FEEL CONNECT APP

Project overview

FeelConnect is an innovative app that enhances connectivity between users and interactive devices, especially for long-distance relationships. It allows users to create profiles, connect with friends, make video calls, send text messages, and explore an interactive feed. The app also enables control of Bluetooth-enabled haptic devices, allowing users to feel each other’s touch, whether near or far.Our app integrates seamlessly with IoT-enabled hardware, making it easy to connect and control devices via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, offering a unique and intimate communication experience for couples and friends worldwide.
45%User engagement
62%Conversion Rate
100K+Active Users

My Role

I was the go-to person for bridging the gap between business and users, working with our awesome engineering and design teams to create a user-friendly app. How did I pull off this magic, you ask?

User Research

I teamed up with my squad to plan and conduct user research. Then, I took the lead in turning all that juicy data into key insights. These insights were the secret sauce that defined the main features of our app.

User Testing

User testing was like venturing into the unknown. Seriously, there were hardly any guidelines for testing in the toy world. But the challenge was accepted! I helped my team create our testing framework, conducted user testing, and whipped up a questionnaire survey to pinpoint and amplify the issues. All those insights paved the way for our final prototype.

UI and Prototype

Next up, I pulled out the high-priority features from our treasure trove of ideas and translated them into interactive user flows. I made sure to stick to solid UX principles throughout the end-to-end user journey. And voilà! We had a prototype ready for action. In a nutshell, I wore many hats and had a blast turning our wild ideas into a user-friendly app that everyone can enjoy. 🚀

Problem statement

Our analysis revealed low feature engagement, high task abandonment, and users dropping off shortly after connecting their devices. Declining retention rates indicate friction in the experience, limiting long-term value for both users and the business.keon

Solution

We’ll enhance the overall user journey by simplifying navigation, reducing friction, and optimizing the experience to encourage deeper engagement. Supporting more toy features and streamlining key interactions will create a smoother, more rewarding experience that drives retention and satisfaction.feelrobotics

The Process

Using the Lean Canvas Model
I applied the Lean Canvas model to align user needs with business objectives. This framework helped identify key problems, prioritize solutions, and focus on delivering value through iterative, user-centered design. It ensured clarity and collaboration throughout the process.

business Problem

we’ve observed challenges with onboarding, device reconnection, and feature engagement, leading to lower retention, limited social feature use, and missed upselling opportunities.
Returning Users Increase: Target: 15%-20% increase in returning users purchasing additional toys over six.
Users find the onboarding information non-interactive and not engaging. Many skipped the initial onboarding or abandoned midway.
Increase the number of returning users to the Kiiroo website to purchasing more toys.
The connection flow feels unnecessarily long due to unclear guidance, leading to delays
The majority of users do not explore features. Partner Mode, in particular, sees very low engagement.
While the connection flow generally works, 18% of users experienced failures.
Users tend to spend less time interacting with features, indicating a lack of perceived value or complexity in navigation.

Solution

Interactive Onboarding Flows: Introduced engaging, step-by-step onboarding flows that utilize interactive elements, concise visuals, and gamified progress indicators to guide users effectively.
Tailored Onboarding for Device Features: Provided personalized onboarding based on the specific toy connected, educating users about their device's unique features and controls.
Clear Visual Communication: Replaced text-heavy content with simplified illustrations and animations to improve accessibility and engagement.
Educational Content Integration: We introduced a “Getting Started” carousel or quick-start guide on the home page to help first-time users intuitively explore app features and capabilities.
Actionable Post-Connection Feedback: We added a contextual success message after the toy connection, paired with quick links to explore relevant features like testing, customization, or personal journeys.
Navigation Revamp: Redesigned the bottom navigation bar to include clear icons and labels for high-priority features, improving discoverability.
While the connection flow generally works, 18% of users experienced failures.

