Centralizing Integrations Into an App Marketplace

About Bookmark

Bookmark is an AI website builder that enables small business owners and agencies to create websites without any technical knowledge.

Challenge

Our Customer Support team was overwhelmed by a high volume of inquiries from current and potential users about accessing integrations and unlisted apps. Our integration setup was unclear, causing users to miss available functionality and potentially abandon Bookmark after their trial.

Opportunities

We aimed to simplify integration discovery and expand offerings. This would help us to compete with other website builders, improve customer service, and increase conversion rates.

Role and Duration

I worked with the Product Manager and Associate weekly to define problems, prioritize features, and plan designs while considering engineering constraints. During development, I communicated with engineers, the Product Associate, and Project Manager to release the product. The duration was 7 months.

The Process:

1. We Defined 3 Types of Affected Users

Current Website Owners - Business owners, agencies, people who build websites with the Bookmark website builder
Potential New Website Owners  (Website Owners in Trial Period or People Inquiring About Bookmark)
 
a) Individuals who currently operate offline businesses but have yet to establish an online presence, and are using third-party applications to manage various aspects of their business (for example email campaigns through Mailchimp or accounting software), and would like to integrate once they move online

b) Users who have prior experience with other website building platforms and expect an App Marketplace
Bookmark Admins - Bookmark team members who need to manage integrations

2. Discovery: Focus on Website Owners (Present and Future)

Customer Support Data

What do our users inquire about most frequently when it comes to integrations?
The most common customer support questions could be summarized in two points:
a) Inquiries from potential new Website Owners about app availability (unaware we offer integrations) and requests for apps that we did not offer

b) Questions from current users about locating, installing, and proper usage of integrations
The high volume of inquiries indicated an opportunity to simplify the discovery, installation, and comprehension of third-party apps. 

Additionally, we could add more integrations to meet users’ needs.

Learning From Experience 

How did we respond to user inquiries up until then?
When users used to ask for third-party apps, our support team used to redirect them to the Ecwid App Market (Ecwid is Bookmark’s partner for eCommerce).
See Ecwid App Market
The familiarity our users exhibited with the Ecwid App Market confirmed their ability to navigate an App Marketplace and use it through our platform if given the opportunity.

Competitor Analysis

Is App Marketplace a go-to way of displaying apps?
With the idea of an App Marketplace in mind, we looked at industry leaders including Wix, Shopify, Quickbooks, Weebly, Wordpress to determine if having an App Marketplace is a standard feature.
Our research revealed that an App Marketplace was a default feature across all platforms.

3. Two User Flows Emerged

Website Owner (present & future)

Discover Apps > Browse Through > Recognize Apps > Understand the App’s Purpose > Activate > See Status Change > Manage Apps

Bookmark Admin

Locate Apps List > Add New Apps > Edit Added Apps > Publish > Manage Apps

4. Minimum Viable Product Led the Prioritization

We prioritized pages and features based on their dependencies, giving precedence to MVP (Minimum Viable Product) development and administration maintenance. Following this, we expanded the list of available integrations and implemented additional features post-deployment.

Phase 1: Designing the MVP

Website Owner

Add App Marketplace section in builder
Develop all planned App Marketplace pages
Move integrations and Bookmark modules into the centralized App Marketplace
Apply “Show Me” functionality for Bookmark “apps”. With this feature, the AI demos how a module is used and users can “Accept” (keep) or “Decline” (discard) the change.

Bookmark Admin

Add App Marketplace admin functionality in Bookmark back end
Develop all planned App Marketplace pages

Phase 2: Expanding the List of Integrations

Website Owner

Adding new integrations

Phase 3: Needed Items After the Deployment of the MVP

Website Owner

Notify users that we have added the App Marketplace
Notify users when they successfully install an app
App Market Terms of Use page to display terms and conditions that users automatically agree to when using the marketplace
App Marketplace tour page on the Bookmark website for non-subscribed users

For brevity's sake, this case study will only show the design process of the Website Owner User Flow (Phase 1).

