Surprise express service
-"Multiply the surprise never miss the time!"
The new business expanded for Cainiao Logistics Company provides more application scenarios and humanistic care for express business by providing regular deposit service.
DURATION
4 weeks, Sept, 2022
MY ROLE
End-to-end UX Designer
UI Designer
MORE INFO
Team of three
Internship in Cainiao
OVERVIEW
· 1 problem statement
This is a summer cooperation project with Cainiao (an express company under Alibaba Group). They gave us three different fields (express ‘last mile’ of express, company SOP, and future smart community construction) and related problems, allowing us to focus on specific problems and find appropriate solutions.
As UX interns, our task is to find and solve some current business pain points for the company. After our diving in the whole process and in-depth research, we found that there are big problems at the receiving end: users often cannot freely choose the delivery time, delivery method, and more than 65% of users' feedback is often complaining about these problems. Based on these problems, we have found a solution: flexibly apply existing resources for long-term deposit service, and develop it into a "surprise deposit" service. These new ideas have been integrated into the final online app and were partially implemented in October 2022; Other more innovative parts may continue to develop in future products.
· 2 solution in a glance
The Cainiao "Surprise Delivery" Service through the contacts in the whole process:
HIDE LOGISTICS INFORMATION
Keep it secret for surprises
DIY GIFT CODE & CARD
Increase sense of ceremony
EXPRESS CABINET
Environment & interaction
LONG TERM DEPOSIT SERVICE
Avoid being late
THE PROCESS
Define the UX design results required for the entire project:
Secondary research
Design goals
Interview
Persona
Journey map
Design conpect
Brainstorm
Storyboard
Service Blueprint
User flow
Final
design
Mid-fi prototype
Design system
HI-fi design
User analysis
Pain spot analysis
Solution
RESEARCH
· 1 STATUS ANALYSIS
In order to better find the problems and pain points of the existing express delivery process, we will position and consider the problems from the aspects of time cost, economic cost, and humanistic care.
· Express delivery is fast, but many surprises and humanistic care have gradually disappeared.
Many groups, such as elderly people who are not convenient to move, office workers who commute every day, and people whose express cabinets are far away from their homes, cannot freely choose the form of express delivery service.
· At present, the labor cost is far lower than the express cabinet.
Due to the long logistics transportation time of some express delivery systems (overseas express, purchasing agent, pre-sale, etc.), the arrival time of express delivery is uncertain, which leads to the inability to get the express delivery in time.
· 2 ANALYSIS OF PAIN POINTS & NEEDS AND METHODS
After determining the biggest problem we need to solve, through the analysis of key roles (users, express delivery sites, and courier services), we propose corresponding solutions to the existing pain points and needs of user groups, and at the same time upgrade services for express delivery sites, expand new businesses, and find profit points. We hope to extract specific design focus and establish a preliminary vision of the business.
From the needs of users, find solutions to upgrade and expand services.
Problems
From Users
Search for user pain points
Potential Solutions
Of The Bussiness Side
Expands new business & looking for profit
Has no business of temporary storage, forwarding, rejection
Users need to operate after receiving
Expand temporary storage, forwarding, rejection
Develop online window
Arrival time not match the user's location
Third party replacement storage is required
But security and privacy cannot be guaranteed
Provides relevant services
Get unified code
Wait for user to pick up after returning
Some express deliveries are urgent
The user can't get it in person for other reasons
One click forwarding service
Uniformly take out the change order and send it to the current address
Return the goods for personal reasons or negotiate with the shipper
But it needs to be rejected after arrival or returned after manual removal
Provide online chargeback rejection
Courier takes out, changes the order uniformly
The third party's replacement of deposit and forwarding currently requires a high and non-standard service charge for running errands
Uniform charge standard & reduce single piece charge
Establish incentive mechanism to support pickup early
· 3 INTERVIEW
According to our current focus on design points and new business areas envisaged, we conducted a questionnaire survey on college students, focusing on the degree of users' demand for services, observing possible service scenarios, and the acceptance of service fees. A total of about 300 questionnaires were distributed and multiple result structures were envisaged.
