PetEcho
A all-in-one mobile application for pet owners that can offers 24/7 access to affordable and efficient vet consultation services as well as a pet community feature enabling users to share pet-related contents and connect with fellow pet enthusiasts.
Basic
Information:
My Role
UX Designer
My Responsibility
UX Design
User Research
Usability Testing
Project Duration
Aug. 2023 - Dec. 2023
Team
1 Project Manager
3 UI/UX Designers
Current Problem
In modern society, having a pet has become very common. There are a multitude of pet-related apps available in the market that assist pet owners in various aspects of their lives. Pet owners are faced with an overwhelming array of pet-related apps, leading to high search costs, numerous downloads, and a fragmented user experience. Vet appointments are costly and may involve long wait times, potentially delaying pet treatment. Pet owners often seek immediate answers for peace of mind, but immediate appointments are not always available.
Understanding the Challenges
Fragmentation in pet care information leading to high search costs
Expensive and long-waiting time vet appointment
Missing a platform that foster connections among pet owners
Discovery:
Problem Statement
Create a all-in-one mobile application for pet owners that can offers 24/7 access to affordable and efficient vet consultation services as well as a pet community feature enabling users to share pet-related contents and connect with fellow pet enthusiasts.
Pet Community Engagement
Virtual Veterinary Consultation
Educational
Resourses
Research:
Initial User Interview
25 mins interviews
8 Participants
Face-to-face
I managed and analyzed data from the user interviews, and generated data analysis reports through Affinity Diagram.
From the user interviews, we gain a more comprehensive and clear understanding of our target users' concerns and frustrations.
From the user interviews, we learned that it's clear that pet owners view our app as a valuable resource for community engagement and information sharing. Summarizing from the affinity diagram and the user interview, we concluded four user pain points:
Pet Owner Pain Points
App Overload and Fragmented Experience
Difficulty in Accessing Immediate, Cheap, and Professional Vet Consultations
Lack of a Supportive Pet Community to Build Meaningful Connection
Missing Credible Information that May Lead to Anxiety and Uncertainty
PetEcho Solution
All-In-One Pet Community and Care App
24/7 Efficient, Professional and Affordable Virtual Veterinary Consultation
Community function for users to learn, share, and connect with others
Effective, Professional, and Cost-Effective Online Vet Appointment
Research:
User Flow Map
To better understand how the platform can help users to reach their goals, we created user flow map to demonstrate step-by-step actions users take from signing into the app to completing the target action.
Ideate:
Design Evolution
Utilizing paper prototype and wireframes, we conducted second round of usability testing with 10 participants to test out our ideas.
According to user feedback,
we made the following design decisions.
Our initial idea for the app that included a pet community, vet support and appointment scheduling, and a marketplace for pet products. However, user interviews revealed that most pet owners prefer buying products at physical or popular e-commerce pet stores like PetSmart and Chewy.
Design Decision:
Based on the user feedback, we decided to remove the marketplace feature from our app, and focus more on building an online pet community with the vet service.
"Before" Sitemap
"After" Sitemap
Separate Message with Vet and Message with Other Users
In our original design, we integrated both user and vet chats within a unified messaging interface.
However, users found it confusing to check the vet’s response on the message page.
Additionally, given that vet consultations are a paid service, users might mistakenly believe they could continue chatting with vets outside the scheduled session.
"Before" Design: Original Wireframe
Design Decision:
Separate the Chatting with Vet and Chatting with other users into different tabs.
Keep the "Chat with vet" under the "Vet" tab instead of the "Message" tab.
"After" Design: Vet Tab
Redesign the onboarding experience
During the user interview, we gathered feedback indicating issues with the sign-up design.
"Before" Design: Original Landing and Onboarding Page
Evaluating the Original Design:
Limit the number of tasks per page
Inconsistency design in the image style and color
Inconsistency design in input fields
No skip feature to skip sections
No progress tracker
How should we improve?
Foster User Engagement
Consistent Style of the Visual Elements
Reduce User’s Cognitive Load
Changes Made:
"After" Design: Original Landing and Onboarding Page
Harmonize the style and color across all visual elements
Ensure visual coherence
Implement skip function
Allow users to save time and skip sections
Implement a progress checker
Inform and motivate users to complete the account setup process
DESIGN:
Final Solution Overview
DESIGN:
Final Solution - Onboarding Page
DESIGN:
Final Solution - Discovery Page
DESIGN:
Final Solution - Vet Consultation
Usability Test & Outcome
I conducted individual 45-minute interviews with 12 participants, while managed and analyzed data from the user interviews
On a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied are you with the Sign Up feature and the onboarding process?
How likely are you to recommend our product/service to others, on a scale of 1 to 5?
Takeaway:
Importance of User Research
Through this project, we conducted 4 rounds of usability test with our target users. Observing how users interact with our platform and hearing their needs, I believe that gathering user feedbacks and adapting to evolving user needs helped us to create a satisfying user experience for our users.
Team Collaboration
Each team member brought a unique set of talents, experiences, and perspectives to the project. The diverse skill sets within the team complemented each other well.
Since we came from different culture and background, we address different aspects of the project simultaneously, promoting efficiency and holistic problem-solving.