Noom
2022 – 2023
Noom uses behavioral science to help people lose weight and live healthier lives. I led the design of several improvements to the survey that guides new visitors toward signing up.
My Contributions
Research
Leading ideation
Prototyping
Interaction design
Visual design
Ideation
Noom's research team had previously identified ways in which incoming visitors were skeptical about Noom. For example, many people didn't think Noom would fit into their busy schedules.
I led several remote ideation sessions for the team to explore problems like this, and to propose a wide range of solutions.
Partial output from a remote brainstorming workshop I led
To suggest other potential product improvements, I drew upon psychological principles, like cognitive load.
Incoming Noom visitors are forced into a lengthy survey about demographics, diet, and physiology. By focusing on reducing cognitive load, we spotted ways to remove some survey questions and make others easier to answer.
Design Changes
We designed and built several changes. Some were evaluated qualitatively through platforms like UserTesting.com; all were eventually put through A/B testing.
One successful change: adding supportive copy to certain sensitive survey questions. Many people arrive at the site feeling self-conscious about their weight. More people finished the survey when we used a friendlier tone of voice.
Original:
Weight is a sensitive topic for many incoming users, but the tone here is cold & clinical.
Our update:
We rewrote this page to show empathy for our new users, and to praise them for responding.
Elsewhere in the survey, we explained to visitors why we were asking certain questions that seemed unrelated to weight loss. Once people understood the rationale, they were more likely to answer our questions.
Original:
People didn't understand why this question was relevant to weight loss.
Our update:
Even a small clarification helped people feel more comfortable with this question.
The survey is rather long, and many people drop out before finishing. We explored ways to make the survey feel faster without changing the content.
Original:
The progress bar reflects only a tiny amount of progress for each question.
Our test:
I prototyped this progress bar that jumps farther with each response.
Outcomes
Several small improvements added up to drive a 5% increase in the number of new visitors who signed up for Noom. They also increased the estimated lifetime value of those new customers by 6%.
I'm proud to have impacted Noom's product design practice as well, introducing new ideas and strengthening existing processes.