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Overview

Eventbrite is an events management platform. For event planners, it offers online event creation, ticketing, promotion, and entry. For attendees, Eventbrite is the place to search or browse events and buy tickets. As a former event planner and someone who loves meeting new people and learning through new experiences, I've enjoyed using Eventbrite as both host and guest for several years.

I love events. I love planning them and I love attending them. Just looking at some of my past Eventbrite events triggers some fond memories: The TCHO Chocolate Factory Tour with my boyfriend where we found our favorite chocolate flavor (Mokaccino, if you’re interested). Wanderlust Outdoor Yoga in the City with one of my best friends on one of the most beautiful days in San Francisco. A Service Design Jam where I met 4 new people who felt like family in just 24 intense hours. Christmas Parties. Volunteer Orientations.

These events represent moments and people in my life who have formed who I am today. I want more people to share these experiences with each other, but there’s something I’ve discovered which is preventing that. As much as I love Eventbrite’s Android app for easy RSVP and check-ins, I found several areas of improvement. Without these improvements, Eventbrite is risking a less enjoyable user experience for the attendee -and maybe even no experience if she decides not to proceed- and for the organizer who may not be getting the most accurate headcounts. Without these improvements, Eventbrite is also missing out on a huge opportunity to sell more tickets through convenient social media sharing.

First, allow me to start with a user flow. Rather than getting lost in the visuals I wanted to understand what the user was actually doing. User flows help us visualize the customer experience and identify areas of improvement or opportunity. I decided to focus on the idealized path of one user, but wanted to be aware of her other options (which are greyed out here).

During this process, I identified a couple areas of opportunity for improvement: “Apply filters”, “Share on social media”, “Check in”, and “Cancel ticket”. To validate these theories, I decided to conduct usability study. During usability studies, I try to create scenarios whenever possible, which help explain the task and provide context for it. My tasks were as follows:

1. Find a free event that interests you for next Saturday and get a ticket.
2. Share the event with friends on Twitter.
3. Imagine you arrive at an event and they want to see your ticket. What would you show them?
4. Pretend the event is tonight and you can’t make it anymore. Show me how you would change your RSVP/ give up your ticket.

The results of these tasks were measured by a combination of pass/ fail and level of ease or frustration expressed through verbal cues and number of taps.

Here’s what I found from my usability testers:

1. Date range and map needed within filter screen

Finding a free event for a specific date in the future was difficult because the app doesn’t currently let you filter by specific date, and people seemed to really want this control. Also, many of them had no idea what cities were included in the distance range from their current location. (How many newbies to the Bay Area can really say how far away Berkeley or San Jose is, anyway?)

2. Social sharing could be encouraged more

Sharing the event on Twitter seemed to be fairly easy, however I decided to make a slight change here regardless. Knowing where to go to share an event isn’t the same as incentivizing them to share it, and my redesign will reflect this immediate upsell. In the words of an actual user, “I’d be more likely to share [the event on Twitter] if it was suggested on the confirmation page. If it’s more than a couple of steps, I’m not gonna do it.”

3. Finding the QR code wasn’t a problem.

Everyone seemed to be able to complete this task without any difficulty.

4. Canceling a ticket from the app is impossible.

This may not be as big of a deal for attendees, but it’s huge for organizers. Whether you’re hosting a small event for friends or you’re a professional event planner hosting a larger public event, having an accurate head count is crucial, and lack thereof can lead to a lot of waste and a frustrating experience.

In addition, something interesting came up in the usability test that wasn’t in my original hypotheses. My users expressed frustration that they could only choose one category at a time. They said they rarely looked for something so niche, and instead are interested in a range of events that complemented their lifestyles and interests.

Now that we’ve identified the problems, let’s get to the solutions.

With my redesign, social sharing capability is available directly from the confirmation page. Lastly, the option to cancel a ticket is added.

Based on these changes, I would expect a) an improved user experience, b) increased social sharing, and c) a more accurate headcount for organizers.

Highlights

Problems to solve

• Frustration with searching for an event on Eventbrite Android app which led to avoidance of app use altogether.
• Frustration trying to cancel an RSVP
• Increase social sharing 

Contributions

• Ability to search by multiple categories
• Improved filters
• Encouraged social sharing

Note: After publishing this redesign as a blog post on Medium, I learned that it was circulated throughout several Eventbrite teams! I received praise by designers and design managers for my ideas and was encouraged to apply to be their next UX Designer. :)