About Work
Social Marketplace App for iOS
Anyone aimed to build a marketplace for 5-minute conversations, as a means to enable anyone to share their knowledge. The mission was to drive the "return of the phone call” - a response to the growing consultant industry of convoluted advice at a hefty cost. The concept of Anyone’s simplicity stands out when juxtaposed to platforms that offer countless forms of communication, which more often than not causes the user to waste unnecessary time trying to figure out the best way to reach out. The answer? Just call them and ask.
I was assigned this case study during Memorisely UX/UI Design immersive online Bootcamp. I worked independently, fulfilling the roles for user research, product strategy, UX/UI design, prototyping, and usability testing. For these roles, I utilized Figma, Miro, Typeform, and Maze. The timeline for this project was five weeks, April - May 2021.
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The Problem
While Anyone is successful conceptually, the product lacked basic user needs specific to facilitating a phone call. In the original design, an “advisor” doesn’t have the ability to call a user- only users can initiate communication. If an advisor doesn’t answer, the form of response would be the user receiving a notification when the advisor was next online. This complicated phone-tag is exacerbated by the fact that the app had no means to inform an advisor that a user was interested in speaking with them until after an unsuccessful phone call.
Having no way of knowing if other people are trying to speak to the same advisor, how long the advisor could potentially be online, and no form scheduling a call makes it unnecessarily difficult for a user to navigate a call. This creates a potential environment of guesswork on the user’s behalf, resulting in frustration and discouragement.
Hypothesis
I believe that by integrating specific features that both show the users an advisor's availability and inform the advisor of the user’s interest, Anyone will successfully create a space that allows for communication with ease, in a meaningful and validating way.
User Goal Business Goal
The Solution
Solutions were focused on the processes users take when deciding to and making a call. This was done by integrating available times in advisors profiles, as well as offering two new routes for initiating communication: scheduling a call and joining a “waiting room.”
By requiring advisors to display their preferred times, the guessing game is removed for users deciding when would be appropriate to reach out. In instances when an advisor is online, but already on a call, a midpoint “waiting room” is accessible for users that want to ensure they have a chance to connect but would prefer communication to remain casual. Finally, for users that prefer a more formal context, they are able to schedule a call based on the advisor’s availability and note what they will be calling about in advance.
Introducing these two features, scheduling and waiting rooms, satisfy the problems of user frustration found in calling someone for advice. By removing users’ potential friction areas- Is now a good time to call? When will they be back online? Do they know I tried calling?- Anyone is able to facilitate mutually positive and validating conversations with ease for both users and advisors.
The Outcome
The results from both the initial user survey and the unmoderated usability test reflected that the hypothesis was correct: users are more willing to communicate with an advisor when there are systems that instruct them on how best to do so.
The survey data overwhelmingly showed that users prefer to have structure before a call:
- 75% responded to being discouraged when someone is difficult to reach.
- 55% would be frustrated not knowing someone’s schedule.
The final prototype was informed by the survey results, emphasizing the ability to schedule a call. For the unmoderated usability test, users were tasked with finding an advisor to schedule a time with and then explore advisors that had open waiting rooms. The data from the tests showed that users' needs were met when introduced to a scheduling system- and most importantly, that they would want to use an app that connects them to advisors in those ways.
Questions & Observations
The first noticeable pain point is the UI. The original brand design is based in high-contrast primary colors: a pure white background and jet black typography, with bright teal and salmon calls to action. The profile pictures for advisors are minuscule, only made worse by the consuming negative space throughout the design. The visuals are not welcoming and give off a lack of care for the user, almost as if they are an afterthought. Anyone is a platform centered around human connection, so photographs of both the users and advisors should be a focal point.
In regards to the UX, the most noticeable pain point is the lack of direction when navigating a phone call. If an advisor is unavailable after calling, there is an option for users to receive a push notification when they're next online. Since this is not a usual phone call, the "call back" option is not available- so the user can just try again when they receive the notification that the advisor they want to reach is back online. The advisor will also receive a notification that someone was attempting to reach them while they were away. This app architecture creates guesswork on the user's behalf- trying to navigate "phone tag" through an app that has no other means of communication is fundamentally difficult.
When advisors are unavailable, users don't have a way to know when they will be available, which causes frustration for the user and creates uncertainty.
When an advisor misses a call, users are unable to receive calls, which causes lack of communication and frustrations for both users and advisors.
When an advisor is online, but on a call, users have no way to know when they might be free, which causes situations based on exclusivity and chance- the opposite of Anyone's ethos.
UX Research
User Survey questions, administered through Typeform:
Specific feelings of motivation, confidence, and frustration are key points when understanding why someone's preferences are that way.
