UX Research & Design
Nadia Burger
Sep 10, 2025
Summary
The challenge was to explore how we might adapt the existing subscription experience on a prominent South African news platform to add a New York Times bundle offer and other offers to come, as well as optimize the plan selection screen for conversions.
My process included market research into how other publishers and adjacent markets present offers (especially bundle offers), as well as conversion and pricing UX best practices and user data to understand the mindset and motivations of the target audience.
The result was a complete updated user journey from plan selection screen to account management with an overall expected conversion lift of 15-31%.
Above: The plan selection screen before the update (desktop, mobile)
The Challenge
The current plan selection screen presents one offer with three billing period options.
The challenge therefore was:
How to update the plan selection screen information architecture to allow for multiple new offers
How to present a bundle offer and what that complete user journey looks like
How to optimize the the plan selection screen for conversions
My Process
Market Research:
Bundle offers in publishing and adjacent industries
Key Insights
Looking at 3 international publishers and 3 adjacent markets with bundle offers, I found that
For this kind of offer the value proposition is usually the partner brand (logo therefore displayed prominently) and the savings compared to individual subscriptions.
Following a mobile-first approach in my research, I noticed marked differences between Mobile web and App UX patterns, based on the audience and their psychology, content strategy, and platform capabilities. For example, mobile web users are typically less invested and in comparison mode, and therefore focused on efficiency and less tolerance for friction.
App users on the other hand, are highly invested with higher purchase intent, and can therefore tolerate detailed benefit explanations. App also gives native control over UI elements enabling a sticky CTA at the bottom of the screen, which has a 20-30% conversion uplift.Billing periods are most often presented as a toggle above the plans.
Plans are most often presented as cards stacked vertically on mobile, which allows the user to 1. locate a plan and 2. then flip through billing options to compare pricing.
A 'How it works' and/or FAQ section is provided below the plans to proactively deal with questions or objections.
User Research:
Primary User Persona
Key Insights
Demand for the bundle offer was validated through a survey of existing subscribers. The user persona for the bundle offer is a 32 year old black female professional based in Gauteng, working in the financial services industry who needs a global perspective for client conversations but is budget conscious and most likely reads during her commute.
Best Practices Research:
Conversion UX, Pricing UX
Key Insights
Psychology of the user at the Pricing page
Pricing pages capture users at their moment of highest intent. However, users arrive in a state of uncertainty, needing to quickly understand:
the value proposition and their options (Clarity)
feel assured about their choice (Confidence)
be motivated to act (Conversion)
Information hierarchy for pricing pages
The amount of space and prominence allocated to elements should reflect the primary decision the user has to make and the complexity of the decision.
i.e. if there are multiple plans and multiple billing periods, the primary (and most complex) decision is the plan selection, and the secondary decision is the billing period (simple decision). This might look like having the billing periods in a toggle and the plans as cards below. [image]Key elements of a high-converting pricing page
Clarity
Clear value proposition that connects features to outcomes
Intuitive tier structure with obvious differentiation
Transparent pricing with no hidden costs
Confidence
Social proof validation (e.g. reviews or testimonials)
Risk reduction mechanisms (e.g. free trial or money back guarantee)
Authority and credibility signals (compliance badges)
Proactive objection handling (e.g. FAQ)
Conversion
Clear next steps with minimal friction
Strategic urgency when authentic
Multiple conversion paths for different user types
Solution
User Journey: Subscription flow for anonymous user
The updated subscription flow includes the updated plan selection screen as well as one additional screen after the payment screen that confirms to the user that their purchase has been successful and what the next steps are for activating their New York Times subscription.
Updated screen
User selects NYT bundle option on plan selection screen
Completes the usual payment process
New screen
Receives immediate confirmation of bundle purchase
Gets welcome email with NYT activation instructions
Clicks redemption link & enters code on NYT site
Creates NYT credentials
Returns to primary news platform for primary content
Above: The updated subscription user journey
High fidelity prototype: Updated Plan Selection Screen
The updated plan selection screen below.
Based on the fact that the NOVA web engineering team has more capacity than the app team, we decided to implement the new design on web first, optimized with the conversion psychology of this user in mind. This will allow us to make improvements and then take those learnings to the app.
Above from left to right: The existing NOVA subscription screen and the updated screen (Figma prototype)
Main differences:
Social proof and value proposition in the headline (Confidence)
The billing period is represented in a toggle below the headline (Clarity)
The offers are presented as vertically stacked accordion cards (Clarity)
Benefits and conversion-focused CTAs provided inside expanded cards (Conversion)
Savings calculated and highlighted (Conversion)
Subscriber testimonial (social proof) below cards (Confidence)
FAQ to handle objections or concerns proactively (Confidence)
Impact
While precise results can only be measured post-implementation, current research shows:
Expected conversion lift of 15-31% by introducing a value proposition alone (Invesp).
Testimonials increase conversions by up to 34% on sales pages, while displaying reviews can increase conversion rates by up to 270% (Helloclicks, Wisernotify)