TPG App Feature Survey

Context

The Points Guy, a leading expert on awards travel and maximizing credit card points earnings, was in the midst of an open beta for the TPG app and needed my help to better understand user behavior on the app, particularly around their “Award Explorer” feature.

The goal of the feature was to allow users to search and compare flights to spend their hard-earned points on. Though it was a core piece of their product roadmap, usage was much lower than what the business was expecting. At the same time, the product team also needed me to evaluate user desirability for a “trip goals” feature in conjunction with the existing search feature.

Methodology

To quickly address the product team’s concerns, I put together a small survey study using Surveymonkey. I knew that we had a very active user base who were happy to provide feedback, so I tapped into that audience with a few screening questions to ensure there was a balance between different demographic and behavioral metrics, such as frequency of app use, number of registered credit cards, and overall net worth. After 1 week, the survey resulted in over 1,100 responses.

The survey data clearly outlined an underlying issue in the product lifecycle: the lack of research to inform the “why” behind new features. Besides the confusing name of the “Award Explorer” feature, users didn’t have a strong desire or need to conduct award flight searches or create trip goals. There also was an overall lack of understanding how the TPG app was providing added value to a feature that can be found elsewhere.

Though the tone of the presentation itself was fairly negative, the product team was grateful to have an honest picture to better understand how users perceive these features and how to improve the overall app for future releases.