DinnerTree
↓ Adding a next level feature to a mobile app to allow users to attend and host meals in their homes ↓
My Role
Research Lead
Duration
2 weeks
Tools
Research methodologies, Figma
The Brief
My team designed a feature to the DinnerTree meal sharing app that would allow a user to host a dinner party in their home.
The Solution
Identify the decision points hosts to join or host an event and integrate functions in the feature to overcome their primary concerns and decrease likelihood of abandonment.
My Takeaway
Making sure that you are solving the right problem is key. By delving into the research, ideating as a team and testing our solution, the team was able to design an approach that could expand the service.
The Prototype Deliverable
The final prototype included three important new capabilities:
A user becomes host
A new host creates an event
A user blocks another user
Want to see how we got here?
The Ask
DinnerTree is an app that pairs strangers to share a meal together. Currently, these meals take place in restaurants. My three-person team was challenged to add a new feature that would allow members to host other members for a meal in their home so as to expand their appeal and make the app competitive and in line with their competitors.
Understand
Despite the occasional success, eating with strangers services consistently struggle to succeed. As a new service, DinnerTree had a very small current user base so we decided to focus on our target growth user. To understand our target audience and market, I conducted a comparative analysis, fielded a survey to potential users and 5 user interviews.
“I prefer to meet people through events and organizations. Online meetups feel like they are more for dating.”
- Survey respondent
Our survey revealed that more respondents used online and mobile services to find events than to find new people. Apps and services that focused on connecting people individually were seen as too intimate. At the same time, events and group activities were regarded as less pressure situation to meet others. By making the dinner an event, DinnerTree could reduce the pressure users felt when meeting new people.
Define
Two paths diverged: finding where hosts and guests connect and disconnect in their journey
Personas in hand, I used the data I collected from interviews with AirBnb hosts and Facebook Events users to map their journeys with these services. Given their similarity, their overarching experience, frustration and pain points informed how we designed our feature. I picked these methods because our user base was large and ambiguous. As the Research Lead, I wanted to give my team the clarity and focus we needed to empathize with the user we were designing for.
Problem Statement —> Solution
Clara and Shane both need a way to feel comfortable engaging with an in - home private event that includes individuals they consider to be strangers. How might we provide them the resources they need to feel confident in taking the first step of attending or hosting the event?
We believe that providing Clara and Shane the tools to learn about and communicate with each other before an in-home event will make them more willing to host or participate in an event. Given the time constraints of this project, we decided to evaluate this solution using qualitative feedback from usability testers.
Create
The team conducted a design studio to ideate and generate solutions for our users key pain point: trust.
Idea A
Key takeaways from this idea:
Rewards points
Members could only become hosts when they hit a point threshold
Idea B
Key takeaways from this idea:
Linking external social media
Hosts can see their degrees of connection to potential guests
Idea C
Key takeaways from this idea:
Allowing guests to charge for their meal
Allowing users to report another user for inappropriate behavior
Evaluating our design solution
Once we had a prototype, we usability tested with six users. Affinity mapping our findings from these tests revealed actionable insights that informed our updated iterations.
+ Usability Testing Plan
Outcome Goals of Feature
Give users a way to host a dinner in their home using the app.
[Prototype] Feature Functions
- Find and create an event
- Become a host
- Block another user
- Report another user
Purpose of Study
Answer the following questions:
- Is the feature overall understandable?
- Does the design clearly communicate the function? Do users understand what each feature does?
- Is the user able to complete the requested tasks?
- Does the design provide users with the information they would expect to complete a task?
- Do users understand CTAs in the design?
Study Objectives
Understand the usability of the following:
- Feature navigation
- Event creation process
- Event search process
- Become a host process
- Block a user process
Strategic Usability Questions
- Do users understand the feature’s overall function and purpose? Do the users easily understand, learn and use the navigational structure?
- What do the users do to:
- Find and register for an event
- Create an event
- Become an event host
- Block another member
- Can users complete all tasks with confidence?
- Which feature elements (labels, names, graphics), navigational features or interactions create ease of use, clarity and confidence?
- Which of these design aspects create the opposite effect (confusion or frustration)? Why?
- When users do run into problems, what do they do to solve or overcome them?
- What additional functions would need to be integrated into the prototype to allow users to carry out all crucial functions?
+ Task Scenarios
- Imagine that you are a member who wants to find and register for a vegan event. Show me how you would do that from this page.
- Now that it is time for the event, check in to it.
- Now that you have attended the event, review it. Show me how would you do that from this page.
- Imagine that one of the guests, Benjamin Bar, was rude, obnoxious and sexist. You want to notify the app moderators that he should not be allowed to use the app. Show me what you would do from this page.
- Imagine you want to become a host so that you can host another vegan event. Show me how you would do that from this page.
Key screens tested
↓ Reviewing our usability test results, I narrowed in on three key insights ↓
“I mean, that’s a serious accusation - I would want to explain. I’d expect to see a way to do that.”
-Test user
Insights from Usability Testing
5/6 Users Blocking Anxiety
Users were nervous about reporting another user, so we softened and expanded the copy to clarify. This connects to the empathy point of trust.
6/6 Users Hosting Hesitation
Users were confused when becoming a host. Being clear in this process is about transparency and connects to the logic point of trust.
6/6 Users Indications of Copy Confusion
Users were confused by some of the copy, particularly how to know if an event was vegan.
It was disappointing - despite our focus on trust, too often our messaging had fallen short. We were approaching the deadline and needed to act fast.
The solution? We iterated further, combed through the screens and rewrote and updated where needed.
The Solution
When designing the event creation flow, providing the host with the option to filter invites was important to their peace of mind.
This important flow allows a user to block another member.
Retrospective
Next Steps
Given more time and resources, the next steps for this feature would include:
An explicit onboarding of the community points system.
Provide additional incentives to encourage members to host.
What I Learned
Trust is not just a feeling, it is something that can be designed for in the details of the interaction.
Copy is critical - it’s how the user knows what do.
Prioritize and focus on the most important hurdle - in this case, trust.
What I Would Do Differently
Sketch and ideate on day one.
Test earlier, and test more often - even at the paper frame stage.
Copy, copy, copy - bake thoughtful copy in at every screen from the start.