Reply feature enhanced fan–artist communication
Artist messages sent increased by 4.6%
Company
fromm
Industry
Social Platform
Duration
3 Months (2025)
My Role
Product Designer
Team
1 Product Designer, 1 Project Lead, 1 Product Manager, 6 Engineers(Android, iOS, Backend), 1 QA Tester
Overview
What is fromm?
fromm is a K-POP fandom platform where artists and their fans connect through direct messaging.
It is designed to look and feel like a standard personal messaging app, allowing fans to receive messages directly from their favorite stars. This creates an intimate, one-on-one atmosphere, even though the artist is communicating with a large audience simultaneously.
Problem Space
What is the issue?
The main issue stems from the gap between the user's perception and the actual system.
While fans feel like they are in a 1:1 chat, the artist is actually replying to thousands of fans at once. It was difficult for fans to identify which specific message the artist was responding to.
Research
User interview: Fan perspective
Through user interviews, we identified three critical pain points.
1. Context gap: Fans struggled to follow conversations when artists changed topics abruptly.
2. Low satisfaction: Unclear messages break the conversation, making it hard for fans to stay focused.
3. Business risk: 22% of users said they would consider canceling their subscriptions, which directly impacts business revenue.
And also, all participants wanted to receive more messages.
Tracking behavior: Artist perspective
By tracking real time behavior, we discovered two distinct patterns.
1. Screenshot: Capturing fan messages as photos to provide context.
2. Copy-Paste: Manually copying fan text into their own replies.
Both patterns were highly inefficient, taking at least 20 seconds per message. We identified this as a major barrier that prevented artists from sending more messages, which was the fans' biggest desire.
Competitive research & UI analysis
Through market research, I analysed reply UX patterns in both direct competitors and major messaging apps. I also looked into existing translation features and the emoji reply function planned for the next project. Based on this insight, I proposed a clear design direction to ensure a familiar and user-friendly experience.
Iterations
User testing & Iterations
Conducted a pilot test with 3 users to identify key iteration adjustments.
User voice
1. Lack of Visual Hierarchy: "It was a bit hard to read because the artist and fan messages weren't clearly separated."
2. Underwhelming Experience: "Getting a reply from an artist is such a rare thing, but it felt too ordinary."
Based on this recurring feedback, I iterated the design to resolve these pain points and deliver an enhanced user experience.
Design - Fan
Easier conversation flow. Replies feel special, like a gift.
Designed different layouts and background colours to help users see replies clearly while keeping the chat natural. By adding notifications and labels, I made these rare moments feel much more special and memorable for fans.
Result
After the launch, many fans on X(Twitter) shared that receiving a reply was a truly special experience.
Design - Artist
Onboarding for artist users
Designed an onboarding flow to help artists find and use new messaging tools. Since messaging features hadn't been updated for two years, many artists joined during this period and may find the update experience unfamiliar. This design ensures they can easily discover and start using these tools from the start.
Result
Achieved a 65% feature adoption rate through the new onboarding flow.
Design - Artist
Swipe to reply in just 5 seconds
By simplifying the flow, artists began sending messages more frequently.
Result
Increased artist message volume by 4.6% by reducing reply time from 20s to 5s
But it wasn't a complete success.
Iterations
Feedback analysis & Follow up interviews
Through follow up interviews, we identified two critical pain points.
1. Expectation vs Reality: Seeing other fans' messages made it feel like a loud group chat.
2. Exposure to toxic content: Some fans sent mean messages to get attention, making others feel very uncomfortable.
Design - Fan
Reply filter to enhance the 1:1 experience
'Show only my replies' toggle lets fans filter out noise to focus on a private 1:1 connection, while offering the flexibility to restore full context at any time.
Artist message volume
Feature adoption rate
Positive fan feedback
Fans shared positive feedback on social media.
Key Learnings
What I Learned as a Product Designer
Learned to make decisions that balance user needs with overall service direction.
Improved problem solving by combining qualitative (interviews, VOC) and quantitative (metrics, SNS) data.
Experienced the full cycle: launching a feature, incorporating feedback, and delivering rapid iterations.
Collaborated closely with PMs and engineers under tight deadlines to adjust priorities and balance UX with technical constraints.