Gaming platform

Overview

Onlinecasino helps casino players find the best operators by providing them expert reviews, recommendations and guides. Onlinecasino also offers a gaming page were players can play casino games for free, either for training or just simply for fun.
Considering “free casino games” is one of the most searched keywords in the industry, the page was especially underperforming attracting particularly few visitors who didn’t engage much nor convert. My task was to redesign the page in order to increase visitors, engagement and conversion rates. The project included: UX Analysis of the current page, User research, Competitor research, Wireframing and UI design.

My role

I worked as the only UX designer on the project and collaborated closely with the Product Manager, Market specialists, UX researcher, Editors and Engineers. My process included Data analysis, Competitor research, UX Strategy, Ideation, Prototyping, Workshop facilitation and Interface design.

🤦‍♂️ Business problem

To understand the business problem, I looked at the analytics tools and gathered some data from the inhouse business analysts:

• Low number of visitors in comparison with the search volume

• Only 5% of the users convert in their first journey

• Only 30% of those return within 12 months

• Only 16% of the returned users convert

🔍 User research

In order to understand the reason behind the poor metrics, I teamed up with a UX Researcher to conduct moderated user testing. We have gathered the following key insights:

• Users that play free casino games can be grouped into 3 different categories. The page targeted only 1 of them

• Most of the users play both free and real money online

• Users are scared of getting scammed because they believe that casinos have an advantage over players

• The most important criteria of selecting a game to play is visual design, familiarity with the game and recalling the Vegas fun

• Users are not interested in content, just the games. Competitors who segment the page into different categories were perceived as more appealing since it inspires users to browse different games

• The filtering system might give the users an initial help to narrow down the games, but it is not as extensive as it should be

• Users didn’t interact much with the search functionality because they preferred to narrow down their search using filters

• There was no way for the users to switch to real money and convert

Main hub

I've turned the previously one-pager into a multipage experience pact with useful features and cool interactions. Having multiple subpages not only enhances user experience, but also builds topical authority which massively helps SEO. I’ve also segmented the page into different game categories in order to facilitate navigation and inspire the user to explore.

Not your typical searchbar

Users didn’t particularly interact with the search bar since they either didn’t know what to search for or they preferred to narrow down their search using filters. Therefore, I turned it into something a lot more useful. The search bar open us a modal window in which we display the top 5 searches of all our userbase.

Choose your favourite game type

Users can select their favorite game type to play through tabs or simply by clicking on each game category featured in the main hub. The game type pages feature a simpler layout with search and filters to help users find their favorites.

Seamless filtering

True user experience design involves transforming usual things into masterpieces. Why having dull and helplessly boring drowpdowns, when we can make them more visual and extremely helpful?

Get to know more about the game

A specific page for a particular game is essential both for SEO and for proper user behavior. This gives an opportunity to provide more information about the game itself, which can be very useful for the user. It also also allows us to create a proper journey for the users to convert.

Discover casinos where you can play your favourite games

Giving the option to switch to real money is highly important. Both for the business and for the user. Users can find all the casinos where they can play their favorite game, as a well as a sweet offer to get them started. I’ve also surfaced the Terms and Conditions for each offer and displayed them in a quick and intuitive way so users don’t have to read thousands upon thousands of words in the casino’s website to try and find them.

Enjoy your game uninterrupted with full screen mode

The value of the right use of space cannot be overestimated in such projects. Giving users the ability to enjoy their game uninterrupted is highly important. The challenge was to provide them a way to convert without ruining their experience with banners and huge line of text.