Case study: adding an “event” feature to Whatsapp
By: Fanny Noel Giraud
Tags: Ironhack, UX Design, Case Study, Prototyping, WhatsApp

Case study: adding an “event” feature to Whatsapp

This article covers the challenge I was given during the 2nd month of my part-time UX/UI bootcamp.

Why working on this mobile app?

WhatsApp represents 2 billions users in 180 countries, among them 1 billion daily users. A big deal, isn’t it ? Many users use it instead of the classic text messages. Lots of them love the group conversations that allows them to stay connected with family, friends or close collegues on any occasion, especially since the Covid19 epidemic. We can also mention the video chats, or regular calls. Quite few users told me that they use this application all day long!

“I really love group conversation! I can keep in touch with friends and collegues, chat and have fun. I really enjoy sending jokes and funny stuff anytime” An enthusiast interviewee.

Homepage with new feature : event tab (Événements in french)

What’s the challenge ?

My goal was to add this new feature : organizing events within WhatsApp, keeping the simplicity and efficiency values of our messaging app.

Interviews

To understand how users organize their events online, I conducted several interviews. I could identify what is the most important to users : location, day, time. Seems obvious. A nice picture is also appreciated.

Benchmarking and testing the competition

But to get a better view of my users needs, I studied mobile and desktop solution that allows to organize events. I ask my interviewees their feelings about them.

Which solution do you use to organize your events ?

Facebook is the leader, but people tend to use it less and less. Many users couldn’t even find the event category in the new mobile app (or website). The events are also more focused on official events, so it appears less personal.

Some users told me they use Doodle between friends to fix a date, a restaurant between friends for example. But they have to talk with WhatsApp or an other messaging app to prepare it, so they have to use many platforms.

Google calendar is often use, but mostly in professional field. Users won’t think of using it for personal events.

How can my solution improve the use of WhatsApp?

Users problem

Many users complained about the profusion of group conversations in WhatsApp. Whether these are permanent or not, the users end up having to deal with many groups and as a result, a lot of notifications, which can be really annoying. For some people, it is also frustrating : they want to know what’s happening in the group conversation, but they can end up disappointed if they are not concerned.

Idea and concept

My concept is the possibility to create an event, looking a lot like a group conversation, but separated in a different tab in the main menu. The organiser could get a better visibility of status of the guests : will they participate or not? The guests have a better visibility of important informations : where and when ?

User flows

To create my users flows, I imagined 3 user cases:

Héloïse is creating an event to invite her friends at her annual Halloween party. She decides when and where : october the 31th, at her own place.

Vincent is an high school teacher. He and his collegues decided to go an a picnic instead of meeting again at the usual coffee place, next to their school. They talked about the idea in the staff room, but could decide on the spot : they don’t have a lot of time together, they have to take care of their students. At home, he is creating an event so they can all choose the day and location.

Sarah is invited to a friend place to eat the famous winter Raclette. She has to inform if she’s going or not, and will ask if she has to bring food or beverage, or if she can come with a special someone.

My prototype

I prototype in Figma my 3 user flows, you can check them right below.