Increasing Engagement Through Strategic Redesign of TheOutpost.ai

TheOutpost.ai is a web app that provides a curated list of AI tools and the latest AI news.

Increase the number of visitors through marketing by creating a launch video and social media posts, as well as short videos for YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels.

Although offering a variety of curated AI tools and a list feature, TheOutpost.ai was struggling to retain users.

We analyzed the data, identified each problem, and realized we needed multiple solutions. We aimed to introduce a feature that boosts engagement, increases repeated users, and attracts more unique visitors. Here are the ideas with the highest ratings from affinity mapping:

Podcast To address the issue of recurring users, incorporating a podcast could be a strong strategy. It's likely that our users will develop a habit of tuning in regularly.

Video Streaming Similar to a podcast, this approach can help attract recurring visitors and potentially increase session duration.

Event Section By informing AI enthusiasts about live events, we can keep them updated on how they can evolve with the idea. This approach may attract unique visitors as well as build the community.

Newsletter Creating a weekly newsletter that includes summaries of AI news, launches, and events can help increase user retention rates. It will also make a loyal user base.

News Providing curated news specifically related to AI can help users develop a habit of using our platform, attract unique visitors, extend session duration, and increase the number of recurring users. This approach could be a groundbreaking solution to many of our challenges.

To give the ideas life, we first talked with the tech team to find out how much work it would take to build the features, considering our launch timeline. We also looked at the effort needed for design and the potential impact of each idea.

As it's coming out that Podcast and Video will take more effort and less impact, we decided to use other platforms like YouTube and Spotify to make awareness about AI innovations and gain users from there itself.

I was responsible for adding the news section to the site. To start, I began with secondary research and analyzed user personas that were created earlier. I also performed a competitive analysis and found that there were no competitors focusing solely on AI news. Since we were introducing something new to our users and site, I needed to prioritize the news section.

During our brainstorming sessions, we discussed whether users should see news or tools first. We considered that news is something users would check daily, whereas tools are used only when needed. This insight led us to prioritize the news section prominently to attract daily visitors and keep them engaged with fresh, relevant content.

To decide on the layout, I reviewed dedicated news platforms like CNET, The Hindu, Livemint, The Verge, and Google News. I found these platforms to be very crowded, with high cognitive load, lack of clear advertisement guidelines, repetitive news, and accessibility issues.

Based on the analysis of other news platforms, I proposed to the team that we should feature a limited number of news items, each with a dedicated image and clear priority. The content should also be curated. After discussing the proposal with the team, they agreed to this approach.

I began by sketching the layout on paper, making sure it should be flexible enough to adapt to future changes (like varying amounts of news) and included space for advertisements, as required by business decisions.

After several iterations of wireframes, the team approved the design. I then turned these wireframes into high-fidelity designs. Thanks to our earlier work on a scalable design system, I was able to use it effectively, minimising additional effort for the news section.

After 30 days of the launch, the results matched our expectations.

TheOutpost continues to grow, with daily progress and new ideas being implemented. I also contributed to marketing efforts by creating engaging videos for launches and the weekly newsletter using tools like Final Cut Pro and DaVinci Resolve. These efforts helped us attract unique visitors to the site.