Business Outcomes

Returning Users Increase:
Target: A 15% to 20% increase in returning users purchasing additional toys over six months.
New Device Connections:
Target: 30% of users connect multiple Kiiroo devices within three months.
Toy Interaction Rate:
85% of users successfully connect and interact with their toys during their first session.
Referral Participation:
Target: 20% of members invite at least one friend to the platform within their first three months.
Guest-to-Member Conversion:
Target: 40% of guest users create accounts within 30 days of download.
Why: Encourages deeper engagement and the ability to use advanced features.

Users

The Performer
  • Name: Snow white
  • Age: 22-35
  • Motivation: Delivering high-quality, engaging performances to entertain their audience.
The Independent Explorer
  • Name: Sophia
  • Age: 25-35
  • Motivation: Enjoying self-discovery and connecting with like-minded individuals.
The Couple
  • Name: Emily and Daniel
  • Age: 28-40
  • Motivation: Strengthening their relationship by exploring sexual wellness together.

User Outcomes & Benefit

App Store Rating Increase: Target: Increase app store ratings by 0.5 stars within the next quarter (e.g., from 3.8 to 4.3).
Enjoy the easy and engaging experience of using their device with their partner, solo or when they are performing for improving their sexual life satisfaction.
User Satisfaction Feedback: Target: Collect 1,000 user feedback responses about new features and flows within the first quarter post-launch.
Improving the long distance relationships Make it fun and playful!
Improve the sexual gap between couples.
Increased App Stickiness: Target: Day 7 Retention Rate increases to 30% (up from 20%) and Day 30 Retention Rate to 15% (up from 10%).
feature Engagement Growth: Target: 20% increase in usage of advanced features (e.g., “Friend” feature, toy customization) by existing users.


Hypotheses

This will address frustrations around usability and deliver a seamless experience, encouraging couples, singles, and performers to interact more with their toys and the app.
We believe that by redesigning the onboarding process, improving navigation, and introducing personalized settings, we can enhance user engagement and retention.

Whats the most important thing we need to learn first?

Creating clickable prototypes for onboarding, toy connection, and navigation flows.
Conducting usability tests with representative users to observe pain points and engagement patterns.
Deploying an MVP version of the app with updated features and tracking engagement metrics (e.g., task success rates, feature usage).

Whats the least amount of work we need to do to learn the next most important things?

Assumption 2: Users will easily connect their toys and understand next steps after the connection.
  • Risk if wrong: Users may abandon the app or contact customer support unnecessarily, increasing operational costs and damaging user trust.
Assumption 1: Users will find the redesigned onboarding intuitive and engaging.
  • Risk if wrong: Users might skip onboarding or feel frustrated, leading to confusion about the app’s features and how to connect their toys. This could result in a high dropout rate during the initial experience.
Assumption 3: Diverse user personas (couples, singles, performers) will all feel their needs are addressed by the new personalized features.
  • Risk if wrong: One or more target groups may feel alienated, reducing engagement and retention among key user segments.

Research

Understanding Our Users & Business Goals by defining the Proto-personaThrough extensive research—including surveys, user feedback analysis, and interviews—we identified key user motivations, needs, and frustrations. Aligning these insights with business goals, we developed proto-personas to guide our design strategy. This ensures our product evolution aligns with user needs while driving market leadership.

Persona

Couples
Our business goals → Launched Luxus, a new couple's toy, designed to enhance intimacy and improve long-distance experiences and close their sexual gap.
feelrobotics-persona-1
Performers
Our business goals → Introduced ProWand & Spot, innovative toys optimized for live performances, boosting engagement and revenue.
feelrobotics-persona-2
Solo Users
Our business goals → Improved navigation, customization, and community features to create a seamless, enjoyable, and engaging experience.
feelrobotics-persona-3

Data collection on defined Measurable goals

  • Implemented event tracking in Firebase and Google Analytics for key touch points (e.g., button clicks, drop-offs)

  • During our discovery phase, we collaborated with our product manager to analyze event data to identify patterns, friction points, and success metrics.

