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XPAND: Designing Athlete–Fan Connections

I designed the end-to-end experience for a new feature on XPAND Sports, allowing subscribers to book 1:1 calls with professional athletes. This involved crafting intuitive user flows, seamless booking interfaces, and ensuring easy access to athlete profiles, all while aligning with XPAND's social platform model to enhance user engagement and subscription value.

Project showcase laptop mockup
Project showcase laptop mockup
Project showcase laptop mockup

Lessons from Patreon, YouTube & Beyond

For the research, I analyzed platforms like Patreon and YouTube, focusing on how they structure paid engagement features. Patreon’s creator-subscriber interactions are limited to content posts, while YouTube integrates live streams and member-only chats to increase real-time engagement. I also examined OnlyFans, where personalized content like direct messaging or custom requests are a key driver of subscriptions, and TikTok's creator tools, which focus on video-based engagement. These insights helped shape XPAND’s approach to making 1:1 athlete calls feel like a unique, interactive experience.


Designing for Connection, Not Just Transactions

The goal is to streamline the booking process, ensuring that subscribers can quickly find and connect with athletes, while maintaining a sense of exclusivity and value within the platform. The design will foster deeper relationships between athletes and fans, driving both user satisfaction and increased subscriptions.

The goal is to streamline the booking process, ensuring that subscribers can quickly find and connect with athletes, while maintaining a sense of exclusivity and value within the platform. The design will foster deeper relationships between athletes and fans, driving both user satisfaction and increased subscriptions.

The goal is to streamline the booking process, ensuring that subscribers can quickly find and connect with athletes, while maintaining a sense of exclusivity and value within the platform. The design will foster deeper relationships between athletes and fans, driving both user satisfaction and increased subscriptions.

Project showcase laptop mockup
Project showcase laptop mockup
Project showcase laptop mockup

Turning Fans Into Subscribers, and Subscribers Into Community

The introduction of the 1:1 athlete call feature on XPAND Sports significantly boosted user acquisition, leading to a 25% increase in new subscriptions within the first quarter. The streamlined booking experience and exclusive content created a strong sense of community, driving higher user retention. As a result, the company saw a 40% rise in revenue from subscriber upgrades and additional bookings, demonstrating the feature’s success in enhancing user engagement and generating significant financial growth.

Next Steps in Building Lasting Engagement

Moving forward, I plan to continuously optimize the 1:1 athlete call feature by closely monitoring user feedback, especially from both athletes and subscribers. Key steps will include:

  1. Iterating on the booking flow based on user behavior and feedback to ensure smooth interactions.

  2. Analyzing data to identify trends in booking frequency, session satisfaction, and user engagement, using A/B testing to refine the experience.

  3. Enhancing personalization by introducing dynamic recommendations for athletes and personalized fan experiences.

  4. Engaging with athletes to gather insights and ensure the feature continues to align with their needs, creating a mutually beneficial platform.

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Collaborate

Dribbble

Linkedin

NINTHHOUSEDESIGN