Justin Yang
2022
Enabling brands and creators to visually plan content with ease by introducing draft posts - eliminating the pressure of immediate publishing.
Product Design
Overview
Later is a social media marketing and management platform, best known for its scheduling tool that allows users to schedule content to automatically post in advance. Despite its robust scheduling capabilities, the ability to create draft posts had been a missing piece in the workflow. It also stood out as the number one most requested feature from users, who wanted a way to visually organize their content without the immediate commitment to publish their posts.
I led the design efforts for both the web and mobile teams tasked with integrating draft posts into the existing scheduling flow. My role focused on ensuring a cohesive user experience across both platforms.
Later is a social media marketing and management platform, best known for its scheduling tool that allows users to schedule content to automatically post in advance. Despite its robust scheduling capabilities, the ability to create draft posts had been a missing piece in the workflow. It also stood out as the number one most requested feature from users, who wanted a way to visually organize their content without the immediate commitment to publish their posts.
I led the design efforts for both the web and mobile teams tasked with integrating draft posts into the existing scheduling flow. My role focused on ensuring a cohesive user experience across both platforms.
Role
Role
Designer
Designer
Duration
Duration
3 Months
3 Months
Released
Released
11/23/2022
11/23/2022
Platform
Platform
Desktop
iOS
Android
Contribution
Contribution
Shaping Session
Usability Test
Wireframing/Prototyping
Post launch survey
Impact on Business
The release of draft posts addressed a longstanding need for our power users to streamline their content planning process. In the first 3 months post-launch of the feature, we saw:
The release of draft posts addressed a longstanding need for our power users to streamline their content planning process. In the first 3 months post-launch of the feature, we saw:
14%
Increase in trial activations, attributed to drafts
Increase in trial activations, attributed to drafts
9.65%
Increase in scheduled posts compared to previous 3 months
Increase in scheduled posts compared to previous 3 months
Addressing Our User Needs
Later’s feature offerings focuses mainly on scheduling and publishing content, which has left users without adequate support for the planning stage of their workflows. Currently, there is no way to save content on to a post, without it being scheduled.
Later’s feature offerings focuses mainly on scheduling and publishing content, which has left users without adequate support for the planning stage of their workflows. Currently, there is no way to save content on to a post, without it being scheduled.
User interviews revealed many users rely on workarounds, such as creating placeholder posts to delete later in our calendar or using third-party tools like spreadsheets, to plan their content.
User interviews revealed many users rely on workarounds, such as creating placeholder posts to delete later in our calendar or using third-party tools like spreadsheets, to plan their content.
Draft posts have been the most requested feature by Later users for years, with over 193 votes on our community board.
Draft posts have been the most requested feature by Later users for years, with over 193 votes on our community board.
"Drafts. That is all."
"Give us an area at the top of the calendar for draft posts."
"Please just create a draft function. It's killing me and my clients to not have this feature!"
"Is there a way to draft and save posts until you decide WHEN you want to post them?"
"Could you make it possible to save drafts of posts for the date and time you eventually want to schedule"
"I need a way to save posts for later, like an unscheduled draft."
A/B Testing
Since Later’s scheduling flow was already well established in our users’ mental models, the drafting option needed to be presented as a clear alternative to the primary scheduling CTA. I explored multiple design approaches for integrating the ‘Save as Draft’ option within the existing post builder. To identify the most intuitive solution, the research team and I conducted an A/B test, where we presented active users with two variations for saving drafts on both the desktop and mobile apps.
Since Later’s scheduling flow was already well established in our users’ mental models, the drafting option needed to be presented as a clear alternative to the primary scheduling CTA. I explored multiple design approaches for integrating the ‘Save as Draft’ option within the existing post builder. To identify the most intuitive solution, the research team and I conducted an A/B test, where we presented active users with two variations for saving drafts on both the desktop and mobile apps.
Design Solution
The final designs focused on seamlessly integrating draft posts into the existing scheduling flow for both the web and mobile apps. The goal was to make the feature so intuitive that users could adopt it without the needing any onboarding or learning new behaviours.
The final designs focused on seamlessly integrating draft posts into the existing scheduling flow for both the web and mobile apps. The goal was to make the feature so intuitive that users could adopt it without the needing any onboarding or learning new behaviours.
Takeaways
This feature was a good challenge, as it really highlighted the importance of consistency and adaptability in multi-platform design. Ensuring a cohesive experience across devices required close collaboration with developers, researchers.
This feature was a good challenge, as it really highlighted the importance of consistency and adaptability in multi-platform design. Ensuring a cohesive experience across devices required close collaboration with developers, researchers.
TEAM:
Web Team: Kelvin Lee, Sarchen Starke, Hamish Brindle, Carlos Lazarini
Mobile Team: Bennett Cheung, Nikolai Prokofev, Stephanie Finn, Riyaz Mansoor
Product Manager: Matt Sia, Mannat Cheema
Design: Justin Yang
Design: Justin Yang
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