Goodreads
Rebuilding the trust of the leading book database and recommendation product
Goodreads has both a website and a mobile app, but this project focuses on the mobile app.
Overview
Goodreads is a database that allows users to find, rate and review, and build lists of their personal book catalogs. This study was conducted to determine the existing product issues, hypothesize solutions to a single problem, and develop solutions that increased the value perception of the product.
2007
year founded
721 k
social media followers
130 million
visitors per month
The Problem
Many readers have to search numerous places to find their next book to read. They rely on their immediate social circle or their local library or bookstore to find accurate book recommendations, but are unable to view them all in one place that is convenient and accessible without extensive manual tracking.
Solution
The current recommendations from Goodreads are difficult to find and use categories that are too broad. The product required information restructuring, a recommendation source aggregator, and a hierarchical social element to raise the level of recommendations and stabilize its place in the market.
How might we retain users’ interest and increase their value perception of the app?
Responsibilities and Scope
This project was completed single-handedly. Feedback was gathered and analyzed during the initial research and discovery phase, which informed the design and usability phase.
Understanding the Problem
The Current Landscape
Desk research was conducted to get a more clear picture of where Goodreads fit in the landscape. Even though Goodreads has the largest user base in the market, it falls short of its competitors when it comes to user excitement and product loyalty.
LibraryThing has a larger, more detailed book database, but is used as a virtual media catalog system instead of a book recommendation tool. BookSloth is a relatively small mobile app, but utilizes cute illustrations and is very responsive to their users. The StoryGraph is a small startup that launched in January 2021, but their search results and recommendations have been highly praised with current users and in the media.
LibraryThing
1.8m monthly visitors
53k social media followers
BookSloth
11.6k monthly visitors
5k social media followers
The StoryGraph
39k social media followers
Initial Analysis
Insights were collected from 17 current users through surveys or live interviews. The main objectives were to collect feedback and personal preferences, identify important features or behaviors, and reveal pain points or confusing experiences.
Users of Goodreads were found via social media and through the community feature in the product itself. They were segmented into two user groups and varied in age, occupation, and motivation for using the product.
Authors and Literary Professionals
Age Breakdown
Frequency of Use
Experience Level
Readers
Age Breakdown
Frequency of Use
Experience Level
Key Issues
Reading habits and purchasing preferences were examined to reveal users’ behaviors and motivations behind using the product. The results were sorted and analyzed into positive and negative feedback, and wishlist features.
Positive Insights
Bookshelves and progress tracking are the most prominent and most well-known features.
Giveaways and reading challenges are the most popular ways for readers to interact with the product.
Giveaways are also an essential feature among literary professionals.
Negative Insights
The outdated user interface makes the product time-consuming, difficult to navigate, and unappealing to most users.
An inaccurate algorithm and search results function creates frustration on behalf of all users and decreases product confidence.
GoodReads’ alienation of independent bookstores and smaller publishers discourages some users and attributes to low user retention.
89%
of readers enjoyed tracking the books they have read with this product.
53%
of participants complained about the look and feel of the product without prompting.
47%
of participants had difficulty navigating or using the community feature.
Even though the product’s user base is one of the largest in the publishing space, its cluttered appearance and complicated structure create a disconnect to the modern user’s habits.
Current Users
User Personas were created to better understand the current audience. This helped increase empathy with the current frustrations and imagine their motivations for using the product.
Jesse
Book Tracking Enthusiast
32, Data Analyst
Chicago, IL
“[I like] being able to track my progress and help to hold me accountable, and then also show the progress of my friends so I’m able to, you know, see what they’ve been doing and think, like, oh gosh...I gotta catch up.”
Goals
Discovering new books to read
Seeing what friends/family are reading
Keeping track of books already read
Frustrations
Not having enough time to read
Being unaware of a favorite author’s latest release
Recommended books from the product are not accurate
Cameron
Tireless Writer
53, Author
Malvern, PA
“You’re kind of just stabbing at things—you don’t really see clear cut statistics.”
Goals
Communicate with current readers
Increase followers and readership
Connect with other authors
Promote current catalog
Frustrations
No hierarchy of information;
not sure what to do firstEngaging in the community
is time-consuming and
feels pointlessPractical information, like reviews and follower count, is difficult to find and decipher
Casey
Book Club Fanatic
28, Marketing Assistant
San Francisco, CA
“I’ve taken part in a team challenge for the last four months.
[It’s] great to get to know your team members and discuss books with them!”
Frustrations
Not being able to find specific books through the search results
Statistics on books read is not specific enough
Recommendations from the product are not accurate
Goals
Taking part in group book clubs
Discovering new books to read
Writing book reviews and interacting with other reviewers
Discussion with other readers about specific books
Narrowing the Focus
Although two user groups were initially identified, it was important to reconcile the work to-be-done against the project timeline. A decision was made to prioritize readers, and address the frustrations of the literary professionals at a later point in time.
How might we improve recommendations so that readers use Goodreads as their primary source for finding a new book to read?
Building Trust with Recognizable Patterns
Given that the recommendations were too broad in their categories and largely inaccurate, inspiration was garnered from popular apps whose recommendations used specific categories and were depicted in a visual manner. Rapid brainstorming and lightning sketches were used to generate a wide variety of solutions.
How can you re-establish trust with a visually outdated product despite its large userbase?
Addressing the Issues
Navigation
Retooling the information architecture was vital in order to stabilize its reputation in the market. The book recommendations were moved to the home screen to make the product feel more personalized, and the activity feed was moved to be a subset of the Community section. The search function was also pulled out of the navigation, and a more recognizable navigational structure was implemented.
Wireframes and Prototypes
Additional elements were added to increase the usefulness of the product and visually update it to match the competition.
Testing the Assumptions
A prototype with existing branding and placeholder photography was built. The prototype was tested with five participants over the course of four days. Each participant was given three scenarios in order to test the viability of the prototype. General feedback was also gathered regarding the added features.
Key Takeaways
Positive Insights
More information in one spot on the home page
Recommendation source aggregator makes the product feel more personal
Social shelf hierarchy helps gauge the relevance of book recommendations within the immediate social community
Negative Insights
Icons are not easily recognizable nor consistent across product
Missing a currently reading shelf from the home screen
Process of adding more recommendation sources after the initial import is unclear
Implementing Feedback
The interview findings were analyzed, and adjustments to the prototype were made based on user feedback.
A ‘currently reading shelf’ was added to the home screen to encourage progress tracking and continuous user interaction. Additional information was added to the recommendations source importer. The ability to prioritize your preferred sources was also added to make the product feel more personal. And an additional modal for the ‘add to shelf’ CTA was added to increase profile engagement and promote personal shelf creation.
Brand Update and Application
Taking inspiration from small bookshops, a vintage-inspired type-driven logo was paired with an updated tonal color palette to produce a casual, modern brand that feels relevant and purposeful. An icon system was also introduced to create cohesiveness across the product.
The prototype was updated with the new visual design system.
Reflection and Next Steps
Continued Testing
Now that the prototype is updated and branded, an additional round of testing should be conducted to gauge any change in the usability of the product.
Tutorials/Walkthrough
Introduce tutorials, tooltips or an onboarding walk-through to coincide with the product redesign and highlight new features.
Custom Filters
Allow for filtered search results to be added as a recommended source to create a more tailored experience.
Lessons Learned
I learned a lot while navigating through this process, probably the most important being that I need to get comfortable interviewing people. I think finding that line between giving some background information and explaining too much in a research interview was difficult in the beginning. Also, finding the right number of scenarios — I didn’t want to overwhelm the participant, but I think if I had a few more scenarios, I could have gotten more feedback.