5. Design Iterations for the Website Owner User Flow

Addressing Poor Discoverability by Creating the "App Marketplace Homepage"

Homepage Desktop & mobile

1
For easy recognition, I displayed each app on a card with a logo, name, short description, and pricing status.
2
Categories were there to help users navigate.
3
Pagination was available for more than 10 apps per page to reduce cognitive load.
4
On mobile, if more than one category was active, the currently active category would display '...' at the end. If users tapped on it, a tooltip would be displayed, showing the rest of the active categories.
5
On mobile, currently active category was presented in Bookmark purple color and bolded. Due to spacing limitations, I added a button to see available categories.
But this page didn't always look like this. My designs underwent improvements based on user testing conducted through UserTesting.com (an online platform for user testing). I tested prototypes with eight individuals following the user flow of Website Owners.
Homepage Before Testing
To avoid double navigation, I placed any additional navigation or categorization needed at the top of the screen, as the builder already had navigation on the left.
Homepage After Testing
Based on user feedback during testing and our plans to expand the list of categories I switched to vertical navigation instead.

Facilitating Location of App Information With the "App Details" Page

"app details" DESKTOP

1
Short description and basic information about the app at the top and a button to connect. We had to create three options for the call to action: “Get App” (for apps that are available to connect for free), “Get Info” (for apps that require payment), “Show Me” (for apps made by Bookmark to activate instructions from the Artificial Intelligence).
2
I made the app more attractive with a slideshow featuring a video and images. To consider accessibility, the video only plays if the user activates it. Progress tracking at the bottom helps users keep track of their location in the slideshow.
3
More details about the app, how it works with Bookmark, and support links to continue user support after installation.

"App Details" MOBILE

4
On mobile, only the "Get Info" button is available for apps that require further information or payment. For the other two button options ("Get App" or "Show Me"), a message would be displayed, directing users to go to the desktop version.
5
Due to space limitations on mobile, details about the app were displayed in drop downs.
"Go to Desktop" Section Before Testing
Initially, I wanted to show a button for each type of app ("Get Info", "Show Me", "Get App"). Users would then see a pop-up window for the “Show Me” and “Get App” buttons telling them to install on desktop. 

During user testing, I discovered that users were feeling misled by a button that would prompt them to connect to an app, only to find out they couldn't do so.   
"Go to Desktop" Section After Testing
In order to improve transparency and avoid causing user frustration, I made the strategic decision to display a message indicating that certain actions require the use of a desktop computer. 

This approach allowed us to be upfront about what actions could and couldn't be performed on the mobile platform, ensuring a seamless user experience without any unpleasant surprises.

Providing a Place for App Management With "My Apps" Page 

"My Apps" If Apps Have Been Installed

1
Tracker for users to know how many apps they have installed
2
Filtering by app status (“Active”, “Disabled”, “All Apps”)
3
App card with basic app information for recognition
4
Quick access to “App Info” (takes user to “About the App” on "App Details" page), “Support” (takes user to the “Support” tab in "App Details" page), “Disable” (a button to disable the app). If users are viewing from the "Disabled" list, this button will be a “Delete” button to fully delete the app
5
Pagination for more than 10 apps per page
6
Currently active category was presented in Bookmark purple color and bolded. Due to less spacing being available on mobile, I added a button to see categories.
7
Due to limited spacing on mobile, further actions such as navigating to details about the app or changing the status from "Active" to "Disabled" and vice versa would have to be done on desktop.

"My Apps" If Apps Have Not Been Installed

If no apps are installed, users will see a message telling them there are no installed apps and will be encouraged to browse the App Marketplace with a button linking to the homepage.

Results

We gathered data on usage of the App Marketplace from January 21, 2023 until February 22, 2023. 
With 70 different users having apps activated on 87 different websites, we could see that our users were taking advantage of this new App Marketplace.
Our direct customer upgrade conversion % averaged 0.96% for 3 months before the App Market place launch in November of 2023 and 2.26% for 3 months after (this metric is free trial to paid customer conversion for all pro and business customer accounts - not including Moneris or agents).
According to our Customer Support team, they felt a lower inflow of communications regarding third-party apps. Additionally, for those who did reach out, passing information was easier due to having that integration internally.

Future Considerations

Focus on data collection and gathering user feedback through user interviews.
Add more apps as the third-party integrations market expands.
Bulk actions for apps in “App Marketplace Homepage” in admin.
Let's make something great together!
viktorija.gjorgjievska@gmail.com
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