Stripe Apps location in the dashboard A/B test

Stripe Apps
1

I noticed Stripe is running an A/B test on selected accounts for Stripe Apps regarding the location of the app launcher menu.

We announced this to our users when we released a version update of our app:

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Things I like:

  • App recommendations are keyed to the viewport

Things I don’t like:

  • The launcher kills the animation relationship between clicking the app Icon (located on the far left screen, then, from the user’s perspective, the app is expanded to the left, horizontally from the icon in the original interface)
  • App icons are too small
  • Reduces the prominence of Stripe Apps to a single icon (if none are installed), which lessens the hierarchical importance of Stripe Apps in the main dashboard UI.

I don’t have a question; I only have the above opinions/observations. Ultimately, I recognize that the prominence in the placement of Stripe Apps is the prerogative of the Stripe UI developers, but this test does feel like a demotion in importance for Stripe Apps. I hope this doesn’t come across as a criticism. I recognize Stripe needs to prioritize critical features in the UI, and this “B” test may be an elegant way to communicate this hierarchy. I am not privy to the results of this A/B test, so I’m not sure if it’s a good or bad thing: my primary goal is the widespread installation of my app in the App Marketplace.

2

Agreed, this definitely reduces the priority - creates a much bigger leap for users.

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3

I agree; I’m not a fan of this demotion. If Stripe Apps aren’t popular, don’t demote them in the UI. Instead, I’m imploring the Stripe Apps marketing champions to do the legwork to promote Stripe Apps: For those of us who have spent extensive and challenging development time creating a publicly available Stripe App, as one of these developers, I think there’s a chicken-and-egg situation going on here: is the problem isn’t that Stripe apps aren’t popular; or is the problem is that they haven’t been promoted.?

Where is the:

  • In-dashboard app recommendations (recommendations that cater to more than the top 4 apps)?
  • Direct email campaigns?
  • Google advertising support?

Some of the Stripe Apps are great (many are useless), but if Stripe were to endeavor to promote Stripe Apps, the Stripe UI developers wouldn’t (appropriately) feel the need to demote them to a footnote.

TLDR:

  • Are apps a dud and need demotion?

  • Or do Stripe Apps need a promotion to realize their proper place in the UI?

4

Hey Benson, Gus, I missed this thread a few weeks ago but still wanted to reply,

Thanks for the feedback and I love that these types of discussions are happening on Insiders.

We are updating placement for Apps in the dashboard but importantly this is actually a promotion (as opposed to a demotion). I had the same initial concerns you mentioned, but after working through designs and testing it with users, the new placement is increasing prominence for Apps. It’s still early, but as an example, we’re seeing double digit increases in users engaging with apps when they have the new placement. I think this is because Apps are now placed in a higher traffic area alongside other critical items like Setting and Notifications- and we’re of course excited at the results!

For promotion, agree there is much more we can and want to be doing (I think we talked about this in another thread as well), to the things you mentioned;

  • We are looking to expand in-dashboard recommendations to more apps next year
  • This is also something we’ve started testing, and want to help app developers engage better with users.
  • What kind of support for google ads did you have in mind?

Thanks again for giving us the feedback, we really appreciate it.

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5

This is great news. I’m glad you guys are doing your research and trying new things! The results of your B test are surprising and I’m all for it if that’s the case!

That’s great news that you’re doing more in do in-app promotions! Cheers!

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