Observe data, judge the real demand points and demands of users, focus on the real pain points.
Reasons for the need for escrow service
Overseas cannot be predicted
Wrong address
Other reasons
Advance shipment of pre-sale goods
The most commonly used express delivery form
Express cabinet
Express station
Provide home delivery service
The solution for failure to pick up express delivery
Approximate service charge per time
Contact friends for forwarding
Contact friends to help deposit
Ignore the express
Contact the express staff for forwarding
Other methods
¥5-15
¥16-30
Above ¥30
Less than¥5
From the results reflected in the questionnaire data, we can see that students have a relatively broad demand for forwarding and long-term deposit services; The students generally have a high degree of acceptance of the scenario migration of the long-term deposit service involved, and expanding the service scenario will become the key to enhance the possibility and increase the income of this scheme.
· 4 PERSONAS
"I want to give him a surprise gift quietly on the anniversary!"
After narrowing the scope of service scenarios again, I decided to determine the user group and corresponding opportunity points in the form of persona.
Aaron ｜College student, 20 years old | Bonnie's Boyfriend
“As a long-distance couple, I should know the location and schedule of her express delivery point in advance every time I send something. I don't want to add extra burden to her because of my gifts.”
Needs:
· Selectable receiving methods
· The sense of ceremony and surprise when receiving goods
Frustrations:
· It's very inconvenient for my girlfriend to pick up the express every time. She need to take a detour or pick it up at a limited time.
Bonnie ｜College student, 19 years old | Aaron's Girlfriend
“Aaron's birthday is coming. I also want to prepare a surprise for him, but I'm afraid he won't get it that day.”
Needs:
· Express delivery that can be delivered at the specified time
· It can be stored in safe and cheap places for a long time
Frustrations:
· The express arrives at the destination, the recipient will be notified immediately
· The recipient can know the contents in advance through inquiry, unable to notify on the specified date.
After analyzing persona, we found that the problem mainly focused on the time and place of the consignee, so we want to put the giver and recipient in the whole user process and observe the specific opportunity points.
· 5 EXPERIENCE MAP
Through the analysis of the existing processes, which service upgrading entry points can we find?
Through the analysis of the whole process, we found that the gift giver and the gift recipient had a poor experience in the final express message notification, time and location arrangement, which may be the starting point of our design.
· 6 PROBLEM SUMMARY & PRELIMINARY PLAN
Key pain points:
Based on the above focused user needs and solutions, I summarized the design objectives of this business upgrade and expansion.
1: Unable to select fixed delivery date and pickup method;
2: Recipient cannot be selected for online logistics information;
3: Can't delay picking up, no long-term deposit function
I selected the "Surprise Deposit" scenario in the "Long term Deposit Service" to go deeper, refine the process nodes, form a flow chart of the "Surprise Deposit" service, find the worst of the user experience, and find solutions to improve the user experience.
Long-term deposit service：Surprise express service
"Multiply the surprise and never miss the time"
Specific services added:
1st: Keep it secret for surprises;
2nd:Increase sense of ceremony;
3rd: Increase surprise through environment and interesting interaction;
4th: Ensure that the surprise is delivered on the day.
IDEATION
· 1 BRAINSTORM
Brainstorm and give priority to the ideas most relevant to the design goals.
Birthday gift - surprise deposit
Don't expect others to collect - secret deposit
Busy - delayed pickup
Travel saves energy - luggage and people meet at the destination
Active long-term deposit - purchase in advance and pick up
Luggage deposit in advance at the beginning of school
Keep logistics information confidential to the recipient
Safe deposit - valuables that are too long
Buy from another place - reminder of arrival
The gift giver customizes the blessing and time - Memorial Day?
