Michigan Athletics Mobile App

Most fans only used the app for mobile ticketing, missing key features like notifications and in-app content.

A primary goal for Michigan Athletics was to increase opt-ins for push notifications. This helps with communication and marketing and we know a significant number of fans are not opted in. We also want fans to consume content on the mobile app. The more fans use the app, the more valuable it is and the more they will rely on it for information.

-15 sec
‍
time it took to favorite a team decreased on average

33% → 100%
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improvement in task success for opting in to push notifications

Role: User Experience Design Intern @ Michigan Athletics

Responsibilites: Discovery, Task Flows, User Research, Personas, Journey Mapping, Focus Groups, UX Execution

Time: February - April 2025

project background

We wanted to understand who uses the Michigan Athletics app, how fans use it, and where they experience pain points.

We ran a survey that was promoted to fans via push notification in the app and by including banners in various emails to fans.

We received 1,595 responses.

844 respondents use the app for mobile ticketing; 779 respondents use it to view event schedules
35% use the app 1–2 times per week
39% have not added favorite teams or didn’t know the feature existed
66% use the app for sport-specific schedules
59% didn’t know they can customize push notifications for game updates and news
38% don’t use the app to listen to live broadcasts; 23% didn’t know this feature existed
Fans requested easier access to schedules (team-specific, home/away, monthly), special offers, event details, and notifications that link directly to relevant content

‍View survey results here

research

But first, I compared and analyzed

I compared the task flows of the Michigan Athletics app to other Big Ten teams that do not use SIDEARM to understand differences in user journeys and feature visibility.

Michigan Athletics:

design

Making favorite teams easily accessible from the Home Screen

Previously, it was unclear where users could go to view or manage their favorite teams — they had to dig into the “More” menu to find these settings. I improved the experience by adding a dedicated My Teams section on the Home Screen, allowing users to directly view, add, and edit their favorite teams without extra navigation.

Simplifying access to sport-specific schedules with an in-page filter

Previously, users had to navigate to the “More” menu, locate their team under “All Teams,” and open a separate menu page just to view that sport’s schedule. I added a schedule filter directly on the main Schedule page, allowing users to quickly filter by sport and view the weekly schedule all without leaving the page.

I simplified access to notifications and custom alerts without login barriers

Before, users had to navigate through the More page, scroll to Account & Settings, and log in just to manage notifications. This often causes them to abandon the process. The new design introduces a Notifications section directly in the More page, allowing users to easily toggle general alerts or customize notifications for their favorite teams, all without the need to log in.

testing

I conducted focus groups to compare the current experience and prototype in the user journey

I selected a random group of Michigan fans who indicated interest on the survey to participate in six focus groups, helping to understand their app experiences and test these potential new features.

During each focus group, participants were first asked general questions about their experience with the Michigan Athletics app. After that, they were asked to screen share the current version of the app and complete a series of tasks to observe how they navigated key features.

View Interview Guides

Tasks on the current app:

Find the Women’s Tennis article titled “Michigan Stays Unbeaten in BIG Action, Shuts Out Purdue”
Add Baseball as a favorite team
Opt in to football push notifications
Show how they would purchase tickets to Softball vs. Oakland on April 22nd
Find the podcast “In the Trenches 504”

After completing these tasks, participants were then asked to open the prototype with the newly designed features and perform similar tasks.

Tasks on the Prototype:

Add Baseball as a favorite team
Opt in to live stats notifications
Find the upcoming schedule for only softball and check when the next game is

Key results from the focus groups:

Participants could not find push notifications. 4/6 of participants gave up on the task of opting into push notifications due to confusion and needed guidance.
Participants want customization. Every participant mentioned how their use for the app differs based on the season. Individuals recommended the ability to customize their home screen to automatically load to their sport and being able to customize notifications for promotional events and ticket drops/receiving real time updates when you enter a sporting event
3/6 participants want an easier way to view sport rosters during a live event
6/6 participants stated the features on the prototype seemed clearer and more intuitive

30 Seconds/66.67% Success Rate
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⬇
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15 Seconds/100% Success Rate

For the task of favoriting a sports team on the mobile app, participants spent an average of 30 seconds using the current version of the app, with 2/6 of those participants not being able to complete the task due to confusion and needing guidance. When using the prototype with the new feature of adding favorite teams, participants spent an average of 15 seconds, with 6/6 participants being able to successfully complete the task.

54 Seconds/33.33% Success Rate
‍
⬇
‍
47 Seconds/100% Success Rate

For the task of opting into push notifications, participants spent an average of 54 seconds using the current version of the app, with 4/6 of those participants not being able to complete the task due to confusion and needing guidance. When using the prototype with the new feature of opting into push notifications, participants spent an average of 47 seconds, with 6/6 participants being able to successfully complete the task.

Next Steps and Recommendations for Sidearm

We took the information gathered from the focus groups, survey, and usability testing and presented them to Sidearm along with the following recommendations moving forward:

Clearly list “Notifications” as an option under the “More” page and allow toggles for specific types (e.g., live stats, game promotions, game start/end times).
Create an “overview” or “walk through guide” to show fans how to opt in to notifications
Do not make it necessary for users to log in to update push notifications (large piece of feedback received in survey and usability studies)
Allow users to add a favorite team directly from their home screen. 39% of respondents did not know about the ability to do this, or do not have favorite teams selects, 2/6 participants during usability tests could not complete task due to confusion of where this was located
Add a more complex feature to schedule page, that allows users to view and filter sport-specific schedules without needing to navigate to that specific page in “More”