Designing Shared Behaviours
Client
Sky Games / Infinity Works
Overview
In 2017 Sky Bet launched its first CoLab incubator programme, investing in start-ups while also using the same process to explore internal innovation. One of the most promising ideas to emerge was Social Betting — or Group Bets.
Our initial discovery revealed a strong behavioural pattern. Customers were already betting together with friends, either in person or more often through digital channels such as WhatsApp or Messenger. This was not a new behaviour, but one happening outside our ecosystem. We saw an opportunity to simplify that experience, reduce pain points and bring it into the product in a way that felt natural.
Discovery
Through research and testing we confirmed the scale of the behaviour: 30% of our base were already “group betting” in some form. That validation gave confidence that we could design an experience around something customers were already doing, rather than trying to introduce something entirely new.
As lead designer, my role in the discovery phase was to shape how we translated those insights into a tangible product vision. This included competitor analysis, mapping the end-to-end journey, creating low-fidelity concepts for rapid feedback, and validating prototypes with both stakeholders and customers.
Core Responsibilities
As part of a small core team led by the Principal Product Owner, I worked alongside a solutions architect, analyst, product manager and third-party developers (Infinity Works). My role was not just to design, but to act as the direct link between disciplines — translating customer insight into design direction, and design decisions into clear requirements for development.
I led the discovery phase, applying design thinking methodologies and facilitating a design sprint to define the problem space and align cross-functional teams around shared objectives.
Drawing on a combination of user research, behavioural data, and competitor analysis, I developed comprehensive journey maps that revealed key pain points and opportunities across the experience. These insights informed the creation of early design concepts, which were rapidly prototyped and tested with both customers and internal stakeholders. Through iterative feedback and structured evaluation sessions, I refined the prototypes and translated learnings into a clear and actionable product vision that guided subsequent design and development efforts.
Throughout delivery, I stayed close to development, providing annotated designs, detailed component breakdowns and interactive prototypes. Daily stand-ups and Slack support ensured questions were answered in real time and that the intent behind design decisions was carried through into the build. By holding that connective role, I helped keep the team aligned and the experience consistent from insight to execution.
Early Progress:
June 2018 first release was launched
Full launch August 2018 via Infinity works
Tech limitations meant we couldn’t sync the wallet.
Progressed without syndication for MVP
Social Reaction:
The first release quickly gained traction and generated buzz within the betting community. The social element, combined with the ability to compare form and share experiences, proved to be a strong driver of engagement. It validated our assumption that gamifying a behaviour people were already doing would encourage them to interact more frequently and stay active longer.
A big part of this success was how the experience connected end-to-end with Sky Sports. Customers were already discovering form, stats and commentary through Sky’s sports content. Group Bets became a natural extension of that journey — allowing users to move seamlessly from following the action with their friends to placing a collective bet together. It meant that the conversations already happening on WhatsApp or around live coverage now had a dedicated product touchpoint.
This validated the assumption that gamifying the experience would increase engagement in the product
Impact/Development Pause
After initial release the product was well received, delivering positive revenue impact, but not meeting all customer needs / expectations:
Commercial impact was positive. Average incremental margin impact of £2.36M on existing customers
Customers active since 1st Jan scored product 7.8 / 10 via feedback / sentiment reports
240,000 users visited Group Bets since 1st Jan, but only 70,000 active since 1st March
Struggled to fulfil all customer requests within 3 month development period
Fun, socialisation and competitiveness are stand out reasons for enjoying the product
Difficulty organising the Bet, lack of markets, lack of form, no syndication were the biggest customer frustrations
Project paused due to lack of reinvestment with a view to pick back up and address pain points and opportunities at a later date.
Phase 2
Outputs from our second Design Sprint leant further towards a Granular form and statistical league view. We wanted to give customers better autonomy over how they engaged with each other while group betting — with a hope to mimic and enhance their existing behaviours
Ecosystem of the product fits with users behaviours
The task for Phase 2 was to put the users conversation at the heart of Group Bets — use gamification tools to drive engagement and build that sense of fun, banter etc.
At its core, Group Bets is about discovery and connection. By focusing on how people naturally share, talk and play together, we designed an experience that extends beyond betting itself and into the conversations and communities that surround it.)
