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Carpool World

Project Overview

The owners of the product - Carpoolworld.com came to Rutgers with a problem stating that they wanted to better design their product to increase user retention rate and create increased user engagement online. 

Carpoolworld helps match users for their transporting needs. It matches drivers and carpoolers based on source and destination as well as has corporate collaborations to enable easier transportation for employees to and from work. 

My Contribution

UX Research, UX Design

 

 

Note to add: I did independently work on this after the semester to enhance some features, deliverables and add more design elements to the project.

Team Members

Pooja Gurudatt - UX Designer, Researcher, Tester

John Reda - UX Designer, Researcher, Tester

Brittany Norwicki - UX Designer, Researcher, Tester

Timeline

3 months [June 2018 - August 2018]

Screen Shot 2023-04-03 at 4.23.30 PM.png

The Problem Statement

The clients wanted to revamp their web application and also provide a mobile centric experience for their corporate clients. They pressed on the need to collect user data seamlessly, retain their customers and also provide value via great user experience.

Revamp website

Mobile UX

Collect Data

Retain Users

The Objective

Research existing product, conduct UX research not only for users but also their clients, strategize how to attain business goals using UX best practices by providing a prototype.
I aimed to reduce redundancy, streamline booking process, increase user signups and rate of re-entry.

Design Process

Discovery

Research

Ideate

Design

Test

Features & Solutions

1. Discovery - Stakeholder Interviews

  • They have collabs with corporations to get employees to carpool to and from work

  • Website is very old and needs to be updated

  • They provided us with a mobile wireframe to refer and improvise designs

  • Are there any government incentives we can utilize?

  • Need to translate web app to mobile

Revamp website

Mobile UX

Collect Data

Retain Users

2. Research

  • 12 users interviewed, surveys, talked to

  • Investigated online for why people carpool

  • Mapped out a competitor and SWOT analysis

  • Conducted heuristics on existing site to uncover issues with usability and how to solve them

User Survey

User Interview

Internet Research

Heuristic Analysis

Mobile UX

2. Research - User Survey

  • 12 participants (as of june 2018) to google forms survey

  • 75% never carpool
  • 53% women and arrive stressed to work
  • 60% prefer carpool > public transport

12 participants

75% never carpool

53% women

60% prefer pooling

2. Research - User Interviews

  • Social Anxiety was biggest barrier to talk online

  • Surveys on webapp were too lengthy for users

  • Most prefer using their mobile for all needs

  • Cost was the biggest factor for carpooling

2. Research - Internet Research Insights

  • The US Government gives its carpoolers tax benefits!

  • Companies have priority parking for employees who carpool

  • Driving on HOV lanes during rush hour is a great perk

2. Research - Heuristic Analysis

  • CTA not on landing page

  • Ambiguity during user signup process

  • Information not organized and presentable

  • Webapp not mobile friendly 

  • Irrelevant data being displayed and confusing users

3. Ideate

Lots of data, research points and information gathering was done to go to Ideation stage of the journey.  On a tight schedule of 3 months and zero spend budget, we had to think of how to ideate and execute this project successfully.

  • Conducted brainstorming session with team

  • Defined design ideas and categorized them on priority

  • Debated about if we should design for web or mobile only?

  • Wondered how to measure KPIs with short timeline?

  • Ideated user journey from start to end of product use

Brainstorming

Priority Map

User flow

3. Ideate - Brainstorming

I did the whiteboard design challenge method to generate as many design ideas as possible. I came up with quite a few ideas that were implemented as well. We will see more on that as we explore.

3. Ideate - Priority Mapping

Taking into consideration the time restraints, resources restraint and business needs and user priorities, I mapped out the design ideas into what we can and cant do. I used the priority map to help focus on what is the need of the hour.

Top takeaways from this exercise

  • Users want shorter onboarding

  • Need clear CTA on landing page

  • Translate the web app into mobile

  • Remove user poll fatigue

  • Structure the flow and information clearly

  • Encourage users to submit data easily