JET CITY MUSIC
JCM PEDAL CLUB CASE STUDY
OVERVIEW
Jet City Music is an online musical instrument retailer based in Seattle, WA. Started in 2010, the company sells a unique selection of products aimed toward working musicians. I started working for the company from the very beginning as a contract web designer.
In addition to providing design for the company, I also worked closely with the owner on marketing ideas. One of the ideas I came up with was the Jet City Music Pedal Club. Inspired by my wife’s Stitch Fix subscription—I developed a similar idea for JCM customers. But, instead of items of clothing determined by a “Fashion Stylist” sent to a customer, I thought the idea of JCM customers having three guitar pedals sent to them every month would be a great idea.
THE PROBLEM
Unlike Stitch Fix or similar companies, where the items are fully curated—I believed it was important to offer more flexibility to JCM customers. So began the process of determining how to not only allow our customers to receive “curated” items, but also be able to choose specific items they wanted, in addition to receiving a monthly order that included both “curated” and “self-selected” items.
THE SOLUTION
While on paper the ability to have a user receive both “fully-curated” and “self-selected” items seemed simple—it was fairly complicated to implement a user experience that was both simple, clear and intuitive. Below I share how I turned this idea into a reality.
THE JOURNEY
SKETCHES
As with most design projects—I started with basic sketches, both on a white board and on paper. This helped me visualize the solution to the problems I’m trying solve before I open up Figma. The sketches below are a condensed version of the user flow from Onboarding, moving through the Tone Profile before ending on the completion screen.
USER FLOW
After some initial sketching, I worked on the User Flow. Sometimes with the traditional rectangles and diamond shapes—and sometimes with screens. Here, I decided to use screens as I find it easier to read at a glance.
The example below is a condensed example of a User Flow moving from Onboarding through Tone Profile, Plan Overview, Plan Description, User Info, Order Summary, User Account and Product Category. These steps represent how the user moves from initial introduction to completion.
USER TESTING
I tested a prototype with eight users on UserTesting.com. All of the users were guitar players with varying degrees of experience—some were gigging professionals, while others were hobbyists. The feedback I was look for was:
Would a user be attracted to this type of subscription model?
What price point would be acceptable to the user?
Does the app do an acceptable job of explaining the service?
Does the app provide an easy-to-understand and intuitive flow? In other words, were there any points in the process that seemed confusing or tripped up the user?
Overall, most of the users liked the idea of the service—being able to receive three pedals a month to try out, keep what they like and return what they don’t. While a couple of the user’s expressed concerns about having yet another subscription to pay for, as so many services these days are subscription-based.
All of the user’s were able to wend their way through the process of signing up for the service. Although, some user’s were confused by the choices offered. I was expecting this, as one of the more difficult aspects of this flow was how to present these choices in a clear and concise way.
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User 1
cassiejo
Experience: Hobbyist
Device: iPhone
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Age: 35, Female”I love the idea of this, but I would be hesitant to pay the $20 a month. I’m not sure I would have the time to try out three pedals a month. But, getting pedals chosen for me would be great.”
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User 2
jasonf
Experience: Performing Professional
Device: iPhone
Location: Seattle, WA
Age: 46, Male“This is a great idea! I really like the option to choose the pedals myself or have them chosen for me. As a gigging musician, I’m always searching for new and exciting sounds.”
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User 3
jamiepdx
Experience: Recording Professional
Device: iPhone
Location: Portland, OR
Age 41“As a studio owner, I’m always looking for new toys to gain inspiration. Trying out new pedals with my own guitars and amps is so much better than watching endless YouTube videos.”
THE HARD PART
While I thought the idea of a “Pedal Club” where users could select up to three effect pedals to try for a month was a good feature—trying to figure out how the actual user flow in the app would work made me go cross-eyed.
Unlike a company like Stitch Fix, where the user takes a style quiz and everything is selected for them, I envisioned the users of our pedal club to be able to select the pedals they want—but also have the option to have one of our tone specialists curate the pedals sent to them.
Of course, I had to make this more complicated by allowing the user to mix and match their choice of pedals with curated ones. For example, a user could select all three pedals, or they could select two on their own and one curated—or one of their own and two curated.
While the basic concept of this approach is fairly simple to understand—implementing a user flow that is intuitive and simple presented quite the challenge.
THE DESIGN
ONBOARDING
Once the user taps on the “Learn More” button on the Home Screen, they’re brought to a simple three-screen Onboarding carousel. The goal here was to provide a clear and succinct overview of the service and entice the user to move effortlessly to the next step in the process.
TONE PROFILE
In this section the user is asked to fill out their “Tone Profile.” The user is asked a series of questions on multiple screens that helps the Tone Specialist select just the right pedals for the user.
SELECTING A PLAN
Once the user completes their Tone Profile they’re taken to a screen where they can choose their plan:
Fully Curated (All pedals are chosen for them)
Select Three (The user selects all three pedals)
Select Two (The user selects two pedals, receives one curated pedal)
Select One (The user selects one pedal, receives two curated pedals)
You may be asking: “Why offer so many options?” Good question. It would be much easier to just offer a fully curated experience, or just let the user select all the pedals. We went back and forth on this forever…
We were really attracted to the curated approach as it seemed unique and could not only provide some delight to the user, but also be educational—as the user could be exposed to a product they would have never thought of buying.
But, I also know that guitarists are a picky bunch, and not allowing them to choose the pedals themselves would be a bad idea. To offer the most flexibility possible, we decided to offer both options, as well as a mix of curated and self-selected pedals.
USER ACCOUNT
Once the user has created their account, they’re taken to the “My Account” screen. Here they can access the details of their plan, view/edit their tone profile, view “Saved” pedals, as well as access account details like: payment info, shipping info, orders and account settings.
CHECKOUT
This was one of the more challenging problems to solve. As a user can either simply add the item to their cart as a one-time purchase, or add it to their Pedal Club subscription.
To make things as simple as possible, I decided to reveal the choice on the “Your Cart” modal—rather than have two CTAs on the product page. If the user selects “One-time Purchase,” they go to Checkout like any other online store. Although, if they decide to add the item to their Pedal Club subscription it takes them to a screen with an overview of their plan, as well as a display of the pedals they have added.
From this screen, the user can view their plan, see the pedals they’ve added, view the product page of the added pedal, as well as remove the pedal. Once the user has added the number of pedals that matches their plan, the “Deliver My Pedals” button becomes active, and they can schedule their delivery.
IN CONCLUSION
The Jet City Music Pedal Club is a unique subscription that allows musicians to try out three pedals a month, keep the ones they like and return what they don’t. There is no other online music retailer than offers a service like this. Until now, the only way a musician could demo a pedal is to purchase one from a retailer and go through the arduous process of returning it. Or by watching endless YouTube demos of dubious credibility.
We’re still in the process of working out all the details—from the business side of things to the design and implementation. We’re very confident that this service will successful—and set Jet City Music apart from its competition.