TASK DETAILS

Circa 2017

Background: With over 40 million users worldwide, Any.do is one of the top productivity tools in the world. I lead the design there between 2016 and 2019.

Any.do has a relatively good retention rate, but it can always get better, especially on day 1. Following a usability research, we tried to address several issues that rose, particularly regarding hidden features that new & existing users missed out.

WHAT DID WE TRY TO SOLVE?

THE CHALLANGE

Increase retention on day 1 and onwards.

Increase the usage of important productivity tools the app offers and users missed out.

Increase the usage of reminders by simplifying the way to add them.

MY ROLE

End to end design: research, wire-framing, design, prototyping, and usability. Yep, all of it.

Platform: iOS, Android & Web

TL;DR

Improvement on day 1 retention, but weeks 5-6 remained the same.

Usage of reminders increased dramatically by 150%.

Usage of subtasks and notes increased significantly by 66%.

Background: Any.do’s well known minimalistic approach was a double-edged sword:
On one hand, some users enjoyed the app’s ability not to bombard the user with all the things it can do. On the other hand, as we saw in our usability tests, some users found the app’s minimalistic approach confusing and had trouble getting to the features they looked for. There was a need to find a good balance between them.

This expanded menu for tasks went along Any.do since the app’s inception - It maintained the app’s minimalistic approach, perhaps too minimalistic.

In our usability tests, users had no trouble finding the reminder button but struggled to find how to add subtasks or add notes (it was hidden inside the attachment screen).
So one icon needed no explanation, but the rest needed to be explored, and not a lot of users had the patience to do this.

Furthermore, each of the icons was a step to a dedicated full screen. For example: If someone needed to change his alarm, he had to tap on a task, tap on the reminder icon, and then change it in a whole different screen with more options and abilities.

This expanded menu for tasks went along Any.do since the app’s inception - It maintained the app’s minimalistic approach, perhaps too minimalistic.

In our usability tests, users had no trouble finding the reminder button but struggled to find how to add subtasks or add notes (it was hidden inside the attachment screen).

So one icon needed no explanation, but the rest needed to be explored, and not a lot of users had the patience to do this.

Furthermore, each of the icons was a step to a dedicated full screen. For example: If someone needed to change his alarm, he had to tap on a task, tap on the reminder icon, and then change it in a whole different screen with more options and abilities.

Research

The current layout presented 5 icons, all in the same flat hierarchy. Data showed that the reminder icon was one most used tool followed by the edit, move, subtasks, share, and notes. These patterns also appear in our usability testings.

Obviously, usage alone doesn’t tell the whole story. Further data and testings showed user churn in the reminder, subtasks, and attachments screens, as users were confused or underwhelmed by the functionality they encountered in each screen.

This layout started to feel good in terms of placing the elements, but it has some strong defects:

1. Wasn’t touch intuitive, with the main exit points at the top.
2. It ate a whole screen & didn’t feel fluid enough when jumping between tasks.
3. Reminder button lead to some options that were not relevant to most users.

The usage of an action sheet for this interaction just felt right. Usability testings proved we had a good gut feeling. Data showed an increase in subtasks & notes that were added. In the reminders department, there was room for improvement.

The purpose of the reminders toggle state was strategic: to expose users to the app’s premium features such as advanced recurring reminders and location-based reminders.
While users didn’t have trouble understanding the interface, they did complain about the process taking too much effort, as most of them just used “tomorrow” or set up a custom time and date.

The purpose of the reminders toggle state was strategic: to expose users to the app’s premium features such as advanced recurring reminders and location-based reminders.

While users didn’t have trouble understanding the interface, they did complain about the process taking too much effort, as most of them just used “tomorrow” or set up a custom time and date.

Simplifying the reminder dialog dramatically increased the number of reminders added from the data perspective. In our usability testings, users appreciated the new interface claiming it’s the fastest way they saw to add a reminder to a task.

I’m sure this isn’t the final iteration, it can be better.