EA Play Membership Awareness

EA App

Overview

With a new desktop application in the works and a plan to deprecate the Origin product and its membership offering, the EA Play membership was born. As with any new product, we needed to find better ways to teach our players about the latest offerings and how they would impact their experience within the desktop app. We identified the following problems from our user-testing sessions and research.

Players don’t understand the "what" — There are challenges with explaining precisely what the product is. We’ve been unable to define our brand positioning, demonstrate our product features and unique selling propositions, and differentiate our subscription tiers.

Players don’t understand the "how" — The foundational aspiration of the EA App is to initiate a shift in how our players connect to our games. The difficulty has been conveying that we’re offering a subscription — not a game-rental service — while still allowing players to purchase the games a la carte.

Players don’t understand the "why" — Another obstacle we faced was conveying the benefit of the EA Play membership rather than purchasing a game. In an increasingly competitive subscription marketplace, it is vital to explain why our players should choose our service over any other.

ResponsibilE for: UX/IA,Design, prototyping

Subscription landing page

Approach

To explain the "what," reduce the information burden.

Create a landing page version that showcases the Pro tier during spike periods (AAA game launches).
Create a separate landing page to promote the Basic tier between game launches.
Optimize copy with a simple, powerful, one-line explanation of what our product is. Repeat that line everywhere, and reinforce it in player-outreach efforts.

To explain the "how," let the landing page be a story — not a checkout line.

We’ve optimized our application for acquisitions at every turn. Game hubs offer a straightforward checkout mechanism, and a persistent memberhsip button is available to players everywhere in the app. Rather than preventing players from bouncing out of the landing page, we should encourage their browsing behavior by making game tiles clickable, offering direct access to the All games page, and reinforcing members-only benefits directly on game hubs.

To explain the "why," sell exclusivity — not games.

Replace feature messaging with vivid, personalized stories about the members-only benefits of our membership.
Promote exclusive in-game items, early access to upcoming releases, and a concierge information service that enriches your playtime experience while helping you discover your next favorite game.