams.

Approach 1: Dashboard Tool

This approach clearly emerged as the leading choice for the MVP function. By integrating the planner into the dashboard, we established a centralized hub for tools, which also served as a starting point for laying the groundwork for future planner enhancements.

Approach 2: Top Modal Dropdown

A widget style approach is something still being considered and could help unify other parts of the creator platform.

Approach 3: Nested Calendar View

The nested calendar view added clutter to the existing event calendar and failed to deliver a unified user experience. If we were to merge the calendars in the future, we would need a more comprehensive approach to address this issue.

Outcomes 🏁

On average 12.8% of content creators engage with email recommendations, resulting in increased utilization of the tools overall.

Around 1.9% of creators engaged with academy tips, resulting in an improved understanding of marketing tools.

The planner not only effectively guided creators to other marketing tools, but also established the foundation for consolidating future tools.

Learnings

Early collaboration with cross-functional partners, particularly with engineers, provided valuable insights into design collaboration at Eventbrite. These initial conversations helped me understand brand usage constraints and gain insights into our team's future product vision.

Consider the larger product and ecosystem
I learned to step back and think about my feature in relation to Eventbrite’s ecosystem of products and services as a whole.

Huge thank you to my team for many learning opportunities!