Traillink

Traillink is the digital product arm for the non-profit organisation Rails to Trails Conservancy, based in the US. The app and website are designed to help people find local trails, that include converted abandoned train lines, for all sorts of activities: from walking, running and biking, to snowmobiling, horseriding, ATVs and more. It had been over a decade since the user journeys had been looked at or updated in any significant way – I was brought in as a hands on product manager and UX designer to bring TrailLink’s customer experience up to the present.

THE CONTEXT & OBJECTIVES

TrailLink’s user experience needed a long overdue update to better address their current user base’s needs and to more ably compete with the likes of All Trails. They also needed to stop the hemoraging of users from their paid, premium subscription tier by getting to the bottom of why people were not renewing.

I was brought in to assess the user feedback and data they had to put together short term and long term feature improvements and additions from a product strategy and UX perspective. The main focus was on their more popular app platform as they were planning on releasing a new, replatformed version in the spring, but I was also asked to ensure the website got some love by making features and flows more consistent between platforms.

OBJECTIVES

Assess the current state of the app and website via heuristics for UX issues and areas that urgently needed updating, specifically around trail search, registration, and save trails
Rationalise app reviews, NPS data and analytical data to prioritise feature-related user issues to address
Advise and inform the team on additional user insights needed needed to be acquired to bolster the data above
Analyse user data and verbatim specifically around areas to improve paid subscription renewal
Do an extensive competitor analysis and compare to TrailLink’s USPs to help direct product strategy
Update antiquated flows according to UX best practice
Optimise registration, login and account areas with current features and propose a longer term future vision that could accommodate features the team has long wanted to implement across web and app

THE SET UP

My role: Hands-On Product Manager & UX Designer
Company: TrailLink
Main Team: Myself, CTO of TrailLink, CPO, social media coordinator, content managers, UI designer, tech reps from their development partners

For this project, I worked closely with the CTO of TrailLink, whom I had worked with before 12 years prior. Collaboration with the tech team was limited due to the relationship set up with TrailLink, interaction with the UI designer was sporadic – mostly my updating him on the direction of the new journeys.

THE OLD TRAILLINK APP

PRODUCT & UX RELATED ISSUES

UX and interface had not been updated for over a decade and needed a refresh overall
Users were confused where to find content they interacted with or used most (e.g. fav trails, offline maps)
Some features, especially in the paid subscription tier, were not known about or not very intuitive to access
Searching for relevant trails was cumbersome to other apps
User frustration at the lack of information on nearby related trails (e.g. connecting trails to do a long bike ride), where the trail heads were, or local amenities
The mix of TrailLink and Rails to Trails content in the product was causing user confusion and would often lead the user out of the product with no easy way to get back to TrailLink

THE PROCESS

Heuristic and data analysis

Assessing iOS and Android app reviews to pull out common themes of frustration and suggestions.
Reviewing the NPS and previous survey data to pull out similar themes for the web site.
Surveying current users to drill down into the more common themes for more detail, including open questions to obtain specific qual feedback.
Analysing the heuristics of the core journeys and major feature journeys mentioned by users as being problematic. Uncovering larger issues around main app navigation, search and map functionality to be addressed and future-proofed.
For paid subscribers, users wanted to know where to find those premium features and for those features to be obvious they were part of the paid subscription (vs free). A combination of signposting and improved wayfinding.
The two largest issues, that weren’t specifically related to paid subscriptions yet influenced subscription uptake, were search & map functionality. Users wanted more sophisticated, customisable and relevant search results and more detailed map features to support those search journeys. This is where we started.

Product roadmap building

Collating the top UX issues and aligning them with the main business priorities, specifically issues that directly affected revenue via their subscription tiers.
Creating a MoSCOW map of features and outcomes and collaborating with the team and their tech partners to further refine and prioritise by tech feasibility and sequencing.

Solving the big problems first

Facilitating workshops with the team on how to best solve the problems and to reveal and cross-team coordination or dependencies
The major areas that were to be tackled:
1. Many search issues (ie. consistent filters, map functionality, addition of new filters)
2. More helpful suggestions related to search (ie loop trails, trails near to their location)
3. Improve the registration flow – simplify, clarify, and better sequence when to suggest upgrading to a paid subscription
4. Helping users access offline maps
5. Suggesting ways to increase engagement time, especially in maps on app (ie more map features, better “cross-selling” of trails & curated content, trip builders, and fixing or removing broken / lesser used features)
Designing and developing the user flows via Figma wireframes and prototypes to send to internal users for evaluative feedback. (no budget for typical user testing, so mostly internal users + trusted friends and family)
Briefing and collaborating with tech partners before any designs were “signed off” to ensure feasibility or to agree sequencing

DESIGNING AND TESTING THE SOLUTIONS

These are just a small representation of work. As the app has yet to be released, this information is still sensitive. More information and views of specific journeys can be given during an interview presentation. Please contact me for more information.

Example: Search within a City Area page

KEY HIGHLIGHTS AND FEATURES

As the app has yet to be released, this information is still sensitive. More information and specifics can be given during an interview presentation. Please contact me for more information.

RESULTS

Coming soon – waiting for the app to be released!

Other Projects

Location

London, UK