Driving Engagement with Ratings
Methodologies
Led a multi-phase survey approach, starting with an embedded POC survey and two follow-up studies, using Kano analysis for prioritization.
Contributions: Design, Product and Engineering
Research exploring how a rating system could increase engagement and improve content discovery on the GolfPass streaming platform.
Impact
📈 Helped drive a 61% increase in content consumption on the platform
⭐ Revealed the power of social signals in helping viewers choose videos
🎥 Uncovered key opportunities to improve video discovery
🧠 Informed product exploration of a scalable video rating system
Role
Lead UX Researcher
Goal
Assess the potential of a new content rating feature, understand user motivations for rating content, and establish benchmarks to measure impact. Insights from this research would inform future platform improvements and help estimate the feature’s ROI.
Duration
3 weeks
Problem & Opportunity
GolfPass offered a growing library of instructional golf videos, but users had limited ways to evaluate which content was worth watching. Without signals such as ratings or feedback, viewers struggled to identify valuable content quickly, and the platform lacked insights into how audiences perceived its videos.
The product team explored whether introducing a video rating system could help users discover better content while also generating meaningful engagement signals for the platform.
Research Goals
🎯 Understand how viewers currently discover and choose golf videos
⚡ Identify friction points in evaluating video quality or relevance
⭐ Explore whether viewers would be willing to rate content (motivations to rate)
📈 Determine if ratings could influence viewing behavior and engagement
Research Approach
Methods
Embedded Proof-of-Concept Survey: Built and deployed a custom survey within the platform to measure initial willingness to rate videos and capture real-time user feedback on rating interactions.
Follow-Up Surveys & Kano Analysis: Conducted two additional surveys to dig deeper into user motivations to rate, including a Kano analysis, to evaluate which rating features users found essential versus “nice-to-have,” and to prioritize design opportunities.
Participants
👥 GolfPass subscribers who regularly watched instructional golf videos.
Embedded Survey Layout
Original design without the embedded survey
Preview of how the embedded survey would look like
Key Insights
Insight #1 — Viewers rely heavily on social signals when deciding what to watch
Evidence: Participants reported difficulty determining whether a video was worth watching without indicators of quality or popularity.
“If I knew other golfers liked the video, I’d probably watch it first.”
Implication: Ratings could act as social proof, helping viewers quickly identify valuable content.
Insight #3 — Ratings provide valuable signals for both users and the platform
Evidence: Participants believed ratings would help them find better videos while also improving recommendations.
Implication: A rating system could create a feedback loop between viewer engagement and content discovery.
Insight #2 — Users are willing to rate videos when the process is quick and effortless
Evidence: Participants expressed openness to rating content, especially when the interaction required minimal effort and appeared at natural moments in the viewing experience.
“I’d rate it if it pops up after the video — as long as it’s quick.”
Implication: Ratings should be frictionless and contextual, appearing after video completion.
Product Implications
🎯 Introduce a simple rating interaction awhile video streaming
⭐ Surface highly rated content to help viewers discover valuable videos faster
📊 Use ratings as signals for improving recommendations and content visibility
🧠 Build a data foundation for future engagement features
Results
Research insights helped validate the opportunity for a rating system on the GolfPass platform and informed early product exploration.
Viewers demonstrated strong willingness to rate instructional content
Ratings improved confidence when choosing videos to watch
Product teams gained new signals to evaluate content performance
Research insights gave stakeholders the confidence to move the project into development and supported exploration of a scalable engagement feature
Rating system final design
Reflection
This project demonstrated how even small interaction mechanisms, like ratings, can significantly influence how users navigate and engage with content platforms.
By grounding the exploration in user research, the team was able to validate both user willingness and product value before investing in development.
If continuing this research, the next steps would include exploring:
• How ratings influence long-term viewing behavior
• Whether ratings should evolve into reviews or richer feedback signals
• How engagement data from ratings could power smarter content recommendations