Designing Discovery Increasing Retention and Interaction
TL;DR
Transformed sound discovery from word-of-mouth browsing into a scalable interaction ecosystem — increasing retention, engagement, and speed-to-value.
Impact
15% increase in month-one retention
40% increase in sounds added per user
83% reduction in time-to-add (12s → 2s)
Why This Mattered
Discovery was the growth bottleneck.
New Users: New streamers struggled to understand the value of interactive sounds quickly. Without immediate payoff, they churned before forming a habit.
Existing Users: Sound exploration lacked novelty and depth. Adding new sounds was slow, reducing experimentation and session engagement.
Business: Without improving discovery and speed-to-value, retention and sound volume would plateau — limiting long-term growth.
What Shipped
A structured discovery ecosystem designed to increase curiosity, exploration, and frictionless addition.
Shipped Experience
Discovery page featuring Trending, Popular, and New sounds with social proof
Redesigned “sound card” (Blurp molecule) enabling instant preview and one-click add
Dedicated sound pages with related sounds to drive deeper rabbit-hole exploration
Audio-First Layout
Optimized for clarity and immediate expectation
Visual-First Layout (Selected)
Optimized for curiosity and preview-driven interaction
Key Decision
Optimize for curiosity over clarity.
We chose a visually dominant sound card instead of an audio-first condensed layout.
Tradeoff:
Visual-forward → stronger emotional pull
Audio-forward → clearer upfront expectation
Why it mattered:
Previewing is the gateway behavior to adding.
By increasing previews, we increased adds.
Outcome
Discovery improvements compounded across retention, engagement, and friction reduction.
27%
Increase in Month 1 cohort retention
40%
Increase in sounds added
83%
Reduction in time-to-add (12s → 2s)
In Closing
This project reframed discovery from passive browsing to interactive exploration.
By combining visual curiosity with frictionless action, we strengthened retention and increased user-generated interaction.
Role
Sole Product Designer • Owned discovery system design, sound-card architecture, and launch execution
Impact Type
Growth + retention + engagement acceleration
Team
PM, Eng (4), Founder