PROJECT OVERVIEW
This was a student project in Seattle’s School of Visual Concepts (SVC) User Experience Certificate Program Capstone class. Our client, Rover, is an online marketplace that offers a platform for people to buy and sell pet care services. Their business goal was to increase app engagement.
ROLE
Interaction Designer, UX Researcher
TOOLS
Pen & paper, Sketch, Adobe XD
COURSE
UX Capstone - School of Visual Concepts
TIMELINE
10 weeks, April - May 2019
INSTRUCTOR
Sabine McLain
DESIGN QUESTION
How might we increase the stickiness of the app experience so that pet owners think about Rover for their daily pet care?
When Rover came to us, their app experience was utilitarian focusing more on function over form. Their goal was to improve their app experience by getting customers who occasionally book a sitter/walker to use the app more frequently. Through user research, we discovered that trust is an underlying concern for pet owners when choosing a pet care provider. Users were hesitant to use Rover repeatedly due to difficulties finding a reliable sitter.
Our goal was to create a solution that solves both the client and customer problem.
Client Problem
“I want our customers to use the app more frequently and purchase other services.”
Customer Problem
“I want to leave my pet with a sitter that I can trust.”
How did we solve both the client and customer problem?
THE SOLUTION
Build engaging features within the app to help customers find trustworthy pet care providers.
This will increase app engagement by making the app easy to use and improve discoverability by allowing customers to find trustworthy sitters.
RESEARCH
The focus was to better understand Rover’s business, the market for pet care, and how pet owners choose a pet care provider.
In order to do this we conducted a competitive analysis comparing Rover to its competitors in the industry. We conducted 6 user interviews and sent out a survey (17 responses) to understand how pet owners choose a provider. Lastly, we conducted 5 usability tests on Rover’s app to observe how customers find and choose a sitter.
ANALYZE & DEFINE
Research Findings
We learned that trust is important for pet owners when choosing a provider. Through the survey and interviews, we identified common qualities for what pet owners value in a sitter: reliability, experience (skills), ease of communication, availability and pet safety. Through the usability test, we discovered that users found it difficult to filter for trustworthy sitters due to limited filter options. The current filters lacked price sorting and the ability to filter on relevant skills and experience levels.
Ash and Emily from the user interviews
Skills and Experience
My fear is “That my dog will be too much for an inexperienced person to handle”.
Consistency In A Pet Sitter
"I liked the Rover providers, but got tired of all the new people when our providers left Rover. We want/like consistency in who comes to walk Penny”.
Safety
“The most important thing is accountability that the walker always returns [my dog] home safely”.
Ease of Communication & Availability
From our survey results it was very clear that users wanted pet care providers that were readily available, not going to cancel, and were responsive.
Click here for detailed research summary.
DESIGN
I designed and tested two solutions to enable pet owners to find and choose trustworthy pet care providers.
Trusty Sitter badge
Improved Filters
Trusty Sitter Badge
Providers will be reviewed and if they met the qualifications they will receive a trust badge.
Qualifications for Trusty Sitter badge are designed to meet the key concerns expressed during research.
QUALIFICATIONS
100% Response Rate = Reliability & Availability
10 + Repeat clients = Consistency
15+ Rover services given = Experience
CPR & First Aid Certified = Skills & Safety
Improved Filters
We added Quick Filters* to allow users to quickly find qualified providers.
*Quick filters are based on survey results of what respondents thought were the most important factors when choosing a provider.
Quick filters
We added a “Quick Filter” section, allowing users to quickly search and find sitters based on qualities they find most important.
Price sort
Price sort enables users to see the quantity of sitters available for a given filter criteria.
Search results
We reduced the prominence and hierarchy of components that do not add value like 5 star rating. Made prominent features like repeat clients and Trusty Sitter badge that allow users to find qualified sitters.
Relevant filters
We added more relevant filters like experience, skills, and safety to allow users to filter for dog sitters that meet their needs.
Price filter now shows average nightly price and gives you insight into how many sitters are available within a price range.
Full filters
We consolidated and deleted sections that users found unhelpful like the organization section. We re-organized sections to increase the hierarchy of filters that are most relevant to users based on research.
USABILITY TEST
We tested the final design on 6 users and received the following feedback for the Rover Trusty Sitter badge and Improved Filters.
“After seeing the trust badge description, I would go back and take another look at my choice. I feel less concerned about my dog with the trust badge.”
Test participants interacted with each Quick Filter tab before browsing search results and choosing a provider. The skills section was helpful for users who have pets with special needs.
KEY LEARNINGS
This project informed me about the importance of listening to the user and understanding what their needs are. By analyzing the research data, we were able to come up with a solution that solves both the client and customer problem.
If I were to continue working on this project, I would test to see how these changes impact long-term app engagement.
“This is brilliant, thank you guys for your work. Trust badge is a fundamental new paradigm that is essential to our business.”