We deleted 40% of our UI and signups went up. Here's the counterintuitive lesson.
I deleted half our app and people actually started using it???
Ok so i've been building Composed (texting help for dating) for a while now and last month I had this moment where i just... hated looking at it.
Like it worked fine. A lot of people were using it. but every time I opened the app I felt tired? Idk how else to describe it.
It looked a little 2000's. Settings panels everywhere. Buttons that say things like "Change Preferences" like bro this is supposed to help people flirt not file taxes!
The cleaning
You know the scene in every makeover movie where they throw everything out of the closet? that was me for like 2 weeks
I literally went through every screen asking "would my Mom know what this does" (she would not but thats the bar)
Stuff we killed:
those "Get Suggestions" buttons - now the AI just... gives you suggestions. revolutionary I know haha
the whole profile setup thing at the beginning - now it just learns as you go
two entire menu sections that analytics said like 40 people clicked ever
The thing that actually mattered
Heres the part I didnt expect - we stopped losing people during signup
Before: people would start signing up and then just use the app once a week, or even less
After: People signing in much more spontaneously multiple times a day to write back messages - maybe they are getting more dates these days?
We removed all the places where someone could feel cluttered and close the tab
Building for phones before we have a phone app
Ok this sounds dumb writing this out but...
We don't have an iphone app yet. its coming but not yet. BUT we started designing everything like we did
Every decision became "would this work if someone was using their thumb on the train" and weirdly that constraint made everything better??
You cant just add another settings page on mobile. you cant hide stuff in menus. it has to just make sense immediately
So now when we do build the ios app most of the hard decisions are already made.
The AI is getting kinda scary tbh
Humble brag section... but the suggestions are getting really good
It now looks at:
what you've already said to this specific person
what you told us you actually want (hookup vs relationship vs idk yet)
the vibe of the last few messages if applicable
whether its 2pm or 2am (very different energies)
We're getting "it said what i was already thinking but... better"
Which is exactly what we want. Not to be your ghostwriter. More like that friend who looks at your text before you send it and goes "maybe don't say that"
Stuff I learned I guess
small screen first even if you're not on small screens yet. The limitations help
delete stuff before you add stuff. everything you ship you gotta maintain forever and honestly its exhausting
"simple" takes forever. our clean ui took 7 months of ugly versions first
if you hate looking at your own product thats probably a sign
Anyway happy to talk about any of this. The dating app space is weird and you have opinions.
Question for yall - whats something you removed from your product that accidentally made it better?
