StubHub Mobile App

StubHub is a platform used to buy and sell sports tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets, and Broadway tickets.

I conducted user interviews of StubHub’s native app and uncovered opportunities for improvement in readability/scan-ability when searching for specific events.

Objective

Identify the pain points of StubHub’s current native app:

Test parameters

• What: StubHub’s native app

• Who: Any user with a mobile device

• Where: Screen passersby at a coffeeshop (SF Bay Area)

Test tasks

1. Find tickets to a Golden State Warriors game

2. View Home Games

3. State priorities when looking to buy event tickets (price, date, etc.)

4. Based on aforementioned priorities, find and select game to attend

Tasks were determined based on essential needs of a buyer using a ticket selling app. The tasks were phrased as open-ended scenarios to avoid leading the user to solve their problem in a predetermined way.

Process

Review notes → Identify usability challenges → Prioritize opportunities for improvement:

Findings

"It’s a lot of text.”

Information architecture

Users expect to find information to help them decide which event to go to quickly and easily.

Based on my findings during user research, users had no problem navigating from search to the Golden State Warriors’ landing page. From there, the current “Home games” screen provided all the most pertinent information needed for a user to select a game to attend. However, a lot of information was presented all at once. With the amount of information more traditionally found on a desktop screen squeezed onto a smaller mobile screen, it was inefficient to parse through all the provided info. Users would rather use StubHub’s desktop website or even a different website to gather the details about price, promotional offers, dates, etc. As a result, user retention became an issue and there was a greater opportunity for users to leave and purchase from other platforms.

Because users are often in a rush to buy tickets or check prices, good information architecture is key to help structure and make sense of a lot of information presented at once.

A Design Suggestion

The idea behind this redesign was to create a more scan-able interface that would provide users with the information they need to quickly sort through and make a purchase efficiently. According to the users interviewed, the most important considerations when buying tickets from StubHub are:

1. Date

2. Opposing team

3. Price

Promo offer (e.g., collectable item) was a close fourth.

Based on these findings, here are potential solutions:

1. Establish more visual hierarchy

Give users information at a glance by adding color, formatting text, and categorizing information by relevancy.

2. More visuals, less text

While there may be copyright issues in using official team logos, this alternative redesign would create the ideal interface. Users, both new and pro alike, can easily identify opposing teams and quickly recognize the one they’re searching for.

Next steps

In terms of where to go from here, it would be nice to know if there are major developer constraints in these designs. It would also be nice to test these designs further to understand any other considerations when users decide to purchase tickets from StubHub. In addition, while these designs are catered towards a fast paced environment, it would be interesting to learn how users use the app differently when they’re just browsing casually. This will further reveal main features and functions and ways in which they can be improved for a better user experience.

As a UX Designer, it’s important for me to understand how users use their products and creatively think about ways to make their beginning-to-end journey as seamless as possible. But as always, my goal is to do this in a way that would best satisfy user needs and meet business goals. It would be interesting to explore how business constraints would alter my redesign. Until then, thanks for joining me on this project.

*I’m not affiliated with StubHub in any way, but I enjoyed learning more about the platform and exploring how I might make it better. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this concept!