Abhijith · Product Designer

smartlinks

Case study · 10 Min Read

Role

Product design

Timeline

Dec '22 - Feb '23

Company

OpeninApp

OpeninApp is a super-app for content creators to grow, monetize, and distribute their content. This project is solving the issue of links opening in the wrong place.

Goto final design

THE Problem

A Hidden Flaw in Social Media Links

In-App Browsers Disrupt User Experience and Creator Success

In-app browsers block fullscreen video playback

Users can’t like, comment, or subscribe easily

Creators struggle to drive traffic effectively

User experience feels clunky and limited

In-App browsers

Objective & goals

Creating Seamless Transitions Between Apps

Develop a Solution that Redirects Social Media Links to the Right Apps

User goal

Redirect audiences to native apps for full functionality and a seamless experience

User goal

Redirect audiences to native apps for full functionality and a seamless experience

User goal

Redirect audiences to native apps for full functionality and a seamless experience

Business goal

Drive growth by boosting user engagement and empowering creators to monetize effectively through smart link redirection

Business goal

Drive growth by boosting user engagement and empowering creators to monetize effectively through smart link redirection

Business goal

Drive growth by boosting user engagement and empowering creators to monetize effectively through smart link redirection

Research & Insights

Understanding Social Media Links

We did User Research on Content creators and their Audience. We found that

Links users shares are the entry points for solution

Deep linking technology can open apps directly

This problem is faced not only by creators but brands also

Most of the competitors have bad user experience

Link Shorteners are a Common Tool for Creators

Most of the creators used link shortener tools to shorten their existing. These link shorteners are primarily focused on marketer than creators. They had desktop first designs made it very difficult to use in mobile which 95% of creators are using.

SWOT competitor analysis

IDEATION & CONCEPTS

What if a Link Shortener with Deep-Linking

The Solution should meet these Criterias

Simple and intuitive design for non tech savvy people

Mobile first design approach for creator's ease of use

Help creators to organize their links in one place

Show link analytics and performance insights

The solution

The birth of "Smartlinks"

Combining Short links with the Power of Deep linking

Smartlinks ensured all social media links to open in the respective apps rather than opening in in-app browsers. This simple solution can amplify distribution and maximize monetization for creators. It also enhances the user experience for their audience.

Smartlink Dashbaord

Creating a new Smartlink

The "Learn while Use" flow

We figured points where users can get confused or stuck and Integrated seamless video tutorials experience to avoid this. We added stories to the product to make awareness in user and feature discoverability

Entry points for video tutorials

Tutorial video playing interaction

The "Paste" option

Added a paste function in the destination link input to rapid creation, which reduced the link creation time by half. Hiding non essential things for reducing the cognitive load without losing the context.

Smartlink creation bottomsheet

Breaking down Analytics for Usability and Discoverability

For creators showing graphs and numbers are just vague information. Not only that, from business perspective saving 15 rows of data for each redirection is a ton of data since we are driving millions of redirections daily.

To solve this, we created insights from analytics. We broke down analytics and applied algorithms to show insights on what creator want.

Insights screen analysis

Insights Interaction

FINAL DESIGN

Functionality meets Aesthetics

The Candy Design system

To ensure joy and blissfull experience, we created a design system that evokes these emotions with bright and playful style of design. It was my responsibility to make sure that the designs are yummy.

Smartlink Dashboard and Creation Screens

Candy Design System Sneak peek

Smartlink Dashboard interactions

Smartlink Dashboard desktop

Insights screens

Smartlink Editing screens

Other Screens

Onboarding Screen

IMPACT & OUTCOMES

Smartlinks achieved phenomenal success

After 24 months of grinding and polishing, we achieved

0 to 4 million signups

500K Monthly active users

15K average daily Signups

Fastest experience among competitors

Creators loved Us

Top creators in the world like Logan Paul, Neha Kakkar, Sidemen, Bhuvan Bam, Rishab Pant, KL Rahul and millions became loyal users of smartlinks. Even Prime minister of Italy, Georgia Meloni using usfor her PR works.