SUBtrack: Imagining a Better Subscription Management Service
By Abigail McPhail, McKayla Boyd, and Taylor Fletcher
In the technology revolution we’re living in, each new product draws us in with promises of an easier or even automated life. And in theory, it sounds great; so we naturally jump on board. After all, why wouldn’t we want to turn over our mundane cares to a computer?
In practice, however, too much automation can be detrimental. When we place our worries out of sight, out of mind, we run the risk of letting this helpful function blind us from problems accumulating under the surface. Our group was faced with the task of designing a solution for one such example of automation and the undesirable effects that go with it: recurring subscriptions.
The Problem
When it comes to subscriptions, the main overarching problem is that users have a hard time managing subscriptions that are either forgotten or simply never used. The basic ideas behind subscriptions are simple, and it makes sense that we would want to automate a payment that we would choose to make on a regular basis anyway. In reality, however, people often sign up for services that they either forget about or don’t use enough, but that continue to subtly drain their bank account. This results in stress and low bank accounts rather than a promised peace of mind.
Taking this problem at face value, one may think that the obvious solution is that people should simply be more meticulous about managing their finances. But when you think about the ever-increasing number of available subscription services — from business platforms to media streaming to monthly deliveries of razors at your door — how can we expect even the most financially-conscious individual to keep track of all of these small recurring charges without help? As Don Norman has noted,
“In my experience, human error usually is a result of poor design: it should be called system error. Humans err continually; it is an intrinsic part of our nature. System design should take this into account.”
Now, of course the subscription systems have taken this into account, and in some cases have been purposefully designed to be forgettable. However, in order to combat this and our intrinsic nature, we believe that the solution lies in simply being made aware of the true impact of our subscription choices.
Existing Solutions
There are several existing solutions that attempt to address the problem of subscription management. In the initial research phase of our project we reviewed three prominent companies and their services.
Truebill
First, we looked at Truebill. Truebill is a company that offers a robust financial manager in the form of an app. One main service they offer allows you to connect the Truebill app to your bank account and then scan it to find recurring transactions. It tracks these transactions, reporting data about them and putting them on a calendar. Along with this service they offer a Lower My Bills feature in which they review your current bills (cable, internet, cell service, etc.) and work to negotiate a lower rate. The app is free to download and use, but they charge you 40% of the annual savings they may negotiate for you. There is also an option to upgrade to Truebill Premium for $4.99 per month, in which you gain access to features like one-click cancellation and refund requests for late payments.
Trim
Next, we examined Trim. Trim is extremely similar to Truebill in all of the services they offer. However they provide their services through an only online account rather than an app. There are also some slight differences in the way they charge for their services. Along with the above mentioned services, both Truebill and Trim offer users the ability to open a savings account as well.
SubscriptMe
Lastly, we researched SubscriptMe, an app that scans your phone and email inbox to detect subscriptions. It then categorizes them and provides an overview of your spending. It allows you to set reminders for upcoming payments and input any subscriptions that weren’t automatically detected. It also features an explore page in which you can browse popular subscription services you may not be using yet. Yet, it has an average of 1.4 out of 5 stars on the App store and is an expensive investment for users.
Our Solution
Although we admired something about each of these solutions, we felt that they weren’t complete on their own. Therefore, with SUBtrack, we felt that the following features were the most important:
Providing a central location for managing all subscriptions
We wanted to make it as quick and easy as possible for people to be able to gather all of their subscription information in one place, so our app offers a number of methods for doing so: by scanning the user’s emails, the apps on their phone, their bank records, and/or by manually inputting any that don’t show up in these scans. SUBtrack is the first of its kind to offer all of these options together, as well as a new option not offered by the competition: a browser extension that allows the user to link relevant accounts with the click of a button.
Making it easier to unsubscribe from services that are no longer wanted
Subscription management pages are often somewhat hidden, and it can be difficult to find the ‘unsubscribe’ button on many sites. SUBtrack puts all of the ‘unsubscribe’ buttons in one easy-to-navigate place. It also provides a link to the subscription management page for each service if the user wishes to only modify their subscription instead of cancelling it.
Providing visual representations of subscription-related spending
With the help of charts and graphs, SUBtrack allows the user to visualize how much they are spending on subscription services on a monthly and yearly basis. The user is able to see a breakdown of how much money was spent on different categories of subscriptions, like entertainment and shopping.
Notifying the user when subscription payments (including those of free trials) are due
Users can opt in to being notified before a payment is due, which can be especially helpful when the user is participating in a free trial for a subscription they don’t wish to continue after the trial period. The user is also able to see a calendar view of past and future payments. The app also notifies the user when there will be changes in the price of a subscription.
Our Design Thinking Process
In designing our app, we wanted to make something that was as user-friendly and effective as possible. We went through a number of iterations to gradually hone our design. After we defined our problem, and narrowed the scope of our goals, we started with rough sketches, first outlining the structure and focus of our approach. We decided that our app would have 3 main screens:
- a sortable list of all subscriptions that can be expanded to view additional information about specific subscriptions
- a page that details a summary of subscription spending as well as a visual breakdown of that spending by category
- a page for viewing notifications of upcoming payments, which includes a simplified calendar view to allow the user to see an overview of the payments due each week.
Once we figured out this basic structure, we began to work on a rough wireframe that we gradually refined until we arrived at a polished prototype.
During this refinement, we removed features that added unnecessary bloat to our design that would have compromised usability, and added features that improved usability. We then took this prototype to a group of potential users and had them test it. This test included a survey and an observation period where we took note of the way the users interacted with our app while performing pre-determined tasks. This testing offered many helpful insights that we used to refine our design even further. We, as well as the users we tested with, feel that we have arrived on a design that is a simple, easy to use, and viable option for those wishing to keep tabs on their subscriptions.
Our Results and Final Prototype
We discovered through our survey that 80% of our test audience would like a subscription management app and 90% of them would consider using SUBtrack for this particular need. Along with this, they specifically found that our summary and notification pages were useful for their purposes. Along with all of this, there was a universal acknowledgment that the design and the order of the navigational elements were intuitive. All in all, our users would love to find a better way to keep track of where their money is going.
That being said, we did have some changes to make to this original prototype. These changes include:
- Keeping the navigation bar within the internal subscription descriptions for continual easy navigation.
- Calendar within notification bar was enlarged and created to be more intuitive.
- Added an email section added to “Add Subscription” form in order to make room to be able to scan emails for better information.
Our future plans include the ability to sync a Google Extension into our app as well as access to scanning emails for recent subscription information. On top of this, better knowledge of the subscription sites in order to help navigate our users to be able to “Unsubscribe” and manage their accounts to their full abilities.
In sum, SUBtrack is the next, innovative solution for subscription management needs. With our app, our users will be able to view a summary of their payments, complete with breakdowns by categories and average monthly payments. Along with this, they will be able to see the specific details for each subscription and follow the easy path to “unsubscribe.” On top of all of this, we plan on making our app able to scan emails for so users will never miss a notification or a payment. All in all, we plan on making subscription management easy with SUBtrack.
