Half Time Heroes
Team & Role
Onur Unaltay (UI/UX & AI Art)
Jack Smith (UI/UX)
Martin McStravick (Product Manager)
Tools
Figma
UserTesting.com
Dovetail
Amplitude
Freepik AI & Hailuo AI
Year(s)
2024
Project Context
Half Time Heroes is an accumulator based feature with a focus on increasing the average acca leg length.
The concept of the feature is: “Build a match result accumulator with 5+ teams and if all your teams are winning at half-time, we will pay out your full winnings and settle the bet as a winner”. Applies to pre-match selection and draws are not included.
Project Overview:
- How It Started
- Competitor Analysis
- User Touch Points and Final Flow for UAT
- User Interviews feedback (Moderated)
- AI image generation to create product mascot
- Proposed final and Amplitude Data
- Improvements?
How It Started
To kick off the project initiative, I collaborated with the project manager to gather customer feedback.
The method we used to test the appeal of the feature was a card sorting exercise.
We asked 20 customers to read out the list of promotions and then arrange those promotions in buckets named Very Appealing, Somewhat Appealing and Not Appealing and explain their reasons for doing so.
Users who took part in the testing were picked using screener questions, ensuring we only got Sportsbook customers who had placed a bet within the last month. They were not strictly accumulator bettors, nor strictly LSB users.
Users voted for Half-Time Heroes feature. Our "Half-Time Heroes" concept will serve as a unique feature of an accumulator bet, allowing users to cash out at half-time.
Competitor Analysis
We actively monitor our competitors and focus on creating features that provide a strong competitive edge. We believe Half-Time Heroes will deliver a significant advantage over the competition.
Sky Bet introduces the Acca Freeze, a feature that gives users an edge. Build a match result accumulator with 5+ legs and freeze one of the scores to increase your chances of winning.
Paddy Power introduces the Mix and Match Accumulator, allowing you to combine bets from your favorite competitions all in one place. Say goodbye to jumping between matches—now you can effortlessly create your perfect bet.
What is a accumulator bet?
An accumulator allows bettors to combine multiple markets from different events into one bet.
User Touch Point Flow
After selecting the relevant screens from the design system, we start mapping out the user flow, defining the entry and exit points of the journey.
We worked closely with product managers to simplify the user experience for User Acceptance Testing.
Top Down (Approved - outlined in green)
The journey starts with the homepage banner, directing users to the Half-Time Heroes "About" and "FAQ" page for an overview of the feature. After reviewing, users can select up to five matches to trigger the Half-Time Heroes accumulator bet.
Bottom Left to Right
An alternative approach allowed experienced users to click a Half-Time Heroes banner above the match odds to view an interactive animation explaining the feature. However, this was not implemented, as user testing showed that presenting the "About" and "FAQ" upfront was more effective in shortening and simplifying the journey.
Final Flow and UAT
We refined the user touchpoints in the final flow for UAT, which will validated by our key stakeholders and in house users.
User Testing Feedback
During our moderated user testing interviews for Half Time Heroes, I highlighted customer behaviours and overall feedback. While most feedback was positive, some users noted that winning all 5 game selections correctly before half time can be too difficult from a probability standpoint.
I used Dovetail to track tags from moderated user conversations, serving as a reference for future projects involving Half Time Heroes.
How do we
prototype mockups? 🤔
Design System
Here are some of the components from our design system. Our team of 10 has collaboratively built and refined this system.
We organise our components into three categories: Atoms, Molecules, and Organisms. We have design systems for both iOS and Android devices.
Our design system serves as a solid foundation, playing a pivotal role in shaping and streamlining the execution of the project.
We can quickly prototype by leveraging these components, focusing on problem-solving and innovation instead of basic UI creation.
Acts as a library of reusable UI elements and patterns, which reduces the need to design everything from scratch.
Includes accessibility standards, ensuring compliance with usability principles.
Creating Artwork
Using AI 🤯
Creating the Mascot
The name Half Time Heroes immediately made me think of a superhero. To help with ideation, I used Freepik’s AI image generation tool and found a Superman-inspired image that I really liked. Legal had a push back on copyright issues so came up with a alternative version (right). On Photoshop I made adjustment to the colors and incorporated Livescore’s logo.
Applying Art to Banners
I experimented with different art variations for Half Time Heroes.
We received positive feedback for our banner during user interviews, noting that it immediately caught the users' attention.
We chose the 3rd banner as it is better suited for Livescore's branding.
Final Prototype
The flow
User Clicks on Half Time Heroes banner for more info.
User Reads how to claim and FAQ screen and clicks go to todays football.
User can either proceed to select odds from game cards to trigger the betslip or they can press the top promo banner which breaks down the promo in simple steps. Either way, this will take users to the game cards.
If user makes 5 selections, they are eligible for Half time heroes and can place the bet.
Placed bet and now you can see “Eligible for half time heroes” banner in the accumulator bet slip.
Converging Users
Push notifications
70% of our users have the LiveScore App downloaded. Remaining 30% of bettors who use LiveScore Bet App.
We want to increase retention on LiveScore Bet App by promoting Half Time Heroes by notifying LiveScore App audience to place bets on LiveScore Bet. For non registered users to use Half Time Heroes, they need to register with existing account if haven’t done so already.
Shown on the left: When non converged (non registered) user clicks on the notification, LiveScore Bet web will open with the homepage promoting Half time heroes. For new users to place a bet, they need to sign up with their existing account or create new.
Amplitude Data 🎉
In collaboration with the Product Manager, we conducted an Amplitude test to evaluate bet slip engagement for Half Time Heroes. The test was run over 30 days to ensure sufficient exposure across various regions through the promotion banner.
The results were remarkable! The UK emerged as our largest market, followed by Nigeria. This had a positive impact on our Q3 numbers and was celebrated as a successful feature! Overall a 30% jump in traffic and bet slip activity!
We applied our standard Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) calculations, which measure the actual revenue uplift by calculating the difference between the amount players wager minus the amount they win.
Quotes from users
Some of the positive feedback from our punters regarding Half-time Heroes.
“I do like the way that this is sort of branded as halftime heroes rolls off the tongue. Like It feels quite engaging, really positive.”
“That's good! Like very good. So if you're winning at halftime on your five plus uh, accumulator, you'll pay me the full return of the potential money.”
“Oh, that's amazing. Like
Yeah, I'll go for very appealing on that. Halftime heroes is phenomenal, 'cause if your bet is a is winning at halftime, you're going to get paid out. So Yep. Sounds good.”
Future Improvements?
To get the Minimum Viable Product version out quickly, some features were removed from scope to lower the technical complexity of the feature. Here are a list of improvements to further improve the customer journey of half-time heroes.
1
Real-Time Half-Time Score Tracking:
Users will be able to see which games have won at half-time directly within their betslip, allowing them to follow the progress of their accumulator. This keeps users more engaged during matches and builds excitement.
2
Custom Half Time Heroes Branding:
A Half Time Heroes-branded watermark could highlight fixtures that have won at half-time, making the experience visually distinct and strengthening the promotion’s branding. This could be used across labels and within the betslip to create a cohesive promotional identity.
3
Payout Notifications Post-Kambi Integration:
Once the Kambi system is live, users could receive instant messaging (via in-app notifications, SMS, or email) informing them that their winnings have been credited. This gives users immediate feedback, enhancing transparency and satisfaction.