Working at Precious, we were always given the green light to explore different ideas that we felt would impact the business in a big way. One such idea that I spearheaded from conception to launch was the Cutouts feature.
Problem
Problem
Through dozens of interviews and user tests, we found that one of the things that parents sought the most was to take great, studio-quality photos of their baby. However many parents didn't have the time nor could they afford to take their baby to the studio. DIY shots also proved to be challenging to the novice photographer and often resulted in dark, grainy and less than share-worthy photos of their baby. Of the two personas that I created, this definitely checked all the boxes for Samantha Wright, “The Power Sharer”.
Solution
The concept was to use background removal technology and place the subject into professionally photographed or digitally composited backgrounds. Customized filters, lighting, shadows as well as other image enhancing tools further helped integrate the image into the backdrop.
Prototype & Testing
To validate we iterated on and tested multiple prototypes over several months to hone in on how our customers used the cutouts feature and how to best enhance the experience. For example, the very first prototype was a rudimentary test that asked users to imagine that their child was being cutout using our technology. Whereas later tests were live, in-app using tech that we created to cut out images in real time and then drop them onto professionally photographed backdrops.
What We Learned
Some of the insights, problems and corresponding solutions that we uncovered through testing included:
Uncanny Valley
We hypothesized that users would have a problem with their cutouts looking too “Photoshopped” and unrealistic.
We hypothesized that users would have a problem with their cutouts looking too “Photoshopped” and unrealistic.
Solution:
Through user tests we discovered that less than 20% of users had an issue with images not looking real enough. We still endeavored to close the gap of realism by sourcing backdrops from professional photographers and moved away from photoshop composites.
Through user tests we discovered that less than 20% of users had an issue with images not looking real enough. We still endeavored to close the gap of realism by sourcing backdrops from professional photographers and moved away from photoshop composites.
Full Body
We discovered early on that users didn’t take many full body photos of their babies, thus making a lot of the original backdrops we had unusable.
We discovered early on that users didn’t take many full body photos of their babies, thus making a lot of the original backdrops we had unusable.
Solution:
We remedied this by creating backdrops that allowed for “half body shots” which appeared to cover the bottom half of the baby.
We remedied this by creating backdrops that allowed for “half body shots” which appeared to cover the bottom half of the baby.
Novelty or Job to be done
Two different types of users started to emerge; those that used the cutouts feature for entertainment and novelty factor, and those who actually had a job to be done and wanted to create a memory keepsake.
Two different types of users started to emerge; those that used the cutouts feature for entertainment and novelty factor, and those who actually had a job to be done and wanted to create a memory keepsake.
Solution:
We introduced themed backdrops that fulfilled jobs that users were looking to complete including creating cutouts with monthly, holiday and seasonal themes.
We introduced themed backdrops that fulfilled jobs that users were looking to complete including creating cutouts with monthly, holiday and seasonal themes.
Overall the Cutout feature was incredibly successful and became one of the most popular features on Precious. It really met the needs of users looking to enhance photos and create studio quality photos of their loved ones. So much so that Precious saw its NPS score increase by 15% to a score of 66. Further more, both daily retention and free trial to paid both increased by 8% each.