Goal
To create a format on the feed that enables our advertisers to tell a richer story with their creatives. These stories range from showing Pinners how a particular product works, richer product views, and sponsored DIY tutorials.
Problem
Our formats today are limited in that there is only one single image that advertisers can use to try to explain or tell a story. It's extremely difficult to get the content right, and in response, advertisers are stitching multiple images together. Without proper guidelines and restrictions, these promoted stitched Pins look spammy and do not perform.
Process
The initial brainstorm led to a variety of different explorations that tackled our main issues. The challenge lies in the nature of our two column grid which makes it hard to see the carousel, along with not knowing whether or not the Pinner is interested in the ad, or the content next to it.
Working with these restrictions, I came up with options that included autoscrolling, truncated images that peak out from the sides, and inline expand carousels that break up the grid. From here, the designs were brought into two days of research sessions with Pinners.
Results
During qualitative research sessions, the learnings validated that Pinners do like to interact and evaluate creatives on the grid. The carousel that hid content underneath, and required a tap to expand it out did not perform. Autoscrolling also performed well with Pinners, saying that they felt like it took the work away from them. It caught their attention on the grid, and helped them learn that it was a carousel. Once they tap into the product, Pinners loved the ability to see the images in a larger view.
Research has narrowed down the options to two. One with a single image that they can swipe on, and the second with an image peaking out on the right. Autoscrolling is a behavior that can be applied to either carousel. This is currently a work in progress project, and has not been built / put into an experiment yet.