Data collection on defined Measurable goals

Customer Support & Marketing

  • Gather and analyze feedback on common user issues reported by our customer support and marketing teams.

  • Identify user pain points and potential feature requests from Reddit threads, forums, and user comments on the App Store and Google Play.

Customer SupportCustomer SupportCustomer SupportCustomer Support

Insight

According to the data metrics to track user engagement, in our experiment we noticed:
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Onboarding Completion Rate: 48% (Goal: 80%)

  • Insight: Users find the onboarding information non-interactive and unengaging. Many skipped the initial onboarding or abandoned midway.
  • User Feedback: "The app didn't explain much about how to use it."
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2

Promotion Card Interaction Rate (Post-Connection): 10%

  • Insight: Few users engage with promotional content after completing onboarding.
3

Reconnection Rate (from "Connect" CTA): 12% (Goal: 50%)

  • Insight: The "Connect" card fails to draw user attention or communicate its purpose.
  • "Partner" CTA Engagement Rate: 5%
  • Insight: The "Partner" card is underutilized, likely due to poor communication of its value.
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4

Device History Engagement Rate: 18% (Users interacting with toggle reconnect, remove device or device settings)

  • Insight: Users struggle to find this section.
  • Feedback: "It took me a while to find how to reconnect my toy or check its settings."
  • Manual Access Rate: 7%
  • Insight: Very few users access manuals
  • Feedback: "I didn’t know there was a manual in the app."
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Balancing user needs & Business strategy

Feature Prioritisation

  • Held a design critique session with the product team, Developers, and Stakeholders to prioritize issues for redesign.

  • Created a roadmap for iterative improvements targeting key areas.

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Collaboration

  • Conducted workshops to brainstorm technical feasibility and identify engineering challenges.

  • We chose to split our initial feature sets into two release phases. The first phase, our MVP, will concentrate on features that are easy to implement but deliver significant impact.

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Defining the business requirement

The team is focused on improving guidance, feature adoption, and retention by:
  • Enhancing user support:
    Monitoring CTA click rates and simplifying connection flows to reduce frustration.
  • Boosting feature adoption:
    Promoting underused features with tooltips, notifications, and tutorials.
  • Optimizing engagement & retention:
    Using reconnection and engagement rates to refine onboarding and reminders.
  • Improving navigation & CTAs:
    Simplifying the interface, clarifying CTAs, and testing better placements.
Design challenge:
  • Align new device flows with FeelConnect’s ecosystem.
  • Create professional-grade settings tailored for performers.
  • Innovate without existing benchmarks or prior UX insights.
Our approach:
  • We mapped out key path scenarios that gets our users to their most prominent use cases within the least amount of steps.
  • Built an interactive wireframes and conducted user testing with real performers.
  • Interviewed key users to uncover pain points and refine the flow, controls, and reliability of these professional settings.
User Flow Map
luxus

Exploring & Validating Multiple solutions

Through this iterative process, we enhanced the user experience before broadening the feature set. Two rounds of moderated testing guided iterations that refined the hierarchy and navigation.
  • Clinical usability tests to analyze interaction behaviour.
  • Post-session surveys to collect direct feedback.
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Key Findings

Participants completed scenarios while we observed their movement patterns and mental models:
  • Users had difficulty adjusting the light settings.
  • First-time setup was challenging, and users found the onboarding process too time-consuming.
  • Manual button accessibility was a concern, as users struggled to operate them effectively.
  • Alert light notifications caused confusion, leaving users uncertain about their meanings.
  • Users requested the ability to save multiple versions of their custom settings for future use.
  • Users were interested in exploring ways to enjoy the Luxus toy solo without a partner.
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Iteration & Refinement

Drawing from insights gathered during usability testing sessions and research on the initial wireframe iterations, we brainstormed innovative solutions to tackle the identified challenges. Here are some sample of our focus areas:
feel-connect-iteration-1feel-connect-iteration-2feel-connect-iteration-3feel-connect-iteration-4feel-connect-iteration-5

Usability testing

We tested two prototypes with 15 users and gathered insights on what improved the experience. Based on their feedback, we iterated on our design by simplifying the flows.
Insight:

  • Option 1 was missing the feature to set preferable color to the LEDs based on users feedbacks

  • Task duration for selecting the LED colors from the dropdown was almost 2 times longer than other options

  • Many users were struggling with setting up light color in option 2 and 3

usability-testusability-testusability-test

Engaging with Developers for Feasibility

After designing potential solutions, I scheduled a design review with engineers to ensure technical feasibility.