Create a different reception atmosphere - spoof/warm?
Relatively private items - others can't see and take delivery
Implemented scheme ( most representative)
Other ideas
· 2 INTERNAL & ENTERAL CAUSE ANALYSIS
Determine the necessity and size of the solution from the demand and profit point.
Intrinsic demand
Why do users need long-term deposit?
What migration service scenarios are applicable to？
Birthday gift - surprise deposit
Don't expect others to collect - secret deposit
Active long-term deposit - purchase in advance and pick up
Busy - delayed pickup
Luggage deposit in advance at the beginning of school
It is necessary to solve the large demand of users for long-term storage, and formulate a unified service standard to flexibly solve the problem of different service scenarios.
External influence
What improvements can be made in the service terminal of the express company?
Long term escrow system of express station: escrow charging standard, escrow space, escrow code
Courier: when storing new express in the express cabinet, take out the new service type of single pieces sent on the platform, label them and send as required
By adjusting the handover relationship between the express station and the courier and express cabinet, we can reduce links, save labor costs and increase profit points.
Establish a picking mechanism, form a user ecology of picking and storing parts, establish a reward and punishment mechanism such as gold coins, and increase user stickiness
The logic design at both ends of the express cabinet and the deposit office reduces space and time waste and maximizes the benefits of each piece
Prioritized Features
Through brainstorming, we envisioned a variety of possible application scenarios, and thought about the internal and external factors of the service implementation through the judgment of stakeholders.
Buy from another place - reminder of arrival
· 3 STORY BOARD
Tell the whole service process from one end.
01 Bonnie and her boyfriend Aaron are about to celebrate their first anniversary.
But now they live in different cities and can't give him gifts in person.
02 She wants to give her boyfriend a surprise gift, He'd better know the surprise on that day.
03 Bonnie used Cainiao's surprise express service to ensure that he would not know the gift in advance.
04 She chose gifts online and used customized greeting cards and greetings.
05 The express company sends the gifts to the express cabinet in advance and sets the date of deposit and withdrawal.
06 Arriving at the date set by Bonnie, Aaron is reminded to pick up the gift that has been stored for a period of time.
07 Aaron gets a surprise gift for the first anniversary, sees Bonnie's greetings and cards, and writes a reply.
08 The surprise gift planning was totally successful! Aaron and Bonnie are very happy! Happy first anniversary!
After using the storyboard, we learned about the operation and interaction behavior of the user end, and we made corresponding guarantees on the system and the background to determine the behavior of stakeholders.
· 4 SERVICE BLUEPRINT
Determine the interaction point of the system to provide guarantee for the terminal service.
When placing an order
Before arrival
Before picking up
When picking up
Through the stakeholder chain of the service blueprint analysis, the design parts of different parties are defined.
Through the analysis of brainstorming, service blueprints and storyboards, we determined the basic functions of business development and upgrading and the application scenarios of services we designed, including service positioning, content and incentive mechanism planning. Next, we need to refine the information architecture and interface design, and then repeat the design iteration to ensure that it can be truly implemented.
DESIGN & ITERATION
· 1 USER FLOW
After determining the basic user behavior and operation process, we inserted the interaction points and specific operations between users and mobile applications in this process.
Surprise deposit
Place order
Gift giver uses surprise deposit service
Select recipient address
Only the giver can query the logistics information
After order placement and before arrival
After arrival and before picking up
Selects the date of sending the pickup code
The recipient receives the pickup code
When picking up
Charge for departure over 72 hours
Settlement deposit time
· 2 INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
After defining the overall user experience process and basic functions of the application.
In order to determine the affiliation and jump connection between pages at all levels, we used user flow to help us establish the application information structure.
