Crowdform team launched a dating website for Kanye West fans as a side project!
The site captured the public’s attention and ended up going somewhat viral, getting airtime on Fox News, Radio 1 and MTV just to mention a few names. Inspired by this success, Crowdform has decided to work on the project together as a team, completely redesigning and rebuilding the initial site (which by his own admission was a little clunky) into a top of the range iOS app.
The services Crowdorm provided are a mobile app, viral marketing, user testing and UX / UI design.
The agency’s first step was to pool the early adopters from the initial launch into one big Telegram group chat. Not only was this useful to build momentum before launching but the assurance of regular feedback loops with the users gave us the confidence to quickly iterate through dozens of experimental UX ideas with the knowledge that they couldn’t stray too far wrong.
The outcome of this process was two bold UX decisions. Firstly replaced conventional swiping with the ability to send your favourite emojis to potential suitors. And secondly, after listening to their early adopters complain about the pains of “awkward dating app small talk”, Crowdform has introduced the “Ye Button” allowing users to initiate conversations by sending funny rap lyrics from their favourite artists. The testing session proved to be worthwhile and both features got a resoundingly positive response upon launch.
Having finalised the UI / UX, Crowdform began development. Eager to give users the optimal mobile app experience, React Native was the logical choice of framework. The agency paired that with Firebase to benefit from real-time database integration and the ease at which Firebase allows you to send well-timed push notifications. Which they knew would be key to re-engage the users.
Fully aware that building a product would only be half the battle, the team made sure to allocate plenty of time to devising their marketing strategy. In the run up to launch Crowdform grew their Instagram following to over 6000, cut a pre-launch video and built relationships with YouTube influencers (who would later go on to feature the app). All of which proved critical in acquiring users later down the line.
Launched in the App Store in late 2018, Bound 2 was downloaded several thousand times in the first few days with emojis, matches and rap lyrics flying in every direction. The number of users continues to grow daily, driven mainly by word-of-mouth and a few carefully placed sponsored YouTube videos.
And the best part? Undoubtedly the emails which sent about the weird and wonderful encounters the app has facilitated.
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