CASE STUDY: MOBILE APP
HelloPackage
User Research - Business Research
User Testing - Interaction Design
Prototyping
Summary
HelloPackage is an innovative SaaS (Software as a Service) system with an enabling, plug-and-play hardware component. The solution is designed to allow carriers (UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL, Amazon, and others) to quickly and easily deliver packages to the package room and at the same time notify the resident that their package has arrived.
As we know UX is built on an agile methodology, which means what we present today will change and change often as HelloPackage continues to build features that empower its users. During this three-week, agile sprint, we gave 60% of our time refining our problem and the other 40% building a product that solved it. While studying the users and their expectations of the app, we also wanted to build a product our stakeholders would see was marketable and capable of returning on its investment.
My Role
This project was completed by myself and three other team members. The four of us worked closely to plan, research, design and iterate. I helped manage the project with one other member by using Trello and Google Drive to organize our files/notes. We communicated over Slack and Zoom. I was able to help conduct the contextual inquiry by taking notes and recording. Once we synthesized the data, we all did some brainstorming and sketched our ideas out. I and two other team members digitized the wireframes into Sketch to begin testing. While the team conducted user testing, I began iterations to the results and handed those off to another teammate to complete. We all presented the findings and solutions to our client.
TIMELINE
3 Weeks
ROLE
UX Designer
OUTCOME
An efficient package retrieval process to minimize the time spent looking for packages.
TOOLS
Sketch, InVision, Google Drive, Adobe CC, Whimsical, Miro
Understanding the Problem
To understand exactly how the HelloPackage system worked we traveled to a local apartment complex to see a demonstration of how residents actually receive their package. By walking in their shoes and going through the process literally step by step, we were able to gain insight into the resident experience of HelloPackage. Some of the goals for this contextual inquiry were to:
Identify the different types of user journeys: residents, carriers, leasing office
Ask questions to highlight general pain points for residents
Discuss findings with stakeholders and identify goals for the resident experience
User interviews are necessary, and in this case, they represented the most challenging constraint on our process. With COVID-19 keeping us from interacting with actual users of HelloPackage, we ended up relying on users of competing systems.
By watching hours of mailroom footage together, our team was able to work out a step-by-step flow for the residents, including a detailed analysis of their pain points. We noticed that users experienced the room differently based on the size of the room. Residents with bigger package rooms would have a harder time finding their packages than rooms that are much smaller.
How well does HelloPackage stand against competitors?
HelloPackage sits in a unique position in the concierge package landscape. An open locker design combined with an emphasis on innovative technologies creates a balance of convenience & security.
Making it all make sense
Defining the problem was especially important for our group because of the three-week constraint on our sprint. Several issues that we wanted to address ended up being outside our scope. For instance, with more time we could have interviewed other users of HelloPackage, such as carriers and leasing agents. Instead, we focused on residents
Affinity mapping was key to helping us synthesize and reflect on the information which led us to discover some trends and patterns. Some of those findings were:
Incentivizing quick pickup could help relieve stress in package rooms
A few tweaks in notifications could help resident satisfaction
Packages were not being consistently scanned by carriers
Hello, Penelopé!
After reflecting on the insights from the interviews, we began to craft a persona as a way to visualize the primary users and to help key stakeholders gain sympathy for the target issues.
Penelope personifies data that we collected from our research based on residents who were familiar with digital package retrieving systems.
We found that regardless of package room size, residents’ main needs centered around notifications, sorting through package clutter, and avoiding late fees for any reason.
Penelope wants to find her packages easily while being updated often. We found that users didn’t mind using the app, so long as it provided a sense of convenience and simplicity.
PROBLEM
One of the major pain points we found through our qualitative research was too much time spent looking for packages.
SO WE ASK OURSELVES...How might we streamline such a complex process for residents who are still learning how to utilize Hello Package’s full benefits?
Redesign the mobile app experience to make package retrieval more convenient and efficient for residents.
Content Strategy
HelloPackage can be an exciting experience for residents. At its best, it transports them back to when they were children receiving a package. The experience begins in wonder. They get a notification, see a .gif of their package being swiped in and place on the shelf, and they wonder what it is and who it’s from. But then it becomes a job to be done and they want to get it over with efficiently and painlessly.
The content strategy of HelloPackage first of all is to-the-point and informative. No words are wasted. But through subtle punctuation and tone, the excitement of package retrieval, the wonder of what awaits is also built-in.
Sketches + Wireframes
We started sketching out some ideas on how the process would look then digitized them into wireframes where we could see how the users would interact with it.
Testing Our Solution
Usability testing is a crucial aspect of the UX process, as it once again puts you in direct contact with the user, their thoughts, and feelings about the process. In our usability tests, we focused on qualitative research--as opposed to time or click metrics--because we were looking to identify problems.
In Conclusion
Realizing that the end-users of HP present the highest ROI we ventured to simplify the experience with them in mind. Frequent & clear notifications combined with informative copy & simple gamification allowed us to clear a path through the clutter to their end goal: safely & swiftly retrieving their packages.
The unique model represented by HP presents a number of opportunities for residents & property management to solve common challenges, many of which would require further testing & collaboration to implement. In light of these opportunities, if we had more time we would:
Interview Current HelloPackage Customers
Collaborate with carriers/ property managers
Touchless Entry/Access
VR/Facial Recognition
Shelf organization & overflow staging
Reflection
The project turned out really good for the time we had. Getting started is always the hardest. We weren't exactly sure how we would plan the project out due to COVID-19 circumstances. The most challenging part of the project was finding residents who actually use HelloPackage. We decided to reach out to residents who used competitor’s services. We also found so many problems and could think of many solutions but for the scope of the project and our capabilities, we chose only one. If we had more time, we would have worked on the copy to make it fun, friendly, and welcoming. Since picking up packages was kind of an inconvenience for apartment residents, we believe making the experience more enjoyable would help. I enjoyed working with my team the most. Even if we were working at 2:30am the last day, we could still joke around and have fun!