  • We initially considered adding a new light show setup with customizable colors for each LED. However, our engineering team highlighted some technical limitations, leading us to drop option 4. This insight, though, guided us towards more practical solutions.

  • Engineers have raised a new request to improve the device's battery life. Our quickest solution is to allow users to adjust the LED light intensity.

Solutions & Impacts

Connection Flow Improvements

Improved 14%

Successful connection flow (Previously 8% failure)
  • Auto-Scan Feature: Implemented an auto-scan option to streamline device connection, removing redundant steps and significantly reducing setup time.
  • Visual and Feedback Enhancements: Added real-time feedback and haptic responses during connection to reassure users of successful progress.
Connection Flow Improvements-imageView Prototype

Home Page, Bottom Navigation and Feature Engagement

Improved 60%

User engagement (Previously 30%)
  • Actionable Post-Connection Feedback: Added a contextual success message after toy connection, paired with quick links to explore relevant features like testing, customization, or personal journeys.
  • Educational Content Integration: Introduced a “Getting Started” carousel or quick-start guide on the home page for first-time users to explore app features and capabilities intuitively.
  • Navigation Revamp: Redesigned the bottom navigation bar to include clear icons and labels for high-priority features, improving discoverability.
  • Dynamic Feature Highlights: Implemented contextual prompts and occasional tooltips to introduce underused features during appropriate user flows.
  • Consistency in UI Elements: Ensured consistent UI patterns across all screens, reducing cognitive load and enhancing navigation predictability.
Home Page, Bottom Navigation and Feature Engagement-imageView Prototype

First-Time User Onboarding

Improved 70%

Flow Completion (Previously 48%)
  • Interactive Onboarding Flows: Introduced engaging, step-by-step onboarding flows that utilize interactive elements, concise visuals, and gamified progress indicators to guide users effectively.
  • Clear Visual Communication: Replaced text-heavy content with simplified illustrations and animations to improve accessibility and engagement.
  • Tailored Onboarding for Device Features: Provided personalized onboarding based on the specific toy connected, educating users about the unique features and controls of their device.
First-Time User Onboarding-imageView Prototype

Custom Settings & Personalization

Improved 5%

Drop-offs during customization (Previously 15%)
  • Custom Settings Flow: Introduced customizable toy settings, allowing users to tailor experiences according to their preferences.
  • Gamified Experience: Incorporated gamified elements to encourage experimentation with custom features.
  • Narrative-Driven Personalization: Added user narratives to guide them through device personalization and maintain emotional engagement.
  • Diverse Device Integration: Expanded app compatibility to include new toys for broader audience appeal, while maintaining consistency across all setup and usage flows.
Custom Settings & Personalization-imageView Prototype

Reconnection Flow and Settings for Returning Users

Improved 93%

Reconnection Success Rate (Previously: 70%)
  • Simplified Reconnection Process: Streamlined the reconnection flow with clear, concise language and actionable CTAs to guide returning users.
  • Information Architecture Overhaul: Restructured the settings menu with logical categorization and shortcut access for frequently used settings.
  • Enhanced Navigation Paths: Improved user navigation for easier task completion and allowing users to recover from their errors.
  • In-App Troubleshooting Guide: Designed a guided troubleshooting feature, complete with automated suggestions based on the error type and clear step-by-step resolution flows.
Reconnection Flow and Settings for Returning Users-imageView Prototype