Synthesis
Having shared my survey with users of the product, the next stage of my case study was focused on synthesizing the data to recognize trends and form a hypothesis. During the synthesis I segmented user responses and used an affinity map to prioritize the problems of users inline with business needs. To contextualize my data: the product of Anyone is the 5-minute call, so the ability to make a successful call must be easily accessible for any demographic of users. This is especially important when the platform is catered towards those asking for advice, which can imply power imbalances that could affect confidence and motivation.
View: User Survey Results Table
Validated observations
Both the primary and secondary frustrations from my research are based on the users' reactions to not being able to communicate with an advisor outside of cold-calling them. Specifically, the uncertainty that comes from not knowing the advisor’s schedule. Asking for advice implies a power dynamic that can easily make a user feel uncomfortable if not constructed fairly. Focusing on these aspects of the Anyone app design is important, due to the psychological effects these features have on users and their subsequent use of Anyone’s platform.
Primary Frustration
When users don't have a way to schedule a call, they become discouraged and frustrated, which results in users unsuccessfully communicating with an advisor.
Secondary Frustrations
When users don't know an advisor's availability, they become unsure of how to potentially reach the advisor, which results in anxiety and uncertainty for the user.
How Might We?
Problem: Users don't know advisors schedules or availability.
How might we... inform users of the schedules and/or availability for the advisors?
Ideation
Potential solutions were centered around solving the core question: how do we give users a way to call an advisor without compromising their willingness to do so. This was addressed by introducing scheduled options of calling, such as reserving a time for a meeting or a "waiting room" midpoint when the advisor is busy but still available for calls. Both of these features create a space for either more formal or casual approaches to reach the widest demographic of potential users possible.
Hypothesis
Having prioritized ideas based on what can be improved and added, I wrote a hypothesis that helps me frame the problem for user and business goals.
I believe that by integrating specific features that both show the users an advisor's availability and inform the advisor of the user’s interest, Anyone will successfully create a space that allows for communication with ease, in a meaningful and validating way.
User goal Business goal
Low Fidelity Wireframe
The focus was on designing a welcoming and intuitive model for the scheduling feature. This was done by integrating a large call to action button that states the time zone, location, and availability. The scheduling feature would move within the profile, instead of transitioning to a new page, to remain congruent and avoid unnecessary steps for the users.
Low Fidelity Prototype
The final lo-fi prototype employed a modal calendar from the bottom of the screen. This was chosen so that a keyboard would feel natural, in addition to a bottom navigation native to the majority of smartphone users. The prototype was set as an iPhone 8 so I would be able to test the design on my personal phone.
Styles & Color
Designing a new color palette for Anyone was intrinsic to developing an updated architecture for the app. The core of Anyone is valued communication, which is dependent on feelings of trust, validation, and confidence, so the UI needed to facilitate those reactions for the user.
Pure white and black colors were replaced with soft beige and browns as a way to appear more welcoming. The entire palette evokes warmth, reiterating that users are in a judgement-free space that encourages asking for advice. This is a clear deviation from the sterile UI of the original design.
High Fidelity Scheduling Feature
It was imperative to make advisors’ pictures the focal point of their profile. All the information a user may need is available: what language the advisor speaks, their time zone, rating, if they are currently online or not, and price- when the scheduling button is clicked, their availability is prominently displayed.
High Fidelity Prototype
When an advisor is online, but busy, the “waiting room” appears under the button to schedule a call. The ability to directly call an advisor is disabled when they are busy, prompting the user to either schedule a call or join the waiting room. When a user joins the waiting room, they will be told what number caller they are with a countdown notifying how much longer until their call time. While the user waits, they can choose from a selection of conversation topics that the advisor will see before the call- this is to save valuable time explaining what you’re asking about.
From the home page to searching for an advisor, pictures are consistently the focal point to welcome conversation.
Testing
With the high fidelity prototype created, I formed a testing script with scenario and tasks for the user to complete to validate the prototype with real users. To test the prototype I used Maze and gathered feedback following every task. The data from the tests showed that users' needs were met when introduced to a scheduling system- and most importantly, that they would want to use an app that connects them to advisors in those ways.
Questions were focused to understand users' potential feelings of confusion and validation, and subsequently what they would remedy to satisfy their needs.
The missions were designed to prompt a realistic scenario for the user to explore without being too leading.
Outcome
The outcome of the case study is promising; users responded well to the scheduling feature and overall design. The waiting room feature proved to be difficult to comprehend during the unmoderated usability test, with feedback specifying that instructions were confusing and users had trouble finding the waiting room button: it was not clear that it would be found on an individual advisor's profile. Feedback on the scheduling feature illuminated the need for users to sync their calls with their calendar outside of Anyone, such as iCal, so it can seamlessly integrate with their personal schedule.
