Developing an iOS app that lets users protect their sports bets with injury insurance

User Research / UX Design / UI Design / Prototyping / User Testing

Overview

Safebet is an innovative mobile app designed to allow users to insure bets they've placed on other betting platforms, with coverage triggered by specific player injuries. The app provides bettors with a safety net, protecting their wagers if pre-determined key players (identified by Safebet) get injured and can no longer participate in the game.

Safebet’s process is simple: First, users enter details about their bets from other platforms, such as the wager amount, bet type (e.g., moneyline, spread, parlay), and the players involved. Safebet highlights key players whose injuries could significantly impact the outcome of the game. If any of these designated players get injured during the game and are unable to continue, the insurance kicks in to cover the bettor's losses.

For example, if a user places a large bet on a team and one of the star players, marked by Safebet, gets injured and leaves the game, the app will insure the wager, offering partial or full compensation based on the insurance package. By focusing on player injuries, Safebet ensures users can safeguard their bets in unpredictable situations, giving them added confidence and reducing the risk of financial loss.

Research

And

Analysis

The research process started with an in-depth examination of both existing sports betting platforms and Safebet’s proposed functionality. This included reviewing how other apps handle risk management features and identifying the pain points bettors face when key players get injured mid-game.

Following this audit, 30-minute 1:1 interviews were held with seasoned sports bettors from major cities like New York and London. The objective was to gain insights into how they respond to player injuries affecting their bets, their betting behavior across various platforms, and their willingness to pay for an insurance option like Safebet. The discussions also explored how often injuries influence their betting outcomes and whether they saw value in a service that protects against such unpredictable factors.

Additionally, a quantitative survey was conducted to gather large-scale data on bettors' priorities when placing high-stakes bets. The survey aimed to identify what features, such as insuring bets against injuries or covering high-risk wagers, bettors would find most appealing. By combining insights from interviews and survey data, the research team was able to refine Safebet’s core offering to ensure it met the needs of users looking to protect their investments from injury-related losses.

Key Takeaways:

A significant number of sports bettors (88%) agreed with the statement, “Player injuries often influence the outcome of my bets,” highlighting the importance of injury-related risk management.
Most participants (79%) stated they would be interested in a service like Safebet that provides insurance coverage for their bets if key players get injured during a game.
A majority (62%) of survey respondents admitted they’ve lost high-stakes bets due to unexpected player injuries, with 47% saying this happens to them more than once per season.
The top three factors participants consider when deciding whether to insure a bet are:

The presence of star/key players in the game.
The amount of money at stake in the bet.
The risk of injuries in the specific sport (e.g., football or basketball).

More than half of the respondents (56%) stated they would be willing to pay up to 10% of their wager amount to insure their bets if key players were injured during the game.
A significant portion (43%) noted they frequently bet on multiple platforms and would find value in an external app like Safebet to insure their wagers, regardless of the platform.

Empathy Mapping

After interviewing a number of sports bettors to understand how they approach betting and manage risks related to player injuries, I built an empathy map to help guide the development of Safebet’s injury-triggered insurance feature.

Identifying Key Task Flows

Before starting the initial wireframing phase, seven key task flows were identified as essential for a successful user experience within the Safebet app:

Creating a New Account
Insuring a Bet
Accessing Preferences, Account Info, FAQ, etc.

Wireframing

Low fidelity wireframes were built to visualize the information architecture and better understand the flow between key screens.

High-fidelity wireframes were created to refine the visual design, incorporate detailed UI elements, and provide a more realistic representation of the final user interface.

UI Design

Using a variety of tools, a style guide and UI kit were created specifically for Safebet. Close attention was given to the use of brand assets, color schemes, typography, and iconography that would best represent Safebet’s identity and functionality.

Prototyping

Finally, the screens were assembled into a functional, high-fidelity prototype created in Figma

Usability Testing

The prototype was tested one-on-one with a group of users, providing an experience that closely resembled interacting with the Safebet app.

The primary goals of the usability tests were to:

Identify any bottlenecks within the task flows, specifically in locating a suggested bet to insure and adjusting personal preferences in the user profile.
Gauge participants' reactions to the insurance options and risk assessment features for their bets.
Evaluate the likelihood that users would actively utilize the app in the future.
Gather feedback on aspects of the app that were unclear or needed further refinement.

Participant Overview:

9 participants in total: 6 men and 3 women
All participants were sports fans living in the United States
Age range of participants was between 26 and 64 years old

Key Takeaways:

100% of participants were able to navigate to the profile page to customize their insurance settings.
100% of participants successfully navigated through insuring their bet within the app.
Several participants commented on how useful the insurance options were in managing their bets.
A few participants expressed the app could be even more useful if it offered real-time injury notifications or news updates so I can see the status of players insured in my bets.
The process was straightforward, but adding visual cues or a short tutorial could make it even clearer, especially for users who are new to sports betting or insurance.
A few participants requested setting specific alerts for key player injuries related to the bets they had insured.
All participants agreed that they found the feature valuable and would use it in the future if implemented.

Iterations and Next Steps

With this round of testing complete, user feedback was integrated into a final iteration of the Figma prototype

Next steps include:

Testing the prototype with a larger sample size
Hand off to developer
Developing a seamless integration with popular betting websites to allow users to easily connect to the original platforms where bets were placed.
Enhancing the app's capabilities to provide real-time updates and notifications for live games, improving users' ability to follow their bets.