Problem Statements and Point of View Statements are often some of the most critical statements when trying to figure out a way to improve. Before you can come up with a problem statement, you first need to define the problem.
Problem and Point Of View Statements
In his blog, Aaron Benjamin says it is critical to define three things: the problem, the goal, and the solution. He also states that it is important to define a problem statement to measure how well your solution solves it. If you find a complaint and cause, there is a problem. When configuring a problem statement, it should read, __________ is a challenge for _______ because _______________. An example of a problem statement would be that improving their golf game is a challenge for some players because they do not want to put in the hard work to improve.
On to point of view statements. According to Rikke Fries Dam and Teo You Siang, a point of view statement is a meaningful and actionable problem statement, which will allow you to ideate in a goal-oriented manner. A POV statement is articulated by combining your knowledge of the user you are designing for and the user’s needs. Essentially, a point-of-view statement allows you to tell a meaningful story capturing valuable information about the user, the user’s needs, and your insights.
Reviewing Apps
At some point in your life, you must have spent some time looking at the reviews in an app store. While doing so, you have most certainly come across both negative and positive comments and some suggestive comments. One thing you may not have realized is that those reviews can help provide insights to the designers and developers of the app. When someone leaves an app review, they can sometimes be unbiased. Unbiased reviews are crucial for UX designers because they can learn what users like, dislike, and think can be improved upon with these reviews.
As I previously mentioned, reviews can be categorized into three options: positive, negative, and suggestive. A positive review involves a user explaining a positive experience within the app while highlighting a feature they enjoy. A negative review involves a user explaining a negative experience they have had within the app and how it has affected them while using the app. A suggestive review involves a user recommending something to improve the app, regardless of if the user has a positive or negative experience when using the app.
What Did I Do?
The three apps I chose were FanDuel Sportsbook, DraftKings Sportsbook, and BetMGM Sportsbook. I choose these three apps for a few reasons. The first reason is that I tend to bet occasionally. Mostly, I use DraftKings but have also dabbled with FanDuel and BetMGM. I wanted to analyze three apps that interested me. These three apps are the most popular betting apps but have all received mixed reviews.
I started with FanDuel first because it was the first one that popped into my head, and I have known about FanDuel longer than the other two. The first thing I did when I searched the app in the app store was look up how many stars it had out of five and how many ratings it had. I then took screenshots of the app from the app store before looking at the app’s description and reviews. I first looked for the positive and negative reviews before finally getting into the suggestive reviews. I then did the same things for DraftKings and BetMGM. After looking at reviews for all three apps, I came up with two point of view statements for each app. Creating the two point-of-view statements for each app was crucial as it allowed me to see what changes needed to be made to increase the user experience.
Looking Ahead
I never used to understand the importance of app reviews. After doing some analysis on app reviews, I have realized just how vital app reviews can be. They will help the user decide if they should get the app or not and show the app designers what is working and what is not. One of the benefits of looking at reviews in the app store is that someone is only giving a review if it is something extremely positive or negative. If you have never thought of looking at app reviews, you should do so because it is impossible to tell what insights you might find. By looking at reviews, not only can you improve your app, but you can also improve the experience of its users.
Please see my app point of view analysis PDF below.