Multiple entrances
Place Order
Gift sender's tel
Recipient's tel&add
Expected delivery time
Pickup location
DIY
Customized code
Customized surprise
Express cabinet
Express station
Photo collection
Congratulations audio
Congratulations card
Funny special effects
Pick up
DIY card
Manual pickup
Charge
Settlement as expected
Overtime charge
1st level page
General page
Page content
· 3 PROTOTYING
Mid-fi UIs & prototype for testing
In order to provide better experience, we developed the first set of wireframes and make a clickable prototype to see how it works.
· 4 EVALUATION & ITERATIONS
User testing process
Considering the goal of the final design, I gave the medium-fidelity prototype to several users and the company's project leader for trial, and conducted an iteration.
BEFORE
AFTER
Reduce the words
see present location at a glance
Display long-term address
Change information at any time
In the process of mailing, because of the instability of long-term deposit, the sender may wish to change the address and storage time at any time; In addition, the current mailing process and the destination of express delivery should also be more clear at a glance.
BEFORE
AFTER
Add separate name box
Set message template
Set entrance of dynamic greeting
can upload video and audio
On the special day when the gift is expected to be given, the gift giver hopes to have a specific way to celebrate the anniversary. In addition to filling in a fixed blessing template, it is better to upload photos, videos and audio by yourself, just as it is better to celebrate the anniversary at the recipient's side.
BEFORE
AFTER
Provide corresponding pages
according to the current process
Giver can see remain storage time
increase the credibility of charging
Display the final amount directly
click to see specific charging rules
When settling accounts, most people agree that it is better to provide specific pickup time and remaining time to calculate the final deposit fee; Most test users also feedback that they don't want to see too detailed charging standards, so I hide it in the sub-page, and can also calculate and check it if necessary.
After iterating through user testing and resistance, I streamlined the information, optimized the interface and links by distinguishing font size and typesetting guidance, and sorted out the corresponding pages and main functions of each interaction link again.
· 5 DESIGN SYSTEM
The main colors of the design use brand colors, and the rest use gradient colors and black and white as embellishments.
After user testing and iteration in each link, I entered the final high-fidelity design.
COLOR PALETTE
TYPOGRAPHY
#185AF5
#5D8BFF
#ffffff
#7d1817
#3e0c0c
#D9ECFE
#E8E6E6
UI COMPONENTS
Tabler Icons iconfont.cn
Icons
Aa Raleway Semi Bold
Aa Roboto Bold
Headline 1
Raleway /Semi Bold/24
Headline 2
Raleway /Semi Bold/22
Headline 3
Raleway /Regular/19
Headline 4
Raleway /Semi Bold/17
Headline 5
Raleway /Semi Bold/15
Headline 6
Body 1
Raleway /Regular/14
Roboto /Bold/20
Body 2
Roboto /Bold/16
Body 3
Roboto /Bold/14
Body 4
Roboto /Bold/12
Subtitle
Raleway /Semi Bold/12
Tag
Raleway /Regular/10
After repeated design iterations and detailed consideration, we finally built an application for Cainiao that we believe can solve users' pain points and adapt to different service scenarios, which can make express more humane and ceremonial, and make express business more suitable for people's life scenarios：
FINAL DESIGN
Welcome to the surprise express service!
GIFT GIVER SIDE
There is a whole process from choosing gifts to customizing blessing words, which ensures that the giver can inquire about logistics information at any time while keeping surprise secrets to the recipient.
GIFT RECIPIENT SIDE
The surprise gift will only be known at the day the sender chooses, and the dynamic greeting cards and greetings customized by the sender can be seen.
We believe that everyone has a life scenario suitable for the surprise express service. Come and try the surprise express service!
REFLECTION
Gains
· Try the whole process service design starting from research
· Analyze and solve problems from the perspective of users, pain points and solutions
· Design a complete service expansion and upgrading scheme, and consider multiple use scenarios
Further improvement
· More design iterations
· Design of dynamic greeting cards and large screens
· High fidelity design prototype is not complete
Future work
· Technical realization
· Design iteration