Summary
Background
Petco offers on site grooming and veterinary care service in addition to a diverse range of products.
A mobile app was launched at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to support Petco stores in managing curbside service, spreading out appointments, and meeting social distancing requirements.
Challenge
I worked in a team of 5 designers tasked with:
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Evaluating the existing mobile app for improvement
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Implementing a new feature such as tele-health to help users manage appointments and pet care service needs.
Role
As a CX designer, my role in the sprint entailed:
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Project roadmap planning
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Developing user interview and usability testing plans
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Designing a survey
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Identifying 2 primary user personas
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Creating a service blueprint
Discovery
After speaking to 5 users, we identified 2 key items:
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Pet owners do not want tele-health.
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Users had trouble managing appointments in the app.
Results
We made changes to where users could manage their appointments resulting in a 62% improvement in task efficiency.
A new care reminder feature was implemented to help users remember when their pets needed care between appointments.
Discover
Methods:​
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User Interviews
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Usability Testing
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Survey
Goal:
To identify areas of improvement for the existing Petco mobile app and explore opportunities for a new feature.
Storyboard Art by Mari Tanaka
Getting to Know Pet Owners
Before we could start generating ideas for a new feature, we needed to get to know pet owners and their experience of receiving pet care.
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User Interviews
Selection Criteria:
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Ages 18-45
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Owns at least 1 dog
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Number of Participants: 5
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Setting: Remotely over Zoom
I created a user interview plan with 7 questions to explore these areas:​
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Method of scheduling appointment
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Wait time for an appointment
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Most recent vet visit experience
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Influence of COVID-19 protocols on shopping choices
User Interview Insights
Positives
Friendly staff and environment.
"I liked that the vet knew my dog without looking at his file"
Wait Times
15 minutes or less.
"I've never had to wait long to be seen."
Scheduling
Vet appointments are primarily scheduled via phone call.
"I call to schedule or walk in."
COVID-19
Protocols have little effect on users' shopping decisions.
"I don't worry about where I shop because I wear a mask."
Usability Testing:
Existing Mobile App
After interviewing the users, we asked them to complete 3 tasks using the Petco mobile app to explore possible areas of improvement.
Tasks:
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Book a grooming appointment.
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Book a veterinary appointment.
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Find and cancel the grooming appointment.
Why can't I cancel the appointment through the app? I don't want to call!
Storyboard Art by Mari Tanaka
Usability Testing Results
It took 4m 50s on average to complete all three tasks.
4 out of 5 participants successfully completed the tasks.
Usability Testing Insights
Users were unsure of their login status due to being prompted by a "Tell Us About Your Pet" screen every time they opened the app.
Users were frustrated they couldn’t cancel the vet appointment in the app.
Users expected to find appointments under Grooming, but it was located in the Account section.
Dog Owner Survey
Since none of the users we interviewed used tele-health for their dog, I still needed data to determine if there was any demand for this feature.
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If the new feature would not be tele-health, I wanted to see what considerations were most important to users.
I designed a survey using Google Forms to explore:
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Perceptions and preferences for tele-health veterinary services.
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The most important factors when choosing pet care.
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Preferences for booking pet care service appointments.
Number of Participants: 99
Survey Insights
Only 2% of respondents have used tele-health pet services, but it was not their preferred method. Of the respondents who have not used tele-health pet services, 56% indicated a preference for in person services as the reason.
Over the phone and online were the most preferred methods to book an appointment.
Availability and reputation were the most important factors when choosing pet care. COVID health and safety measures were the next most important factor.
Define
Methods:
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Persona Development
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Site Map
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Service Blueprinting
Goal:
To create a solution strategy to improve the existing Petco mobile app through redesign and the addition of a feature.
User Research Insight Analysis
From the analysis of our user research data, I identified insights for my team to focus on in our design choices:
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Users are unable to easily find and manage their appointments in the app.
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Users are unsure of their login status in the app.
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Users enjoy personalized attention from their vet and attribute it to a greater quality of care.
Personas
I created 2 personas based on the users we interviewed and the primary use cases for the app:
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Frequent customers who regularly use services
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New dog owners who need more guidance on services and pet care
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Devon the Proud Dog Dad
"Am I not logged in? That's annoying."
​Problem Statement:
Devon wants to receive personalized service to make him feel recognized as a loyal customer and more easily book the services he uses regularly.
Needs & Goals:
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Needs to be able to book and manage grooming appointments easily.
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Wants to save money through sales, discounts, and rewards.
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Wants his babies to look their best at all times
Pain Points:
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​Having to call during operating hours to make an appointment.
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Dislikes confusion with scheduled appointments.
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Dislikes being treated like a new customer by businesses that he uses frequently.
Anna the New Pet Parent
"I have to call to cancel? I don't have time for this!"
​Problem Statement:
​Anna needs to be able to easily manage her appointments and service needs so she can save time and avoid confusion.
Needs & Goals:
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Needs guidance on when her pet needs routine care.
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Needs to be able to book and cancel vet appointments easily.
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Wants to save time by getting everything her dog needs in one place.
Pain Points:
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Doesn’t know what services her new puppy needs.
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Adjusting to new financial demands of owning a dog and has a tight budget.
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Has limited time for research and making phone calls.
Defining Touchpoints:
Service Blueprint
Now that we knew that there was no demand for tele-health to be added as a new feature, I created a service blueprint to explore gaps in touchpoints where we might be able to better support the user in managing their pets care needs. ​
I discovered a gap from the completion of an appointment to bringing the user back in for routine care needs in the future and identified 2 opportunities for new features:
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Add care reminders in the app to help users remember when their pets need care and prompt them to schedule an appointment.
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Add follow-up notification settings to help users remember when follow up care was needed and act as a call to action for scheduling their next appointment.
Course of Action
From our user research insights and the gaps identified in the service blueprint, we now understood the problems our users faced and defined our solution:
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Universalize the login screen
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Add a centralized appointment management feature
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Cancel and reschedule feature for vet appointments
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Reminders feature for vaccines and annual visits
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Redo the primary navigation
Design
Generating Ideas
My team put our heads together and began sketching some ideas to improve the navigation of the app. Our analysis of competitors showed that the cart was always in the top right hand corner so we chose to remove it from the primary navigation bar. An upcoming appointments section was created under services to make it easier for users to manage appointments. We also updated the Account icon to be the user’s pet photo so that users would have feedback to know when they are logged in to their account.
Mid-Fi Prototype
We started by creating a mid-fi prototype to test the addition of an appointment management section under services. 4 out of 5 users were able to successfully complete the tasks of creating and managing appointments. There was an improvement in time to complete the tasks, but the users were still confused. Some were confused by the navigation, for others it was the changes to the pawgress bar and the steps to cancel the vet appointment.
Deliver
High-Fi Prototype
After synthesizing the usability testing results from the first prototype, we began to design the final hi-fi prototype with additional improvements to further improve task efficiency:
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Added a View Upcoming Appointments section on the homepage
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Modified the steps to cancel or reschedule an appointment by having the user click on “View Details” on the appointment before they would be presented with a popup window with options.
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Added a feature to create a calendar event for scheduled appointments by clicking on the appointment date.
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Added a care reminder section to the homepage to remind users of pet care needs.
Grooming Appointment Flow
Vet Appointment Flow
Final Task Efficiency Improvement
We tested the final prototype and found that task efficiency had increased even further. In comparison to the time to complete for the original app, users were able to complete tasks 1min and 50s faster using the final prototype.
